"Will you know when everyone's gone through?" I shouted to her as I dodged a bullet. The guards were firing away, hoping to hit any part of us they could.
"I'm not sure how many people were down there so I don't know how many people were supposed to go through." She said. Her eyes were closed as she concentrated on keeping the portals open. It wouldn't take a genius to tell that she was stressed out in this situation.
"Twelve are to go through the regular portal. Two through the second." I gave her the information and fired another shot at a guard. The bullet hit him in the shoulder and he hid behind one of the machines. My wolf was all too happy at the smell of our enemy's blood. And their fear.
I searched for Mr. Walters but him and several other spectators seemed to be in some sort of panic room off to the corner. Clever.
"Then yeah everyone has gone through." She answered.
"Good, close them." I glanced at her to see her eyes tightly shut and forehead creased.
While paying attention to Ayla I didn't notice when one of the doctors reached up to the computer system and activated the machine. The machine voiceover counted down from three and then my nightmare began.
Ayla's screams filled the room.
"No!" I cried out. But my own screams were deafened by hers. The sound, agony and fear, pierced to my soul.
Since my parents died, I have done awful things. I have killed and tortured. I have left people when they begged me to save them. I have listened to the screams of my victims, of the people I have inflicted upon unbearable pain. I know what I'm capable of. And I know that their screams will never haunt me the way that Ayla's will.
Her eyes were wide open, searing with pain. I couldn't look away, I watched with horror the moment her golden eyes dulled to a pale yellow and she slumped over in the chair. Her screams no longer echoing in the room.
But now a new sound filled the air. A consistent beep coming from the vile machine itself to alert us that the process had been successful and it had harnessed her powers.
"Alya?" I whispered and shifted closer to her. She whimpered and rolled her head to the side, the tears dripping to the floor didn't escape my notice.
"You will pay for this. You will suffer for everything you have done." I directed the words to Walters who still stood behind the protection of the safety glass in the left corner of the room.
I turned back around and quickly fired off shots at the remaining three guards who were too stunned by what just occurred to take cover. Walking around to look for the guard I shot in the shoulder earlier, I found him hiding beneath a computer system. He opened his mouth to beg no doubt, but I pulled the trigger before he had the chance. Walters and the other doctors were just watching me with confusion and fear.
I crossed the room back to Ayla, who was trembling and too weak to get out of the restraints.
"I am sorry, I failed. These powers bring nothing but destruction and problems. They're a curse, I wish I never had them. I am weak." She cried. "It hurts Emma." She faced her head to the side so I couldn't see her tears. My anger flared up all over again.
"You have nothing to be sorry for. You are a hero." Beep. "You saved all of those children." Beep. "You saved my mate." Beep. And then the awful machine, the one that has devastated and ripped away a part of this girl, would give what it had taken.
"And now I am going to save you."
She glanced over at me between tear soaked eyelashes but I didn't pay attention, I was too busy removing her restraints.
"What are you doing?" She asked meekly as I set her on the floor, resting her against one of the chairs.
"Everything is going to be okay." I walked over to the operating panel and activated the machine.
I sat in the chair that was occupied by Ayla moments before. She gasped.
"No, Emma! These powers are cursed. Just let them have them." Ayla went to move but was still in pain.
"No. For once we are the good guys, and we are finishing what we started." The machine was firing up and from the corner of my eye I saw Walters yelling in the small panic room. Him and the other observers were trying to get out.
The machine voiceover counted down just as it had with Ayla. Three, this is definitely going to hurt. Two, I will kill all of the bastards in this place. One, I hope Tristan made it back safely.
And then the worst pain I had ever felt tore through my entire body. It shot through my entire body and exploded in a blinding whiteness. There was a moment I thought I had died, but just went the pain was at it's worst, it dulled and I could almost blink away the pain.
When my eyes came back into focus Ayla was still leaning against the chair softly crying. Walters looked horrified and desperate to escape. He looked at me like I was a predator who hadn't eaten for days and he was the meal. And he was right. I wanted blood.
"You shouldn't have done that. The powers are a curse and you don't know how to use them." Ayla cried.
"You're wrong. They're a gift, they are your gift. And I do know how to use them." She looked up at me confused.
"Ayla, you were given these abilities for a higher cause. You are not normal, embrace that. Your parents weren't normal and they didn't try to be anything but who they were. And they wouldn't want you to be anything but you are. Your mother worked for the agency and left when she had you. She left behind several books and I took the initiative and stole them because they don't belong to the agency, they belong to you. I studied them and thought I would give them to you when you grew into your powers."
"Did you know my parents?" She asked, but a large bang drew our attention away. The crowd with Walters had started to throw objects against the door in an attempt to get out. Apparently Walters figured it would be safer to stay in the panic room and would not give up the key.
"That is a conversation for another time. It is time for this place to see its end and for us to make our way home." I bent down and hooked her arm around my neck, ignoring the hiss of pain she let out. It was a struggle for her to stand because she was in so much pain so she was leaning heavily into me.
I concentrated and through all the anger I was feeling found a peaceful center, "Asmotos dienva." A light purple dome appeared over the two of us. Ayla looked impressed and slightly suspicious, "you actually know how to use the powers."
" I didn't plan to take your powers. I studied the books to learn about you so that I could help you as you were growing up. I had and still have every intention of giving you the books. They belong to you." My answer seemed to appease her for the time being so I carried on.
"Walters!" I shouted to get his attention. He looked over at me, along with every other person in the room.
I thought for a moment, why not play it up. "On behalf the Realms Protection Agency, you are found guilty of negligence, endangerment, kidnapping, torture, and attempted murder. You and everyone in this entire organization are being sentenced to death for your crimes."
I have never truly seen someone's face go white as a ghost but the horror on his face knowing I was the judge, jury and executioner brought me some of the greatest joy I had ever experienced, almost euphoria.
"It is time for you to pay for what you have done. I will have your life." And before I even started the incantation, the other observers started screaming and lunged at Walters to get the key.
"Descenium Incencenta." Even through the protections of the force field around us, I could feel it in the air. The raw power of the spell. All the books left by Ayla's mother, there was always the one. The book that drew you in because you knew it contained what was forbidden.
The ground beneath started to shake and a blue light appeared before us. I only saw it for a brief moment, maybe half a second, just long enough to know that it was there. Then it was gone. And so was the building. The light exploded, encasing us. It devastated everything it touched. It was blindingly fast, I didn't even see Walters and the others perish in the destruction.
The ground crumbled below us, falling away. Our dome turning into a floating sphere amid all the destruction.
"It's time for us to go." I looked down at Ayla but she had either fallen asleep or passed out from the pain and exhaustion.
I opened a portal to Tristan's and walked us both through. I didn't look back, I knew there would be nothing left. The devastation overtaking the entire block of where the building stood. You do what needs to be done to protect those you love.