The Crystal Rainbow Ch. 26-30

"Who are you? Do I know you?"

Her words addressed both intruders, but Helen's eyes moved to and locked with those of the woman. Helen nervously ran her tongue over her dry lips, held her breath and waited for a response.

"Of course you know me, Helen. While I am certain we never had a proper introduction, we are well acquainted with one another. Perhaps, now is the appropriate time for me to tell you our names. The gentleman's name is Cadmus and my name is Sabratha. Although, I am sure that name is not familiar to you for you know me by another name. The name the curse forced me to bear … you know me as …."

"Diamanté."

Helen finished the woman's sentence with her own whispered word. Her hand flew to her wrist in a sudden panic.

"Mon Dieu! The bracelet is gone! Oh, bloody hell!"

Sabratha chuckled as she slid off the bed and knelt next to it. Helen watched in open mouthed surprise as the woman bent down, looked under the bed and then struggled for a moment before she retrieved something. She stood and faced Helen. The ethereal redhead raised her hand, which held the crystal bracelet.

"Oh. Is this the bracelet of which you speak?"

Helen stepped forward and quickly snatched the bracelet from the woman's outstretched hand. She held it tightly in her fist and closed her eyes. Her head seemed to roll and her body rocked slowly for a moment as if she stood on the deck of an ocean-going vessel and then her eyes snapped open. She unfurled her fingers from the treasure they encased and peered intently at the bracelet. A look that was a mixture of shock, horror, confusion and fear clouded her lovely face.

"It is the bracelet, but there is a special charm missing. There was a ruby heart. It hung right here." She pointed at the center of the bracelet's length. "But, it is not there now. And, well, and now the bracelet feels … empty."

The redheaded woman's lips curled slightly at Helen's words with a gentle look of compassion and sympathy in her eyes.

"Helen, the charm is no longer on the bracelet because I was the charm. The spell, which bound me to the bracelet, unraveled the moment Cadmus and I found each other. I beg you do not mourn the loss of the bracelet. Please help me celebrate my freedom."

Turning eyes of brilliant sapphire to meet eyes of soft hazel, Helen trembled and her shoulders slumped.

"I rejoice in your happiness, but you must understand what your freedom means, do you not? What price must we now pay? For, what will happen to Christine now that this bracelet no longer holds any power?"

Sabratha blinked in surprise and opened her mouth to speak, but the bedroom door suddenly burst open and a small, shadowed form stood in the doorway. The candles flickered and died in the room and the small fire crackling in the hearth dimmed. The dark shape swept into the room, moving towards Sabratha, but Cadmus moved protectively in front of her.

"No, Marla. You cannot … nay, shall not have her!"

An oily laughter slid from the inky blackness surrounding the woman.

"Very well. It matters not which I take, for I shall have what I desire in the end."

The roiling cloud of night veered sharply and enveloped Helen.

"No!" Khalid roared and began to scramble up onto the windowsill. But, before anyone could move a step, the sphere of shadow collapsed to the floor and the inky trails of darkness drained through the cracks in the floorboards.

An oppressive silence hung in the room as time seemed to stand still. The anguished cry of Khalid caused time to march along its path once more.

"No! Helen! No!"

But, it was too late. The place where Helen stood was empty. Helen was gone.

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Chapter Thirty – Despair

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When brute force is the impetus compelling action, desperation results.
Those that despair face defeat and ultimately, lose. Do not despair!

"A Fool's Book of Wisdom"

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Christine sat bolt upright in Erik's bed gasping amidst a tangle of bed sheets and Erik's limbs, which sleepily attempted to hold her firmly against him.

"What is it? Did you have a bad dream? Come here, mon amour, and I shall chase away the darkness with a kiss."

His quiet words and gentle caresses softened the crease of the frown that marred her brow and she turned back to him, allowing a distracted smile to brush the corners of her lips. Her eyes raked appreciatively over the body of the man lying next to her. His hair mussed from their exertions, his eyes heavy with sleep and his body languid with satisfaction. She brushed the hair from his face and sighed, the frown returning.

