Evelyn Earth Part 42

As they approached us I was tempted to send out a slither of my darkness to brush up against hers, to see what she was thinking, what she was like, but I restrained myself. She would most likely see it as an intrusion on her psyche, and she would be right.

                “Evs you’re alright” Sebastian said smiling as he came up to me. He was about to embrace me until he saw Owen and Manoel standing behind me. Instead we stood facing each other awkwardly.

                “Not as alright as I wish I was” I replied, “but good enough.” My voice wasn’t as warm as it usually was, it was tinged with cold caution and Sebastian picked up on it instantly. After being connected so many times we seemed to be able to sense each other’s emotions without even delving into our darkness.’ He frowned and glanced behind me once again falsely assuming that my discomfort had something to do with my companions and not his.

                “We received your message” the woman said. Her tone was soft and almost musical and took me by surprise.

                “Yeah if it wasn’t for you love, we both would have got sucked into that burning light, but before we get into that this is Audrey, the other Earth Soldier we had been waiting for” he stepped aside to allow Audrey to come forward and greet me. She stepped up before me, but made no move to shake my hand or perform any kind of greeting action.

                “I’m Evelyn and this is Manoel and Owen, my friends.” I looked into her eyes as I spoke and they flicked over to the two boys briefly before coming back to me.

                “I’ve heard a lot about you, Sebastian has shared almost all of your interesting experiences with me” she replied silkily.

                “Sebastian?” I looked over at him with a raised eyebrow and felt the anger ripple over him.

                “I don’t like secrets and Roth was a stupid pseudonym” she whispered before her full lips stretched over her glossy white teeth into a wide smile.

 I looked over to the others and could instantly tell that there had been a shift in dynamic. Sloan was standing with his feet apart with a smug expression on his face whilst Travis and Izwan were off to one side, as far away from everyone else as they could get without wandering off into the rubble. Gerard was closest to Audrey and by the way his eyes kept sliding over her backside I knew that he was either setting his sights on her or they were already together. I wouldn’t put it past the Frenchman two nights would have been plenty of time for him to work his seductive magic.

                 “I see I’ve missed quite a bit while I was away” I said slowly.

                “Seems like we all have” Sebastian muttered; his eyes set on Owen.

                “The trap that was laid for us by the Sun soldiers wasn’t an amateur one” I began. The best way to get through an awkward situation like this one was to get right down to business. “Any of our kind who tried to access the light web could have been lured in by a false cry for help and killed simultaneously with whichever Earth warrior they held captive. I was lucky enough to be pulled out of my connection by Owen” I looked back at him and gave him an encouraging smile, “otherwise I was mentally and physically trapped. And as you can see I didn’t get away scot free either, I got two gaping burn holes to show for my efforts.”

                “Have you seen an angel before?” Audrey asked me, her gaze penetrating mine.

                “No.”

                “Then you don’t know anything” she laughed.

                “I’m not implying that I know everything about them I’m just recounting what happened to me” I bristled. Who did this bitch think she was? “Is there something that I said that was wrong?”

                “Oh darling, don’t get mad. I’ve spoken to one of the angels before and they’re not rational creatures.” She looked at me with a trace of condescending pity that made my dragon stir deep within me.

                “Audrey has shed some light, no pun intended, on the angel situation” Sebastian said, “when we were speculating about them we assumed that they were like us, free-willed human beings with divine capabilities.”

                “So what they’re not human?” I replied quizzically.

                “They do not think like us. They are driven solely by the Sun and His will, kind of like…robots” Audrey cut in, “they were weak people originally, and some of them are even children. Their minds needed to be slightly underdeveloped to be able to be controlled as they are. They get…urges” she paused before continuing slowly as if she was dumbing down a profound theory in order for us to comprehend it. “They have the urge to relocate people, to keep them contained. They also have the urge to kill us. We are their enemies you see. The enemies of humanity and the Sun it needs humans for some reason that I do not fully understand.”

                “It doesn’t need humans” I said. Finally I was able to contribute something that this prissy know-it-all didn’t actually know. “It wants humanity to worship it. Just the same way that the Earth Mother needs humanity to respect and worship Her. That’s the key difference” I looked around at everyone to make sure that they were really listening to what I was about to say.

 “The Mother is dying, we; the wielders of darkness, are her last resort. It is our destiny to save her and to do this we must first unite and then begin the cleansing. This doesn’t have to mean simply killing people, it could mean converting their way of thinking, making them understand the Mother’s need to be respected. The Sun got involved in Her vengeance in the first place because it didn’t want the Mother to destroy mankind because that would mean there would be no one left to worship him. He doesn’t really care about mankind’s survival, living conditions or way of life, He just wants their adoration.”

