Evelyn Earth Part 46

I was torn between scenarios. If I made myself known and confronted Audrey then we would most likely end up in a stand-off. I couldn’t guarantee that I would prevail in a one on one fight with her so that was out of the question. I couldn’t risk my life for someone that was already dying especially when I had an important job to do.

I could simply turn around and walk away, pretend like I hadn’t even come up here to look for them, but I had already gotten rid of the front door—a dead giveaway that someone had been in the house.  

The only thing I could really do that would cause the least disturbance to our plans was to combine the two scenarios. I slowly made my way back down the stairs and stood in empty doorway.

“HELLO!” I shouted, “time to get up lovers, everyone is waiting for you back at the well!” I placed my hands on my hips and assumed an annoyed expression, which fluctuated between nervous anticipation and worry. Audrey’s flame red hair flounced down the stairs followed by a flowing summer dress and ending in the slap of bare feet.

“Is it time?” she asked casually. Her Asiatic features were perfectly controlled and didn’t give anything away.

“Yes” I answered. I hoped that my own features mimicked hers and after a moments silence she seemed to accept that everything was as it should be. I hesitated before asking her if Gerard was with her.

“After I wouldn’t sleep with him he stormed off. Boys” she sighed, “always want one thing.” I nodded in feigned understanding and turned to walk down the pathway away from the horror filled house. I heard her fall in behind me and we quietly made our way back to the well. I chanced a look at the house and thought I could see Gerard’s face in the upstairs window. I clenched my fists and quickly looked down at the road.

I was doing the right thing. There would be time to deal with Audrey after we had accomplished the cleansing of the city. The fact that I had left Gerard alive and not put an end to his tortured state ate away at my insides with every step I took. The first blast of power I sent out would be directed at that house. Freeing him from life would be the first act of my cleanse.

Everybody else was waiting for us next to the well. No one said a word as Audrey and I joined them, only Sebastian’s eyes asked the question; where was Gerard?

“Did Gerard tell you which house he would be spending the night in?” I asked Audrey before he could.

“No” she replied curtly. Even though her looks were ice cold her voice gave away the fact that she was a bad liar.

“We can’t start until we’ve found him” Sebastian said.

“I’m sure he would have gone into one of the houses on this street” Audrey said, “as long as we don’t touch them he’ll be fine.” She smiled a megawatt smile, but Travis was the only one to return it. He seemed to be dumbstruck by her allure, but Sebastian looked like he was about to protest. Before he could say anything I took hold of his hand “you ready?” I asked. In the nanosecond that we were connected I showed him the scene of the bedroom. I felt his grip tighten, but he composed himself admirably.

“Let’s do it then. Okay lads stay under that tree there and don’t move.”

“That’s it?” Sloan said.

“Yeah that’s it. Just stay out of the way and don’t bloody move unless you want to get killed.”

“Yes boss” Izwan whispered before going to sit beneath the large maple tree that grew on the nature strip of the street. The whole road was lined by them and I could imagine how it would look after the cleanse—beautiful. Travis followed and after a moment of silent rebellion Sloan slunk off as well.

Sebastian was angry and I could see the edges of his black miasma emanating from his body. In a way it was good. He could utilize that anger to strengthen his power. Audrey looked positively ecstatic.

“How are we going to do this?” she asked excitedly.

“The obvious thing would be to connect to the Earth first and then to connect with each other” I offered, “once we establish those connections the Mother’s vengeance should become one entity within us and then we could use it to clear the city of all man-made materials.”

“Should being the key word” she replied chirpily.

“Do you have a better suggestion?”

“No no it was just an observation” she smiled slyly. She stepped towards us and held out her hands. The way she did it was just a tad too eager for my liking.  Her upturned palms had slowly begun to develop black threads that ran up her life line and towards the calluses at the base of her fingers.

Sebastian raised his left hand to place it on top of hers, but I slapped it away. I took a step backwards and he followed my lead albeit with a confused expression on his face. Something wasn’t right about this situation. Audrey cocked her head to the side and took a small step towards us. We took another step backwards.

The air fizzled with tension. It cracked audibly as Sebastian’s miasma inched outwards and my dragon reared its head. Audrey’s face maintained its benign expression, but a slight shift in her stance alerted me to her next move. She sprung up on the balls of her feet and lunged out to grab us. My power had already spread around my body and as a reflex it hardened around me creating a type of body armour.

As Audrey’s hand tried to close over my arm my left hand gripped Sebastian’s and the force field spread to him. I pushed the energy outwards and knocked her off her feet. She landed heavily on her back and her shrill voice screeched out into the distance.

“Her power only acts through her touch” I said, “She’s useless otherwise.”

“USELESS!?” she yelled, “you can’t do this without me and you both know it.” Her voice changed mid sentence from the high pitched honey tinged voice we knew to a grating menacing voice that better reflected her real personality.

I bent down and slid off my boots with my free hand, Sebastian’s dry warm fingers gripped mine firmly as I moved. I felt the hard Earth beneath me and I closed my eyes. I pictured the Mother how I last saw her, sitting on her throne of roots and soil. Her presence flowed into me and I breathed out with her breath. I opened my eyes and I knew that Sebastian had felt the same serenity. He had never had such a deep connection with the Mother and he looked at me with wonderment.

Audrey was no contest for us after all. I felt sheepish for being so afraid of her. As long as she couldn’t touch us she couldn’t hurt us. The only thing was, that she was right. We couldn’t do this without her, but that’s what the Mother’s wisdom was for. Audrey was so fixated on destruction and the corrupted nature of the Earth Mother that she completely missed the essence of the world—life and transference after death.

In death we all returned to the Mother. We returned to her body to become nourishment for future life. If we ended the life of another Earth Warrior their power would essentially revert back into the Earth, unless we intercepted it.

Sebastian made a gripping motion with his left hand and I felt the ground rumble. Audrey’s eyes widened in shock as she realised what was about to happen. She turned to try and run, but Sebastian pulled at the air above the ground creating a mound of hard packed dirt that he sent out towards her in the form of a pointed, jagged peak. It pierced her spine with a subtle crunch that sounded so satisfying to my ears.

I consciously thought of moving next to her leaking body and the air morphed around us until we were standing before her. I placed my palm over her forehead, not touching it, but hovering above her; waiting for the life to leave her body.

She raised her eyes to mine and even in the throes of hatred and anger they stayed the same dull brown. Our Mother had definitely not created her children equally.

As the last of her life blood slid down the Earthy pillar I felt the Mother’s vengeance un-root itself from Audrey’s soul. I placed my palm onto her forehead and let the power transfer into Sebastian and I.