Chapter 7 Deja Vu
Deja Vu
Caden and Iolaire gently put the humans onto the ground. A young woman with blood on her dark-skinned cheek and deep brown eyes filled with tears gazed up at them with awe and gratefulness.
It’s okay now. Well, mostly. Go on. Go home. They gestured for the young woman to run.
Her friend, a young man with the same deep brown eyes, and also spattered with blood, grasped her forearm. He nodded to them and then he and the girl took off into the crowd, who were also running in all directions.
Shift? Iolaire asked as they watched those they saved disappear.
Last time we did that I got us into a lot of trouble, Caden reminded his Spirit. Besides, we need an aerial view to find the naked people aka the Horde. Or what’s left of it.
His mind flashed back on Chione’s still body on the bridge. Part of him wanted to go back there. Iolaire made a soft wounded sound.
Not in our power, Iolaire murmured.
Caden knew what his Spirit meant. Their powers didn’t run to healing. None of the Dragons had the ability to heal. No matter how great they were, that was beyond them all.
She’ll be all right. She has to be, Caden thought.
Iolaire murmured its agreement, but there was worry there.
C’mon, we have to focus. Chione would want us to focus and ice the Horde down!
Iolaire assented eagerly and turned their head towards the fleeing naked butt of what could only be Landry’s eldest brother. His feet slid on the loose dirt in the canyon that the Behemoth had created.
Let’s give him some ice weights to keep him where he is, huh, Iolaire?
Iolaire twittered.
They sent a blast of ice that wound around the young man’s body. When the frost cleared, Landry’s brother was surrounded in a cocoon of ice up to his neck. The Behemoth stared up at him in rage… and fear.
Your time is done, Behemoth, Caden said.
The Behemoth’s eyes narrowed. Not yet. Not done yet.
Their head whipped around at the scream of fear from a child’s throat.
Landry’s other brother held a little boy in front of his naked body.
A cruel smile on his lips that had never been there when a human soul was inside that body.
One of the Behemoth’s hands curled cruelly around the tender throat.
The Behemoth’s hand was so large in comparison that its fingers touched at the back.
The little boy’s tiny hands scrabbled at that big hand as the child fought to breathe.
Iolaire, we need some surgical precision here! Can we do it?
Yes! We are one. We can do much, Iolaire answered.
In his mind, Caden saw ice forming between the Behemoth’s palm and the child’s neck, forcing those fingers apart, but not hurting the little boy.
Let’s do it!
There was no need to use their breath. Ice formed where they willed it. And the Behemoth gave out a startled shout as it lost its grip on the little boy. The child fell down on the ground before the Behemoth, blinking in confusion, as he dragged in frantic breaths.
Go, little one! Caden commanded.
Though the child shouldn’t have been able to hear him--or at least people had not before--this time the little boy did. He nodded and scrambled to his feet. He ran as fast as his little legs would take him.
Let’s shut this one down too, Caden said.
Once more, one of Landry’s brothers was encased in ice.
Two more. Landry and Jasper’s forms, Iolaire told him.
Of course, it would be them, Caden thought and they closed their eyes for a moment. All those people in the Horde and the Behemoth only need four to contain it?
Four with purpose. Four with great desire in their hearts. Four with nothing left to lose, Iolaire explained.
Yeah, Jasper, because he wanted power and respect more than anything. Landry, because she thought by betraying me she had no other place to go. And her brothers, because they love her more than anything and would go wherever she does, Caden realized.
Yes, know now the mistakes they made. Know now that the Behemoth is only death. Soon they will get to repent their choice, but we must not let them cause more death before then, Iolaire said.
Listen to you! Sounding all wise and sage-like. Most I’ve ever heard you say! Caden laughed.
Iolaire then merely twittered, all worded out, but with pride.
Where are they? We need to suit them up with ice, Caden said as they swooped back up into the air.
The wind from their wings caused people to shrink down onto the ground.
The humans covered their faces with forearms and hands.
But they still peeked up at them. Despite the danger, the people couldn’t seem to stay away from them.
Under other circumstances, Iolaire would have been excited because more people meant more pets.
But now it just meant more danger to them.
Humans were fragile and they didn’t want them getting hurt.
They were also giving the Behemoth plenty of potential victims. Caden suppressed a sigh.
