LAILAH
TWENTY-SEVEN
As Jay and I made our way to the front lines, I couldn’t allow myself to worry about the others.
They were trained to fight, and they now had stronger powers than ever before.
The Dark Lord knew none of this. Taking Jay’s lead, I stood tall when we reached the front entrance to the school.
I could hear the sound of many feet thundering through the air as they approached.
We stopped and let them come to us. What I found interesting was that they were on foot.
If it was me, I would have used large vehicles to bust in and drop a large amount of people off, flooding the space.
Instead, they walked in like they owned the place or they’d already won the battle.
The first wave of the enemy came to a halt and parted, revealing Makoto dressed in all black with a hood pulled up, shadowing his face.
I could feel the darkness in him for the first time.
He was, without a doubt, the conduit for the Dark Lord and had been for quite some time.
The energy that pulsed out of him smacked into me but I lifted my hand, allowing a shimmering wall of my power to block it from pressing on me further.
I didn’t put too much strength into it, not wanting him to know how strong I was just yet. We needed to give the others time.
“We finally get to meet in person, Little Synergy,” the Dark Lord’s voice boomed, filling the space. “My servant has told me much of your visit with him and how you let one of your own men die so you could save yourself.”
“Parker died trying to save me, the way no one else could since he wasn’t bonded to me,” I responded, playing along. Did he really not know that Parker was alive?
“I suppose it wasn’t a hardship to let him die after he betrayed you like that,” the Dark Lord mused, as he turned his head to face Jay.
“Yet you still keep this one with you, even though his father had been betraying the Elementi for decades. Makoto is a man after my own heart, a lover of power, willing to do whatever it takes to have it and keep it. They say children don’t stray far from their parents.
Is that really someone you want to have fighting alongside you? ”
A smile tugged at my lips. “Then it’s a wonderful thing that he takes after his mother, isn’t it? She refused to bow to Makoto’s wishes even if she wouldn’t abandon him. Jay has proven to me time and time again who he is and trust me, he’s exactly who I want at my side right now.”
Snarling came from the shadowed hood as twin green flames glowed but still revealed nothing of his features. “Then I will cherish the tears you spill as I take the soul from his body and eat his heart so that he will never return to this world.”
“Only God can wield that kind of power,” Jay snapped.
“All demons are created from angels that have been cast out of Heaven. They were all of a lower status, unable to act without his permission. Even when demons attack now, they must bow to his rules. I don’t think trapping a soul in Hell for eternity is a power you have. ”
“It seems that you have paid attention in school, but who’s to say what you learned is the truth?”
I scoffed. “Why would we ever believe a word that comes out of your mouth? Demons thrive off lies and half-truths. They are master manipulators, getting humans to do what they need by making it their choice. I don’t doubt that you’ve managed to change things in the history books but the Elementi have followed the truth for generations, ensuring that things won’t be tainted by the likes of you. ”
“Such courage and passion,” the Dark Lord sneered.
“It’s no wonder why the angels chose you to be Synergy, with all that hope and promise flowing through you.
Do you think Makoto is the first person of the Elementi that I’ve turned?
A mission like this isn’t one that you win by moving fast. It’s the long slow game, moving the right pieces in the right places.
No one will ever know who is truly loyal and who isn’t.
People will do just about anything when they are given the right motivation. ”
His words made my mind race, trying to figure out what he was telling me. He had a hidden weapon, I knew it. He was alluding to it, but I couldn’t figure out what the hell it was.
“Why would the angels have sent me if the Elementi didn’t follow the rules they set for them?” I demanded, trying to get more information.
Makoto advanced, his hands clasped behind his back as he moved slowly.
“Because they believed they were doing it for the right reasons. As you said, Little Synergy, we are the masters of deceit. Makoto believes an angel came to him in a dream, telling him his son would be the savior of the world. When it didn’t happen, he turned to me.
There was no angel. It had been me all along, driving his need to gain power and prestige.
Before your dear Air Knight came into his power, Makoto believed in the Elementi, and did all he could to make it protected against the likes of me.
Only when the heavens let him down did it create the perfect opportunity for me to provide my help.
Now I had a man who had more control over the Elementi than the Elementi did. ”
“Who else have you manipulated?” I gasped, realizing that it wasn’t just one person he was talking about, it was many.
“Ah, now she understands.” The Dark Lord chuckled.
“You know about Tabitha already, then there is your Water Knight’s stepmother, the Fire Knight’s aunt, and as for the lost Heart Knight, I had a few people step into his life.
Phoebe was only one of them, but I made sure each one made him believe that he was nothing, would always be nothing, now he is nothing.
Even you tossed him away in the end, leaving him to die alone and painfully. ”
I knew the Dark Lord was trying to hit me where I was most vulnerable and if I didn’t know that half of what he said was a lie, it would have destroyed me.
Parker was alive, I’d saved him, and he had never been nothing to me.
“So, what now? Here we are, laying all the cards on the table, spilling all the secrets, knowing that one of us won’t make it out alive. ”
“Do you really think you can defeat me when I’ve been the master of this game the whole time?
You’re crippled without all five of your knights.
Look, you only have one standing beside you.
There is no question how this is going to end but I wanted to take the time to introduce you to someone that you got to know extremely well.
” The Dark Lord waved a hand and someone else stepped forward cloaked in darkness, but I could see strands of neon pink hair peeking out.
No, no, no, no, no—this could not be happening. There was no way she would turn against me in this. She couldn’t be one of his pawns. There just wasn’t any way that could be true.
“Allow me to introduce to you the person who kept you right where I wanted you to be,” the Dark Lord boasted, yanking back the hood to reveal Cami.
I dropped to my knees, unable to hold myself up a moment longer.
She stood there still and stiff as a statue.
Her normally vibrant eyes were black pools of nothing.
Everything that made Cami, Cami, was missing, leaving only this shell of a person cloaked in darkness and evil.
Just when I thought I was safe from whatever the Dark Lord could throw at me, I was so incredibly wrong.
“Your beloved best friend has been mine since the day I killed her first love. I, of course, promised that they would be reunited when I brought Hell to Earth, but that would only happen if I was able to bring you to my side or destroy you. As I said, everyone can turn their backs on the world if given the right motivation.”
“No,” I whispered, dropping my head into my hands, unable to wrap my mind around this. “It doesn’t make sense. She wouldn’t.”
Jay’s hand rested on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “Trust your instincts, Lailah.” He said it in a low, quiet voice, ensuring that I was the only one who heard him.
Closing my eyes, I sent a strand of my power out toward Cami, letting it wrap itself around her.
I knew my best friend. She had been right beside me through all the ups and downs, helping me when the guys couldn’t.
She had always been in my corner. If she had been an agent to the Dark Lord, I would have known.
There had to be something I was missing because none of this made any sense.
Pressing my power into her deeper, I discovered a barrier sitting over her, blocking me from being able to touch her.
It hovered close to her skin, so it felt like it wasn’t really there.
But as I probed at it, it pushed back. My eyes snapped open, and I shot to my feet, arm raised with my crossbow in hand once again, and I fired a shot.
The arrow hit home, dead center in her forehead and whatever had been wrapped around her splintered, revealing a woman who was the same size and stature but absolutely wasn’t my best friend. “Lies! Everything you say is lies!”
Anger flooded me and all the fear and worry I had vanished, leaving me filled with a righteous anger. No more talking, it was time to fucking end this.