32. Asher
thirty-two
Asher
I claw at the air as Maya disappears, and she's gone in the blink of an eye. I fell to the ground in panic. I search the apartment, calling out her name, only to find nothing.
How could she have slipped through my fingers so fucking easily?
I raced out of the bakery and across town to the church. Bursting through the doors, the nuns stare at me, shocked, as I slam my way into the back office.
"You can't be in here," they yell at me. I ignore them and begin ripping documents off the shelves. I pull a large book with the words Frost Hollow Orphanage Records and begin flipping through it. Suddenly, a page catches my eye. A familiar photo sits on the page, and sure enough, it's Maya. It was the same photo that sat in my pocket for days.
No wonder she couldn't remember her fucking parents . She was a goddamn orphan. She hasn't been a normal human from the goddamn start.
I ripped the page from the book and stared at it with trembling hands. I flipped the page over, and on the back sat a small photo that I recognized immediately: three goats swirling together. My body shook with anger, and I could feel the spirit of punishment breaking out and seeping through my skin. The nuns watched me in fear and stumbled out of the room, screaming.
Maya was a sacrifice from the start.
My voice roars through the room in frustration.
She was being groomed from the fucking start.
The paper disintegrates in my hands, and suddenly, I feel myself begin to float in the air, just as Maya had done only minutes ago. I can smell vanilla all around me and begin frantically looking around for her. I grasp the air like a starved child. Then suddenly, I'm standing in the mansion that I know all too well.
Maya lay on her back on the desk, crying out in pain as Nicholas shoved his thumb into her tattoo. I swing a chain, hitting Nicholas square in his side and crashing into the wall. The air ripples around me angrily, and I take a step forward, each step sending splinters of wood flying up around me. I no longer had control like I've had for the past 600 years. I couldn't hold the curse back even if I wanted to now.
"Asher?" Maya's voice comes through, and I look at her. She rushes to me, and I reach out to her, pulling her into my arms tightly. I cover her with my body as I crouch on the floor in front of her. Her tattoo, which matches mine on my wrist, gives her a soft glow.
"Always full of surprises," Nicholas says. He stands up, wiping his mouth of blood, and smears it across his cheek. His eyes are crazed. "You're a lot stronger than you look, doll," he says, addressing Maya. I hold her closer to me, and her body shakes with fear, but she doesn't let go of me. She digs her fingers into my fur, gripping me tightly and holding me close.
"I didn't think you had unlocked your full abilities yet," Nicholas begins to approach us.
Suddenly, I'm hit on the side, and Maya is thrown out of my reach and is sent sliding across the floor and into a bookshelf. She holds her leg and cries out in pain. Maya tries to run back to me when she is tackled by the woman Emmett described. She's younger, but her eyes are the same as in her photo. Crazed and unstable.
"You stupid fucking girl," she hisses. The woman wraps her fingers around Maya's neck, and just as I go to reach them, Nicolas slams me into the wall. His eyes glow dull gold, and the golden horns twist out of his head. He's a tiny bit smaller than I am. With his form being the complete opposite of mine, he's graceful, and his fur is tinted a golden white that seems to be untouched by sin. Something I knew was not true at all. Maya struggles against her grandmother, and I pin Nicholas to the ground.
"I have to say," he struggles against my grip. "You finding her before we did was completely unplanned. I'm not really complaining. You made things a lot more interesting for me." I pick him up and slam him into a nearby wall, causing brick and debris to fall around us.
I glance at Maya, and she is slowly losing consciousness as her grandmother continues to choke her. Her grandmother slaps her repeatedly.
"You had one fucking job, girl," the woman screams. "I could've chosen any one of those fucking orphans for this, but I chose you , and you can't even show an ounce of gratefulness for me."
"Don't lose focus, brother. Eyes on me," Nicholas says. Suddenly, an aching pain stabbed into my side, and I looked down to see a curved dagger ripping through my flesh. Nicolas looks up like a snake and pulls the knife halfway out before shoving it back at a different angle. I cry out in pain and fall back, gripping my side while lying on the floor. He stands up, his golden hooves step over the wood planks gracefully, and he flips the knife in his hand. "You know what I've noticed about you brother? You have a tendency to fight against fate, and every single time, you lose. What do you think will happen when you try the same thing this time?" Nicholas sends a kick into my stab wound, and the breath leaves my lungs.
"She was born to be a guiding light, and who are you to question that? Who am I to question that?"
