Light and Dark Ch. 04

Looking back toward where I had come from I felt like I was being sucked into a vacuum and I looked around me to find the source, nothing. I was surrounded by darkness and the pillars. This was the weirdest vision to date and now it was reminding me of a really bad haunted house. The only way to walk was through the pillars so I headed through them and felt a cold rush of air.

"Illuminate!" I called, focusing my power and even though I wasn't sure it would work, oil wells on the walls lit and slowly the darkness began to give way revealing the room. It sure was a tall cave. Funny. I don't remember seeing any mountains. I walked forward into the light and ahead of me there was an alter set up. Around it was huge statues in each of the four corners of the circle. The watchtowers. Okay, this was starting to make a bit more sense so I walked to the circle. It had been cast and I could feel the power in front of me. Reaching out with my right hand, I opened myself a door in the circle, walked through and closed the circle and felt tingles all over me.

The power here was so raw, so strong. I looked to the watchtowers. They were the images of the ones I had fought the previous days and the only one I did not recognize was wind. I had yet to battle with him which is why I was assuming his statue was holding a large crystal. I looked at the others. None of them were hold crystals. Had he not been released yet? I walked to the altar. It was set up traditionally with the left side being dedicated to the Lady and the right to the Lord. In the center however, was an athame, resting on a bowl of blood. A voice came from behind me, "They said you'd come."

I turned to face the voice. A small man was standing outside of the circle. He was wearing the same thing I had been clad in. His hair was long, white and hung braided. His face was painted with the four colors of the watchtowers. Blue, Green, Yellow and Red.

"We have been waiting for you." He paused looked around me and then continued, "You have not yet found the dark?"

I looked around me and then back at him. Holy crap! He was now standing right in front of me. I jumped back slightly and he held out his hand. "It is not me you have to worry about child. I am only the guardian of the watchtowers. I pose you no harm."

I looked around. "If you are supposed to be guarding them then why are they free?"

He laughed. 'Everything happens for a reason child. They were destined to free themselves, The Sage saw that much. He also foretold of you and the dark. The universe has a way of making sure that balance will be restored." He pointed to the metal bands on my arms. "You will need these. There is one for each element." He touched my arm, "Why have you not found your dark?"

I was confused. "What are you talking about?"

He laughed again and I was finding it really irritating. "You come from the light of the world. In order to banish them and restore balance to this world you must find the dark. Only a perfect balance from the Lord and Lady themselves." He walked over to the altar, picked up the athame and dipped it in the blood. "You already know who he is. I can feel his energy all over you. Your essence flows through him."

"Nicklas." I whispered. That would explain why I was always getting the visions when he was around.

"It is more than that child. You have the ability to fill his void as he does yours. He brings you the calm that you need to control yourself."

I thought for a moment, "I can fill his void? What void?" Better yet, what calm? Everytime I'm around him I am anything but calm!

The little man walked over to me. He held out his hand and I put mine in his as he led me over to the altar, turned with the athame and before I could do anything sliced my palm open. "This is the blood of the Ancient Ones. You walk with them now. Find your dark and put into motion the demise of the watchtowers."

I looked down at my palm; it started to glow with a red hue. I looked back up at the man. "I don't know how to defeat them."

He put his hand on my head. "Yes, child, you do. You have had the strength all this time. You just needed to be reminded of whom you come from. With the dark at your side, your powers combined are the only thing that can stop them."

I was so overwhelmed, "How are we supposed to combine our powers?"

He stepped closer to me, "You will feel it when the time is right." He touched the metal bands on my arms. "Now go! You are about to meet the fourth element. After that you will face them all." He pointed to the statue of Wind. The crystal was glowing. "Touch him! See where he is going!"

