Excalibur ~ World from Ashes
Chapter 26

Alik stood there, stock still for a while as I huffed heavily against the pain and dizziness. I was starting to feel sick again, the same feeling that had overwhelmed me the night before. My nose was probably going to start bleeding again if I didn’t do something about it. What, though, was the question and I didn’t have an answer for that at all. Ahmeil dug her fingers deeper into the bullet wounds, eliciting a painful gasp from me. My hand reached up and tried to pry her hand from my shoulder.

“L-let go…” I managed to mutter, though my voice sounded more pleading than pissed off.

Alik laughed, cutting off any response that Ahmeil might have given to me, if at all, “Sickness? From him? My dear, demonic princess, there is no such thing.”

“He is sick. And I will fix him, like I’ve always done.”

Alik lifted an eyebrow, “Oh. I see now,” he muttered, “You’re in love with the man and you’re pissed off that this little boy has taken him from you, is that it?”

“No.”

Alik grinned, “I think it is. Fine. This will be interesting,” Alik moved, opened the passenger door to the car and rummaged around. When he came back, he held in his hand a vial of greenish liquid, the same that he’d injected into me a while ago. He waved it around gently for a moment before he handed it over to Ahmeil.

Releasing her hold on my shoulder, she took the vial and eyed it. Tucking it in her coat, she stepped away from us. I fell forward, no longer held up by her grip. Bracing myself with one hand, I stared down at the ground. My vision spun a bit and I felt so sick to my stomach. The black tar beneath me was soaking wet, and to mix with the water I felt something hot drop from the tip of my nose. Fuck…

“I don’t suppose you’ll tell Tristan about this, now will you, miss demon?”

Ahmeil didn’t answer. I turned my head to look at her. She eyed me with her cold gray eye before she turned and disappeared into a dark alleyway. I felt my body growing cold at her suddenly turning and leaving me. My eyes grew wide in shock for a moment, but then realized that I shouldn’t have been so surprised. That bitch had been out to get me since we first met. How long had she been planning something like this?

I hissed as fingers took a handful of my hair and dragged my head up. Reaching up, I gripped Alik’s wrist tightly as he pulled me up by my hair. Gasping and moaning in pain, I fought to get free. It was really taxing though, Excalibur was doing something to me and I didn’t know what that was. How come Alik looked well still? Was he more attuned to the drug than I was?

“What’s wrong, Valkyrie? Shocked that she’s thrown you to the wolf?”

“Fuck you!”

“Yes, I do believe I will fuck you, again,” he growled and tossed me on my back. His hands grabbed mine and I found them pinned up over my head, the awful painful feeling in my shoulder piercing through me. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought the wounds were tearing open even more.

I hissed, struggling as he rested his weight on me. Kicking at him, he pushed my legs aside, forcing himself between them. Growling, I focused on Excalibur. I didn’t care how much it was going to affect me afterward. What I didn’t want, and wasn’t going to allow was for Alik to rape me again, and out in the middle of the cold rain to boot. My body shuddered as the drug kicked in, pulsing through my body.

I focused, zoning in on Alik as he lay over me. I could feel his heat, his erection, and his hands fumbling with my belt. I felt sickness taking over, but I pushed it aside. My body electrified and Alik shouted out in pain. Throwing himself away from me, he stumbled back into his car, arms wrapped around himself. I was sure it hurt, and I hoped it burned like hell. I crawled away from him, dragging myself across the street, glowering at him as I moved along the street on my side.

Taking a deep breath, I screamed, “Tristan!”

I wasn’t sure how far away they were, but they weren’t supposed to be too far back. The plan had been to draw him out, Ahmeil to follow after me and make sure nothing happened and for me to knock him out and bring him back. Should any other Titan members shown up, the other group was to engage with them. Zak, Tristan and Jace were to be behind me and Ahmeil, making sure we didn’t get surrounded by other Titan members. My heart pounded hard, there was a possibility that Alik had sent out his men to intercept Tristan and the others. I really hoped that wasn’t the case as I watched Alik shove off his car and start after me.

I sent another sharp crack of electricity at him, the white light crackling through the rain as the water helped to amplify it. In the state that I was in, I couldn’t concentrate enough to get the electricity to flood through the rain as I had done earlier. Otherwise, I probably could have hit Alik no matter where he moved. As it was though, I could barely get the electricity to jump from my body and lash out at him without feeling a pounding pain in my skull.

I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep going, how much more I could drag from my tired, pain-filled limbs. As I pulled myself across the black tar street, I panted heavily, the gray clouds that hung low spun slightly as if they were creating a tornado that I knew was impossible to have happen. Alik continued forward, shouting at me that he was going to make me submit to him. I yelled in return, sending another bolt of electricity from my body and forcing him to stop his advancement or be fried to a crisp.

My voice rose, I shouted Tristan’s name again in the raining torrent. I was crying for him, my fear choking me and driving my actions. I was growing weak, tired, and the nose bleed was starting to make me light headed. I had never really depended on someone before, but for some reason I had fallen into depending on Tristan for quite a few things. It wasn’t that I expected anything from him, that certainly wasn’t it. However, I did need him. I needed him for a lot of things and my fear was the fact that I was going to be lost to him if I didn’t do something about my current situation, or had help.

Alik continued forward, lunging at me as I tried to strike him again with another shock from my body. I was losing my concentration and I couldn’t get the energy to gather together and hit him. Excalibur faded out without my wanting it to. I rolled over onto my side and coughed hard, heaving dryly as I lay there. Finally, I felt my stomach twist horribly and bile filled the back of my throat. The contents of my stomach splattered onto the ground, blood lacing it. I coughed hard, hacking and trying to breathe. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel any better after throwing up.

A sharp pain erupted in my side and I rolled back over, my back digging into the sharp little rocks beneath me as Alik dropped over me. I hissed in a sharp breath, lashing out at him with both fists, only to be caught in his tight hold. With my arms up over my head again, I yelled though my voice was hoarse and it burned after having thrown up.

“Excalibur taking its toll on you? It certainly took a little while to kick in didn’t it?”

I glowered up at him, confused as to what he meant by that. I tried to pull at the drug again, to make it come back into my possession but as I felt it, I also had a sharp pain erupt in my head and I screamed in shock. Alik held me still as I writhed. Releasing my concentration on Excalibur, I fell still on the ground, utterly worn out and my vision wavering. I could see the edges that put Alik’s frame in my eyesight going black. The world around me dulling out to nothing but a trembling darkness that tried to stay in focus.

“I certainly didn’t realize that such a drug had such a side effect. Want to know something my lovely little Valkyrie?” Alik asked as he leaned forward. I couldn’t move, my body growing heavier by the second. His lips brushed my ear as he whispered to me right before I lost consciousness, “Excalibur is going to eat us both alive. We’re dying, painfully slowly. I can’t wait to join you in hell, babe.”