Another kick.
"I don't understand, Nicholas. What was your fucking game involving the town?" I rasp out.
Nicholas hunches over, maniacal laughter escaping him like a wave.
"Look at you suddenly caring about humans again. It wasn't anything really, more so for fun. Those humans have been there for hundreds of years, and I simply wanted that land. I thought that slowly putting Maya through the chaos would push her closer to us and her purpose. And would you believe it? You helped us even more than you think."
Another kick.
"You are the one that awakened her abilities with that little tattoo of yours. Isn't that sweet of you? In fact, I should be thanking you."
Another kick. I try to stand up, and he kicks me once more before driving the knife into my thigh. The air whips around us like a raging tornado, slashing his face and my skin. Nicholas raises his hand in the air, and golden chains break through the floorboards and wrap over me, pulling me against the floor with a painful snap. The air leaves my lungs as I hit the floor with a thunderous boom.
Nicholas suddenly crouches down, only inches from my face. "The thing is, brother. Last time you denied me, I gave you the very thing that you didn't want: immortality. This time, again, I will give you exactly what you detest. I will give you a life, but it will be under my terms; Maya will continue to live here from this point forward as the beacon. And everything will be aligned just as it should've been 600 years ago. Had you just minded your business then and now, this could've ended better for everyone." Nicholas’ face splits with a wicked smile. “Tell me, brother. How long will it take me to rewrite the fingerprints you left on her skin? How many times do I have to plunge my tongue into her before she forgets your name? How many times do you think she will call out to you to save her while I carve that damn ink out of her skin?”
Another kick. I look over and see Maya gone and her grandmother on the floor, bleeding out. I look around the room frantically looking for her when suddenly Nicolas kicks me in the face again.
"What did I say about not paying attention to me?" He drives a knife into my thigh once more, twisting the blade while it's still in me, and I hear a pop as my tendons separate. I cry out a monstrous roar, causing books to fall off shelves, and the chains around my hips whip around me toward Nicholas as if trying to protect me. He dodges all of them, and the golden chains holding me begin to burn into my skin.
"I won't kill you, Asher. You know I can't. But I know that you know what I can do. We have a job, brother, and now that the beacon is finally reconnected to us. Our full potential is here. Isn't that amazing?" Maniacal laughter fills the room.
"I will say," his voice suddenly goes quiet. "Had you not touched her, maybe I wouldn't have been inclined to make her my own. That little tattoo stunt that you pulled properly annoyed me. And the only solution that I can think of is to make you watch while I carve your disgusting self out of her ski-" Suddenly, Nicholas' voice stops, and his face is filled with shock. Blood spurts out of his mouth, and he grabs his chest, stumbling forward a step and then back against the wall. Behind him, Maya stands there holding a thin, white glowing dagger. Nicolas' golden blood drips from the blade and onto the floor, burning holes in the floor like acid. Maya’s eyes land on me, and I scream at her to pay attention.
"You dumb bitch," more blood spurts from his mouth. "Do you have any idea what you've done?" Nicholas grabs Maya around the throat, and she claws wildly at his hands. As he squeezes harder, I can see Maya losing consciousness.
“Maya!” My throat burned from the power of my voice. The air in the room thrashed and sent razor-sharp cuts into all three of us. Books rumbled from shelves, and the floor cracked and hissed. I struggled against the chains, screaming in terror as I watched Maya’s body finally go limp from lack of air.
Suddenly, my wrist burns, and the golden chains around me snap, exploding into sharp, splintered metal specks. I launch up and tackle Nicholas to the ground. We crash together in a tangle of limbs, clawing at each other like frenzied and crazed lions fighting for prey. Nicholas drives his knife into my side, and I roar in pain; the windows shatter and rain glass.
“What do you hope to accomplish, brother?” Nicholas hits me in the chest, sending me flying backward and putting distance between us. Suddenly, he glances at Maya, still lying on the ground, and without hesitation, he spears the knife toward her.
My heart seems to stop. Everything around me seems to stop. As I fly to her at breakneck speeds, my heart finally seems to calm as it hugs the knife inside. I crash to the floor and surround myself with Maya. My heart feels as though it’s shredding apart as it grips the knife tighter. A tear slips down my cheek as I run my fingertips over Maya’s cheek. Her eyes flutter open.
“Hello, princess,” I cough, and blood shreds its way past my lips. Maya’s eyes widen, and she sits up, ignoring her pain. She grips my face, tears already streaming down her face.
