Chapter Twenty #3
Gently, she reached in and pulled a person out.
Tori couldn’t move, she couldn’t interact, and she couldn’t warn her.
Instead, she watched as the woman glowed pure white against the darkness.
One-by-one, she began pulling them out, and they dissipated around her.
They vanished.
Tori couldn’t believe her eyes, and then, she realized what she was doing. Oracle was saving the souls. She was literally pulling them from purgatory, somehow.
Just keep the mental link open.
He can’t get me if I’m using your psychic link to save them. I can’t hide here long, so he’ll figure it out, but until he does, we can save some of them. Once he realizes what is happening, the tear will close.
Tori wanted that.
God.
She wanted her to save them all.
As she reached in again, she began pulling an emaciated Wynter from the hole. Tori could see her in her death state, and how she was fighting to get out of the darkness.
PLEASE! Don’t leave me in there!
Tori heard the voice, and it registered.
It was their friend.
I’ve got you. Cross. Don’t wait. As soon as I pull you free, cross! You can’t stay. You have to go!
Tori could see in her mind’s eye that there was a battle going on. She couldn’t explain how the woman was doing it, but she was doing it.
Her and Julian had been wrong.
Oracle was very strong.
Yeah, Tori took back all she’d said about Oracle not being what she expected.
The woman was in the trenches doing battle for the souls he’d stolen.
She was doing her job, and Tori respected it.
Avalon Carter, Oracle, was shepherding spirits out of that darkness to safety.
As she was pulling Wynter out, Tori could see the dark, inky tendrils wrapped around Wynter’s legs. It was playing a sick game of tug-o-war to get the woman back into the hole.
That’s when Tori felt it.
There was another hand on her back, and she could smell a very familiar cologne.
Lucian was there.
Tori watched him grab Avalon and Wynter and pull with all he had. The inky tendril snapped, and they slid across the floor, but Wynter was free.
Take care of him. Love him like he deserves. Tell him I’m sorry, Wynter whispered into Tori’s mind.
Then, she was gone.
As the chaos went on, Wynter disappeared, crossing over.
Not far from there, the hole shook, and there was wailing. It was clear that he’d figured out that she’d gotten souls free.
Break the connection!
Tori heard Lucian say it, and seconds after, it felt like she was being ripped upward and out of the static.
When she opened her eyes, she was lying on her back on the floor, with Julian holding her. He looked scared shitless at what he’s seen.
Welcome to the club.
Beside her, Avalon was breathing heavily, as her husband was kneeling beside her. Not far away, Lucian was also there, on his knees.
“What was that?” Julian asked.
Their witches wanted to know too. Seconds ago, it felt like a barrage of negative energy had slammed into the side of the building, shaking it at the foundation.
Tori couldn’t believe it.
“She pulled as many as she could out of the hole,” Tori said. “She saved some of them.”
Julian blinked.
“That hole?” he asked, knowing she’d understand what he was saying.
Tori nodded.
“Jules, she saved Wynter. She got her out before it realized she was there,” she said, tears filling her eyes. “Oracle reached into that goo, and she pulled her free of it.”
He gasped.
“You saved her?”
Avalon nodded.
“Yes, but now he’s sealed that hole. We won’t be able to do that again. He’s going to be hyper-aware. His vessel, this person, is going to be wary.”
Lucian wiped his arm across his face and felt the wetness. His nose was bleeding.
When the conference room door opened, Bishop was there, and she immediately raced to her husband.
“What the hell?” she asked, seeing them on the ground. They’d felt the building shake, and there was that need to check on her husband.
Tori told her.
“Oracle did some shit in my head and pulled Wynter free of that hole.”
Bishop knelt beside her husband, helping him stay upright.
“She saved her.”
Genesis had felt so helpless. She’d watched them doing it, and she wanted to help. Only, she’d heard Avalon in her head telling her NOT to touch them. She’d called for Lucian to help her free the souls.
“Thank you, Avalon,” Julian stated.
She got back on her feet, thanks to her husband. When she was still wobbly, Nate scooped her up, and he carried her to the couch.
Immediately, he cradled her in his lap.
“Don’t thank me. It’s my job.”
Yeah, they could see that it wasn’t a glamorous or easy job either.
That was for sure.
Bishop and Honor helped Lucian get up, and they sat him on the couch. As they did, Genesis got them all water from the coffee bar cooler.
“She’s really saved?” Honor asked.
Avalon nodded.
“I had one shot at it. When Tori mentioned the pit, and it being a tear, I knew what it was. I had to do something.”
Julian was curious.
