Chapter 4

I watch her as she smirks and the urge to just finish her off surges through my body. I can’t though. I need some information out of her first; like where is Diana? I see everyone else walking towards us, trying to be sneaky. Why in the world did she come here when she knew how many people are on our side?

“Stay back. She’s mine,” I whisper. I know my voice carries to the others as they stop in their tracks.

Tilting my head to the side, I see her face go pale. Hmm, I guess she didn’t know we had been working on our powers. I’ve seen myself in the mirror and know the sight is unmanning. My regular green eyes are now a red color; my hair floats about my face like flames.

Her face becomes a mask of determination, and her body starts to shift once more. What comes out is a tiger. Shrugging, I throw a small fire ball at her. The tiger yowls at me and pounces. The weight hits me in the chest and I stagger back onto the ground.

She snaps in my face, but I manage to keep her teeth from connecting. I can hear shouting coming from behind me. I don’t look though, just in case she decides to use this as an opportunity to get the upper hand. Her large paw is pressing into my chest; all the air that usually occupies my lungs burst out.

Shouting is raining down in every direction, but nobody makes a move to help me. It’s fine though, this is exactly what I wanted, and she is about to get burned. I think of all the things she put me through. All the betrayal and lies. All the times she pretended to be my friend.

The flames cover my body, but I don’t let them touch her. I want to frighten her not hurt her, yet. Her cat eyes widen and she jumps off of me. Her shift takes longer than the last time as I watch her turn back into her normal blonde self. Chest rising rapidly up and down, she glares.

“How did you learn that?” she questions in disbelief. I can see a hint of fear in her gaze and power flows through me. I have power over her and the feeling elates me.

“None of your business. Where’s Diana?”

She shakes her head and smiles. I know what she is thinking. She thinks she has a bargaining chip since I want to know where Diana is. The thing she doesn’t seem to understand that the only choice she has is how fast she will die.

“Hmm, I’m not telling,” she replies.

I give her a chilling smile and imagine her insides burning. Her face scrunches up in pain and she lets out a terrifying shriek. Body convulsing, she leans over and begins puking up blood. I ease up a little as she crashes to the floor.

Walking closer, I get in her face before whispering, “Where is Diana?”

Tears begin flowing from her eyes as she shakes her head no. I feel no sympathy towards her; she is on the wrong side. She is against everything I stood for, and I know that if I don’t end her now, she will just come back to haunt me later.

“One more chance, Tiffany; then it’s done. Tell me where Diana is.”

Hesitation crosses her face. “She doesn’t know that I’m here. You killed him. You killed my soul mate.”

The tears became sobs and this time a twinge of sympathy shot into my head. I don’t know what I would do without Aaron. Even the thought of it makes my eyes tear up. Knowing that she is incapacitated, I look over at him for reassurance. I see him throwing himself at an invisible wall and know immediately what happened.

Wyatt is also in his own bubble while the twins smirk at the two men. An involuntary smile crosses my face, but soon fades as I realize that everyone is in here. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before, but I don’t want Eli or the twins to be part of this. I don’t want them to see the destruction I cause, and I don’t want them to look at me with fright in their eyes.

Cynthia is standing to the side with her body tense. I nod towards her then motion down to Tiffany. Everyone’s eyes widen in surprise. Why am I going to let her go? I have an idea. Maybe the idea won’t help the situation out, but it is better than killing her in front of my family.

The force fields dropped from Aaron and Wyatt. Aaron lunges at Tiffany. Holding her off the ground be her throat, he squeezes until her face turns red. I see the devilish smile cross his face as he loosens then repeats the process.

“Aaron,” I say hesitantly. Do I really want to stop him? It is a perfect solution to my problem, but the fact of the matter is that I don’t want anyone looking at him as if he is a monster too.

As much as the twins and Eli don’t want to admit it, Tiffany is like a sister to them. Albeit, she was not a very good sister; however, they still grew up with her. I couldn’t let them stand here and watch as she is murdered.

“Aaron, please stop.”

He drops her to the ground and turns to me. His eyes are swirling around like a thunder cloud, signaling that he is close to loosening control like I was minutes earlier.

“She hurt you,” he whispers and pulls me into a bone crushing hug.

“I’m fine now. Everything is going to be fine.” His grip tightens on me, before he pulls away. Coldness swamps me making me want to pull him towards me once more. I resist the urge, and instead signal to Cynthia.

She hesitates before kneeling down beside Tiffany. The bright blue light illuminates the darkness in the living room. Looking around the room, I try to spot Eli. I finally spot him sitting against the chair with his eyes shut tight. A battle roars inside me. Should I go through with the plan? Or just take Tiffany out back and kill her?

“Eli? Can you come here, honey?”

His eyes snap open and he timidly stands. Staggering towards me, I wonder if he can do this.

“Mommy?” He asks while his bottom lip quivers.

“I’m not going to kill her,” I say and relief flashes in his eyes, “but I need you to do something for me.”

I wait until he nods then continue, “I want you to command her to leave and never come back. I want you to command her to never have any part in this war or initiate any harm towards us. Can you do that?”

I know he can do it. The question is will it hurt him? I’m not talking about physical pain. Will it hurt him in the long run? When he feels that euphoria from using his power so strongly; will he be able to stop?

Eli looks at me with determination. The feeling of guilt is prominent. How could I do this to someone so young? He deserves better than this.

“I can do it, Mommy. I deserve you,” he says, and then walks away without a backwards glance.

The kid is too smart for his own good. I watch him as he pushes Cynthia’s hands away and presses his own against Tiffany’s temples. His face begins turning ghostly white, and I fight everything in me that says to snap him up and run. Spasms convulse his body as I run towards him.

There is no way I am letting him go any further. Before I can snatch him up though, a sharp pain enters my head. Finally feeling the excruciating pain the others have felt, I fall to the ground clutching my head. Pulling at my hair, I scream out while tears run down my cheeks.

“Eli!” I hear Aaron shout. I look at him through my tears and see the frustration on his face. He doesn’t know what to do. I’m in pain, but if he hurt Eli I would be in even more pain. Aaron just stands there with a desperate look on his face.

Snapping out of it, he looks towards Aidan. “Do your thing!”

Aidan jumps and runs towards me. Throwing up a force field, the pain exits my mind. I gasp as the abrupt change hits me. I crawl towards the edge of the bubble to get a better look at Eli. Blood is flowing from his nose. I gasp in horror when I realize no one is stopping him.

Wobbling, I get to my feet and begin banging on the invisible wall. I know it does no good, but I still try. I feel helpless. I can’t just sit here and watch as Eli hurts himself, but I can’t do anything to Aidan to make him let me out.

The torture lasts a few more minutes, before Eli collapses to the floor. The shield drops and I run towards him on unsteady legs. Collapsing to the ground, I cradle his body in my arms. Everyone is standing frozen in place, while I rock him back and forth.

No one moves besides Aidan and I. That's when it hits me. He wasn’t just working on Tiffany; he was working on everyone in the room. Eli had somehow commanded them to all stay in one place. As I cradle his unmoving body, I try thinking of ways to fix the mess I got him into. The problem is that I couldn’t think of anything.