“Stop it, Asher,” she sobs. She looks at my chest, and something in her seems to snap. She places a hand on the hilt of the knife and begins pulling it out, painful inch by inch. Her eyes are not the same. Something powerful sits behind them, banging on the bars of its prison. I gasp in pain as the blade leaves a hole in my body. Maya has tears streaming down her face, mixing with the blood and dust that painted her face. She turns towards Nicholas, and her face is stone. The only emotion that shows on her face is tears.
Maya stands there, and I truly look at how damaged she is. The bandages from her burnt leg are ripped off, and fresh blood pours from her wound. She has a stab wound on the other side of her waist, and her neck holds deep, dark bruises from where the woman was choking her. She takes a step over my body, and I grab her ankle to stop. My hand is scorched by white heat as my palm touches her skin, and I yank away. In one fluid motion, Maya snipes the blade at Nicholas, striking him in the right lung and pinning him against the wall. The blade entered all the way to the hilt. Nicholas wasted no time pulling the blade out and falling to the floor. He panted, and blood trickled down the edge of his mouth.
"Stand up, Nicholas," Maya commands. I reach for her, but I'm too weak and injured to stand. Nicholas doesn't move a muscle, so Maya walks towards him, grabs him by the throat, and lifts him up. The air whips wildly around her, and her white dress glows with a dull white light. Her hair flows in the wind, and her eyes hold a soft, healing white glow.
" I am your beacon. You will stand ," she holds him firm, and he twists in her grasp.
"There she is," Nicholas strains through his teeth. He's smiling and looking at her longingly. Nicholas drives the knife into her heart, and she doesn’t react. Instead, she grabs the knife and slowly pulls it out. The front of her snow-white dress begins to soak with golden blood. Maya drops the knife, sending it clattering to the floor, and places her palm on Nicholas' chest, and he begins writhing in pain. Maya begins to pull a golden orb from his chest, and Nicholas falls limp as soon as it fully leaves his body. She drops him, and he collapses on the floor, folding at an uncomfortable angle. Maya suddenly walks past me and holds her hand out to a corner in the room that's cast in shadows. I watch as Emmett and Emery walk out slowly and take her hand.
"Maya," I reached out a shaking hand. She's different—powerful. The room filled with light from her being, and the air in the vast room flowed gently around us.
"He was right, Asher. There has to be a balance. There cannot exist punishment without reward." Maya splits the golden orb into even halves; then, she begins pushing the half spheres into the chests of the two children. Their eyes glow with warm gold, and they shine brightly for a moment. "Emmett, my dear boy. Emery, my beautiful girl. You both are now the spirit of gift, and your duty is to protect the people of Frost Hollow, do you understand?" The children smile and hug her tightly.
Suddenly, Maya falls to the ground and lies there for a moment. The tapestry that hung on the wall shined brightly before reforming. The image of two goats now sat above the white goat in the center, with golden light sitting around them. Underneath the white goat sat the black goat, no longer harsh in the image. The chains around his waist are gone, and his stance is now gentle and protective.
Maya sits up, looks at me, noticing that I'm injured, and rushes over. Tears immediately begin to stream down her face.
"I'm okay, princess," I say to her. A strangled cough escapes me, and blood pours out of the side of my mouth. Maya throws herself onto me and sobs. I bring my hand up and tuck some hair behind her ear.
"I'm sorry I have to leave this way."
"No, don't say that," she sobs. "You promised you would never leave my side."
"I don't have a choice. I have done what I was supposed to. I have protected you. I have fulfilled my duty to you, Maya."
"I said no," she says, shaking the room and sending books flying off the shelves. The two children rush over, and tears spring to their eyes as they see me.
Maya looks at my wounds for a moment, and suddenly, the air begins to spin softly around us—not like the angry snapping wind that came from my being, but a healing aura that I have never felt before.
"I am your beacon, and I command you to live," Maya's eyes glow softly.
A burning begins coursing through my injuries, and I twist and writhe on the floor. The stab wounds on my body begin mending themselves, the skin sewing itself together. The children stand back, and suddenly, I'm back in my human form.
I stand up quickly and catch Maya just as she's about to fall to the floor. Her injuries glow as a soft White and slowly mend themselves together as she lay in my arms, unconscious.
"Come on, children. It's time to go home." The two children grab my other hand, and we begin walking out of the front of the estate.