The Trinity of Magic (Book 2 of the Trinity series)

Chapter 23

"What am I doing today?" I asked Gerrard as we walked down to the dungeons for my training session for the week.

"Really advanced magic," he replied.

"Seriously?" I asked. He nodded, his face grim. "What's wrong?" I asked as we descended the four flights of stairs.

"Nothing," he muttered, his jaw twitching.

"Gerrard..." I said.

"I'll tell you later," he said, looking at me with those piercing blue-grey eyes of his. I nodded and fell silent.

When we got downstairs, I heard the sound of jeering. I glanced at Gerrard, who's jaw was squarely set. Whatever it was, it was bothering him, but he wasn't letting on. He was good at hiding his emotions, something I needed to learn how to do.

We stepped into the dungeons and I looked around to see where the source of the laughter was coming from. I was shocked and angered when I saw what was going on.

There were figures clothed in black cloaks with hoods over their heads. In the center of the room was a woman who looked like she was some sort of professional. She looked as if she had been wearing a suit dress, with her hair up in a tight bun. But now, her blouse was untucked and partially unbuttoned and her skirt was unzippered. Her pantyhose were ripped, showing pale exposed skin. Her face was blotchy and there were angry red marks on her cheeks. Her eyes had a vacant look to them, looking distant and empty. I felt my anger bubble up; she had no idea what was happening to her.

"Enough with the play. Let's get down to business now," Elijah said, standing up from a chair that was set at the side wall. So he was instigating this behavior.

Elijah strode towards the woman with his proud gait and stood directly in front of her. She swayed back and forth on her feet, her head wobbling around and her eyes whizzing about. Elijah looked at her with a cold and eerie smile and she screamed, her knees bending down forcefully to the hard stone floors. Elijah smirked and looked up, his blue eyes meeting my own.

"Oh, Caley. Nice to see you," he said. "I want you to meet Roberta Isles, Vice President of the Trinity Government," he introduced. "Say hello, Roberta," he said, smiling manically at the woman.

Roberta's head, which had been sagging before, snapped up and her vacant eyes met mine. I felt my heart rate speed up and Gerrard closed his fingers around my wrist, assuring me that he was still there.

Her mouth hung open and she let out a scream.

"That's no way to greet a person, now, is it?" Elijah asked. She shouted in pain, her back contorting, making her twitch abnormally.

"What are you doing to her?" I demanded, unable to watch any longer.

"Well, you see, we've finally managed to get into the Government, as I have been planning all along. Only we made it very discreet so that no one gets suspicious. We forced Roberta here to resign and withdraw from her post due to an unsuspected illness that she just found out about," Elijah explained. "With some interference in the Senate, who are supposed to appoint the new temporary Vice President until the next election, we managed to get Isaac to take the position," he continued.

"Isaac is the new VP of the Trinity Government?" I asked, incredulous.

"Why do you sound so surprised? Did you not think we could do it?" he asked.

"Why are you torturing her, then?" I asked.

"Well, because she thinks it's so important to live by tradition. I'm trying to convince her that a revolution is occurring," Elijah said, outstretching his hand, making Roberta shriek in agony.