A Touch Of Lightning (COMPLETED!)

Chapter 42 Powers and Ties 3

Chapter 42 Powers and Ties 3

Ahleena turned slowly, locking Callin in place with the force of her presence.

"She is dead to you. She is not the girl you knew." She stated flatly. "And sheath your claws. You're bleeding on the floor."

Callin gritted his teeth, feeling like his fangs were burning white hot in his mouth. The thought of Ahleena killing Mirage made him feel like his world was unraveling, like he was living in a nightmare. And what was that comment he had overheard on his way here about Jacob turning Ahleena into a Rift Wraith?!

"I don't care! Don't touch her, Ahleena!" He snarled, stalking forward, not really sure what he was going to do, but feeling like he better do something!

"I am going to kill that foul creature, Callin. I'm going to wipe that blight on reality right off the face of the earth, like she never existed. Because it needs to be done. And because you're too weak to do it yourself."

Callin stopped short, her words cutting deep. They were all true, and so much more honed for it, razor edges slicing into him and leaving his control in tatters. Mirage really was a Rift Wraith, a creature so against reality she shouldn't even be allowed to exist.

The thought of any Rift Wraith being allowed to run free made his stomach curdle, a deep, hollow ache that spread its poison touch to his spine and sent fingers of ice tickling over every nerve ending. But the moment his thoughts turned to Mirage, all he saw was the girl he loved. The girl that had held him close, held him together, sacrificed herself for him. He couldn't imagine killing her, or anyone killing her for that matter.

"It won't help, Ahleena. You know this, right?" Jacob asked quietly.

Ahleena turned slowly to face him, moving almost like a cobra about to strike. Callin felt the energy in the room suddenly ratchet up to a level that made his arm hairs stand on end. Apparently Jacob didn't really trust Ahleena at the moment.

Callin thought of the coldness in her eyes when she stated she would kill Mirage and shivered. He didn't trust her right now, either. The seething rage he could feel in her through their link was so dark, so powerful, that it was unimaginable that she was controlling it instead of it controlling her. But he could feel that, too.

He could feel that she was harnessing it, holding it ready inside her mind, like a weapon. Like that white-hot spear her mind became when she became the Ninja. Except this was so dark, so full of hatred, that it was impossible to imagine, impossible to allow his mind to dwell on it. What horrific damage was it wreaking inside her mind, to hold something so bitter so close?

"Of course it will help. There will be one less Rift Wraith tainting the world." Her voice was harsh and wrapped in steel, the sound of boiling rage barely contained.

"Yes. One less Rift Wraith in the world. And yet another inside your mind, tearing you apart." Jacob said calmly, only the flickering lights in his storm-gray eyes betraying the level of sheer destructive power he held ready.

Ahleena arched one eyebrow slightly, dismissively. As if his words mattered so little to her that she could barely even really arch an eyebrow.

"What is one more? You will kill both of us anyway."

Jacob leaned forward, sudden anger giving him a fierce presence that filled the room and made Callin instinctively drop into a battle crouch.

"I will not! If you want your inner self to become a Rift Wraith to kill a Rift Wraith, you can live with yourself afterwards." He said, his voice rippling with power, making objects all around the room vibrate slightly, as if even physical things were shivering in the face of such power.