There was a dim glow in the darkness, pulsing like a thread of a heartbeat. I couldn't tell where it came from, but I focused on it like a moth to a flame. I watched as the slow throbbing glow began to form in front of me into an orb. My eyes were unblinking and curious as my body took shape around me.
I lifted a pale hand towards the glow in a daze, feeling light and nearly nonexistent.
"What a delicately beautiful thing, you think?" A familiar voice said quietly. There was no responding fear throughout me. I lowered my hand slowly, looking beyond the glow to see the form of a man standing just on the other side. His eyes were a pale silver-blue. His skin was wrinkled with age and his face held a history of power, wisdom, and kindness. "It's interesting how such small, pretty things can turn out to be so lethal."
I glanced from Desmond's father the First Elder, the man who initiated the last incantation, to the glowing orb carefully.
"Am I dead?" I asked him uncertainly.
"For now," He answered calmly. "Are you afraid, Katia?"
I was surprised he called me by my name rather than that dreaded title; Phoenix. I shook away my surprise and focused on his question thoughtfully. After a moment, I shook my head carefully.
"What is this?" I asked, indicating to the glowing orb.
"That's your heart," the First Elder told me simply, watching the warm glow with a sliver of sadness passing his features. I took his answer and touched my chest with concern, as if there would be a hole where my heart was supposed to be now that it was in front of me. But my body was intact. "Do not fear. Things are different in this darkness. You will understand over time."
I frowned, looking at him once again. It was strange to see him in front of me. His face was one of many that crossed my mind when I looked in the mirror. His memories were vibrant within my subconscious. His soul and his power helped create me. In a way, I felt a familial attachment to him.
I recalled Desmond's last attack against me and frowned further.
"You probably are disappointed in me. I wasn't able to do as you or the others wanted for me to do," I told him with deep sadness. He smiled, surprising me.
"And what exactly did you think we wanted you to do?"
I hesitated. "To surrender to the Exodus coven. If not that, to avenge your deaths."
"I'm surprised you gained such a straightforward answer with so many souls pouring themselves into your existence," The Elder stated with amusement. I knew what he meant. When I thought about it, there were much more desires behind those that died in that massacre than revenge and purpose.
"You are perfect, Katia," He told me sincerely. "We wanted, more than anything, to live. Nothing you could do would have disappointed us. Whether you went to the Exodus coven, stayed away to marry and have children, or remained with the Genesis castaways."
The glowing orb between us shifted, dimming dangerously. I started and looked to it with concern. The warm glow was changing in front of me, darkening just slightly into a more blackened crimson color. I reached for it before withdrawing my hand.
"You already know what to do," The Elder said knowingly, watching me quietly. For some reason, I did know. I reached for the orb again, feeling a sensation of dark power as my hands cupped it lovingly.
"I wish it didn't have to come to this," We said in unison. I moved the orb to my chest protectively, hugging it to myself. As the orb touched my chest, it easily shifted through my flesh, entering the center of my body where it belonged. The dangerous glow spread throughout me dominatingly, sparking bright over my skin ominously, and then the light was darkened into one of black crimson. The golden words blackened into ink, dripping over me like poison.
I closed my eyes, inhaling slowly and powerfully.
When I opened my eyes, I felt entirely different. The first thing I saw was the ceiling of the abandoned theater. I could hear cries of pain and anguish around me, but there was no more fear to be felt within me.
I easily lifted myself from the floor of the stage slowly, as if too quick of a movement would shatter the world around me. My eyes traveled without concern over my skin, where the black crimson glow was continuing to spread over me dangerously. It pulsed with deathly power. I could feel it from the core of my heart to the surface of my skin.
I stood with ease, tilting my head to the sky as I sighed loudly with content. The now-useless bracelets on my wrists snapped to pieces, falling to the floor around me. There was a sudden responding silence. I slowly turned my head, taking in the view around me. I initially noted a lot of blood. From what I could discern, after taking my magic, Desmond had released everyone and was easily striking them down with each attack they launched towards him. He had Sebastian in his grip, a hand in his chest as if preparing to rip his heart out. Leanna was unharmed, no doubt only participating as an audience. And now they all watched me with disbelief.
"You can't be...," Desmond began. I looked at his hand and the heart he held was suddenly like grasping at the burning sun. Desmond hissed with pain and surprise, ripping his hand from Sebastian. Sebastian fell to the ground in agony, heart intact, and Desmond turned on me with anger and disbelief. "You can't be alive. I took it all."
