The Storm Ahead

thirteen

     I sucked in a deep breath as I looked to the stranded building that was barely standing in front of me. The late day sun was fading to night, and rain clouds began to move in. By the look of it, a storm would be raging through CadenBay in mere minutes. 

     I pushed myself out of the car, taking a breath to make peace with the sacrifice I had planned. I made my way to the door under an old, ripped awning. I pushed through it and put all my effort into not to flinch at the darkness inside. I lifted my hands and felt along the walls. My hands felt an opening at the wall, and my foot felt a lift. Stairs. I fumbled, trying to make my way up. After tripping twice, I made my way to the top and noticed an open door at the end of the hall. I let out a heavy breath and walked through the door. Inside the room, two men stood by a window, occasionally glancing at a closed door on the side of the room. I walked inside. Their eyes moved to my face, and the first man let out a laugh while the others eyes raked my body. 

"You came," Said the first, his gravelly voice only deepening the pit in my stomach. 

"You didn't leave me with much of a choice," I replied. 

"You shouldn't have sent the boy," The second said, I recognized his voice from the phone call, "That was naughty."

"You don't have to do this,"

"That's where you're right," The second man said with a sickening grin.

"We want to," The first added. 

"Are you really going to let a woman who is so cowardly that she doesn't do what she wants done herself, tell you what to do? A woman who preys on innocent people for no reason? A woman who seems to want me so bad, but she won't just come here herself? This is ridiculous. You all take people I love, and force me to come here, and trade my life for theirs. You just volunteer to carry out whatever the hell she wants, without ever having to be here herself-"

"That's quite enough, Caroline. If you want me, you've got me."

     The woman I turned to see was nothing like the face I had imagined. Her skin was a warm brown, and her hair was a dark coffee brown pulled into a loose messy braid. She wore ripped jeans with a black sweater an heals. But perhaps the most unpredicted part of her, she looked my age, her green eyes precise and full of life.                                                                                                                She took a step closer to me and I could see calculations running behind her green eyes. Her smile was dark and unforgiving. She looked at me with a disgust and hatred that I just couldn't understand. The woman in front of me was one I had never met before. What could I have possibly done to a woman I don't even know, that would enable her with a hatred strong enough to want my life. 

"Beatrice," I growled.

She let out a chilling laugh. 

"Give them to me,"

"Don't go making demands now, little witch," She replied calmly.

"So help me god, if they're hurt, i'll kill you,"

"I wouldn't make threats if I were you," She said and gestured to the door, where two more men walk out. 

     The first man drags a bloody boy, and the second walks with Leo, a knife held to his throat. The first man throws Aiden to the ground, his beaten body slumping on the floor. Leo's body is limp against the man, bruises spotting his skin. I rush forward but one of the other men grabs me from behind and pulls me back against him. 

"Don't touch her," Aiden growls, spitting out blood on the floor. 

"Let me go!" I struggled against him and pulled away from him. 

Beatrice stepped closer to me ad I felt bile rise in my throat. 

"Get away from me," I spat. 

"Choose."

My stomach dropped.

"W-what?"

"Choose."

Anger rises up in place of every other feeling I felt. 

"No." I said loudly, pulling against the man holding me still. 

"Choose," She said again, a new edge in her voice, "or they both die."

"Ik beheers de nacht, ik roep het licht op" Someone whispers. 

I look for the source but no one else acts like they heard it. 

"Ik beheers de nacht, ik roep het licht op" The voice said louder.

"Y-you can't be serious." I said, my voice shaking. 

 "I can assure you I am,"

"Ik beheers de nacht, ik roep het licht op" The voice shouted and I remembered the voice from the kitchen and the effect of the words it told me.

"Ik beheers de nacht, ik roep het licht op" I shouted and shielded my eyes from a burning light that made its way into the room. I felt it's heat touch me, but it didn't burn. I heard the guards scream and snapped my eyes open to see their eyes burn out and their body fall, nearly crumbling apart. The light faded away and I stood from my crouching position. I looked to Beatrice, who apart from my boys and I, was the only one unharmed. 

     I snarled at the woman stood in front of me and began stalking towards her, she took a step back and sent me back a glare as deadly as my own. 

"This isn't over," She said, before she disappeared into the dark. I thought about searching for her, but one look at my injured boys pushed the thought away. I rushed towards them. I pulled Leo over to me and he leaned against my shoulder, and I dragged Aiden into my lap. Both boys were seemingly half dead, and my mind scrambled to find a solution. Tears slid down my face as I looked to Aiden's closed eyes, my guilt taking over my brain and I frantically tried to wake him up, begging him to just look at me.

"Aiden, Aiden please wake up," I said as I shook him, trying to hold in the sobs raking through my body. I put my hand on his cheeks and shook him again and when his eyes opened I was met with a vibrant gold. My body lurched back and I grasped at Leo, trying to keep him from falling. "Y-you're like me-"

"I-i-" He choked and sputtered in his attempts to speak. 

"Shh, we can talk about it when you're better, we can talk about it soon. I'm going to get you boys out of here."

I stood up and tried to decide which to take down fist, but quickly decided neither of the two were leaving my sight. I pulled both up, and quickly had two boys, one on each side, leaning on me. The stairs were the worst part, full of stumbling on them and struggling to see in the dark and fighting to carry their combined weight. When I finally got down to the car, I put the boys in the back seat, and allowed myself to fall against the car for a moment. I was nearly heaving, my breath ragged and heavy. I could feel my body shaking, but with a look towards them, taking in their condition, I quickly realized the worst was yet to come. 

I still had to save them.