Genevieve Violet: Lady in Magic

Chapter Forty Six

I couldn't help myself. In a situation so dire, the butterflies still fluttered in my stomach. They danced and played with each other like small twin babies in a mothers womb. His wings were absolutely mind blowing.

Julian was examining the bloody mess covering his arm. He looked slightly disgusted, but at the same time fascinated. He then did something I had never seen Julian do before. He smiled. Not just a small grin, he smiled at me, baring his teeth and almost expressing a laugh. I stared up at him, unsure of how to react. My attention was distracted, however, as I saw the white dove boy run towards Sweetest. His eyes were alive with a red fire even stronger than before. He snarled at Julian and flung himself towards the both of us. Julian moved in front of me and outspread his giant, beautiful white angel wings. They flapped and moved in front of me defensively as the boy backed away slightly. I peered through a gap in the feathers. Julian stood tall and proud, flapping his wings harder if the dove dared to take a step forward. He tried several times to scare me out of Julian's protection, but all of his attempts failed. Rod and Corby hid in the other corner, Rod protecting them both with a magical shielding spell. But Rod was weak, and the monster knew that.

He looked at Corby and Rod, then back towards us and snarled happily, licking the flesh in his teeth. He then slowly backed away from Julian, and charged towards Rod's barrier. He hit the barrier with extreme speed. Rod looked in pain as the boy rammed into the barrier and kicked it hard with his bare feet. He knocked into it a few more times and the barrier began to fade. Rod began to collapse as Corby yelled and cursed at the demon.

Julian took action. He swiftly threw his arm into the air and by doing so, made a giant gash appear in the creature's side. He hit the dove boy once more but before he could make the final drastic attack the boy transformed into his dove form and flew towards Julian's face. In the blink of an eye, Julian turned, grabbed me around the waist and pulled us both into the air. He flew with great ease. Whilst unconscious, his magic had regenerated... and I was so grateful. I would be dead if it wasn't for him.

He flew higher and higher up into the never-ending ceiling. The dove followed closely behind us. Suddenly he pulled back and crouched against one of the walls, waiting for the dove to attack once more. In mid-air it began to morph again. It grew bigger, grew arms and legs but kept its wings, its head and its sharp bird claws. It moved back against the opposite wall as it mockingly screeched at us. Julian screamed at the demon. I looked down at the mess below us. If any of us fell, at that height, the fall would have been fatal.

Julian attacked the bird monster with the sharp edges of his wings and with swipes of his arm. He drew blood many times, but so did our opponent. Each time it lunged at us, Julian pulled me into his torso protectively and turned his back to the monster. It would then viciously attack him from behind. All I could do was watch.

We were not alone in our battle. Rod, still weak as he was, was throwing sharp magic bolts at the creature. Corby was attempting to throw pieces of cutlery and furniture as he hobbled on his sore leg. Rod's attacks just about reached us, but we were far too high for Corby's attempts to succeed. I could only just make out their tiny forms.

The paintings continued up to our height, obviously the oldest members of the household right at the top, the more recent at the bottom. There was a giant painting opposite that had to be divided into five different sections because the women in the picture had so many animals. She must have been related to Madame Rosity.

We had knocked many of the paintings from the walls. I watched guiltily as they fell and smashed onto the bloody heap beneath us. The monster was extremely weak. It began to fall as it slid down the opposite wall, dragging many paintings down with it. Corby saw what was going on and dragged Rod from the ground. They both ran to the other side of the room as the monster fell and crashed onto the floor where they had been moments before. It changed back into a boy, and then a dove. The blood oozed and flowed from it's broken and destroyed body.

Julian floated slowly back to the ground. We all moved into the centre of the room. Julian still had a hold of me and placed me to the side. Rod and Corby both hobbled over as we all knelt down on the floor, Julian's wings covering us all. Silence overcame the small group.

I felt dizzy and suddenly, I collapsed.

"Genevieve!" I heard Corby yell into my ear.

But it was too late, far too late.

After everything I had been through, the severity of my combined injuries had finally caught up on me. I had been in pain before, but this felt very different. I could feel my fragile body shutting down.

I was dying. I looked up at the faces of my friends, my only remaining friends. I smiled at them as their faces shone down on me. I saw Corby and Julian discuss something, but I could not hear them. My senses had numbed. I watched them as the arms of death wrapped around my body, and closed on me very, very gently.

I opened my eyes to find myself wrapped not in the arms of death, but in the long, thin white arms of a man. I looked around; everything and everyone had disappeared, and we were floating in mid air. Julian pulled back slightly and held onto my hands as we floated. We were both dressed in complete white, mirroring the atmosphere around us. Nothing but pure, crystal clear white for miles ahead. We hovered above an eternity of pureness.

Julian's wings were spread wide as we hovered. His hair was covering his eyes slightly, his lips formed together in a smile. I looked down at my wounds; cleaned, bandaged...gone.

"Where are we?" I whispered to him, a small smile across my face. Were we in Heaven?

"Touch the heart." He said simply, a smile also across his face. I looked at him with confusion for a moment, until he looked down and I saw that in the centre of us, the crystal heart I had taken from the institution was floating in the air. He beckoned for me to touch it. I gingerly removed one of my hands from his own, and as I grabbed the heart, my mind was overtaken by millions of different images. Gradually, they came into focus.

I saw a girl sitting in a garden on a swing. She was playing with a rose petal in between her fingers. Her face was framed by her short dark hair, a pretty little red bow tied in her tresses. She was wearing a lovely little red coat. She had walked quite a distance as her cheeks were flushed. She was joined by a small boy of about 10. They sat in awkward silence.

Fast-forward.

Blossom, boiled teapots and the sound of laughter as a girl of about 16 cartwheeled across the grass, only to fall onto her face. She had long dark hair. The boy with her came and sat by her side, pulling the pieces of grass and dirt from her hair. The girl pushed back the brown hair of the boy, and they sweetly kissed under the falling petals.

Fast-forward again. 

The father of the boy shaking hands with the father of the girl as they sat at a long, nicely decorated dining table. The couple held hands underneath the table. A woman with dirty blonde hair watched through the window.

A fight between two older women, one dirty blonde, one dark haired as they argued and screamed at each other. Roses, beautiful red roses in the garden as the couple now aged in their late 20's kissed on the lawn. The blonde haired woman ran out into the garden. She pulled a gun from her pocket, and as she screamed maddening words at the couple, she shot the female in the head.

The male rushed to her side.

I saw a rope.

I heard footsteps in a dark room, and then silence.

The shadow of a hanging body.