Chapter 127: Spark

The evening died down. I was left sitting alone again, but this time my basket of crystals was full of energy. Their surfaces pulsed with pink light. The elves' energy was different, but it was intense. It wasn't as easy to mix with my own, but when I did, I felt powerful.
I collected the basket and went downstairs. I bid good night to Cherry with a nod. I carried my basket through the back then started up the stairs.
"Beloved," Liam's deep voice drew my eyes up from the stair steps.
I nodded. "Liam."
"Where are you going with all those crystals?"
"I was taking them to my room to practice."
His eyebrow ridges knit down. "Practice what?"
I smiled innocently. "I'm just testing what I can do. Don't worry; I'll be careful."
He eyed me suspiciously. I tried not to let my smile waiver. I felt like he could see right through me, but I held firm. I had to do this. I couldn't just let Kezia die, not like Mila.
"Alright, be careful. Good night, Beloved."
"Good night." I inched around him on the stairs and took the rest of them as quickly as I could. I didn't want him to change his mind and hunt me down.
Anton lay on the couch. He popped his head over the leather sofa when I walked in. "Oh, hey Kira, can I make you something?"
"No, I ate already." I set my basket down then walked closer to him. "I know things have been really strange for the last couple of months. I really appreciate you trying to step up."
I approached him. His hand gripped the couch, holding his skinny face over the edge. He was such a gaunt thing, like a man that had taken too much of a liking to ecstasy and burned off all his extra calories.
I set my hand on his shoulder. I could feel that broken thing inside him. I sent my magic through him. It started sucking energy. I could feel my knees wobble. He closed his eyes like he was feeling the same pull. I pushed a surge of energy through him. That little spark came to life. His eyes rolled under his eyelids as he fell back onto the couch.
I looked down at him. "Sorry, bud. It's your turn to get people off now."
I went back to my basket then continued up the stairs. When I entered my room, I dumped the crystals out on my bed. I lifted my T-shirt up and looked at the contracts tattooed on my skin. I pressed my hand to it.
"Sandriel, Natalia, come to me," I said to the empty room.
Nothing happened. I sent a little magic through my hand into the tattoos. "Come."
The shadows drifted to me in pieces. They formed together and built in front of me into a figure. It slowly solidified into Natalia's form.
She sagged forward. I grabbed her shoulders to steady her. She sported a swollen eye and several knife wounds on her arms. Her dark skin was pale, but her eyes were even harder to look at. It looked as if her worst fears haunted her. It looked the way I had felt when I had first tripped over Mila's body in the dark.
"Natalia, what happened?" I asked.
She took a ragged breath. "I was fighting a hoard of shadows. I don't know what they were, but they had teeth and fangs. I kept seeing things in the dark. But it was like they weren't really there."
"And Sandriel?"
"He was right next to me when we started fighting, but we got separated."
"How about Kezia? Amy?"
"We found Amy, but as soon as we got her out of there, she vanished."
"Vanished? Like ran away or...?"
Natalia shook her head. "I mean vanished. One moment she was there, and the next, she was gone. She just disappeared like she was a ghost." Her eyes looked haunted as she sought mine.
I squeezed her shoulders. "Okay, it's okay. You did your best."
I gestured to the bed. She sunk onto it. I reached out and started absorbing crystals with one hand. With the other, I pushed energy into her to heal her wounds. The energy bounced back like it was reflected off a field.
"What was that?" Natalia asked. "What did you just try to do?"
"I tried to heal you."
"I'm already dead. I have to return to my realm to heal."
"Wait, can you die?"
She nodded curtly.
I pressed a clean towel to her wounds. "What happens after you die?"
She shrugged. "It's the same as with humans. They don't know about contracts. So there may be something better like the next level heaven or hell, or maybe we just stop existing."
"Have you known anyone that has died once they were dead?"
"A few. Most just get new contracts, so they disappear. It's not like we get much of a social life. At least not for the first few hundred years, but I had a fellow demon who was fighting alongside of me die once. She just bled out black blood and died, just like a human does."
"Her body didn't disappear?" I asked.
She shook her head, then sucked in a ragged breath and coughed up black blood.
"You said you can heal in your realm?"
She nodded.
"Go. Teleport to it. Take care of yourself. Return to me when you are healed."
"What about Sandriel and Kezia?"
"I'll handle it. Go."
She eyed me warily. "Are you sure about this?"
"Yes." I nodded.
She disintegrated into shadows in front of me. The black blood splattered across the bed disappeared. I was starting to realize that the difference in realm meant they were made of different stuff than this world: different matter, different energy. We could interact physically, but the rest of it was like it was in a different phase.
I pushed all the physics thoughts aside and focused on the real problem. Kezia was still missing. Sandriel was out there fighting shadow creatures. The darkness was still waiting for me. Amy was gone.
I dumped my hoard of crystals in a backpack then dressed for battle.