Behind The Alpha Book 5 Deacon

(Chapter song ‘Sweat Dreams' by Marilyn Manson, ‘Sexbomb' by Tom Jones)

JENNY

“Hello?”

I slowly stick my head in the growing gap as I open the green door.

My mouth falls open and I have to adjust my glasses as I process what I’m seeing.

“Holy Narnia!” I gasp as I let the door go. “No way…” I breathe as I step in.

The floor is hard wood done in a strategic pattern with thin slats of wood. The ceiling is at least two stories higher than my building. The books line all the walls floor to ceiling with massive arched windows embedded in the shelves. It’s bright day out and the sun beams hit huge dark oak tables.

There’s several stone arch pillars and the halls seem to go on forever.

I spin around and look at the things that aren’t books. They look like something out of a witches novel. Stuff in jars that look like some sort of plant and parts of animals. The books themselves look extremely old.

I walk to a pillar that also has books on the pole. “This can not be real?” I pull a book off and open it.

“I’m afraid…it is…” A voice coughs and I turn with a yelp.

On the floor is a man in a bright yellow suit. He has crazy, curly, blonde hair and is on his back on the floor.

He looks like he’s suffering then I see the pool of blood on the floor under him.

“Oh my God!” I drop the book I have in my hand and rush to the man. I drop to my knees “A-Are you alright?!”

He smiles quick as he pants. “Afraid not.”

“I can call someone. We can get help…” I start and reach for my phone.

He grabs my hand. “I’m sorry, Miss….There’s…ugh…just no time…”

“What is this?” I whisper in confusion.

“My heart…would just love…” He coughs again and waves his hand. “I would love to…go over the sordid details…but...If you could…Be a dear and grab that key…just there…” He points to a spot on the floor between us and the door.

I look on the floor and see a gold, old fashioned key.

“Key? What?” I turn back to him.

“Quickly.” He insists with a push.

I stand and walk over to it. I squat down and tilt my head. The light in the room casts a shine on it and I reach down and pick it up in my fingers. It’s small, but feels heavy in my hand.

“Good…Back here…Hurry…” I walk the key to him.

He grabs my hand and puts the key in it. “This is very, very important…”

I stare at him. My concerned eyes study him while my mouth goes small.

“There’s life here. Evil life.” His eyes flair at me.

“E-Evil…” I gulp.

“You cannot let it out. No matter…”

A strange breeze kicks up in the room. I search for a source.

“Girl!”

My head shoots back at him. “Y-Yes.”

“Pay attention.” He holds my hand up with the fancy carved key end sticking out of my closed hand. My body shivers as he grabs my attention.

The breeze gets stronger and I swear I hear…

“I need you to walk out that door…close it and stick this in the key hole….These instructions must be followed exactly.”

“O-Ok..” I stammer.

“LEFT to move. RIGHT to open. Right? Repeat.” He holds my hand tight.

“What?”

“The words! Repeat the words!” He shakes my hand as he yells.

The breeze turns to a wind. “L-Left to move. Right to open.”

“Good. Again.” He instructs.

“Left to move. Right to open.” I say a bit stronger this time.

“Excellent…” He coughs hard into his palm. He pulls back his hand and it’s covered in blood. “Bollocks.” He groans.

“I really think you need a hospital.” I stick the key in my skirt pocket and move to help him up when the wind picks up even more.

The entire room cackles and my heart stops.

My eyes bug out. “What’s that?”

“Miss, you need to leave!” He grabs my arms.

“I can’t leave you here!” I pull on him as my hair starts to lift.

“Go! You can’t let it out!” He grabs my arm harder and the cackling gets louder.

“Let what out!” I yell over the noise of the laughing.

The wind rushing around sounds like a train. My hair is whipping all around my head and the temperature of the room drops 20 degrees. I look past my nose and clouds of cold air escape my mouth as my breathing speeds up.

‘Jenny…’ The ghostly voice sings.

“RUN! YOU STUPID GIRL!” He shoves me and I fall back on my but with a yelp.

‘Cedric…’

The voice growls as the room shakes and books fall off shelves.

“YOU ARE NOT ESCAPING!” He yells. He lifts his hand to me and flicks his fingers.

I fly backwards to the door. My back hits it and it slams shut. I hit it with a loud oomph.

“GOOOO!” He screams.

‘JENNY!’

I look up and a white cloud in the form of an human flies across the air with the wind.

“RUNNN!”

With a startling yelp, I scramble to my feet. I grab the door handle.

Like someone grabbed my back, I’m pulled off. I scream through the air and land on the floor in between the tables.

“LEAVE HER ALONE, YOU FOUL DEMON!” Cedric cries.

‘You never thought I was foul when I had a body, Cedric. Maybe soon, you’ll change your mind.’

I lift my body to a table top and fear takes over.

