Sapphyre: Rise of an Angel (Sapphyre Saga Book 3) Read online

  As I look into her eyes, something within me changes. I feel as though I am drifting into her eyes, floating as I enter a golden door. I open the door gently, afraid of what I have found.

  It’s a beautiful place, filled with wildlife and purity. There is a faded image of Harmony holding me as a baby with Kendall, my father, and Bree at her side. They all look so happy. Another image flashes, then another, all happy times and all different. I realize these are her happy memories.

  Harmony stands beside me in the beautiful meadow. She wraps an arm around my back and leads me deeper into her memories. We stop in front of a black curtain and she reaches her hand out to pull the curtain back.

  “It’s time for you to know the truth. The full truth, my child of Light…” Harmony spoke with deep sadness and heartache.

  She pulls the curtain back and I enter the darkness alone.

  Once inside, it’s like a movie playing in fast forward. This is where her dark memories hide in her mind. I watch in horror as the many things she has been through plays before me.

  Things begin to slow down and catch my attention. I watch intently, feeling like I shouldn’t be seeing this, but I can’t take my eyes away.

  Harmony kneels before a dark figure. I see she is crying as the dark figure points its finger at her, extremely enraged. The figure becomes clearer to me. He has dark black hair, deeply tanned skin, and huge, black feathered wings expanding from his back. He looks menacing and incredibly beautiful at the same time. I watch in horror as the winged man attacks Harmony, shredding her clothes. Her screams fell on deaf ears…

  I look away, I can’t watch as she is attacked by this monster.

  A moment later, I look back.

  Harmony is now lying in bed, holding a small baby in her arms. She is in such pain as she looks down at the child in her embrace. She quickly looks away as if she doesn’t want to remember how he was conceived. She tries to put a smile on her face when the child coos at her, but pain and sadness fill her face.

  The dark winged man walks near the bedside, and Harmony screams as he takes the child away from her. Her arms stretch out for him to give the child back, but he never returns to the room.

  Another memory rushes in as Harmony is sitting in a room alone. It looks like a prison cell. Suddenly, a small boy enters the room with his father, the winged man, behind him. The boy goes over to Harmony, his mother, and bites into her wrist, causing her to give a small cry of pain. The boy drinks her blood as his eyes turn red. The father stands behind him with a smile of pride.

  The boy then reaches into his pocket once he is finished, and pulls out a knife, about eight inches in length. He slices into Harmony’s throat without a thought. Harmony screams in agony, covering the massive wound with her hand. Blood pours down her body.

  Another memory flashes. She is lying in bed gasping for air, the wound on her neck is black and spreading down her chest. She stops breathing.

  The next memory I’m shown is of her and Kendall. He is caring for her and breathing life back into her in the woods, treating her wounds as she struggles to breathe and survive. Kendall, my father, saved her life.

  Another memory materializes. It’s the last War. She stands behind a tree, strong, healthy and determined, ready to kill Malvent. When she steps around the tree and sees her son, I see her face change. I hear her thought, ‘How can I kill my own child, no matter what he is?’ As she throws the ball of white light toward him, her final thought is, ‘Maybe, just maybe he can change…’

  I’m pulled back through the black curtain and the beautiful meadow, and back into the clearing we all still stand in.

  I look at my mother with deep sadness. No one should have had to live the life she has. It’s not her fault Malvent was brought into this world. But she also couldn’t kill him that day. The mother in her wouldn’t allow it.

  Malvent breaks my concentration on Harmony as he throws her to the ground once more. “You see, she is not so perfect. She is no Angel. She does not deserve to exist!” he hissed.

  Before I can open my mouth to speak, Malvent’s face changes. His face is completely cold and hardened, unseeing. “It’s time you die dear mother. I am done with you!”

  “NOOOOOO!” I scream as Malvent sets flame to her body. She is engulfed in seconds.