Desmond's skin was bright with the Genesis power. I couldn't feel the warmth that power gave. My own skin was dark with cold magic, the pain of it like an illness. But I wasn't concerned. As I watched, I could see the glow of his skin begin to darken, mirroring my own flesh.
"You did," I answered, my voice the throaty one of the Phoenix. "But your father made sure your greed would be rewarded kindly. If you had resisted even the last drop, you would have lived. If you had found satisfaction in the temporary, you would have been given an eternal reward of exceptional abilities. But you, you took it all. And so you will feel the poison you cursed on your coven; on your family."
Desmond coughed mildly, looking perplexed. His gaze glanced from me to his own skin, only just taking notice of the poison beginning to claim his power with ease. He looked bewildered and then angry.
"You... you were poison," Desmond said with realization. He lifted his hand to use that power against me, but just as the Heart of the Phoenix took from the Genesis coven on that horrible night, it took from him now. His power was diminished. Desmond growled with frustration. "I'm still a vampire. I've killed you once, I can do it again."
Desmond suddenly lunged at me with supernatural speed. I took a step to the left nonchalantly as he flew past me. He attacked again just as quickly and I dodged with ease. He swiped at me with dangerous claws and I ducked, twisted, and teleported out of reach.
"Leanna," He roared angrily. She giggled, pleased to be called on to assist. Desmond lunged for me again and I danced around him, twirling as Leanna swung for me and missed. I teleported around them; staying just enough in reach to allow them to dance on the stage with me.
And then Leanna swung one of those nasty punches at me as I dodged Desmond. I was intrigued by that fist of hers which had caused me so much pain over those past nights. I reached for it almost like a small girl reaching to pick a bright flower from a field. My hand clasped around hers, halting her punch with ease as if it she hadn't used her vampire strength at all.
"Poor little Leanna," I mused curiously, looking at her fist in my grip curiously. Desmond charged at me and I put out the palm of my other hand, knocking him away like swatting an irritating fly. I looked to Leanna again who suddenly didn't look so excited to be where she was. "Look how weak you are."
I swung my other hand around, driving it up and into her arm. A bone snapped and she screeched in pain. I released her, watching her jump away in panic. She gripped her broken arm painfully before snapping it back into position. I watched her pleased expression as she realized I hadn't done much to harm her that her vampirism couldn't fix.
And then the skin of her arm began to turn black.
"What?" She said with confusion. Her flesh began to peel back as if it were melting. She cried out with terror as the meat of her arm sizzled away into nothing. "What did you do?!"
In panic, she attacked me again. I twisted easily, reaching for her other arm without hesitation. I held her to me as she struggled, her burned arm nearly completely gone at this point. The remaining arm began turning black in my grip and she screamed in horror.
"See you on the other side," I whispered quietly, tracing my fingertip over her cheek carefully. The dark burns seeped deep into her, boiling her insides and choking her voice from allowing further screams. I watched as she disappeared into nothing in front of me. And then I turned slowly to Desmond.
He was kneeling where I had knocked him away to, the familiar poison having enveloped his body as quickly as it had taken the Genesis coven. I watched him a moment as he coughed, trying to expel it from himself.
"I would do it again," Desmond said abruptly, a low laugh escaping him. "I would kill all of them all over, just to hear those wonderful screams again." I knew he meant to scare me with those evil words, but I didn't fear him anymore. I approached him carefully.
I lowered myself in front of his kneeling form, reaching out to cup his face in my hand almost adoringly. He glared at me defiantly, preparing for the same end I had given Leanna. But Desmond wouldn't go as she had.
"Dizzy," I cooed affectionately, recalling the features of his face as a toddler; the smile in his eyes despite his troubling personality. Even a man as evil as him was innocent once. I pet his face slowly, "My bullheaded Dizzy."
Desmond looked stunned momentarily, his face blank as he stared into mine.
"I forgive you," I told him quietly, though it wasn't my soul that spoke those words. The Elder watched him through me. Desmond's features set into one without emotion.
"I don't want your damned forgiveness," He snarled unpleasantly.
"And yet, you still have it," I responded simply before leaning forward to kiss his forehead. As my lips brushed his flesh, the light of my power began to travel over him, moving back into me as though I were feeding on him as he had me. I felt him spasm with pain, gasping and trying to refrain from screaming as the warmth left him with nothing more than that poisonous agony.