“YOU CANNOT HAVE HER, SELINE! I WON’T ALLOW IT!” He raises his hands and aims them at the misty cloud person. He fires red and green balls and I can’t believe what I’m seeing.

The balls pass through the cloud and explode on a wall on the second level.

‘That wasn’t nice, Cedric.’ The image spits and what I can only assume is an arm, fails out and Cedric is lifted off the floor and thrown down one of the never ending hallways.

Tears fill my eyes as I watch nervously from the table.

The ghostly image turns its head my way.

I let out a scream and run for the door.

The wind turns to hurricane level and I have to shield myself.

‘You have just what I need. Thank you for finding me.’

I lower my arms and I’m face to face with a cloud version of myself.

“This is not normal.” I choke as I stare through my cracked glasses.

It tilts its head. ‘No…It’s not.’

It growls loud and smashes into me. The cloud engulfs me, lifting me off the floor and I’m carried off deep into the mysterious room. I try to fight it off every inch of the way, arms and legs swinging and kicking.

My blood curdling screams fade into echoes off the walls into the abyss.

****

SELINE

I walk out of the hallway. I look around and the world is all fuzzy.

I jut my head back and reach to my face. I pull the glasses off and blink. I look at the black, framed, cracked glasses.

I turn the room and everything’s back in focus. I smirk. “We don’t need these anymore.” I toss them over my shoulder and they click across the wood.

I smile and sigh. I place my hands on my hips. “Now. Time to see the world.”

I pull off the librarians ripped blouse and strut to the door. I open it.

I take a deep breath with my eyes closed. “I hope it hasn’t changed too much.” I say in sultry tone and bounce my brows.

I step over the threshold into a smaller library. I look around the simple travesty. “So far…disappointing.”

I raise my hand and study my fingers. I tilt my head and tiny electrical currents rise from my palm between my fingers. Twisting my hand around, I bite my lip. “Hmm…Should make sure I can perform before I leave.”

I walk to the center of the room and stop. I stand with my heels apart and my hands at my sides. I side eye the small shelves and tables.

I feel it build. I smirk as the power grows. The magic gathers in my hands and a ball of white magic grows.

I whip my head to the right and throw it to the side. It hits a shelf which explodes and topples over. Books, papers and wood fly into the air violently and fall to the floor. I throw one out to the left and hit a table. It jumps on impact, knocks over and slides across the floor, hitting another shelf.

I throw ball after ball until shredded paper and splinters fall like snow all around me. I laugh wildly as my magic awakens even more.

“YES!! COME TO ME! FILL ME!!” I shout as the room is utterly destroyed.

Glass breaks and nothing is left standing or intact.

I die it down and my chest heaves. I tick my head. “Don’t be scared. It’s OK. We know exactly what we're doing.” I smirk.

I spin on my heels and walk back to the door. “I should probably pack a lunch before I hunt the Lycan.”

I look around the ancient room, chewing my cheek.

Strutting across the floor, I approach several shelves and cabinets.

I pick up a vial of yellow liquid. I lift the cork and sniff it. “This could do a lot damage. Possibly kill people.” I arch a brow and nod. “I’ll need four.” I close the bottle, grab a leather satchel off a coat hook beside the cabinet and stuff it with potions of all colors. Half I have no clue what they will do, but…the fun’s in finding out.

I turn to a book shelf. Scanning the spines, I pull off a book. “Recipes are fun.” I open it and read the pages. “Oooo…I like….” I lift my head. “What does a vampire look like on the inside?” I question. I tick my head and rip out the page. “Only one way to find out.”

I close the book and set it down. Referring to the recipe, I gather the ingredients and set them on the table. “Now, a container.” I look around the room and spy a pedestal stand. On it is a square glass box.

Curious. I walk around the table and step toward it. In it, I see a large, black dagger. “Very curious.” I raise my hand and flick my fingers out. The glass box explodes and a wave of magic hits me like a wall, making me take several steps back. Once passed, I straighten up, blowing my hair out of my face. “Very, very curious.” Cautiously, I walk to the now exposed blade.

It lays, resting, on a white silk cloth. I tilt my head as I study the 8 inch blade. It’s black as night, but a diagonal rainbow shine ran from hilt to tip.

I reach out and grab the hilt. My fingers wrap around it and instantly, I’m flooded with its history.

My eyes widen. “The Reaper.” I breathe with a grin.

I hold the knife up to my eyes. “Oh, the fun I could have with you.”

I run my fingers across the blade. “You need something more…” I turn to the table. “Accessories.” I smile. “A girl is nothing without them.”

I take the blade around the table and set it down. I read the recipe and whisper the words needed as I crush a cats bone, douse a finger in oils and burn it. I break a diamond and sprinkle its crumbs over the evil weapon.

It starts to glow like a prism of color waving like the northern lights around its shape.