I jumped up and ran to the statue, placing my hands on the crystal. A cold chill ran down my spine. A vision in a vision, this was new. I was in the middle of a very large and stretching bare field. Just in front of me was a banshee and he was eating a... well I didn't want to know what he was eating, so I didn't take a closer look. It was the middle of the day, what in the world was he doing out? I didn't have much time to debate that fact when the wind around me started to pick up and covered me with dust and dry grass. It only took a few seconds for the wind to gain enough momentum that I was trying to stand still and keep my focus on the banshee, who had also realized something was wrong. In another second the wind focused on the banshee, surrounded him and a shriek cut through the wind and then blood was flying everywhere. The wind stopped as the banshee dropped to a pile at the Elements feet and the life force of the banshee floated out of him and into the Element. I turned my focus to myself and pulled my hands off of the crystal and a huge light surrounded me.

I was back in my dining room and the hall clock just struck eleven. I looked around, found that I was standing in the middle of the table. Well at least I had my pajamas back on and as I looked down at my hands, they were not red anymore, but the cut on my palm was still there. "Seriously."

I hopped off the table, grabbed my napkin and wrapped it around my hand. "Why does it always have to be the hand? Don't they know it hurts the most?"

"Would you care to tell me what the hell just happened to you!"

I turned to find where Nicklas was. He was standing by the door to the kitchen, arms crossed on his chest.

I walked over to him. "Where you hurt?" I hoped I hadn't set him on fire earlier.

"I'm not the one who was hovering over the table engulfed in flames." He stood up straight, but kept his arms on his chest.

I remembered that Mrs. Cooper was still here, "Did Mrs. Cooper see anything?"

He exhaled and walked around me. "No she didn't. I told her you said she could have the rest of the day off." He stopped on the other side of the table, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Nicklas." I went to walk over to him.

He held up his hand. "What happened?"

I could feel his anger. I walked to him anyways. I didn't know what he was so upset about. He didn't just have the flaming vision. If he wanted to know, I would show him. He dropped his hand and I put mine on his face.

"Nicklas?" He turned toward me. I grabbed both of his hands and placed them on my face. "See for yourself."

I wanted him to see what I had seen. I closed my eyes and opened my mind to him as his power washed over me and he was in my thoughts. When he finished, he stayed where he was. I opened my eyes. His head was lowered and his eyes were closed. I reached my hand up and touched his forehead. "Are you okay?"

He opened his eyes and slowly the black jewels rose to meet mine. He stood there staring at me. He wasn't in my mind anymore, but I could still feel his powers. He took my hand that had been cut and slowly unwrapped it, looking at it for the longest time.

"Nicklas?" I tried to read his thoughts, but he was blocking me.

He lowered his face to my hand and smelled the cut as his grip tightened on my arm.

"Nicklas!" He looked at me.

His eyes were so black, nearly drowning me in their intensity. For the first time I felt completely overcome by him. He was towering above me gripping my arm, his power was strong and washing over me.

I closed my eyes, opened my mind and tried to reach out to him. "Nicklas. Please let go of my arm."

He was so strong. I opened my eyes to meet his as he dropped my arm, but still was towering above me with black eyes. Great first his goons, then him. I was starting to think that I wasn't welcome around him.

I widened my stance. "Nicklas!" I reached out with both arms and grabbed his face. He was breathing heavily and his eyes stayed on mine. "Where are you?"

The eyes I was looking in were not his, I mean I know they weren't his usual blue but there was nothing of him and I swear his appearance was slowly changing into something dark and horrible. What the hell was happening?

"Nicklas! If you can hear me!"

He grabbed both of my arms and lowered them with such force; I thought he was going to shove them right through my rib cage. He was growling. He shoved my arms into my sides and pulled me into him, bringing his head so close to my neck. At this distance my empathy kicked in automatically and I could feel the one emotion he had. He was going to kill me. Dear god, I couldn't fight him. I closed my eyes and focused. I projected my force field outwards. He was thrown backwards into the wall five meters away on the opposite side of the dining room. He came crashing down on his feet and was back up in a matter of seconds. He paused only briefly to regain his balance and then launched himself at me.

I stepped into a defensive stance and held him in mid air with my telekinetic power. "Nicklas! Stop this!"