  She doesn’t scream, doesn’t make a sound. She looks at me though the flames that engulf her, and I hear her voice in my head, “Do what I was unable to do. I love you my Sapphire, always remember that.”

  Her body fully collapses on the ground, and within seconds she is gone, nothing left but ash…

  Tears and rage fill my features. I stare down Malvent, ready and more determined than ever to kill him.

  “YOU’RE DEAD!” I scream as I rush toward him.

  Everyone behind me, follows my lead.

  Malvent smiles as he says, “That one is mine, and mine alone! Kill the rest!” he spoke to him army.

  He stays in his place as the army he created, run past him toward those behind me. None of his army touches me as they run past. I don’t give them a second glance as I have my sights set on the monster before me. All other thoughts went out the window…

  Malvent, the brother from Hell is about to die…

  War

  I run at Malvent with all my anger and rage at the forefront. I know that is stupid. I have to make sure I can think clearly or I will get myself into trouble. As much as I want to run up and rip his head off, I know it isn’t going to be that easy. I have to keep my eyes on him every second. I have to make sure I miss nothing or I will play right into his hands, and I can’t allow that to happen.

  My change in mindset helps me realize I’m heading right for his trap. I see two men from his army running toward me. They will intersect me just before I collide with Malvent. In my blind rage, I would have never seen them.

  I immediately take flight without even thinking about it.

  Malvent frowns. His plan didn’t work.

  He shoos the two men away and they take off toward my family and allies.

  Malvent does something I don’t expect. His back explodes in a mass of black feathered wings and takes into the air after me. I guess that make sense, seeing his father had the same wings.

  He is coming up from underneath me and I feint left. He is now even with me in the sky.

  I know up here we will be alone. He can’t have any of his army help him.

  Before I can attack, he shocks me.

  “Join me,” his eyes pierce mine.

  Those two words stop me dead in my tracks.

  “Why would I want to join you!?” I growl.

  “We can rule this world. Together we will be unstoppable!” He throws his arms out from his body, stretching them wide as if he holds the world as his own.

  “I will never join you! You do nothing but destroy what others love!” I lunge at him as the images of my parents, Bree, Kendall and Harmony flash through my mind.

  I unsheathed my dagger and manage to get a deep cut into his bicep, while I grab onto his wings from behind. I raise my hand to cut into his back where his wings meet his body. As I’m about to slice into his back, he starts to plummet to the ground at full speed. He reaches around and grabs my free hand, and pulls me down with him. I’m able to gash his wing badly enough that he growls in pain.

  The ground comes fast as he slams my body into the ground so hard, it leaves an indent in the earth. All my air whooshes out of my lungs with the force. I thought he broke my back for a moment because of the stabbing pain. But it quickly subsides.

  Malvent sits on top of me, making it difficult to move. “Last chance.”

  “Never!” I spat.

  I’m able to shove him off of me and get to my feet quickly. It’s then I realize the stabbing pain in my back is a knife wound. I feel the blood drip down my back. But the adrenaline that pumps through my veins keep the pain from interfering.

  I realize he holds a knife in his hand. It isn’t mine, that much
I know. His knife has a dark mist swirling around it. My blood stains the blade, but it’s quickly disappearing as the black mist licks it up like a living creature. Before long, the knife looks like it has never been used.

  Malvent grins evilly as he charges at me.

  I throw some of my abilities into the ground, and a thick vine swirls around his leg, causing him to fall to the ground. Confusion covers his face for an instant. Then he figures it out. He realizes I’m the one doing it as the vines wrap up his body.

  He cuts the vines away and gets to his feet once again in a flash.

  I feel the pain as the vines are cut. It’s as though I am being sliced open, but I don’t bleed or have any physical proof.

  He comes at me at a lightning speed. He and I tangle time and time again without doing severe damage to each other. We are well matched. He slices my cheek open slightly and I cut his calf.

  Both our wings disappear as we fight on the ground. We attack and separate many times.

