Enceladus 2: The War
Chapter Seventeen

She was wearing as little as she was at the SE ball. Atop her head sat a gold crown of sorts. It was more like a headband. All around it were several thin spikes. There was a gold collar covering her entire neck. How she fit that collar over her head was a mystery. On Drea’s shoulders and all the way down to her hands were more spikes. This time thicker. On her body were small slits of fabric covering the important parts. Just barely. Her stomach was bare and her boobs might as well have been.

“Another one, dead. How many have to die before you give up?”

“Never.” I raised my sword.

She threw a small throwing knife at me and it grazed my bicep. That stung.

“You missed.”

“Oh, Amy Thorne. I don’t want to kill you. I’ve heard stories. Delicious stories.” Her purple hair blew in the wind.

That was the name I went by on Earth. How did she know that?

“You see,” she circled me. “I want you to be my friend. My partner. Maybe even my lover. I’ve only been with two girls. You could show me the way.” She winked. She got behind me and I faced her. She was twirling another throwing knife around her finger. The knife had a hole in the handle specifically for her finger. “I’ll spare you if you kiss me.”

“Fat chance.” I swung my sword at her but it stopped a few inches from her body. I tried again and got the same result.

She pouted. “I was hoping you’d just kiss me. It’s a force field by the way. Teach me how to take energy from people.”

“It’s not teachable.”

“Sure it is. Anything is teachable.” She winked again.

“How about you drop your force field and we fight like real women?”

“Fine.” She whispered a word in Tethian and threw a knife at me.

I stopped it with my telekinesis, since I had left my shield near Alessa’s body, and sent it back to her. Right before it tore through her body, it dropped to the ground and disappeared.

“They’re magic. They can’t hurt me.”

Of course. I charged at her and swung my sword. She was faster and stepped out of the way.

She started to cast a spell but I advanced toward her and sliced her palm. She gasped in pain. But then smiled. Then she moaned. “Do it again.”

I scrunched up my face. As I was staring, disgusted, she whispered a quick spell that knocked me on my ass. My sword flew form my hand.

Drea got on top of me and pinned my arms down. I tried to move but her magic must have been stopping me. She grinned. “Hi.” She ran her knife against my cheek, drawing blood. I winced. She leaned down and just as I was about to stop her from kissing me, she licked the cut she had just inflicted.

I felt my breakfast threaten to come back up. Yuck. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“A lot,” she giggled.

She cut me again and for some reason I wanted her to. It was like her sick fetish was contagious. I laid still while she slid the blade against my other cheek.

I heard someone yell and whatever spell she had put on me cleared. “Let me kiss you.”

She grinned and leaned down.

Instead of kissing her, I inhaled, not thinking it would work. Then, blue misty smoke flowed out of her mouth. I was taking her life force. Without doing it to everyone else. Without going dark. I sat up, not breaking the connection.

I stood and Drea stood with me. Her eyes had become glazed over and her expression blank. Her eyes sunk into her head and her cheeks became gaunt. I got stronger. It felt so good that I wanted to bask in it. I wanted to take from all the puny Tethians.

“Amelia!”

I turned my head and the blue mist disappeared. Drea fell to the ground.

“I did it!” I exclaimed while picking up my sword so I could stab an incoming Tethian. “I only took from one person.” I was basically bouncing on my toes.

Talia smiled at me, bent down and checked Drea’s pulse. “Still alive.”

A part of me was disappointed when she said I hadn’t killed her. I had wanted to. Talia had gotten in my way. I started to feel angry with her but quickly pushed it aside.

“Who’s winning?” I asked Talia as she decapitated someone.

“They are.” We watched, powerless as a dragon swallowed an Enceladian whole.

I cursed. “We need to take care of those creatures.”

“How?”

I saw Caelum fighting with Golda. Together they were nearly unstoppable. He had her back and she had his. They were perfectly in sync.

“I’ll take from them all at once.”

“You can do that?” Right after her question, I heard a scream that cut off abruptly like someone had snapped the neck of the screamer.

“I’m not sure,” I replied, wincing.

“If you can, why not take out all the people of Tethys at the same time?” Talia asked.

