Anybody But You

115

Chapter One-Fifteen

Vibe: Bells in Santa Fe by Halsey

Alice obliviously twirled the sharp string around her finger, her bloodied lips smiling as John's eyes widened in horror at her. Giggling, she held her knees to her chin as she watched him, "You're going to die tonight—they told me to tell you that." She whispered the secret, "And when you join them... they will rip you apart over... and over... and over again. Because your gods don't exist, Johnny—only you and I do, and I'm going to kill you."

With one last polite smile, Alice stood up—the strings embedding into her skin uncomfortably confounding now as she winced. Something tried to fight its way into her head—the feeling like an itch she couldn't reach. Shaking her head annoyedly, she slowly made her way back towards the people who were locked in a death match or recovering from her spells. Her eyes searched the place—looking for the next task she needed to complete.

Spotting it, she bent down, grabbing the hilt, "I'll be borrowing this for a moment." She told the groggy greying man, pulling the blade from his hand as he backed away with bewilderment filling his hazy golden eyes.

"Yo, blondie? You still on our side or what? Could use your freaky abilities right about now—" A familiar voice swore out, making her brain swirl momentarily. "Shit. Actually, I think something's wrong with you—like more wrong than usual." They kept talking as Alice kept on her path, "You're pale—sickly pale. You're kind of... sunken. You don't think the river is having a late affect, right? You're not turning into whatever William turned into?"

Stopping in front of an empty vessel, Alice pulled the mage's hood down; revealing the hollow face behind the darkness. Their blank eyes stared back at Alice; their eyes so empty it was almost a mirror as she caught her own ill-looking reflection. Once again her brain screamed at her before she closed her eyes and scrunched up her face from the irritable sensation. Fluttering her eyelids open, she wasted no time as she suddenly lashed out—the blade in her hand slicing deeply into the mage's neck as the close range spray of blood instantly drenched Alice head to toe.

Cut the pretenders.

Gasping from the sudden warmth coating her skin, Alice laughed breathlessly as she felt the release of power. As the empty body fell to the ground, she moved onto the next one, pulling their hood down and once again letting the bloody blade slash into their throat as she released the pent up energy.

"Holy fuck." The voice swore behind her, "Blondie, what the fuck?"

"They told me to." Alice turned around to look at the familiar face staring at her bloody exterior in mixed horror. "Find the imposter, cut the pretenders." She pointed to John, his face contorted in pain as the hollowed bodies bled out.

He struggled up to his hands and knees, glaring at Alice with venom in his eyes as he tried to reach a shaking hand up.

"Ah, shit." A second voice joined, out of breath from fighting. "Look at her hand, the one that's holding the stick. What if the water didn't effect her, but it affected the staff? Do you see how dark her veins are? They're even moving—like the staff's draining her energy. Sort of like how William's life was sucked out of him, right?" The husky voice pointed out as Alice continued where she had left off.

Blood raining down on her once more.

"This is so messed u—Fuck, watch blondie's back!" the voice warned as a clash sounded out directly behind Alice.

Tilting her head as she felt the annoying brush of a blade against her now slashed and bloody arm, Alice reached behind her and felt the sharp string; hitting it before resuming her work as someone let out a gurgling agonized scream.

"This is insane." Someone swore out, "Why the mages? These bastards are just as much a victim as we are, blondie. Why are you killing them and not the assholes literally throwing knives as you?"

"What's wrong with her?" A nervous voice squeaked, "Is she going on another killing spree? Will she try to kill us again?"

"She's only killing the mages. It has something to do with the staff—well that's what Henry thinks."

"Cut the pretenders." Alice repeated with a scowl, looking at them both annoyedly. "Find the imposter; cut the pretenders; destroy the bond." She repeated.

The horror struck face whispered, "Something possessed William, didn't it? Is this even her anymore?"

The hardened face shook their head as Alice went down the line of awaiting mages, "I'm not sure, Ana. I don't even know if she's helping us, hurting us, or just being a maniac." They looked at the dark haired girl, "You need to escape with Charles... Everyone is currently distracted and if blondie stops helping us, we're screwed. You said Nathan's waiting by the caves, right? Go get the boys out of here."

"How's she doing? Any changes?" The husky voice returned, "Should we try to get the stick?"

"Have you not been witnessing how easily she breaks people? Just look at that crazy bitch that tried to cut your face off." They hissed, "She's not even crying anymore—just laying there and trembling."

Another body fell in front of the small blonde as the puddle of blood grew beneath her feet—John gasping with each kill as he tried again to reach out a shaking hand and grab hold of the energies connected to him.

"It has something to do with him. I saw her snap his neck and he's completely—"

"...George..?"

"Th-that's..." They didn't finish their sentence as Alice pulled the hood off the mage and reached out with her blade, seconds away from ending another lifeline.

However, the blade never touched down—her head suddenly screeching with unbearably loud frequencies as she fell to her knees.

It was like someone was scrambling her brain; their hand morphing her brain as she gasped with sudden clarity.

Her blazing blue eyes found George's stunned ones desperately, "Kill the mages—we have to kill all the mages to break the bond...

Or we're all going to die."

~*~*~

A.N.

Yay, how fun! A death omen on everybody again!

Well after an annoying day of not having wifi and having poor cell service, I am here and quite a bit queer. I am sorry for the delay, personally I am blaming Russia's old man. (I still have no wifi but I'm crossing my fingers that it posts without issues). If Canada is nuked into oblivion tn, I'm so sorry about the incomplete story. Also, I'm going off grid for couple of days (camping), and apologize for the haywire update schedule. I'll be back very soon tho! (Assuming the nuking doesn't happen)

Thanks for reading!