Touch of Darkness

Chapter 26: Face-off with Alessia

I told them about my dream and the book; the once lively tone of my birthday had been changed. Alice immediately came up with a plan of attack, she was always the one who liked to be prepared. Alice and Chris would go do some research, Alice found some old books at her house so they would go look through those. Elijah and Cain were supposed to stay here with me but I convinced them to go home. Cain lived next door and his dad wasn't here tonight, and Elijah lived across the street. If anything happened, they would know. They reluctantly agreed and headed home.

Once they were gone, I started cleaning up. The truth was that I didn't want Cain and Elijah here. If anything happened, if Alessia or Zedd attacked, they could get hurt or possibly killed. I couldn't live with myself if that happened. I was in the middle of cleaning up when I felt him standing there.

"Zedd," I said, turning around slowly to face him while getting ready to fight if I had to. He looked more forlorn than I've ever seen him before.

"Victoria, before you attack, I didn't come here to fight," he said, holding his hands up, "I came here to give you something."

"Didn't you already give me enough?" I asked, some venom behind my words.

He slowly reaches in his pockets, just wait, his thoughts tell me and pulls out a small blue box with a bow on top. He holds it out for me. I take it, cautiously, and open it up to find a silver necklace with a pumpkin charm.

"A pumpkin?" I ask, confused.

"I lied to you."

"Which time?"

"It was at the Autumn dance, I leaned in and you told me you had to pee," he starts, I feel myself turn a little red, why is he bringing this up, "When you got stabbed you apologized for not kissing me. Do you remember what I told you?"

"That the pumpkin decoration fell on me," I replied, "What is this? Are you making me relive my top 10 embarrassing moments before you and your sister kill me?"

Zedd looked confused for a moment but continued, "I lied. Truth is, I was a little hurt you ran off, so I said that. I really wanted to kiss you Victoria, and I still do. Ever since then, I couldn't get you out of my mind. I wasn't lying when I said you mean a lot to me and I know I haven't done anything to gain your trust or deserve your love, but please, accept my gift. I promise I will leave your life forever after tonight, I just needed to take care of something before I go."

I didn't know what was going on, Zedd wanted to kiss me? None of this makes sense, if he cared for me as he says he does, why would he give me the book?

"What book?" He asks, his eyes narrowing. I guess I didn't filter out that thought.

"The evil book from my dreams, the one you told me to open," I tell him.

As soon as I finish that sentence, he runs up the stairs. I follow closely behind, finding him in my bedroom, but the book is missing. Zedd turns around, grabbing my hand, "We need to go."

"Whoa," I say, ripping my hand out of his grip, "Have you lost your mind? I'm not going anywhere with you."

"Victoria," he says, "I know I hurt you, I know you feel betrayed, but tell me this, have I ever hurt you? If I wanted you dead, would I have saved you from the witch hunters? I could've killed you already. Our trust is...uneasy to say the least, but please, I need you to believe me when I say I never sent you the book."

"Then who did?" He looks at me and I realize the answer. "Alessia. Where is she?"

He shrugs, "I don't know, she was my unfinished business. After you found out and told me to leave, Alessia called me a coward for telling her we need to abandon the plan. After that, she disappeared and I haven't seen her since. If she did send you the book, then we're in danger and we need to leave."

I stood conflicted, I didn't trust Zedd but at the same time, it felt like he was telling the truth. Before I could make a decision, I felt a force throw me back and I slammed into the wall. I feel a pain in my head and my vision blurs but when my vision comes back, I see Alessia standing there, a wicked grin on her face.

"Well isn't this a cozy reunion," she says, a darkness coming off her tone.

"Don't hurt her," I hear Zedd growl and rush at her. She holds her hand up, freezing him in place.

"Oh brother," she tsks, "I should've known your fondness for her would have been too much."

She throws him back but he manages to catch himself and lands on his feet. Catching her off guard, he throws an energy ball at her which pushes her forward. I see her get angry and she tries to get the upper hand. I use my power to throw another at her, she dodges this one, but Zedd hits her with his wind. She slams into the wall next to me. I get up, rushing over to Zedd who positions himself in front of me.

"Alessia, stop," he tells her, "You're my sister, I don't want to hurt you."

She smirks, "Then join me."

He shakes his head, "Alessia, whatever Adam has told us, we do not need to do it. We can be better than him."

She chuckles, "Easy for you to say, you were always so perfect, you didn't have to work twice as hard as I did to get his approval. It is kind of ironic, his perfect prodigy is abandoning him and what he has prepared us for our entire lives for some girl...the same girl responsible for the deaths of our parents."

What? I wasn't sure if I filtered that but Zedd didn't flinch even if he did hear it. I didn't have time to focus on what she said because from my corner of my eye I see someone jump through my window; Cain. He tackles Alessia, no matter how powerful she is, Cain channeling his animal power is no match. Zedd tries to drag me away and I shake my head; we can't leave Cain. We conjure up another energy ball but Alessia is more powerful than we imagined. She freezes it with her mind and sends it back our way. Zedd tackles me to the ground, narrowly missing it. I see Alessia fling Cain off, sending him flying into the wall.

"I've had enough of this," she says, she raises her arms up which raises Zedd and Cain from the ground. She throws them on opposite sides of the room with a much stronger force than before. This knocks them both out. She approaches me, a smirk on her face, "Are you going to come willingly?"

I position myself in a defensive position, "Give me your best shot."

She smiles, "I plan to."

I dodge her energy ball, throwing one her way. Of course she gracefully moves out the way. Her force knocks me backward but I had thrown an energy ball at that exact moment. She wasn't expecting that. I ran over to her, I knew I could take her magic, if I did that I could immobilize her. I reached for her arm but Alessia gripped my wrist in an iron grip.

"Enough," she said, a darkness falling over her face. With a twist of her hand, I feel a crack and a sharp pain erupts through my wrist. Before I could even express my pain, I feel my body getting picked up and thrown back. I slam into the wall, this time not being able to land on my feet, and hit it full force. I feel my vision blur, I make out Alessia approaching me before everything goes dark.