Warlock's Storm [Completed]

Chapter Thirty-Six - Love Betrayed

"There is a lot of green out there," she said.

"Yes," agreed Tyler. "But we decided before that only the pure would stay. We need to stick to that decision." He looked over to her with questioning eyes. "Right?"

"Let's see what and who we're dealing with first, shall we?" sighed Samantha. Tyler gave a curt nod in agreement.

"Now might be a good time to do that time-freeze-thing again," he whispered to her.

She let out a sharp laugh. "Let's immediately send the darkest souls back to their own worlds," she said. They started to survey the crowd. They were relieved to see that their closest friends were all glowing with blue light. At least they hadn't been betrayed by the ones they loved the most.

The remaining Freefolk had the very green, the greenest, auras of anyone in the crowd. Michael hadn't been lying to her. Those remaining had just been biding their time. Waiting for the moment to strike. With a sigh, she and Tyler sent them away.

They continued to the Witchfolk. There was a mixture here of green and blue shadows around these individuals. They quickly sent the greenest away. They left the Witches and Warlocks that were almost blue.

When they turned to the Humans, they were a little surprised to see that most of them had a beautiful blue glow. Samantha didn't know why this surprised her. Perhaps because she thought that they had the most reason to be upset. The best reasons to be thinking of things like revenge. Yet here they were, still hoping for the best. They only had to send about fifty of the Humans home.

Once they had sent all of the green auras back home, they looked around once more. They had left Michael and Killian to the last. As Samantha cast her eyes toward them, she felt her heart drop to her stomach. Both of their auras were as green as could be. Her eyes met with Killian's. "Why?" she asked. "Why would you betray me like this?"

"What do you mean, Samantha? I love you. I would never betray you," he answered.

"You can't lie about your intentions, Killian. The colour of your aura tells me the truth."

He quickly looked down at his own raised hand. He was taken aback to see that there was, indeed, a green glow around his skin. "It's not true. I love you. I would never hurt you."

"You tried to kill Tyler. His death would hurt me," she said. He looked away. Samantha was torn. She stared at him, long and hard. She could not bear to send him back to the Darkfolk World when she thought of the storms she had started there. She would be condemning him to a life of absolute misery. And, while she found it hard to admit, Tyler had been right. She did have very intense and confusing feelings for the Warlock before her. How could she send him away indefinitely? How could she never give herself the chance to explore those feelings? Were these thoughts selfish? Yes, they were. But this whole thing was selfish when it came right down to it. She was doing everything because she wanted to.

"We should send him back," whispered Tyler in her ear. "We should send them both back."

"I can't," she murmured with some degree of agony. She looked at Tyler and saw him slowly close his eyes. She knew that it hurt him to hear it. "I can't do it Tyler. And I can't let you do it either. We need to come up with something else." They both thought for a moment.

"Give us a moment to confer," said Tyler. They turned their back towards the remaining crowd. They spoke in quick whispers to one another. After a moment or two, they turned to face everyone once again.

Samantha spoke clearly. "Killian," she began. "I have come to trust you over the past month or so. Your aura shows me that I was misguided in that trust. However, due to your status with the Darkfolk, we have chosen a different consequence for your betrayal. Your magic will be removed. You will be sent to the Human World. You will be set up in the Human World with the means to have a comfortable life." She paused here for effect. "You're lucky I'm not sending you back to the Darkfolk World. It is in a state of disaster. That's where I just was and things are not looking so great there right now. In a short time, your old World won't even be habitable." She saw his face fall from one of confidence to one of self doubt and confusion.

"What? What do you mean?" he stuttered. "You should send me back there. My people need me."

"Michael," Samantha continued. "Your aura is far from blue, but it is not so green as Killian's. Thus, we have decided that you can accompany your King. You will also be sent to the Human World. Your powers will be significantly reduced. You will be allowed to perform only the simplest of spells and your stylo will only work with simple symbols. You will be able to protect yourself, and your King, if you so choose.

"Please know," continued Samantha, "that I have grown to care for you both deeply. It pains me to deliver these consequences to you. However, it also hurts, more than you know, to learn that you intended to deceive me. To betray me. I don't know the details, but I don't need to. It will take time for you to atone for your actions."

She looked once more at Killian's bewildered face. She felt the smallest bit bad for his state of disbelief. Moments ago he'd thought to kill her Tyler. And now, here he was being scolded and punished like a child. She looked over to Michael. He was much more composed. He looked at her with, could it be? Admiration? A slight curve to his lips. He put his hand on Killian's shoulder in comfort and nodded slightly to Samantha. With a flutter of her lips and a wave of her hand, they disappeared into the Human World.

"You can't do everything you just said with a wave of your hand!" came a screeching voice from the crowd.

"Lilith? Are you still here?" laughed Tyler.

Samantha rolled her eyes. Figures, she thought with a huff. She turned to find the face that matched the voice and rested her eyes on Lilith. She squinted her eyes and saw Lilith's eyes grow wide. Samantha raised an eyebrow. Lilith raised her hands to her neck and let out a garbled sound. Samantha relaxed her hold. "Any thing else you'd like to say?"

"No," said Lilith with a shuttering sigh.

"Very good then," said Samantha. "We've had a trying day today. Let us take some time to reflect. Talk to your friends. Build some places for our new residents," she glanced toward the Freefolk. "We can have further discussions later. For now, I need to rest. Tyler?" Tyler was at her side and took her hand. They walked to the Hobbit House together intending a much needed rest and discussion.