  I have my arm around his throat with my dagger in hand. Ready to slit his throat, I pull the dagger across his skin when I feel a searing hot dagger go straight into my thigh. He pulls the dagger up, slicing my leg wide open.

  I jump back away from him as he still holds the dagger, licking the blood off it.

  I kneel down on one knee. The pain is excruciating. I try to push through the pain as he walks over and grabs my hair, pulling my head up to look at him.

  I see an opening and stab him straight through the foot. Again I ask the vines to return and wrap around his hands, removing the knife.

  As soon as the vines touch the knife, they sizzle as they are burned and start to turn black.

  I remember what Bree had told me, ‘Watch the dagger. It’s covered in poison and it’s deadly.’ She meant his dagger. I have already been attacked with it, but my wounds are not turning black…

  He is untouchable with my vines. They are not strong enough to fight him.

  Pulling the knife out of his foot, to stab him again in the legs, he grips my hair tighter and I grab his wrist. He licks the knife once again, leaving his saliva to drip along its edges. He then raises his knife and shoves it through my forearm. Instantly, it burns and blackens.

  I watch in horror. His salvia…. that’s the poison!

  My blood rolls down my arm, and he is about to lick it. He is mesmerized by my blood for some reason, and I need to use that to my advantage.

  While he is distracted for just that moment, I take to the sky, bringing him with me. He is heavier than he looks. I stab my dagger into the spot his wings expand and I hope it keeps them at bay.

  He snarls.

  I take him as high as I can, then let him go to free fall to the ground. As soon as he hits the earth, I will two of the nearby trees to fall on his body, hopefully killing him.

  Once I land, I realize how weak I feel. I’m losing a lot of blood. I’m not healing as quickly as I should be, and I figure it’s because of his dagger.

  I have gashes and stab wounds throughout my body. My shirt is red with blood. I’m horribly weak, especially since my adrenaline is wearing off.

  I watch the spot where Malvent lays under the massive trees. I hope he won’t move, but I see a flicker of movement as the black mist grows around him.

  The mist grows in mass and manages to shift one of the trees. The other tree shifts just enough that Malvent can climb out.

  He stands and I can see his left arm is broken as it moves unnaturally, swaying at his side.

  I’m running out of maneuvers, and my plants are not working on him.

  He continues to stand there and I can see he is becoming weaker. But is it enough to finish him off? But how?

  I know I have to finish him off quickly, or I will be in trouble. With my wounds not healing, I’m losing way to much blood.

  He stands about fifty feet away, still with his dagger in his hand. It seems to be his life line. But I have other life lines.

  Again, I call to my beautiful ability. A tree breaks through from the ground under Malvent’s feet. It grows around him, engulfs his body like a prison.

  I see his surprise. But before the tree can fully encase his body, he licks his knife and stabs it into the tree. The poor tree doesn’t stand a chance as it rots away.

  Damn that dagger…

  My vision blurs slightly and I feel dizzy and I know I’m in big trouble.

  I try to think of how to deal the final blow. To destroy this monster once and for all.

  Then… it comes to me…

  Blood

  Malvents fight is about to end as I’m about to deal the final blow. I know this last attack will kill him, but I have become so weak, I’m not sure if I can finish him off. I’ve lost a lot of blood and have too many wounds to count. Many are deep and the pain has taken over my whole body. It’s become hard to concentrate and my vision blurs, but I’ll do what I can to finish this monster off. If I fail, everyone I love will die.

  I summon all the energy and power I have left. Closing my eyes, I begin gathering it into a ball of light. Forming it into a tight form with my mind as I speak the words,

  “Light, I call upon thee to do one last deed.

  Peirce the dark that stands before me,

  Send it through the tunnel of light,

  Break the dark and break the night!”

  I take a deep breath and aim for his cold, dark heart. I flash my eyes open and throw all I have at him. The bright ball of power bursts from my body, down to my hands, and is headed right for him as it takes the last of my energy with it. I drop to the ground as my legs can’t hold me any longer.

