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Chapter Twenty: Part 1

Chapter Twenty

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            Alice stared at Azura’s back as she left the room. She touched her cheek, it was wet with tears. He did this. He abused her and raped her, and when I took her away and she was finally happy, he killed her. She spun on Altair.

“I’m going.”

            “What?” He stared at her dumbly, taking in her flushed, angry face. “You can’t…”

            “I’m going to kill him,” Alice gasped through tears. “I don’t care if he is a god.”

            “Alice wait, think about what…”

            “I’m not just going to stand here and do nothing!” she yelled.

            “You can’t just march in there.”

            “Try and stop me.” Alice reached up towards the ceiling, sending out a furious summons, and the magic whipped toward her like tree branches in the wind. She closed her hands around as many threads as she could, concentrating all her anger into one firm command.

Take me to Ambrose.

 It shouldn’t have worked, but Alice felt time and space shift around her.  Her surroundings swayed and stretched. She heard a shout from Altair, and then something snatched at her arm. She jumped forward, startled, but the grip on her arm only tightened.  Wind howled past her ears, pulling her hair back, tearing at her eyes.  She took a few blind, stumbling steps forward, feeling Altair trying to drag her back and then the wind stopped abruptly, and the light behind her eyelids grew darker.

            She opened her eyes and found herself looking up at the giant mansion that was now so familiar.  Ambrose’s house. She’d made it. Alice turned around at splashing sounds, followed by an angry cry.

 “Are you insane?”

            Altair had apparently let go a second too soon and landed in the multi-layered stone fountain in the middle of the driveway. He climbed out of the bottom layer, sputtering and red faced. His shoes squished soggily as he walked towards her and floods of water came off his clothing.

“You can’t just march in there and attempt to kill him. You can’t kill a god! I’ve researched this for years! Don’t you think I want to kill him for what he’s done to me?” He threw up his arms, flinging water everywhere.   

“Please don’t do this!”

            “Why did you follow me?” Alice asked crossly. “I swear you nearly yanked my arm off trying to pull me back.”

            “I wasn’t trying to pull you back - I was hanging on for dear life!” Altair replied angrily.

            “You could have been killed,” Alice snapped. “I don’t know how to Plains Walk! I could have got us to Saudi Arabia in the middle of an alligator pit or something.”

            “Why do you think I grabbed your arm?” Altair growled. “And there are no alligators in Saudi Arabia.”

            “I don’t care,” Alice retorted. “As for it not being possible to kill a god, I’m just angry enough to try! Are you coming or what?”            

“Of course I’m coming, but for the record, this is a really bad idea.” Altair huffed, and followed her to the door, leaving a small river behind him. It seemed as though Vampires didn’t sleep, nor did they hibernate in coffins during the night.  They surprised two of them as they burst in and marched down the first hall way.