Convergence
CHAPTER 17

I didn’t sleep very well, at least not as well as I would’ve liked. Sleeping inside of a hideout that looked exactly like a tree should have been fun. I had that sinking feeling that Rick was dead and Azazel was far stronger than I ever could have dreamed. After hearing Tyler mention it, I was convinced Azazel had concealed a portion of his magic. It was probably the only way for him to stay in hiding for so long. The magic I had left was so weak. It terrified me to think that I would have to confront him soon.

I walked outside and took in a deep breath. The air was a bit chilly but refreshing. As I stood admiring the countryside, I heard a familiar voice behind me.

“Hey there, Princess.”

I turned around but wasn’t surprised to find him there. Not really. “You look like hell, Rick.”

“Well, what did you expect? I’m basically a minion now.” He tried to chuckle but it was no laughing matter.

“Did he send you to bring me back?”

“Why do you always ask questions you already know the answer to?”

“You used the locator stone to find me.”

“You’re so much stronger than you were when we met. I’m glad.”

“Why did he send that giant eyeball after me if you had the locator stone?”

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“Any particular reason?”

He shook his head. “I didn’t want to be the one to take you to him. I couldn’t be the one to take you to him.” His voice was breaking. “I just couldn’t.”

“And yet here we are.”

He closed his eyes tightly and balled his hand into a fist at his side. “And yet here we are.”

I made my way over putting my head in his chest and wrapping my arms around him. “Do what you must.”

His breathing changed and he kept his arms at his side. “Kari, please run or call Squeak or something.” His voice was pleading.

“No.”

“Kari, run away!”

“I won’t!” I looked up at his face. His jaw was tight and grinding. “You followed Azazel. I am his heir. You will follow me now.” My voice was an order.

I felt a shift. It was like a weight being added to what little power I had left. The shift made me take in a huge breath.

He looked at me then. “What? What did you just say?”

“You will follow my orders, Ricardo de Jesus Ortega. I am your master now.”

Rick hunched over. It took a lot for me to hold him up, but it was only for a moment.

“Rick? Are you okay now?”

He stood up with his hand on his head. “I-I’m not sure.” He looked into my eyes. “I’m….” He glanced around. “What?”

The human version of Tyler came rushed out and charged at Rick. “Release her at once!” He pushed Rick out of my space.

“Tyler, no! Stop this now.” I held him back.

“He works for The Dark King,” Tyler protested.

“No,” Rick’s voice sounded strained. “I don’t.” He let out a sigh of relief and stood. “I only obey my mistress.” He started laughing. “I only obey my mistress!”

“Impossible,” said Tyler.

“Not really,” I replied. “You told me that all I have to do is tell my magic what to do and it will obey. I may not have it all, but it did what I told it to.”

Rick rushed over and took me in his arms. “I’m myself again. How did you know?”

“Just a guess.” I took his face in my hands. “Just a very hopeful guess.”

“I just wish I thought of it when I found out about the family curse.” Rick pulled my hands from his face and held them in his. “Command me again. Bind me to your mother’s bloodline so Azazel can’t take me back.”

“You’re already bound to Howe,” said Tyler. “Her power called all of you to all of her.”

“Is everyone here?” I asked.

“Yes, My Queen. We can start immediately.”

“What’s going on? Start what?”

“Rick, this is probably going to sound crazy, but I need you to take me to my father.”

He touched my cheek with his finger. “I’m not going to let him hurt you, Kari.”

“I know, but I need to see him. I have a few questions I need to ask him.”

We went back into Azazel’s house of all places. I thought for sure he would be in some dark lair playing an organ or something like some demon cliché, but he was just hanging out on his sofa watching some cooking show on TV.

“Hello, daughter,” he said when entered the room.

“Hey, Dad.”

“I suppose you would like your powers back?”

“You suppose correctly.”

He changed the channel to something with music playing. “I regret I had to do that. You just weren’t ready to handle that much power.”

“If anything you’ve told me is true, you had no intention to let me keep my powers.”

He turned the TV off. “You’re right about that. What I didn’t expect was how much I would grow to love you.” He stood up. “Everyone loves you, don’t they?”

“Not really, but I haven’t noticed.”

“It seems that baby is harder to control than I thought, stubborn little thing. He had so much love for you.”

“Did he?” Just hearing about that innocent baby dying without even being able to take his first breath broke my heart, but I couldn’t let Azazel know that.

“How else can you explain why you’re still living right now? That baby has saved so many lives. You should be proud of him.”

“I am.”

Azazel noticed Rick. “So, he’s free of me. It would seem that his curse has been broken after all. Not by Elaina’s hopes, but by my own actions.” He smiled. “Yes, it was fated to be.”

“So, do you plan on just letting go of your plans to take over everything?” I may have sounded too hopeful in my question because his laughter started to rumble from deep within his chest.

