Chapter 27

Elizabeth Davenport stood perfectly still, staring at the empty space in front of her.

The temperature in the catacombs of the Arc had noticeably lowered. Elizabeth fought the urge to shiver and kept on staring at the space in front of her, where she had heard Danae's disembodied voice.

Suddenly, Heather stiffened visibly next to her. The alert expression on her face faded and she stared in front of her as if she was hypnotised. Slowly, with heavy dragging steps, she walked forwards, her eyes glazed over.

' Heather, no!' Elizabeth quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her back. She stumbled slightly and the blank expression was cleared from her face. Panicked, Elizabeth touched her throat to grab her topaz necklace when she suddenly realised that it was gone.

Heather started to walk forwards again, looking like a stone drug addict and frantically, Elizabeth grabbed her. The blank expression remained on her face. Resorting to Plan B, Elizabeth yanked the necklace from Heather's throat and gripped it tightly. Inside her fist, it melted as if it had touched fire and she released it. It fell to the stone in a pile of smoldering ashes.

Still, Heather's face remained blank. Apparently, the power Danae had over her wasn't limited to just the necklace.

Desperate, Elizabeth slapped Heather's face. ' Heather! Heather! Wake up, damn it!'

Suddenly, it happened so fast that Elizabeth didn't even see it coming, she was slammed onto the wall behind her and Heather's pale hands were around her neck. Elizabeth felt the air whoosh out of her lungs and didn't return. Heather's hand tightened and she smiled, showing her long canines. No, not Heather. Danae.

' Elizabeth, Elizabeth, Elizabeth,' she began, shaking her head, as if she was disappointed.

Trying to seem brave, Elizabeth looked at her mockingly. ' Danae, Danae, Danae.'

Danae's eyes narrowed at her but she ignored that. ' You have my powers in you. My powers that are made stronger. You can control all the five elements of the universe. The earth, fire, water, wind and spirit. They're yours to manipulate. Why can't you ever put it to good use?'

Elizabeth tried to gulp in air quickly but Danae's hands were like iron manacles around her neck. ' You're right. I should've put it into good use long ago and kill you.'

Danae tilted her head to the side questioningly. ' What will you do after you kill me, Elizabeth? Return to England? Last time I checked, those people hated witches.'

' I'm not a witch,' Elizabeth managed to choke out.

' Yes, but you are something worse. You are a vampire, Elizabeth.'

Elizabeth wasn't listening to her. She was focusing on 'putting her powers to good use.' Suddenly, Danae released her, her hands jerking away as if the contact had hurt her. Elizabeth breathed in quickly and tried to stand up, but her muscles were all shrieking their refusal to move.

Next to her, Danae was snarling. She grabbed Elizabeth by the arms and threw her across the room. Trembling, Elizabeth looked up and saw Danae crouching in front of her.

' I've always hated fire,' she snarled and reached out to grab Elizabeth again. Elizabeth barely felt the pain when she hit the opposite brick wall because everything hurt so much, she didn't know which one to feel.

Slowly, Danae sauntered towards her. Her gait vaguely reminded Elizabeth of a leopard approaching its victim.

' So weak,' Danae whispered. ' Just like all your people back in London. All so weak. I think I was the one who killed your father.' She paused as if thinking it through. ' Yes,' she finally spoke with conviction,' I killed your father. I think Madoc killed your mother, though I can't be sure.'

Elizabeth froze and just like that, she felt her powers surge through her. She was angry and her anger made her more...inspired..to kill Danae. Danae was still speaking, taking out her silver dagger and admiring it as she spoke.

Clenching her fists, Elizabeth glared at her. ' Shut up,' she said in a low voice.

Danae simply looked at her. ' Did I say something wrong? Was it about your father or-'

' SHUT UP!' Elizabeth screamed and there was a blinding flash of light. For a moment, the catacombs felt as if it had caught on fire. Then, the light just disappeared and Elizabeth blinked rapidly, not used to the sudden brightness.

There, on the ground, Danae lay in a crumpled heap. She was shivering and her face was pale. Slowly, as if she every inch of her body hurt, which was probably the case, she sat up and faced Elizabeth.

' Somebody's learning,' she said weakly, clutching the dagger at her side, hiding it from view.

Elizabeth got up, steadied herself and walked over to her. ' Yeah. Want to see me try another?' Using all the energy she had, she pushed all her powers forward and there was another flash of light. This time, it was green. Green for the earth.

Then, she pushed her power again. She was too angry too even consider the consequences of using too much of her powers. There was a flash of dark blue light. Dark blue for water.

Again, another flash of light blue light. Light blue for wind.

And another. This time, the light was pure white. For spirit.

By the time Elizabeth reached Danae, she had saved the best power for the last. Just as she was about to exert her last drop of energy, something sharp slashed her bare forearms. Instantly, her defenses collapsed and she keeled over on the ground, gasping for air.

Danae sat up gingerly, holding the dagger up. ' I realised that simple silver wouldn't hurt you enough, so I had these coated with crushed Aspen wood dust.'

Elizabeth could just stay there as the pain slowly travelled along her body. Slowly, the blood dripped onto the ground, forming a scarlet puddle. Danae slowly walked towards the stone double doors and smeared her blood from the knife onto the door.

Elizabeth didn't see what happened next because her vision was already blurred. Bright spots danced across her sight and she felt nauseous.

' Elena,' she whispered. The last thing she saw was a woman stepping out of the door. A woman with long golden hair and emerald green eyes that glinted mischievously.

Then, she slowly drifted off into the approaching darkness.