Though, not thinking clearly, I actually went through scenarios of ways I could drag myself, my body and that leg, out to help them. About the same time, I became aware, through the unbelievable discomfort, of the stirring of warm energy, like a fire in the pit of my stomach. The flames licked up through the veins in my arms, surging there, desperate for a release of power. Regardless of whether I could even lift my hands to aim, I had no clear target. Unfocused and untrained, I could hit anyone over there, including the ones there to protect me. I couldn’t risk it, but I had nothing left to do, and I needed something to do.
Something came unhinged inside my brain, and my thoughts took some insane turn for the worse. Confusion just wasn’t strong enough a word to describe my attempt to find a way to hurt the ones who were hurting the ones I loved. With magic brewing angrily inside of me, a weapon of my own, though basically untested at this level of being distraught, I grew as determined as I was wary of what releasing it could bring. Yet, I had to get it out of me or explode.
A way to use it to walk, like a jet pack, to aim and fire it as precisely as a bullet... all these ideas flooded through me, the possibilities, the realities, the unknowns. Panting, crying out, moving, vibrating, the pain and confusion it brought blurring my vision again, I thought I’d started to seize or something. Unfortunately, all I managed to do was catch the attention of the wolves. Through the self-inflicted sunny fog, I saw Lex turn my way, only to be blindsided and thrown to his side, as the suit guy strolled through the middle of the sudden pause in battle toward me.
He kicked Lex as he passed him, making our cries ring out and meet somewhere between us like the sharp metallic crash of the cars had been. The sound pierced my eardrums, and yet, my throat dry, whether the sound continued from me or not, I felt the burn of it in my throat. I reached out my hands, positioned what looked like arthritic fingers in front of me, and aimed all the power boiling inside toward the man with balls big and dumb enough to walk toward me again. After a torturous deep breath in, I let it all go, my arms this time feeling as if they had actually burst into flames.
The usual light that emanated from me was brutal and blinding this time, but darker, dimmer, if that makes sense of a white light. It had streaks of reds and blues like lightning bolts through it. I blinked to clear my vision, to see the bastard fly backward, away from my Lex, hoping the backlash didn’t take all the wolves with it, though I couldn’t stop it now if I tried.
Yet, instead of seeing any of that, I only saw a wall of light form between us. I couldn’t see any of them any longer, as something akin to wind howled, sharp sizzles of electricity hissed, and rolls of thunder shook the ground around me. Finally, after who knows how long, my arms hit the pavement hard. My head followed, the exhaustion too intense to fight. A dim version of the suit man came toward me again once my light dimmed. As dark spots floated before my eyes, he approached me, a sinister grin on his face.
“My sorcerer I spoke of, the one dying to meet a spitfire like you, fashioned me with a power of my own, a defense, a shield you might say, against your own magic,” the man said, his face now right in front of mine, as he’d knelt down beside me as he’d spoken. “While yours is fierce and untapped, I at least now have a steady defense. Your love, out there, he can’t protect you, and he can’t win. And, you look about done, magic and fight, from your injuries. So, my dear magical one, you are coming with me now.”
“Never,” I think I got out. The thought entered my head that I’d rather die, and the burn in my throat indicated I’d tried to speak, but the sheer thump of my enraged heartbeat drowned everything else out.
“I will have you, Christina. One way or another, you are coming with me now. You have nothing left to fight with, so just give up rather than make this harder on yourself. Your leg is broken, and you have a nice gash on your head,” he said, the sickening grin making me insane, though I had not far to go to get there.
I squirmed, or moved in some fashion, as the increase in agony grew, when he reached out a finger and ran it over my cheek. From anyone else, it would have been called a caress, but from him, I could only think of torture. How animals liked to play with their food... that sadly came to mind. I begged for my powers then to surge again, but my limp body, only stirring with anger inside, remained lifeless. Even the last pitch of pain melded into one ball of incomprehensible sensations now. Losing consciousness, still, I reeled, fought for a thought, just a glimmer of an idea that would save us all. Stupid, insane, or at least foolishly hopeful despite my dire circumstances, I struggled internally even if it was all I had left. Hope. One could never give up on the hope of better things to come.