  If this doesn’t work, and he isn’t dead after this… I know he will finish me off without a thought, and I’m too weak to fight back.

  I kneel on the ground, watching, waiting… praying.

  His eyes grow wide as he sees what is coming for him, he knows his life is about to end. Before he is hit with my attack, he manages one last desperate move himself.

  He covers the dagger he holds in his hand with his poisonous saliva, and it quickly flies in my direction. Hate and rage fill his eyes as he speaks his final words, “If I die, you’re coming with me!” he snarls just before the force of the light hits him.

  I don’t know if it finished him off or not. A new pain jolts through my body. My heart explodes in a blaze of agony and radiates quickly throughout my body. Nothing I have been through could ever compare to this… not being chained and set on fire, not even changing into my true form could touch this…

  I don’t have time to scream as I fall to the ground. I lay on my side gasping for air. It’s becoming hard to breathe as my lungs fill with blood. I cough as the blood flows from my mouth, and pools around me.

  “LEXI!” Katrina’s scream echoes through the open field.

  Strange how everything seems so quiet now. So calm.

  I can’t respond as my breathing hitches in my throat. I cough trying to clear my lungs. Blood continues pooling around me as I feel the warmth as it spreads. Who knew I had that much blood running through my veins…

  My vision darkens as I’m losing my battle to stay conscious. The darkness is taking me. It’s winning, as hard as I try to fight, I’m losing…

  Zach appears in front of me with panic and fear all over his face. He looks from my face to my heart.

  I knew the dagger had entered my heart, I expected nothing less from Malvent. He wanted me dead since the day I was born.

  The poison quickly spreads through my system, killing me.

  How desperately I want to reach up and touch his face one last time. But my body will no longer allow me to move. My muscles will no longer listen to my brain. I’m nothing more than a vegetable laying here, unable to move.

  A tear slips from my eyes as I look at Zach’s beautiful face, and I know I’m about to break his heart forever.

  Zach whimpers and I swear I see a tear spill from his eye. He knows I’m leaving him. I feel Zach lay next to m
e as he lays his head on my shoulder, squeezing me in a hug.

  Surrounded by my friends and family, the ones I love and have stood by me, I’m proud to have been in their lives for the time I had. I know they will miss me, but I’m glad they will be okay.

  They keep calling to me, touching me, trying to get me to move. But I no longer can hear their voices. My ears no longer hear. My body no longer feels. I’m leaving this world and moving on to whatever is next for me.

  My journey is done here…

  My only regret… I don’t have more time to say goodbye…

  My eyes flitter closed, and with one last breath, I leave this world, never to return.

  Light opens up in front of me, welcoming me home. I no longer feel pain, I’m no longer wounded. I’m healthy and strong.

  Stepping through the beautiful carved white door I feel the softness of grass at my feet, and the beauty of a field of wheat spreads out before me. I recognize this place. It’s the place from my dream long ago, the one where Zach asked me to marry him. I remember it like it was yesterday…

  “LEXI!” I scream as I see Malvent throw his dagger toward her. She is throwing all she has toward him, to take him down.

  I know she is too weak to move out of the path and I know she is going to be horribly injured, but I can’t get to her in time. There is no way anyone can.

  Malvent’s army is too large and keeps everyone fighting their own battles. Donavon is fighting relentlessly to protect me. I instantly regret my choice of being here. Maybe if I wasn’t, Donavon could have helped Lexi. Donavon is injured in many places, but he refuses to let it get the better of him.

  The biggest ball of light I have ever seen, flies toward Malvent. There is no way he can dodge around it. I look back toward Lexi just before the dagger hits her in the chest. She falls to her side, not even making a noise. Zach is at her side a moment too late.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I see Malvent hit by Lexi’s last hope. A high pitch bellow fills the air as he is destroyed. His body turns to ash as he falls to the ground.