My whispers become more intense as I call my magic. I hover my hand and green lightning hits the blade, making it jump. It shakes and jumps like an earthquake, pops up in the air and lands on its tip into the wood of the table.

My body lowers to the blade as my eyes watch it pulse. “You look better already. Let’s see if you can walk the walk.” I grab the hilt and rip it out of the wood.

“JENNY!”

My head whips to the open door.

‘Deacon!’

The voice in my mind tells me all I need to know.

I walk to a table and sit on as I watch a steamy tower of muscle walk into the room.

‘My you have excellent taste in men.’

‘Leave him alone!’

‘Darling, I don’t think he'll leave us alone.’

I come out of my mind and smirk. “My aren’t you a yummy snack.”

He stops and I can see his eyes are impressed with body.

He rushes to the table and fawns over me. I seductively eye the hard muscle. He thinks I’m her. Boy, is he in for a shock.

It becomes clear, he’s a waste of time when he rejects my…feminine charms. He doesn’t know a strong woman when he sees one, clearly. I could turn him to a toad, or a lap dog, but I won’t waste the magic.

He leaves and I push my arousal down. We have business that’s way more important than a well hung…boyfriend?

I huff a chuckle and jump off the table. I turn back to the Reaper and place it in the satchel.

“OK. Off to munchkin land." I flip my hair and exit the room.

“There’s a face I haven’t seen in centuries.”

I freeze on the spot. My eyes narrow. “No.”

The man in the long black coat steps over the mess. “Hello, Seline.”

“What are you doing here?” I growl. My heart grows black as I call the magic I will need to survive this.

“To collect what’s mine.” He points to my bag.

I look at the satchel and then raise a brow. I lift my eye to him. His dark eyes look different then when I saw him last. In fact, he’s all different. He’s wearing a different skin. A young man of probably late 20s and dark skinned. He looks different, but my specialized eyes can see right through him.

“What makes you think I have anything of yours, Artemis?” I step to the side slowly. He follows me.

“I felt it.” He holds his chin high. “Give it to me.”

I tilt my head to him and glare. “No.”

“Seline, you’re powerful, but not at full strength. You’ve been weakened by your…experience.” He eyes me as he walks toward me.

I place my hand on the satchel. My hand grips it and I back up.

“I must say, Seline. Seeing you cower…” He grins. “So sexy.”

“Gross. I slept with you once and I still can’t wash the stink off.” I sneer.

“I seem to recall your screams of enjoyment. I distinctly remember you begging for more.” He drawls.

“No…I was begging for you to untie me, you disgusting worm!” I raise my hand and fire magic at him.

He dives and the mound of paper just in front of him explodes.

He roars and turns into his tiger. I run around the small library, firing balls at him. He weaves and dodges. He jumps at me with claws out. I swipe my arm out and he flies back through the air.

I duck his next lunge and run for the stairs. His cat hits the banister. I rest my hand on it and whisper as I run. The mahogany turns scaly and a live anaconda takes its place.

The snakes rears it’s head as Artemis hisses and claws at it. They both fall off to the main floor. I get to the top and run to the balcony.

The 30 foot snake wraps around Artemis. He turns to an anaconda and twists back around the stair snake. Both snakes hiss loudly and flop their thick heavy bodies, shaking the old floor. They roll into a deadly rope ball.

I search my bag. “Come on. Give me something.”

I pull out a vial of black liquid. I hold it up to my eyes and tip it. “This should do.” Roars come from the floor below as Artemis slams my snake into the floor. He’s a bear and has the snakes head in his mouth.

“HEY! SCUMBAG!”

He looks up and I give the liquid an extra kick with words. I throw the vial to the first floor.

Remember when I said I didn’t know what have the bottles did? This is one of those bottles.

It smashes on the floor and black smoke rises from the puddle. The liquid is absorbed into the wood and Artemis steps back. He looks at me and changes back. The smoke billows out and starts to coat everything.

The building starts to shake uncontrollable.

The floor I’m standing on, cracks and a piece breaks off.

“WHAT DID YOU DO?” Artemis yells as he tries to keep himself upright.

As I hang from the second floor balcony, I whip my head to him. “I’M REMOVING MYSELF FROM THIS CONVERSATION!”

“WHAT?!”

The ceiling and floor cracks as the entire building groans.

A bright light comes from the alcove. I let go and land on my hands and toes. I turn to the door. The room fills with even more brilliant white light and a high pitched whine starts to come from it.

Oh shit!

I whip my head to Artemis. “Sorry. Where I’m going, you can’t follow!”

I stand on my shaking legs, raise my hand and fire a red ball at him. It hits him in the chest and he flies out the display window.

I hear the high pitched whine from the room peak and stop. The light from green door engulfs the entire building. The earth quake like shaking suddenly stops for a blip of a second.

“Let the fun begin.” I smile in the pause.

Magic from the room explodes out the door and an extremely loud, electric zap pulls the building, and us, out of reality.