He continued growling and I felt his power pushing out. I couldn't hold him anymore. I dropped to my knees and sent him over my head. I stood as fast as I could and put up a shield. He was on top of me, just as fast trying to claw through the shield. This was definitely not working. Every time I used my powers against him, I could feel him growing stronger. I could try to freeze him but then I would have to let the shield down. Plus I wasn't even sure that would work. I had never been able to use that power on him before. He was too strong. I had to try anyways. Now, how could I catch him off guard? Teleport! This was going to have to work. I teleported myself behind him and tried to freeze him. Damn! I kept trying. Nothing.

He turned and slowly started to walk toward me. What ever had control over him, had control over the evil. I backed up as far against the wall as I could. I was going to have to hold him off as long as I could, but I didn't know how much longer I could. I looked around the room. A clay vase on the mantle caught my eye. With its weight and the weight of the plant and dirt inside, it might pack enough of a punch to knock him out. I concentrated on it and sent it barreling into the back of his head. If it worked it would only knock him out and I could figure out what the hell was going on. The vase smashed into the back of his head with a sicken thump, sending dirt and plant pieces everywhere. He paused briefly, shook off and jumped at me. Well that did absolutely horrible. I focused all my energy on a shield.

"Nicklas! Listen to me! I can't keep fighting you; I don't have much left here to work with. Somewhere inside of you, you know you don't want to hurt me."

I tried to put as much feeling into my words as I could. He paused briefly, then launched at my shield and I was thrown back against the wall. I felt the pain shoot up my arm and then through my body. I was pretty sure my arm had just been smashed. I screamed in pain and then channeled all of it into a force field. He was standing above me snarling and then he started to claw at the force field. Every time he touched it I felt the power surging through me. God, I was glad Mrs. Cooper wasn't here.

When the pain and the power were too much, I dropped the shield and tried to push him back telepathically. He faltered briefly and then grabbed me by the arms and pulled me up. I was sure my arm was broken now. The pain brought tears to my eyes and I knew I was going to pass out soon if I couldn't heal myself. He pinned me against the wall and leaned in to bite me. I tried one more time, "Please don't. Not like this."

He growled, cocked his head back and I could see the fangs in his teeth. I had nothing left but my feelings. It was worth a shot so I took a deep breath, tried to block the pain and spoke as steady as I could. "Nicklas, I love you."

His mouth paused above my neck and his grip loosened slightly as the power started to draw back. "Nicklas! Look at me!"

I wasn't sure if I was actually speaking the words anymore but he turned his face to meet mine. His eyes were still black, but I swear somewhere in that deep void I could see him. I kept going, "I do love you. I was afraid to admit that to myself. I was afraid to need someone. Please don't do this. Come back to me."

His head dropped, he pulled back and fell to the floor. He was yelling and growling and I slid down the wall to sit on the floor as his hands went to his head. "NO!!!" A black cloud formed around him and started to push outwards. Well if I didn't pass out soon, it looked like he was going to self-destruct. Nicklas stood and I felt a wave of power wash over me and out through the entire house as it seemed to vibrate with his growling scream. He collapsed on his knees and then looked over to find me still crumpled against the wall and wasn't about to move.

"Alexis?" His voice was week and he crawled towards me. I tried to sit up but couldn't use my arm as a lever and I winced trying to push past the pain to speak but he went again.

"Oh god! Are you okay?" He was beside me now. "Alexis?"

I looked up at him. Blue eyes, his bright blue eyes were back.

"Nicklas," I sighed, "Thank God."

I put the hand that was still functioning on his face and he went to hug me to him but my arm reminded me with a searing pain that it needed attention. I groaned as I leaned back into the wall again, closed my eyes and tried to focus on myself. Slowly and I mean slowly, I found the strength to heal myself. Every second that passed seemed like an hour. I focused harder on my arm and projected the energy to the bone. Splinter by splinter, tendon-by-tendon, nerve-by-nerve and muscle-by-muscle my arm worked its way back to its original appearance. I felt a power inside of me start to rise and my hand started to burn. I looked down at the cut that had been caused earlier and it was healed also. I felt brand new.

I opened my eyes and found Nicklas standing above me. "You are towering. Would you please come down here?" He knelt in front of me and I spoke first. "So?"