“There would be nothing from stopping me from taking from everyone. Even you. I can’t control it like that.” I wasn’t even sure I could control it like this.

A man ran to Talia from behind. I simply yanked my head and sent him flying with my telekinesis. “Then what’s to stop you from killing us all?”

I grimaced, slightly offended by her wording. “I have to try.” I sheathed my bloody sword and spread my wings. I flew above everyone and took in the battle. We really were losing. There were far more black wings than white. Some people had took to the sky to fight.

I located all the dragons. There were so many. I didn’t know how all their life forces would affect my abilities. How powerful it would make me.

Only the günt. Only the günt. Only the günt.

I blocked out the noise of the battle and breathed deeply. I could do this.

I cleared my mind, save for the creatures, and inhaled. Every günt looked up, their mouths opened wide. The blue smoke came from their mouths and into mine. It was working. The people continued fighting.

I took and took and took from the monsters. One by one, they collapsed. As the last one fell, so did I. I hit the ground hard.

The energy coursing through me was too much. I gasped for air. I felt like I was going to explode. I was shaking. The world was spinning above me. Stars blurring. My body writhed and contorted. I scratched at my chest, trying to free the energy. I could feel their life forces tingling throughout my whole body. I felt like I needed to throw up. Empty my entire system. There was too much energy inside me.

“Princess Amelia?” It was Jae, Alexander’s brother. “I saw you take from those beasts. Can you speak?”

I couldn’t. It felt like I was twitching but I wasn’t sure.

“You have too much power. You need to get it out. Use your abilities. Any ability.” He sat me up. The feeling of his skin through my clothes was painful.

It was strange. I knew what was happening on the outside world but I couldn’t move or talk. I watched as people continued to battle but I couldn’t really see them.

“Telekinesis. Elements. Anything.”

I tried to move my hand and I watched as a little spark of electricity came from it. What the hell was that?

I moved my hand again and more electricity came out.

Jae moved away from me. I didn’t blame him.

Then I was able to move my whole arm. I gave it a flick and an electricity bolt shot out and hit a Tethian. It caught her wings and when the smoke cleared, they were completely singed. All that was left was a skeletal frame of her wings. She started to sob.

Slowly, my movement returned to me and I felt like I could run a marathon. Actually, ten.

I looked down at my hands and they were both crackling with electricity. A new ability? I grinned. Whatever it was, it felt good. I zapped another Tethian and another. It worked like lightning. Electrocuting people and setting things on fire.

“Princess!” Talia called, running, out of breath. “Are you alright?” she panted.

“I’m great.” I grinned, rocking on the balls of my feet.

Talia took me in, looking at my hands. She stepped back.

“It’s okay. I won’t hurt you. I’m still me,” I said.

“I’m not afraid of you,” she said and I honestly believed her. “How are you doing that? Your eyes are glossed over and sort of . . . glowing?”

“I had too much energy in me from the dragons. Jae-” who had just finished killing a Tethian without taking his eyes from me, “told me to let some out. And this was the result.” I held up my crackling hands. I could barely see my hands through the whitish blue glow. “Isn’t it insane? I feel like running. Want to run with me?” I was really bouncing this time.

“Your eyes must be reflecting what’s going on inside you. All the power in you,” Jae guessed. Of course my already freaky eyes must do more freaky things.

“What do they look like?” The sentence was fast and jumbled.

Jaeel suddenly spread his wings and flew.

“Blue flames,” Talia answered and was blindsided by a huge man. He tackled her to the ground. I tried to grab my sword but my hands were still glowing. I shook them, sparks flying, but the electricity was still there.

By the time my hands returned to normal, Talia had already stabbed the man in the neck with a knife.

“Sorry, don’t quite know how to work this.”

“No problem.” She shoved the man off of her and stood. Her face was covered in blood. I took one of my wrist guards and wiped her face.

I broke eye contact with Talia when I heard a shout. It was Lynx. He screamed. Then screamed again.

I took to the sky so I could replace him. He was near the steps of Planet Hall. I soared down and gagged at what I saw.

Alexander was missing the bottom half of his body.