“Did you tell my wife you were going to use her head for that kind of a thing?” he asked.
She turned her head, and the white, hazy eyes seemed to track him.
“No. Did you want Wynter saved, or did you want her trapped there?” she asked. “My job is seldom easy, and I had to move fast. He knows where Genesis is, and he’s going to make a move shortly. He was distracted. That was all that gave me the opportunity.”
Julian was tense.
Only, Tori stopped him.
“Don’t, Jules. I don’t mind. I’m okay,” she said. “I heard voices.”
Lucian finally spoke. His head was resting on the back couch, and his wife was holding a tissue to his nose.
“Those were your children,” he said. “They are in the static until they are born. They were talking to you.”
Tears filled Tori’s eyes.
“It was beautiful,” she stated. “They told me they loved me already,” she stated. “They told me they were with me.”
Julian’s heart skipped.
“Really?” he asked.
Tori placed his hand over her stomach.
“Yes, they felt so happy.”
Avalon knew what she’d done had been risky, but the only way in was to go through another psychic. Since there were only so many in the room…
“I apologize for using your gift without your permission,” she stated.
Tori stopped her.
“I apologize for thinking you should be stronger and have more power. I watched what you did. You pulled at least ten souls out. You saved them from that eternity of damnation. I’m glad I could help you do that.”
Avalon explained.
“They are the heroes. They had made the tear in that place, and they needed my help. That was the sounds you were hearing there. It was them begging any psychic they could reach to help them. To get me there. That sound is what we hear when we go into the static.”
Well, then, in that case, she was glad they were able to assist.
Wynter.
Was.
Free.
Ultimately, that would help Ridge recover, and they knew it. He would need to know his wife had crossed and was safe.
Not in some pit.
Lucian was to the point.
“He’ll know where we are now. That energy that hit the building was his rage,” he said. “It’s only a matter of time before he finds a way past Raven’s wards.”
Unfortunately, Avalon was well aware.
Only, everything was playing out exactly how they needed it to.
For now.
“We have to find a way to stop this,” Booth stated.
On that, they agreed.
Bishop was about to share what she and Honor had found, but Raven spoke first.
“I have a question.”
Avalon opened her white eyes and focused on the man not far away.
“Yes?”
He was trying to find a way to trace that energy that had slammed into the building. He could feel it, since the spell had been his.
It left a lingering trace of…evil.
“We’re all thinking this evil is powerful alone. Is it?”
She shook her head.
“No, he gives it the ability to keep growing. Without him, it’s just an elemental wanting to be worshiped.”
Tapping his fingers, he thought about what he wanted to ask. He knew it wasn’t going to be well received, but he was no one’s judge, jury, or executioner.
“Can we pull the soul of this person away from the entity? And save him too?”
Avalon shook her head.
“No, we can’t. It has fully engulfed the person, and his soul is already taken.
He gave himself over to this. By now, that soul is completely gone.
Thus, the psychic vampire. He’s hollow. All that fills him is this entity.
If we take away the shell, the entity has no way of continuing—unless there is a host already picked. ”
Honor looked twitchy.
“I don’t like any of this. Not. At. All.”
Well, join the club on that one. No one here was feeling it, truthfully.
“So, he just has to die?” Raven asked.
It was more complicated than that.
Oracle knew what had to happen. When the host died, she had to lock the darkness away. That would take perfect timing, or it would be free here.
“In a way. I have to do some things in the static to ensure it stays there.”
Only, she didn’t tell them how it needed to be done. That was her duty, and hers alone. There would need to be a sacrifice.
And that was likely her.
He kept asking questions.
“Does this thing have to feed to get strong, and then if it doesn’t get its prey, does it weaken? Tell us about the psychic vampire, and how to stop him.”
Well, that she could do.
“He would need to absorb souls to get strong, especially if he was going after something MUCH stronger than he is. Think of it as feeding. You can stuff yourself, but then, the next day, you can be hungry again. It’s a non-stop cycle, and that’s why the souls were in that darkness.
Think of it as his ‘stomach’. We got them out just in time. ”
That posed another question.
“And the ones that were still in there?” Tori asked.
She was honest.
“They are gone forever,” she said.
Hopefully, Tori’s dead hadn’t gotten too close. Avalon felt them not far from Tori when all of that went down.
Truthfully, for her, it had been too close.
Raven sighed.
“Unfortunately, that’s what I thought. I was trying to find a way to track it that way. I felt his energy, and I wanted to see if it left breadcrumbs back to it. I was thinking of letting Booth scry.”
She stopped him.