The Devil You Know (editing)

Chapter 7

I heard as he held in a gasp, and I felt the heat sneak up my cheeks once again. "How......." He started but stopped probably trying to find the right words.
He cleared his throat and tried again. "How can you give me a light crest?" he asked his eyes fixed on me like wide curious puppy dog eyes. "There is only one vampire in the world who can create a light crest." He said softly like he couldn't believe what he was saying. "And that's you?" he asked
Instead of answering I turned to Axel who was standing behind me next to the sand colored wall.         "Hey axle do you have a ring on you?"

A light crest is a tattoo on that can be put anywhere on your body but the 5 light crest I have given were either put on the upper arm or on the wrist.  Mine in particular, covers my entire arm. From the top of my shoulders to the beginning of my wrist. The cross is elegant and there is detailed work that runs up and down my arm as well as around the cross. My light crest is the biggest since it the original, it also means it's the most powerful. Though it is a tattoo, the light crest it needs to be made with a metal, usually gold it makes the best ones but it hurts the most. The only way this works is if I'm the one who is melting down the metal with my hand. I found out I could do this purely by accident. I can manipulate the heart in my body. I found out when I was trapped in a room that was "vampire proof". I was entirely made of metal, the ceiling, walls and the door. This metal was strong, I tried to break the door down so many times that my leg was starting to turn black and blue. I made a huge dent in the wall but as far as I could tell the metal would definitely bend but not break. I slid down to the ground, my back against one of the said walls. I was angry and wanted to burn the place to the ground. I was a vampire for god's sake I should be able to break down a damn wall. I pulled my back away from the wall and slammed it back into the inferior wall.

My mind wondered to different places but they all lead to the same place, how to get out. Breaking through the metal was a no go unless I wanted to lose my leg. I thought about all the ways you can weaken metal. Warming it up was the only other way I could think of and for a split second I wish I could melt metal, but I soon snapped out of that fantasy. There is no way I could heat up this metal in a room that has nothing in it.
I kept racking my mind for ways out, little did I realize that the wall my back was on had been heating up because all it took was one thought and all the heat in my body went right to my back and was melting the wall that was keeping me in. I didn't really until I noticed a golden glow coming from behind me. I pushed myself off the wall and turned around to see a light crest beginning to take form on the wall behind me, it stretched to stretch to all corners of the room. The dips and turns of the gold stretched to the ceiling where I saw the shape of a cross. The work was breathtaking, I turned in a circle to try to take in everything. Every line and curve every little detail seem to draw my eye. I couldn't look away. But the bigger the crest got the more it glowed and as soon as the last piece of the cross was finished the room begin to shake so violently that I thought it would tear me apart.

The harder the room shook the brighter the light got, I looked up just in time to see the ceiling crack and fall.  I jumped out of the way over to the wall that the door is built in to.
I look at the simple silver door that has gold running through it, glowing so bright it is almost blinding. The room starts to vibrate and the heat from the walls are radiating off and hitting me, burning my skin. All of my senses were being overpowered by the light, sound and the heat in this room. I was on my knees as if in a praying position. My hands were over my ears and my eyes were shut tightly. I couldn't take it anymore my skin felt like it was melting off my body.
"Enough!" I don't know what made me think that would work. Maybe because it worked when I needed it the most last time. Or maybe it was the only thing I could think to do. But just like last time, just like the fire that had taken my home, my sister's soul and everything I had ever believed to be true. It stopped. The shaking had stopped in its place as if someone had just said "Freeze!"

The glowing didn't seem to be so bright behind my eyelids. The sound not as intense, I was able to take my hands off my ears without fear of going deaf, and thee heat. The heat was gone, I felt like I had stepped out of a sauna and the cold air from outside was hitting my sensitive skin. Everything was going back to the way it was before. Though when I opened my eyes I saw that that was not so. All the wall were half melted to the ground, the ceiling. Well there was no ceiling, I was surprised that none of that hot metal had landed on me. The light crest was still there on the wall that was still standing, glowing a faint gold.