"Erik, we need to get out of bed. Something is wrong and we need to go find out what it is. I feel it. It is something important." She nudged his shoulder with her own. "Come, Erik. We need to get up … now."

The man sighed deeply and ran his hand through his hair. He looked deeply into her eyes and saw the apprehension, which dwelt just beneath the surface. He drew back from her and allowed his eyes to run appraisingly over her naked form. After the months he spent training her body, he knew all of her quirks quite well. He frowned as he read the signs of tension in the tight set of her shoulder muscles and in the rigid line of her jaw. Her posture so rigid, she seemed almost to thrum like a knocked arrow on a drawn bowstring. He leapt from the bed and encircled her stiff form with his strong arms, drawing her into a comforting embrace. He nuzzled her neck until he felt her let go of some of the tautness from her body, then gave her a playful pat on her rear.

"I am up, chéri. Let us go and resolve this wrong quickly, so we may return to more important matters here." His lips curled briefly into a wide, lascivious grin before it faltered as he looked around the room and a slight frown creased his forehead. "Christine? Have you seen my mask?"

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It felt like millions of tiny insects crawled over her body. She gasped and her inhalation of breath caused her to feel as if she swallowed a live, wriggling handful of the bugs. Her body writhed and clutching her stomach, she began to retch violently. Gradually, she became aware of a pair of gentle arms entwined protectively about her and a pair of hands that rubbed soothingly at her back. Her body wished for nothing more than to sink into the deceitful safety of sleep, but her mind would not allow her body to rest. Images of a man's swarthy complexion, of warm, brown eyes and of a full sensuous mouth brought her memories back and her mind snapped to the present. Coming fully to her senses, her eyes flew open. A pair of concerned eyes, a shade of the most brilliant green she ever saw, stared serenely at her and she gazed at them in shock.

"Who the fuck are you?" She growled fiercely. "And, where the hell am I?"

The eyes blinked and Helen felt more than heard the owner of the eyes sigh.

"My name is Kimberly and I believe, unfortunately, that you are correct. We are in hell."

Helen struggled for a moment to comprehend the soft words, but gave up as the voice continued.

"Or, at least, we are in the residence of one of its minions."

"What do you mean?" Helen whispered.

The face belonging to those stunning eyes pulled back and Helen at last found she could take in its whole. The woman who owned the emerald eyes had a pale oval of a face, framed by long, straight blonde hair. Her skin had an ethereal translucence, which appeared to glow like the moon. The only flaws to her beauty were the deep, dark hollows beneath her eyes and her cracked, dry lips. Helen watched as the pink tip of the woman's tongue darted from her mouth and ran over her chapped lips before she self-consciously realized Helen watched her. The woman cleared her throat and gently lay Helen down on cold, hard stone. Helen met Kimberly's eyes, but could not read the look held in them. The green eyes slid closed and she turned her head away from Helen. Her hand snaked up to her neck and pushed aside a strip of black cloth she had wrapped around her throat.

"Oh! Merde!" Helen gasped.

She struggled to sit; her hand darting out to trace just above the oozing edges of the ragged pair of puncture marks the woman bore just above her delicate collarbone.

"You realize what this is? Do you not?" Helen snarled.

The emerald orbs glittered with unshed tears as she turned back towards her new companion. Helen thought she caught a flash of searing anger in her eyes as Kimberly nodded her head slowly.

"Of course. I am no fool. I am just a woman with few options and very little time left before the infection takes me. I feel the power seducing me. A siren's song singing through my blood and I cannot escape its call by covering my ears for it courses within me. Oh! It promises such pleasures, but I know they are lies. And, yet …." Her head tilted back and a moan escaped her cracked lips.

With a strength that surprised both women, Helen grabbed Kimberly by the shoulders and shook her.