They were really going to have After School Specials about what to do when there’s a Dragon attack and how not to run towards the fight.
There! On the roof! Iolaire called.
They turned their head towards the top of the Emporium.
On the roof stood Landry. She was standing on the edge, holding two people, one in each hand, with their feet dangling off the edge.
If they did the same trick they’d done with her brother the humans would fall to the ground, crushed, broken, dead far before they could swoop in and save them.
Landry! Caden cried.
His friend’s face still called to him. Like it had in the street before when they’d overwhelmed him, he couldn’t help the anguish mixed with hope he felt when he saw her. But in her eyes was not the soul of his friend, but the evil of the Behemoth.
We can’t kill her, Iolaire! The only chance Landry has of coming back is for her body to still function, Caden said.
Iolaire twittered. It knew. It understood.
But it also gently pointed out to him that the death of innocents might be the cost to bring Landry back.
Caden’s heart sank. He loved Landry. He would kill to protect her.
But not innocents. She had made a choice.
It had been such a powerful choice that the Behemoth didn’t need most of the Horde to transition in this world but just the four of them.
Oh, gods, Iolaire, I… I don’t know what to do! Caden cried.
Love is what drew me to you, Iolaire whispered.
But… but love isn’t just for a single person. It’s for all people, isn’t it? Caden asked.
Yes.
Such a simple answer. But Caden felt like a hypocrite. If it were Valerius there he would let the humans die. He would mourn them. He would hate the choice. But he would do it. The difference was that there had been a choice for Landry that had led her here.
Let’s find a way… Caden stopped. We can’t… can’t let people die for her. Landry would understand… even if I don’t.
They lowered until their eyes were even with Landry’s. She was smiling. The Behemoth was smiling.
This is over, Behemoth, Caden said again. You are prolonging the inevitable.
I am death. I cannot die, the Behemoth said though Landry’s lips did not move.
That was an interesting thought. The Dragons had “destroyed” the Behemoth before. But it had come back. Maybe it always would. That wasn’t comforting. Not exactly. But that also meant the other Dragons would always come back too. The ones that they had battled and won against.
Maybe you can’t be destroyed, not forever, but this time is done, Caden said. Your little plan is over.
Landry cocked her head to the side as if amused by this. It was almost a look she’d give. But her hair wasn’t covering her eyes. So it wasn’t her.
Maybe you’re right. But I want to make you feel my failure and make it yours, the Behemoth said.
The Behemoth released both of the humans.
Screams came from their throats. They were halfway down the building before Caden could even think to act.
Thankfully, Iolaire was ahead of him--as usual-- and the two humans disappeared in a miasma of frost. When the frost cleared, ice stuck the back of their clothes to the wall.
They hung there, eyes squeezed shut, and mouths open.
Good job, Iolaire! Caden laughed.
But then the clothes ripped. And the humans were falling.
No!
Lunging for them would crush them against the Emporium. And there were no more clothes to freeze. Frozen flesh would not be a good idea. So they made snow. Mounds of it that gave the humans a soft landing.
We got them! They’re okay! Caden cried.
But then he heard the soft footsteps as Landry ran towards the opposite side of the Emporium. Laughing.
Where is she going? Caden asked.
They rose up just as Landry reached the opposite ledge. She turned around to face him. Two flaps of their wings and they were high above the Emporium. Landry’s face tracked them.
What’s the Behemoth doing?
The Behemoth was smiling. And then those eyes changed. The Behemoth blinked. Confusion followed. More blinking.
“C-Caden?” Landry’s voice came out uncertain, but hers.
Landry? Landry?!
Landry smiled broadly. But then, in a flash, for just a second, the Behemoth was back, grinning like a loon, and throwing Landry’s body off of the Emporium.
But then it left her and all the protection being a Shifter gave was gone.
So when she hit the ground, that would be it.
Her skull would crack like an egg. Her organs would splatter inside of her body.
The skin would hold, but everything inside would be broken.
NO!
They sent a blast of ice towards her. It solidified behind her in a slide and then it curled to the ground like a water park ride.
Landry’s body slid down the slide and was ejected from the bottom into a pile of snow.
Caden couldn’t see through the blasts of frost if she was okay.
They landed in the back alley where she was. He saw the pile of snow, but no Landry.
Landry?! LANDRY?!