“You really are naïve, my sweet girl.” The ground beneath us started to shake and break away. “If I taught you anything, it’s that the demon loves power and always wants more.”

The entire house was just an illusion. As the pieces of it fell away, a large cave was revealed. The ground crumbled beneath our feet. Just as quickly as we started to fall into what appeared to be a bottomless hole, Ashe appeared in her large form and carried us to the sky.

I was in front with Rick holding on behind me. I placed a hand on Ashe’s head and she let out a chirp. “Let’s do it.”

Ashe found an opening and flew through it. We were in the magical world. His entire house was an illusion hidden away in the place he most wanted to be. Azazel burst from the cave as a red dragon sending pieces of rock flying through the air from where he hit the edges of the opening.

“How do you expect to touch him?” Rick asked.

“I’m not sure, but everyone knows what they’re supposed to be doing.”

“How can you plan for something like this? It doesn’t make sense.”

“It’ll all work out.”

Azazel caught up fast. He swooped by us stirring up the air and making Ashe lose control. We started to fall, but she gained control quickly.

“We’ll never outrun a dragon,” said Rick. “We can’t outmaneuver one either.”

Ashe flew as fast as she could until I recognized an area.

“Over there,” I ordered her to the right. “That’s where we’ll find my friends.”

“Are your friends faster than a dragon?”

I waved my arm into the sky and three dragons appeared. “How’s that?”

“Incredibly insane and totally awesome.” He looked behind us trying to get a location on Azazel. “But will they get here before he does?”

“Bob and weave, Ashe.” I patted her side. “Now!”

Ashe shot straight down just as Azazel flew by. He turned his massive body to follow. Ashe weaved through the air, but it didn’t take long for Azazel to catch up. She made another quick flight change in the direction of my three dragons just as they arrived.

“Well, well,” Azazel’s voice was deeper than normal and distorted. “It would seem that you want to get serious.”

I slowed Ashe down so I could see. The dragons charged at him all at once snarling and clawing him. It all sounded horribly fierce but all Azazel did was laugh like he was being tickled. He stretched out his neck and I recognized what was about to happen next.

“Fly away!” I screamed at the dragons to leave and turned Ashe to follow, but Rick put her back on course.

“They know the risks,” he said. “Go, Ashe. Fast as you can.”

I almost tried to climb over him to get to my dragons, but it wouldn’t have mattered. They fought back admirably with fire of their own, but Azazel was just too strong. It was hardly an effort for him to burn them all in one breath.

Ashe went down and weaved through the trees. We had a sizable lead because of the sacrifice of my dragons, and now we were out of sight, but I knew he would find us. He would always find us.

“What are doing next?” Rick asked. “I can’t keep her going like this.”

“I know.” I kept my eyes vigilant. “Where are they?”

“Who are we looking for?”

“There! It’s the gnomes.”

Ashe landed next to them and immediately disappeared. Rick fell to the ground out of breath.

I rushed to Tyler. “He’s coming.”

“We will protect you, My Queen.”

All of the gnomes pulled various forest debris from their pockets like acorns and maple leaves. Tyler blew on a bouquet of clovers and the sky was soon filled with winged horses all covered in fighting armor. The gnomes jumped up into the trees and grew into human-sized soldiers as they leaped from the treetops to the backs of the horses. Only Tyler remained beside me. They all charged at Azazel with the sole hope of slowing him down.

“They’re all going to die,” I said it mostly to myself. “We need to hurry.”

A group of faeries surrounded me like a swarm of insects and were quickly absorbed inside of me.

“Remember,” said Tyler. “You have to be quick or they will become part of you forever. They only agreed to loan you their magic, not be sacrificed to you.”

“I only need them for a moment.” I called for Squeak and she appeared in her dragon form.

Rick was panting on the ground. “Please, be careful.”

Squeak and I took off for the skies.

I almost couldn’t believe my eyes, but the number of creatures fighting for their kingdom forced Azazel out of the sky. It was better than any of us ever hoped. He swung at the creatures as best he could, but they had the upper hand. Squeak charged down at him. I was excited. I truly believed that we would win.

As we approached, I saw Azazel take a step back. It was then I realized what an idiot I was, but it was too late. Azazel flung his right arm knocking dozens of denizens from the sky, some just from the turbulent force of his blow. His left arm quickly grabbed Squeak by the throat. I flew off her back and landed on a rainbow sliding me to the ground.

“Kari.” Azazel sounded fatherly. “I thought you weren’t going to be fooled by me again. If you don’t let them go, I’ll just take them inside of me.”

The faeries all emerged from within me and Squeak disappeared. It looked like a small graveyard with all of them lying seemingly motionless in the grass.