I pulled away from him quietly, watching as he died slowly and excruciatingly. A part of me wanted to finish him quick, pained by his own agony, but another part of me knew this was a necessary death. And so I let the poison take him until the last thing I heard from him was a dying scream to match those that died by his doing.
I closed my eyes momentarily, feeling the warmth of my power now fully returned to my form. And yet the blackened crimson glow of my flesh remained dangerously. I frowned, looking down at myself with confusion. What more did the Phoenix want?
"Katia," Levi's voice called me with concern. I turned to look at my vampires. Each of them were injured in some form, no doubt by Desmond's magic and therefore would take a bit of work to heal. I stood carefully, confused still by my state.
"You are a badass," Miles was the first to say with obvious pride.
I smiled with humor, opening my mouth to reply. My words were halted when a sudden pulse rippled through each of them, the only exception being Theo. Sebastian reached for his chest with hesitation and Oliver winced. Jax frowned as he looked at his hands. Miles touched his skin where a sudden black ink was beginning to flourish over it.
"Oh this isn't good," Levi said before swiftly collapsing to his knees in pain.
I was instantly there, reaching for him and then for the others with horror.
"No," I cried out, feeling the black crimson pulsing through me powerfully. "No, it can't take you as well! Why?" I grasped at Sebastian, who was watching me with a look so intense I nearly lost what breath I had.
"Katia," He said, reaching for my face sweetly. "We fed from you, too."
"You didn't take everything," I shook my head desperately. "You didn't hurt me. I wanted you to feed from me. I wanted you to!"
Oliver laughed abruptly, wincing in pain.
"It was their trap," Oliver said, addressing Sebastian, "She kept offering herself. The more we fed from her, the more of us would die once one of us went too far. Genesis is hardcore, but I guess we deserve this one."
I stood up, backing away in fear. I looked at my flesh and then began scratching at my skin as if I could rip that blackened ink from me.
"Stop it!" I cried out to myself, to the Phoenix, or the coven; whoever would hear it. I clawed at myself viciously, screeching at the resulting pain and not stopping when my power swirled around me furiously. None of it touched me or backfired as it would have before. It erupted around me, tearing at the foundation of the theater and sparking a flame around the stage.
"Katia, stop!" Jax cried out. A glance in his direction revealed the black poison snaking over his skin so dangerously. I grasped my head with panic.
"Stop it!" I screamed at the power within me. The flames enveloped the theater around me further, fueled by my agony and anger. I ignored the smoke rising around us, fighting that power within me. Even if I had to die to stop it, I would accept it, but the Phoenix within me wouldn't accept such a request.
I felt my legs go weak beneath me. I began to fall and suddenly was caught. Theo was holding me to him, his features guarded as he watched me. I paused, all my panic evaporating under his grip as I looked at his unmarked skin.
"You never fed from me," I whispered with relief, reaching for him carefully. His skin was so cold against mine, but at the moment I was glad. I was glad he wasn't from the Genesis coven and that their revenge wouldn't take his life as well.
"I never will," Theo assured, echoing a promise he'd made before.
"I'll die with them. If not today, then soon after I've lost their touch forever," I told him, tears beginning to build in my eyes as I acknowledged this.
"I know," Theo replied.
"I can't make it stop," I wept with deep agony, hating myself because of this.
"I know," He answered again, his voice empty.
"Theo, no!" Sebastian cried out, recognizing something I couldn't in that moment.
Theo pulled me closer to him, clasping my lips with his softly. I lost my breath, closing my eyes. And suddenly I lost my breath for an entirely different reason. I felt something pierce my chest deeply, causing my eyes to fly open in surprise.
I expected pain, but I only felt numb. The power within me seemed to halt as if more shocked than I was at the action. I felt it recede within me, pulling from my flesh in a way my own self-attack was unable to do. And then I felt utter relief.
"Thank you," I managed as my head fell back and my world warped around me into something incoherent and unexplainable.
Theo, as promised, did what none of the others had been able to do. As I lost consciousness, I wondered if I would find the Elder in this darkness or if there would be something else, or nothing else, waiting for me. However, where I went was no concern to me... as long as those I loved didn't follow.
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Music: Arise Like Fire by Fired Earth Music