The Elemental Mate

Chapter 35

Aurora POV

The green flames danced around the circle, keeping us trapped together and the rogues behind the borderline.

"Aurora!" Xander's voice reaches my ears as he takes a step towards the fire.

"Don't!" I hold my hand out, stopping his movements, "You can't cross the boundary. Only someone with magic can."

"Heavenly fire was hard to get my hands on," Iris boasts, smiling as she prepares for my first attack, "But making enemies with few Fallens was worth the effort."

"An effort that will have been wasted," I tell her, "You came for a fight, but I will not attack you.

I focused on the wind, pushing her back as I collected water from the dirt below us. I drew the water to me, blocking Iris's fire attack mere inches from me.

"I see you've been training," Iris smiled, evil dancing through her eyes, "It's a shame you wasted your time when you should have been saying good-bye."

"Incindio," I cast, a fireball forming in my moving fingers before I throw the flames towards Iris.

Before the flames could reach her, Iris rolled her arms in a circle and threw her arm into the ground. The shockwave ran through the dirt and blasted everyone back.

Rolling slightly to a small crouch, I stared in shock, "How did you do that? You aren't an elemental."

Iris's smile widened as she rolled her fingers over her black necklace, "Dark objects are more powerful than any spell you can throw."

I feel the pain start to run through my veins as she concentrates on the burning of my blood. Pushing my thoughts away from my body, I focus on shifting the heaven fire.

If I can break the circle, Xander break Michael away from the rogues, "Ex spiritum in tacullum, en terrum incendium, phasmatos salves a distum. Ex spiritum in tac-"

My words cut off as a scream rips through my body. Iris leaned over me as she twirled the necklace again, "Ossox."

"Aurora!" I feel Xander's words but I can't hear his voice as the agonizing pain of my left femur shatters beneath me. I collapse against the dirt as Iris stands above me.

"Don't worry, I won't let you die alone," she says as the heel of her foot digs into my leg. She looks towards the men holding my brother, "Kill him."

"No," I whimper, turning just in time to watch one of the rogues wrap his arm around Michael's throat, "Iris, don't do this."

"Remember Aurora, I didn't cause this," she knelt down, her face leaning over mine, "You did this."

The sound echoed through my ears as the rogue snapped my brother's neck. A shock went through my system as I felt my pain radiate out of my heart. My scream blasts out, pushing my magical energy with it. The blast smothers the heavenly fire ring surrounding the two of us and throws everyone back; however, the border separating myself from the pack still stood.

Iris lifts herself off the ground and starts to storm towards me, wanting to reach me before Xander attempts to push against the fire barrier again.

"Aurora!" Ivy's voice rings out from the trees as she races towards the border. Taking a second to look at the fire, she takes a step forward and walks through the flames, never flinching, and keeps coming towards us. She stops just short of where I am on the dirt.

Ivy walked towards Iris, stopping just short of her position over me.

"How did she cross the border?" I hear one of the rogues question quietly.

"She has to be a witch," another responded.

"Is this your big weapon?"  another one of the rogues laughs loudly as he sizes Ivy up, "A little girl is going to fight your battles."

The other rogues joined in on the man's laughter, but Iris stood straight. She knew better than to believe that Ivy was some harmless girl. She could feel the power radiating off her.

"What are you?" Iris's voice was nearly a whisper as she tried to answer the question herself. I could practically hear her running through every list of every creature that walked this Earth as she tried to pinpoint which one was standing in front of her. She twirled near necklace in unconscious thought.

"You lost your husband," Ivy's voice was soft, holding remorse behind her words. She tilted her head to the side as she pushed into Iris's mind, "You're holding so much pain. Your grief is strong."

"My anger is stronger," Iris sneered.

Ivy nearly smiled at those words.

"No. It's not."

Iris's hard stare faltered slightly as the words register. I push myself farther into the ground as I prepare for Ivy's push of emotion.

Realization and understanding reach Iris's forethought but not in time to stop it, "Empath," she whispers.

"You're sad," Ivy states, "Let's focus on that first."

I feel the wave of power thrown above me. Ivy channels the energy, maximizing the pain Iris holds.

Tears stream down Iris's face as she stumbles back, her heel releasing my crushed leg. I whimper as the pain radiates through my body.

"You feel crushing grief," Ivy states, her voice calm and in control as Iris crumbles to the ground.

She cries out, clutching at her heart as if trying to hold it from shattering to millions of pieces.

"A deep depression," Ivy quiets her cries as a broken look fills her eyes. I watch her eyes as her soul breaks, "A depression so deep, so consuming, you can't come back from it."

Iris slowly moves forward, centering one of her hands against her heart and towing with her dark object with the other, "Obstupefacio," she gasps as the spell fills her veins, solidifying her body, "Obstupefacio. Obstupef-"

Her words quiet and cease as her body petrifies, stopping herself from moving again. Her mind leaves her eyes as her skin turns to stone. She freezes herself in this moment, becoming a broken statue.