"Look at me! You will not give in to the poison in your veins. Do you hear me? Do not believe the demon blood that calls to you for it speaks only lies. To give in is to despair. Fight the despair! Rage against it! It only wishes for you to join with it in the hell of eternal bloodlust. I may not be the keeper of the rainbow any longer, but I am a fair healer. There is still hope. As long as she lives, there has to be hope."

Helen muttered her last words as if she spoke to herself and not Kimberly. For a moment, her eyes glazed unseeingly before snapping back into dagger-sharp focus and glaring at Kimberly. Helen's lips curled into a small, tight, twisted smile and her eyes narrowed in concentration. She studied the pale blonde intently and the smile fell from her lips as she watched an inky blackness consume the brilliant green irises. A frustrated snarl escaped Kimberly's lips and she thrust Helen away from her with a sudden, wild desperation, which sent Helen flying. Her hands scraped along the sharp edges of the rough stone blocks, which made up the floor before she landed hard on her backside. Distantly, Helen could feel how the small cuts on her hands stung, but discovered that she could think of nothing but the woman standing above her. The woman, who was neither short nor tall, seemed to grow in stature before Helen's ever-widening eyes. Her straight blonde locks danced about her pale face as if blown by an invisible wind and a halo of smoke descended about her to drape about her body like a funereal shroud. She tilted her head as she returned Helen's look. Her lip lifted in a parody of a smile, but Helen saw no mirth in Kimberly's eyes. Helen's heart fell as she realized the cause was a long, white feral-looking fang, which now protruded over the woman's bottom lip. Kimberly closed her bloodshot eyes and languidly sniffed the air.

"You smell … good …." The woman moaned.

Horrified by the sudden, drastic transformation, Helen reacted without thinking. Her mind latching onto the first words of magic she ever learned. She opened her mouth to speak the command, but could not as all of the air in her lungs burst from her mouth as Kimberly landed atop her. Struggling to regain her breath and at the same time deny the ravening fangs access to her throat, drove all thought from Helen's mind. The two women rolled across the floor and Helen used her slightly larger size to end up on top. Helen used one hand to pin Kimberly's shoulder to the floor. With the other, she balled her hand into a fist, drew it back and sent a hard jab into the woman's jaw just below her ear. The blackness receded, briefly revealing the brilliant emerald green eyes before they rolled up to show only the whites and then, they too disappeared beneath the curtain of her lids. Kimberly slumped, her body seemingly boneless on the floor. Helen gave a groan, pushed herself off the unconscious woman and knelt next to her, shaking her hand as she moved.

"Fuck! That hurt!" She rolled her eyes and began grumbling. "Think that you can set me down here with this poor creature and what? Oh, of course, Helen is on the menu tonight. Helpless human stew. Well, I think not! Just because I no longer wear the bracelet, you think I am an easy mark. Oh! I forgot. Did my pretty face make you believe I am helpless? Could it be that you did not realize you took old Helen? Well, whoever the hell you are, I know one thing … do not count on whatever you have planned to work. You chose the wrong family with which to play. And, of all the times for this to happen, it has to happen now. I had plans. Bâtard stupide! I had plans! After all those years of waltzing around one another, Khalid and I were finally going to …. Ah! Damnez-le! Whoever you are, you are going to regret denying me my night with Khalid. I swear it! Hell hath no fury like that of a de Blanc woman denied. Now, before my pretty friend awakes and tries once more to suck me dry, I best get to taking care of her little problem. Then we need to get the hell out of here. Wherever the hell this is."

