The Link 3 - The Huntress

Chapter 35 - Teegan

The thing that was Sabbatini backed away. His hair going grayer, thinner. I found my birth mother last. Such a lovely woman and with a baby in her arms. Everyone I had ever bonded with, as a child or adult, was in me. They were churning about, surging through every part of me. Gene and Samantha thought it was so cool. Uncle Hank was more analytical, yet his love flowed nonetheless. The power that was pulsing through me was weakening the demon quickly. I now knew what I faced.

"I'll kill her," Sabbatini said, struggling to send the thought into the link. It was filled with images of a multitude of ways to brutally murder someone. I steadied the links that tied me to the love of others. "It will be slow and painful." His power was anger and hatred. He reached out to me, and I smiled, sending love packed full of pity at him. My arms spread and I felt as if I was flying.

Sabbatini fell backward onto the bed. He crawled up against the backboard and pushed his blackness at me. So full of malice, it did little more than poke at the power that now surged through me.

"You don't want this," Sabbatini argued through clenched teeth. He leaned forward as if struggling against a hurricane. "I will give you the world."

"It's not yours to give," Caleb said. I turned to find him rising from the ground. His love slammed into me as our link renewed. I felt as if I was on fire.

"I'll rip her to shreds," Sabbatini yelled at the one man he might influence. Caleb was staring at me, a smile frozen on his lips. Unfortunately for Sabbatini, Caleb was as smart as he was lovely. His mind stuttered only a second on anger and then joined me in love.

"You're glowing," Caleb said. I saw through his eyes, an aura of white light surrounded me, pulsing as the souls ebbed and flowed within me.

"It's overflowing," I said, my smile growing. "I can't hold it all in."

Sabbatini screamed as his back pressed against the backboard. His skin was wrinkling as his muscles faded. His teeth yellowed and his eye sockets began to droop. The thing began to moan, and his lips pulled tight to his teeth.

A world in flames would not be.

The door burst open, swinging on its hinges and slamming into the wall.

"Kill it. Kill it now!" Sabbatini shouted. I turned toward the door and saw a tall black man with a gun in his hands. Anthony. Caleb's anger flared, then settled as he realized it was what the demon desired. My mind lurched forward, encompassing Anthony's.

A small boy, scared and alone was shaking from the cold. His mother had left him days ago, and he never knew his father. He feared the dark, huddling closer to the door that had once been his home. A man, a young Sabbatini approached and offered his hand, a gift beyond measure for a starving boy. Soft words, a warm bed, and a full belly soon convinced the boy of Sabbatini's relationship with God. His messenger on earth. I smiled as images of Anthony ruling the kitchen passed through his mind. The demon found him at his most vulnerable and shaped him into a tool for evil. Anthony loved Sabbatini as a father. It mattered little that the love was never returned.

"I forgive you," I said and closed my eyes to the inevitable. Many deaths were on Anthony's shoulders, but life had offered him little alternative.

Anthony raised his gun and fired.