“Good girl.” He almost purred. “Now come out to me and your little friends will live. I have no desire to destroy everything I planned on ruling, but I will.”

I felt so weak I could hardly stand. I stood on wobbly legs and made my way to him using trees to steady me.

“There you are.” His large head dipped down to meet me. “Your attempt was admirable, but it’s time for you to go.”

“Go where? I thought you wanted to kill me.”

“Ideally I wanted you beside me for all eternity. I get lonely sometimes.”

I scoffed. “Don’t give me that. You’re just trying to trick me again.”

“Am I?” I could hear a rumble from deep in his stomach. “Well, I guess you’ll never know.” He stretched out his neck.

“I loved you, Daddy.” I closed my eyes and waited for the fire.

Moments passed and nothing happened. I opened my eyes. He had taken back his human form and stood in front of me.

“Now who’s tricking who?” His eyes looked somber and lined in red as if he had been crying recently. “You speak of my tricks, but you are just as devious.”

“Just kill me and get it over with. I know that’s all you want.”

“It’s not what I want!” He seemed genuinely upset. “I mean it is.” He grabbed his head and growled. “That baby! I understand the dilemma of my accursed son. Even now I find myself saddened that he had to die in order to make me stronger, but it would seem he has made me weaker.”

“Love doesn’t make you weak, Dad. I can see the pain of your soul. Aren’t you tired of this? Wouldn’t you rather go back to the way things were before I knew I had powers? Wouldn’t you rather go back to taking care of me?”

He smiled. “Sweet girl.”

“You were there when I needed someone to cry on, when I needed advice. I still need you, Dad.”

He lowered his head. “It would seem that you are much better at this manipulation than I am. You know all the buttons to push to get that damn baby to react.”

The ground started to tremble and I could feel Azazel starting to turn. I felt my magic twisting inside of him and knew I only had one chance before he was lost to the demon. I mustered up all the strength I had left and darted out after my magic. I grabbed his hand and pulled at my powers with everything I had until he pushed me away.

“You learn far too quickly, Kari,” Azazel said. “But you just weren’t fast enough.” He shot off like a bullet into the sky and disappeared into the distance. His voice echoed over the area. “Follow me if you dare.”

The winged horses landed behind me. Tyler and Rick caught up to me with Ashe. Rick immediately embraced me when he came into range.

“Are you feeling better?” I asked Rick, my eyes never leaving the sky where Azazel vanished.

“Good enough, Princess. You have your magic back.”

“How do you figure?”

“Well… because you’re glowing for one.”

I looked at my arms. There was a golden glow surrounding them. A quick once over revealed that I was indeed glowing and the loose pieces of clothing were floating. I closed my eyes and calmed my powers knowing the deed was done when I felt my clothes fall into place.

“This isn’t all of my power.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Rick. “It’s all the power that matters.”

“You’re completely Howe now,” Tyler interjected. “I can feel it.”

“No. I’m not complete as just Howe. I am also a child of The Dark King. I won’t be complete until all is as it was.”

“Wait a minute,” said Rick. “You mean to tell me you’re going after your demon powers now? That’s just insane!”

“He’s still too powerful. If I take back what he gave me, then he’ll no longer be a threat to anyone or anything.”

“Are you nuts?” Rick grabbed my shoulders. “You don’t know what he’ll do to you. Hell, you don’t know what all that power will do to you.”

“I understand his struggle, Rick. I felt it when I first became a demon.”

He released me and rolled his eyes.

“If I can catch him at a moment of clarity, I can take it all back.”

“Well, those moments of clarity won’t come easily without the witch bouncing around inside of him. You do know that, right?”

“He does have a witch inside of him. My baby brother has been giving Morgan a heart and a conscience for around twelve years or so. Michael’s only existence has been a demon heart.”

“Michael?”

I smiled at him. “I remember. Mom was going to name him Michael. She said it was up to me as his big sister to look out for him. I remember talking to him inside of her.”

Rick grabbed my hand. “I’m sorry.”

I shook my head. “Don’t be. They wanted me to forget. My guardian and my therapist brainwashed me to forget him. Maybe they thought losing my mother was bad enough. But since Azazel absorbed Morgan, Michael has become his conscience. I can defeat Azazel with Michael’s help.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“I have to be. Otherwise, I have no right to rule.” Squeak appeared in her white dragon form and took me into the sky. “Watch over them for me.”

“No!” Rick grabbed onto Squeak’s tail and climbed up her scales. He was out of breath once he reached me but incredibly determined. “I watch over you. I’m your guardian.”

In all honesty, I did want him by my side and was happy that he insisted on tagging along, but I was afraid that “tagging along” was all he could do. His power was greatly depleted in such a short amount of time and I still had that sinking feeling that Azazel could find a way to take him from me again. But if Michael had taught me anything it was that love and hope could change the outcome of many situations.

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