Tera could see her own reflection in the jagged shard of the mirror Elise clutched in her hand. She noted for a moment how hard her face looked. There was an intensity there that surprised her, a harshness that she never would have suspected. It provided an interesting perspective on how others perceived her in such moments.
"Let it go," Tera said in a calm but hard tone, as she shifted her gaze to Elise's eyes. She found a wild feral energy within those blue depths that surprised her. Normally such zealous fervor was reserved for religious fanatics bent on joining whatever god they prayed too.
"No, no, must complete final duty, please just let me go," Elise said in a growling tone.
Tera could feel the young womans blood flowing from her palm. It oozed over her hand. The warm fluid slipping between the tightly clenched fingers which held Elise's wrist in an iron grip.
"You don't have to do this, someone is making you do it, fight it, fight it"
Tera's words came out in short clipped bursts as the women struggled. Tera could see the pain in Elises' eyes, knew that its source was not the shard of glass digging into her palm as much as whatever phantom held sway over her soul.
Sims burst into the room.
Moving quickly behind Elise his arms wrapped around her. His hands joining Tera's at her wrist.
Elise's eyes cleared and softened for a moment, she locked her gaze with Tera's.
"Please, it's ok, it's for the best...I'm...so tired of fighting him, just let it end..."
Elise's voice trailed off in a whisper as the softness faded from her eyes, replaced once again with the burning fury of overwhelming need.
Tera would always remember that soft lament, the pleading, broken quality of it, the way it touched her soul.
Sims shifted his weight, trying to get a better hold on the woman's wrist. He misjudged her strength.
Shifting the trio's balance he lost his grip and fell backwards, the girl and Tera falling hard to the floor, the jagged mirror trapped between them.
............
Valerie felt Michael's hand tense in hers.
The pressure, painful one moment and then gone the next as he broke into a dead run, heading for the castle.
"Michael!"
Valerie screamed as she started running after him. An immediate sense of foreboding cloaking her soul.
Nigel saw Michael and Valerie walking, noted the watchers behind them. And then Michael was off like a shot, bobbing and weaving through the heavy crowd heading towards the house.
Nigel keyed his com as he followed Michael, who was now trailed at some distance by Valerie and the watchers.
"Team 3 head to the main house, something is going on."
'I'm getting to old for this,' Ian thought as he ran.
Michael had felt the pain blossom in the pit of his stomach. It was a deep cloying thing that came over him with such speed and intensity that he was almost brought to his knees by it.
The crowd seemed bent on stopping him as he moved through them with as much speed as he could.
Finally getting free of the crowd Michael broke into a sprint as he gained the castle grounds. Running along the west side of the maze he reached out with his senses, trying to get a fix on Tera. He was surprised to find that there were two people he was picking up, one was Tera, she was under stress, her emotions a tight bundle of energy and exertion. The other person was oddly calm. He could sense pain, frustration and rage but also a sense of sweet resignation. It was as if the person was being torn down the middle, neither side having the strength or energy to overcome the emotions that whirled within them.
Michael angled away from the main house. Tera and whoever was in such turmoil were off to the right, within the low building on the other side of the maze.
Two men were at the entrance; they saw Michael coming and immediately went stiff, their eyes becoming hard as their hands moved towards the side arms at their waists.
Michael paid them no mind as he blew by them into the building, coming to a quick halt as he got his bearings before turning left, running down the long hallway. The last door on the right was open, he could hear a wailing cry as he grabbed the doorframe, using it to slow himself and pull him into the room.
Sims was standing over Tera, who had a young woman wrapped in her arms. Her eyes locked on his, he could see the pain and fear playing in their liquid depths.
"Michael,"
Tera's gasped acknowledgement of him brought him to his knees at her side.
"She is going to die Michael, please, help her, it was an accident, she doesn't want this," Tera said. The strain evident in her voice.
Elise's head turned, she looked up, her face ashen.
When she found his eyes, she tensed, her whole body becoming rigid.
"I'm sorry."
Her whispered words echoed in Michael's ears as her eyes slipped closed.
Michael pulled her limp form into his arms. He could feel the warmth of her blood as it oozed over his fingers as he placed his hand over the wound. The shard of mirror had slipped between her ribs, the crimson stain of its entry slowly spreading over her white shirt.
Michael closed his eyes and reached out to her, remembering the feeling of being connected with Tera in the river he sought and found the image of Elise's wound. The mirror had made a deep gash in one lung which was filling up with fluid, her heart was also compromised, the damage was extensive, Michael felt the life ebbing from her. He let the warm energy surround them, felt the power flow into him and through him. Opening the floodgates he let it wash over her, sending it towards her wounds, willing them to heal.
Michael tensed as he felt something else. A dark foreboding presence, malicious, malignant. He expanded his connection with her, linking with her mind. When he did Elise's eyes snapped open. Michael stared into her now opaque eyes as her arms came up, twining around his shoulders.
Tera and Sims both moved to separate the two.
"Don't."
Michael's single word, uttered in a soft but lethal tone stopped both of them in their tracks.
By this time Nigel, Valerie and the rest of the watchers had found their way into the room. All of them stood watching the two figures locked in what could be viewed either as an embrace or a struggle.
Michael was shocked to find the darkness that he did. It was as if something lived within this young woman. Had been spawned there. An entity of pure evil and malice.
"This one is mine," came a hissing voice that seemed familiar to Michael.
Michael concentrated, pouring more energy into his link with the young woman while trying to clarify what he was perceiving.
His vision solidified and he was horrified by what he found.
Before him was the wasted countenance of the young woman in his arms.
Her flesh, gray and withered hung loosely over her form. Her hair a matted greasy tangle. Her eyes nothing more than black holes looking at him from an almost skeletonised skull. Behind this monster another version of the young woman cowered. Her face pale but illuminated by a faint ivory glow. Never had Michael encountered anything that radiated such a feeling of pure fear.