“That’s heavy man” Travis mumbled, “but it makes sense yeah.”

“You think this is a war based on theology?” Audrey giggled.

                “Why the fuck are you laughing!” I yelled. My voice bounced off the surrounding crumpled walls.

                “It’s funny” she continued to chuckle, “you’ve come up with these ridiculous theories when all along our purpose has been simple—destroy.”

                “Calm down Evs, we all have our own opinions on what’s going on in the world, and beyond” Sebastian waved his hand up towards the sky.

                “Opinions!?” I shouted, my blood was circulating through my veins at a rapid speed and I could feel my eyes bleeding out with darkness, “that’s not a fucking opinion, an idiot could have worked out that we’re destroyers. What I’m trying to make you all understand is how we can make the future fucking plausible!”

                “The future has nothing to do with us you hyped up little bitch” Audrey took a step towards me and I saw the deep fury in her eyes as they too were consumed with darkness.

                Before she could take another step I gathered a round mass of energy into my hand and flung it square in her face. The surprise she experiences was palpable as her head snapped backwards and she was sent reeling into Gerard who deftly stepped aside and let her land on her back.

                “Jesus Christ Evs we’re all on the same team here” Sebastian sounded exasperated, but he made no move to help Audrey up. I looked into his jade green eyes and he was worried. I walked over towards him and heard Owen protest as Manoel moved to follow me. I held out my hand, palm facing up and he hesitated before placing his hand down onto mine.

                My mind delved into his from our point of fusion and I saw the last two days flit by. I saw Audrey’s power in action and Sebastian’s worry was justified. She was a whole different breed to us altogether.

                “You’ll regret that darling” she said behind me. I turned to her and looked her up and down.

                “I doubt that darling” I mimicked her irritatingly sing song voice, “you know about me, and now I know about you and there is no way in hell I’m ever letting you get close enough to me to use your grubby little hands.”

                What I’d seen in Sebastian’s memory was Audrey’s literally instantaneous destructive powers. They were nowhere near as far-reaching as mine or his were, in fact the only way she could transmit her darkness was by touch alone.

                “The problem with that, pet, is I don’t need to go after you to piss you off” she grinned at Owen and Manoel who had moved off back along the path we had taken only moments ago.

                “Come on girls, no need to fight” Sebastian piped up, but before he could finish his sentence Audrey dashed down the path. She was unbelievably fast, my eyes widened in terror as she gained ground on Owen and Manoel. My eyes locked with Owen’s and I put my palm up to signal for him to stand still. His arm enclosed around Manoel’s shoulder as a layer of thick swirling gloom materialised around them.

                Audrey came up against the wall of liquid night and spun around to look at me. I was standing very still, my right arm was extended before me and my muscles were under so much strain that my hand was almost shaking. There was no visible link between me and the mass of ebony cloud, but it was without a doubt my black energy. I could feel the dark vengeance spreading down my shoulder and across my face creating a fearsome mask. I stared down at the woman who had within the space of ten minutes become the most hated person in my life and I grinned.

                “No use trying red, no matter how fast you run I will always be faster.”

                “Uppity bitch” she said matter-of-factly, “have it your way then.” She slowly strolled back to where the rest of the group was standing open mouthed and wide eyed. Even Sebastian was looking at me with a new kind of respect.

                I pulled back the darkness and it re-absorbed into my body like water in a sponge. Owen was still gripping onto Manoel’s shoulder and the expression on his face was steely yet fractured. That’s when I realised that they couldn’t be a part of what came next. Audrey was like a well-spoken rabid dog, if she got the chance she would lay her hands on one of them and make them disappear. If I was distracted for just one second…I didn’t want to think about it, they would have to leave.   

                I walked up to them and turned my back on the rest of the group.

                “Manoel needs to return to his people today. It’s the fifth day” I said quietly so that no one else could hear us. Owen looked into my eyes, which had returned to normal and nodded in understanding.

                “I’ll go with him and make sure he gets there safely” he said.

                “When you get to Albert Park make sure you keep the people there. Under no circumstances are they or you” I emphasized, “to go into the city. We’ll begin cleansing it as soon as possible, do you understand?”

                “What about the groups scattered around the place? All the people I saw after your last eruption of cleansing power?”

                “Let me worry about that. There was what, roughly fifty, sixty people?”
                “Yeah something like that.”

                “So you’ve got a much larger group of people to worry about, you focus on the seven hundred and I’ll focus on the fifty okay?”

                “I’ll see you soon right Evie?” he looked down at me with worry and longing in his eyes.

                “Right” I smiled up at him. Before he could lean in for a kiss I turned to Manoel and said my goodbyes. We parted reluctantly.