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Running his hands through his hair, Khalid dropped to his knees and stared numbly at the now empty spot on the floor. His entire body started as his shocked mind registered a gentle hand touching his shoulder. He looked up into a pair of worried hazel eyes and realized that the strange woman with hair the color of blazing coals stood before him. No longer naked, she had the comforter draped loosely around her body. Khalid saw that the only thing keeping the cover firmly in place was the strong arms of her companion. The man stood quietly behind her, his arms wound tightly about her. Even through his pain, Khalid felt the indomitable strength of the bond shared by this couple. It caused a sharp pang of jealousy to clutch at his heart as he longed for the presence of the woman with whom he wished to explore such a relationship.

"Who are you?" He gasped. His own words surprised him as they burst from his mouth before his mind actually realized what he planned to say.

"I really do not care who they are."

The thought quickly crossed his mind and he felt the truth of it. So, before either one of them could reply, Khalid inhaled deeply as a considering expression settled upon his face. With a shake of his head, he realized that he really did not care who they were. His mind carefully formed the one question to which he truly and desperately needed an answer and then, he spoke.

"No. Never mind. What I want to know is this … where is Helen?"

The woman's eyes held an overwhelming sadness, but she did not turn away from him. The man, however, frowned and did turn away, refusing to meet Khalid's pleading eyes. Khalid watched the man's rugged profile and noticed his eyes seemed to fix upon something far away. So, when the man's low voice answered him, it sent an unpleasant jolt running down Khalid's spine.

"Where she is, we do not know for certain. I know some of the places it frequents, but I do not know where it lives. As to who took her, well, that we do know. The thing that took Helen uses the name Xavier …."

Khalid frowned and he interrupted the man.

"Thing? What do you mean thing?"

The woman visibly trembled and the man squeezed his eyes shut. This time the woman spoke.

"Xavier is not human. It is one of the undead. A being that traded its soul for power and now lives a cursed existence. It must feed upon the living to survive."

Khalid's frown deepened, his eyes were no more than tiny slits and his voice deceptively gentle.

"Power? What power?"

The man and woman exchanged an unreadable glance, but before either one could speak, another voice answered, startling all three with the calm air of authority in which it spoke.

"It calls itself a magician and illusionist and once upon another lifetime ago, it was. It was a woman. Her name was Marla. She fell in love, but the object of her affections did not love her in return. And, to make matters worse, he was unable to love. He was cold and cruel, lusting only after power. The power he coveted dwelt within the body of a naïve, but good young woman and he determined to make her his bride, which drove Marla to the brink of despair. There is much, much more to this tale, but we do not have time for it now. Suffice it to say that she succumbed to her desolation, allowing its bitterness and jealousy to permeate her being. She vowed to cause the young woman the same unbearable heartache she felt. So, she traded her soul for the means to wreak her unjustified revenge. The creature, Xavier, holds onto her memories. But now, believe me when I tell you that there is no glamour left inside this beast. It holds the power of illusion and can change its shape at will. It can read your mind, find the one person you trust above all others and then become them. And, why does it do these things? Why? Well, simply to feed, but it continues to plot and plan. It covets power and intends to steal it by any means necessary. A cowardly demon that hides in the shadows …."

Khalid nodded.

"Ah! Yes, my mother's people speak of a similar beast. To the Hindi of India, it is known as, 'Rakshasa.'"

Christine nodded her agreement as she stepped into the room with Erik following close behind.

"Yes and to steal a line from the Bard and pervert it … a demon by any other name …."

"Still smells as foul." Khalid finished. He turned his cold gaze upon Christine. "If it needs to eat to live, then it is not immortal. We can kill it, non?"

"Indeed. That we can, Monsieur. That we can. And, that is exactly what I intend to do."

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Author's Note: Sorry for the lengthy delay in posting this update. Hopefully, its length adequately compensates for the wait. I must admit that the lack of interest in this story, evidenced by the dearth of votes disheartens me greatly. Yet, I shall persevere and continue. This story began with the title about 20 years ago and slowly my muse provided me with the details of the story to go along with the title. If you take the time to read, please take the time to vote or if you have a spare minute or two, write a short comment to let me know what you think. Thanks! Fondest wishes, --ny

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