I snapped out of that memory just in time to see Warren look at me weirdly, axle though was used to my zoning in and out of memoires. He would just have to get used to it because I've got a lot of years and a lot of memories. I'm still looking at Axel as he asks "Is this what you need?" confused I look down at his hand that he's holding out and sitting in the middle of his palm sits his wedding ring.

0h shit I really messed up. I mentally face palm myself as I put my hand over his. I look up at Axel's face, his eyes won't meet mine. "Ax, I'm so sorry." I pause, watching him his eyes on the ground but I didn't miss the tear that fell to the ground. "Elizabet Just take the ring." His voice was harsh but I deserved it, how could I be so inconsiderate.
Axel's wife was killed a long time ago in a house fire somewhere in South Carolina. He never really gave me specifics, he never wanted to talk about it and I never pushed him. All I know is that Axel's wife, Payton and his daughter didn't make it out of the flames alive and Axel blames himself and he's never forgiven himself and as far as I can tell he never will.

"Axel, I am not taking your wedding ring." I watch as he hesitantly puts it back on his finger. He doesn't look up though his eyes stay fixed on the golden band that has grown dirty over time.
"I am so sorry Axel," my voice is soft I'm afraid to raise it any louder in case I startle him and he runs like a frightened deer. "I am so sorry please forgive me." he looks up but doesn't look at me. His eyes are fixed on something past me. My stomach drops. I don't know what to do I don't know what I can do.
"Please Ax."
His eyes snap to my face his face hard and stern and he speaks to me in a tone like he's punishing a child. "It is not your fault Elizabet, I don't need your pity nor do I want it." His voice is cold as he pushes past me towards the entrance of the cavern. I pushed him too far but I was not going to let him get away with talking to me like I am no older then a toddler.

I look over at Warren who is sitting patiently in the cavern and I can tell he was listening to every word of our conversation. "Stay here." A smirk appears on his face as he asks. "Where would I go?"
I hum with amusement as I give him a smile before I head off in the direction that Axel is. I push off and sprint off to him. I arrive in less than a second. Perks of being a vampire, I smile to myself as I think that.
I stop in front of him causing him to momentarily pause. But he just tries to walk around me.
"Hold it, not so fast." I put my hand out on his chest to stop him from going any further.

He looks down at me, his face void of all emotion. "Elizabet. Move." He's clenching his teeth as he speaks to me as if he's trying to keep himself from snapping. "No, I won't move." I said defiantly. I watched as he looked up to the cavern rolling his eyes. "Stubborn as always." He looks back at me for a second before he tries to move around me but I block him again. "Axle you are going to listen to me. Do you understand?" I pause for a second, I don't expect him to respond but I see him slightly nod. My shoulders are less tense and my voice less harsh when I see that.

"You're right Ax you don't need my pity but you do need my friendship, my loyalty." I look down at the ground. I kick a rock that's by my feet trying to figure out what I was going to say next. I take a deep breath and let it out, I look up at him before I continue. "Axel, I have only had 3 really close friends. 3 people I can truly say that I would put everything on the line for. Who I'd give my life for. Your one of them Ax." I said pausing to grab my bearings. I haven't talked about them in a very long time and I don't know if I want to, but here goes nothing. "Axel, this was a very long time ago, they." I sigh remembering all the times that they messed up so badly I would burst out laughing. All the times that they would act so childish that you couldn't help but let out a little chuckle. "They were special to me. They meant a lot. And like you the people that meant the most to me were taken away." I see Axles golden eyes looking at me studying me. All of a sudden he brought his hand up to my face, to wipe away a tear I didn't realize I had shed.

"What were their names?" His voice was quite, soft. As if he didn't want to scare me.
I chuckled as I remembered. "Holden Thomas and Chris Santos, 2 brothers who we're known for nothing but trouble. But no matter how badly they messed up or how much trouble they got in, I just couldn't seem to shake them."