Page 92 of A Lesson in Obedience
“Erik knows you. He wants you back and I can’t have that. He was so much better when it was like you didn’t exist.” Her face was still so content and sweet as if all the insanity lurking in her brain was hidden deep, deep down. “He needs to go back to that place. I need to make it so that you stay gone.”
Jade’s body lurched forward, a growl coming from her throat. She was thrown to the side so swiftly that her body flew through the glass of the back door that led to the backyard. Corrin was swept off her feet and lifted up, thrown against the wall. Her head made a hard thump before she slumped down towards the ground.
I screamed; my mouth instantly being shut by Teresa’s magic. I clawed at my mouth, wanting to force my lips apart but I couldn’t. My powers twitched within my veins and I lifted my arm to try to protect myself, but my wrist twisted painfully.
“Oh, sweetheart, Erik gained those telekinesis powers from me. It’s so cute that you think you have any use for them here.” The pain she was inducing had my mind jumbled and I couldn’t think straight. I heard a snap and cried out, realizing that she’d broken my wrist.
I grabbed hold of my broken bone when a force surrounded my neck and then pressed against my throat. My airway was becoming smaller and my breaths shallow. I used my good hand to touch the front of my neck, using my nails to rake down my skin, knowing that nothing I did would help me take in air.
My body was flung off to the side and the impact of the wall sent a pain shooting through my side. Teresa quickly shuffled over to me, kneeling down so that she could take me by my braids and pull myhead back. “I didn’t think Jillian would come back. I thought she would stay away, keep you far from everything. She couldn’t do a simple fucking thing, so I made it easier. I let Evie make that necklace so that the magic you got frommyson would cease to exist. He could go about his life and not think of you. He was starting to forget about you both.” She yanked my head back more and I felt the sting in my scalp. “He stole from those witches because he liked the high it gave him. You don’t need a witch’s particular power, just the strength that comes with it to enhance your own. That man your mother was with should have never angered my son. He deserved what he got, but now Erik is fixated on you. And I can’t have that.”
She kept my hands at my sides, as she squeezed her powers against my neck, choking me. “He wants to give you this legacy and you don’t deserve it. Your mother doesn’t deserve it. You don’t deserve his magic.” Her magic pressed against my chest and a weight barreled down, making it even harder to breathe.
“P-please. Stop,” I choked out, trying to kick my legs out.
She slipped her finger along the chain of my necklace, grabbing hold of it and yanking. The sting of it slicing my neck was quick as she held Asher’s gift in my hands. “I should have made you harder to find. I should have just killed you both when I realized you were back, ended this problem right then and there.”
My vision was blurry and my head was swimming with pain. I felt myself going under.
Quick footsteps sounded behind Teresa. Corrin jumped on her back, tucking her arm under her neck and pulling back. Teresa let out a choking noise as she reached behind her to try and subdue my roommate. They tumbled backwards and I was released from Teresa’s hold.
I rested my hand on my chest, the pain that vibrated there making it hard to breathe.
Teresa tossed Corrin aside, curving one of her fingers in a ‘come here’ motion and a knife came flying past my head. Teresa willed it to head straight for Corrin when the sound of more breaking glassand a loud rumble sounded. A wolf came running towards us and knocked Corrin out of the way, taking the knife to the shoulder.
The wolf whined, but stood tall, even when wounded. Its eyes pierced into mine as it stared at me and I instantly knew Jade’s determination anywhere. Her whines grew louder when the knife started to twist and her large wolf head was slammed against the wall. Corrin tried to run at Teresa and was tripped. Chancellor Fowler’s mother used her powers to drag her through the living room, letting her body hit various pieces of furniture as she went.
Tears stung behind my eyes and I just wanted this to stop. She was no better than her son. She was honestly worse. It was hard to swallow, and seeing straight was difficult, but I used my magic to grab at her hair, roughly ripping her away from Corrin. Different pieces of furniture dangled in mid air around me as I lifted them up. I sent end tables, picture frames, vases, anything I could get my eye on at her. She dodged them, getting hit by a vase as it shattered around her.
“You have learned nothing,” she taunted, staring at me as I felt that familiar weight coming near me, attempting to suffocate me.
Then it stopped. It was gone within a blink and Teresa started choking. She was reaching for her neck, taking in any small gasp of air that she could. I kept looking at her, my heart beating faster. The area around me blurred and all I saw was this person that threatened my friends, threatened my family, my life.
I felt her own power trying to push against me, overpower me, but I pushed back harder. Corrin shuffled over to Jade’s wolf form now that Teresa was occupied. The chancellor’s mother fell on the ground, trying to get words out to spew at me, but all I did was force her hands in front of her face. The same hands that touched my necklace and ripped it from my body.
The sound of breaking bones, each and every one resounded in my ears. Her fingers bent in odd ways and her cries were masked by the lack of oxygen she was getting. I felt nothing when I watched her. The smell of burning flesh filled my nostrils, but I didn’t feel hot.
Burn marks appeared on her skin, red welts developing on her body as she shook from the overwhelming pain. Blood seeped from the wounds and her brown skin had a red hue all over. The blood that came out looked as if it was boiling.
Her wails echoed and I wanted her to shut up. Just stop. I focused one last time and the sound of her intense gasps were sharp and then I cinched my power around her neck, pressing hard until the sound of her neck snapping had the tight feeling in my chest unwinding.
I blinked when it was over, the silence surrounding me like an uncomfortable blanket. Corrin and Jade were both looking at me, concern in their eyes. Jade had returned back to her human form, not paying any mind to her nakedness. The knife that had been lodged into her shoulder was now on the ground, covered in blood.
My vision was vibrating and I noticed I was shaking. There was a dead body in front of me. I did that. I…
I did that?
I focused on the blood, my mind transporting itself back to that place I didn’t like to go. Teresa was now Marianne. Her body unmoving and red liquid surrounded her, coating the ground. My stomach turned thinking that that would make me Chancellor Fowler, using my powers in ways I shouldn’t. I felt no remorse for what I’d done. Should I?
My eyes got glassy as I considered everything, tears starting to stream down my face. Every time I opened and closed my eyes, the setting would change. I was in Teresa’s house one minute and then back hovering over Marianne’s dead body the next. I looked down at my hands, blood coating them and I couldn’t shake it off.
I didn’t want to be here anymore. I wasn’t a murderer. I didn’t do this.
I just wanted to protect my friends. I wanted to protect myself.
I saw movement as Corrin walked back into the house. I hadn’t even realized she left. She handed Jade something. It looked likeclothes. She headed over to me slowly, picking up something from the ground along the way.
Corrin hunched down next to me, placing her hand on my arm, but I shrugged her off. She let out a breath. “Riley… can you look at me?” She hovered her hand over my broken wrist and used her powers to stitch the bone back together. It was mildly painful but I didn’t let it show.