He spoke slowly, "I saw you, the child and then the cave. I went to follow you, but when I walked through the pillars, the little man met me outside of the circle. I saw you inside of the circle touching a crystal on one of the watchtowers. The man said you had learned what you needed to, he threw blood on me from the bowl on the altar and told me I was the dark to your light and you would know what to do. That is the last thing that I had control over. The blood consumed everything in me. I could see what was happening and I was trying to break through, but..." His voice trailed off and he dropped his head. I picked his head up with my hands and sat up to kneel with him.

"You fought your beast and won. There is nothing to be ashamed of."

His eyes met mine. "I promised you that I would never hurt you." His eyes were pleading for forgiveness.

"YOU didn't." I let my telepathy kick in and decided to see if I could tap into his powers. I felt his walls drop and a cool breeze washed over me. It worked. I found the warmth that he had always used on me and brought it to his surface. I opened my mind to him and projected out all of my feelings for him and let them flow over him. He closed his eyes and exhaled as I held him to me and he threw his arms around my waist and buried his head in my shoulder. I stroked his hair and let the warmth and love surround us. We stayed like that for a few moments while he gained his strength and then he looked up at me. Laser blue eyes, God he is beautiful.

He leaned in very slowly, kissed me and I felt a tingle shoot down my body. He pressed a bit harder, letting his tongue run over my bottom lips and I opened my mouth to his and our tongues met. I know I've said it before, but I loved kissing him. I loved the fact that he could claim my entire being just by kissing me. We stood and I could feel our powers surrounding us, pushing us together. I put my arms around his neck, he lifted me up and carried me to the table. Was I ready for this again? Could I handle the indifference? I caught myself. No thinking, no questions. My hands went to his belt buckle as he slid his hands up and under my tank top. I felt like I was going to burst if I didn't have my hands on his skin.

This was taking too long. I pulled the shirt out of his pants, grabbed the bottom and yanked it up and over his head. He smiled and pulled off my top with as much enthusiasm. I ran my hands over his chest and shoulders. Smooth sleek skin over taunt, hard muscles, I loved touching him. His skin felt so cool under my touch. He lowered his mouth to my neck and started to kiss my skin as heat shot across me. It was like he was lighting a fire inside of me. Everywhere he touched tingled and burned for him.

I unbuckled his belt and unbuttoned his pants, trying to pull them down some how but his lips found my breast and started to bite at my nipple. I needed air. I gasped and threw my head back. He grabbed my hips, then my pants and slid them off in one quick motion leaving me completely stripped of any inhibitions. I grabbed at his pants pulling him closer to me as his mouth came up and met mine. I was trying to pull down his pants, but he just picked me up. I threw my legs around his waist and he started to walk toward the stairs. I pulled my mouth from his and looked into his eyes. I could see him, everything he was, everything we could be and I couldn't help the feeling of completion that covered me. He paused, seeming to catch the feeling as well and his blue eyes sparkled. I hugged him and teleported us to my bedroom.

We stood, for a moment, above my bed just staring into each others' eyes. Our needs and wants passing to one another until the heat between us was too much. He threw me on the bed, took off his pants and boxers and slowly walked over to me, like he was hunting me. I held up my hands, he entwined his in mine and brought me up to him. I wanted to feel his hands all over me. I wanted to wrap myself in him and never come out. I put his hands on my hips as I ran my hands up his arms, shoulders down his chest, the small of his back and then over his thighs. He was absolutely delicious.

He kneeled on the bed above me, I scooted further back and he followed above me. His hands were all over me, so slowly though they made their way over every inch of me with a purpose of finding a place he had never been. With him everything was about touch. His fingers, his hands, they both had such a power of their own. He could transfer emotions just with his touch and it was exhilarating. His mouth left mine and went down my neck and then my chest and stomach. He slowly, oh so slowly, ran his hand up my side, over my breast, up my arms and held both of my hands together with just one of his. His other hand he put under my head and on the back of my neck and brought me up to kiss him. He slowly brought my arms over his head so that they were resting on his shoulders. I let my hands run over them and onto his chest. I stopped right below his collarbone and he pulled his mouth from mine and rested his forehead on mine.