True Darkness

I was sat with my legs crossed, my arms resting gently on my knees and my eyes closed.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

I was here to learn control, to learn to be able to settle myself and return myself to a calm state.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

This was supposed to help me centre myself and pinpoint my point of energy. My source chakra if you will. But so far I felt no change.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Ugh. This is useless. It takes too long and it's doing nothing. I could be using this time to train, to hone my abilities and to learn to protect myself. But instead I'm sat here breathing. I could do this any time.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

I clenched my fists against the fabric of my jeans and softly growled to myself.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

This is taking too long.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

We're running out of time.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

I need to be training.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

They're going to die.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

No. I will not let that happen!

Breathe in. Breathe out.

They will survive.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Julian.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Ashton.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Lamia.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

They will stay alive.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

They must stay alive.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

My.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Mother.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Will.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Pay.

Breathe in. Breathe o-

"The quicker you breathe the quicker your heart beats the quicker you lose control." Ashton said calmly from beside me, his eyes still shut.

"I've kept to your rhythm perfectly. Nothing has changed." I snapped, looking at him.

"Then why are you snapping?" he replied, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm not." I said, watching my tone.

Ashton smirked and shook his head slightly, staying in the same position as me.

"Fine then. Then why are your fists clenched?" he asked, still perfectly calm.

"They're not." I replied carefully, unclenching my fists.

"If you say so." he chuckled, that smug tone filling his voice.

"Humph." I said, shutting my eyes again.

"But please, tell me this. If you're not stressed, snappy or breathing quickly. Then why, oh why, is your heart racing?"

I stopped. How could he hear that? I scrunched my eyes and tried to get my heart to slow down. But it wouldn't. Ashton laughed.

"You know if you kept up the breathing techniques I've been teaching you your heart would slow down straight away." he said smugly.

"Shut up. You're just making this up." I snapped.

"Nope. Vampire hearing remember. I can hear a lot of things." he said and winked at me.

"I was talking about the breathing but that's good to know."

"Oh no. That works too. Now. Give me your hand."

"Why?" I eyed him warily.

"Just trust me. I can't do much more damage than Julian anyway haha." Ashton laughed, holding out his hand slightly.

I narrowed my eyes at him, my gaze layered with suspicion, but I still placed my hand in his. He smiled at me, winked and shut his eyes.

"Okay. Now trust me. Close your eyes."

I shut my eyes.

"Now then clear your mind."

I cleared my mind.

"Now breathe with me. In and out. In and out. Making sure you only focus on your breathing and nothing else. Let the sounds of your surroundings flow through you. Feel everything. Feel the energy it gives off. Take some of that energy and use it to locate your source chakra." he said, his voice calmly shifting through me.

So I did what he said. I focussed on the energy around me, felt the wind shift through the stadium and whirl around me, trying to get my attention, trying to tell me to do something. To leave. To run away while I still can. Because the wind likes people like me. We listen to what they have to say instead of just sharing our own troubles without taking any consideration into what the element might be thinking.

We care.

But I digress. Everything was happily passing it's energy to me, letting me use it for my own, partially selfish, use and for that I was grateful. I expressed my emotions and love for the elements and nature as loudly as possible without making any noise. I felt Ashton shudder beside me as my gratitude passed through him.

The door even warned me of someone entering but I was so close to finding it. So very close. So I ignored it and carried on. I heard the warning creak of the door as it complained about the intrusion in our Eden of energy. But I still ignored it.

So close.

I heard the footsteps get closer and closer. I felt Ashton's energies shift as he cracked an eye open, not taking his hand from mine and merely tightening his grip.

One more minute

I felt a growl come from my companion beside me as the footsteps came to a stop in front of us. But I was almost there.

Almost there.

Almost......

Almost...........

There!

I opened my eyes, feeling them pulse with colour as the power flushed out of my chest and straight into the threats body, suspending him in the air and sending electronic volts through him as frequently as possible. He twitched and pulsed as the bolts tethered him to the ground and holding him there in sheer agony.

Well he was until Ashton bowled into me, knocking my focus and throwing me to the floor, breaking my power off at the source. The threat dropped to the floor, gasping for air through his spasms. It looked painful.

It looked like Julian.

It was Julian.

I threw Ashton off and crawled towards the spasming boy as quickly as possible. When I got to him Ashton was close behind and Julian had regained his breath. He grabbed onto my face and pulled it close, concern flashing through his features.

"Are you okay? The bolts. Did they get you?!" he demanded.

"N-n-no I'm fine. They hit you. I'm so sorry. What about yo-" I stuttered, amazed that he had no concern for his own health only mine.

"Libby. Your neck.... You need to see this." Ashton interrupted, handing me his phone to look in.

Lightning bolts were travelling down my neck and below my neck line. I pulled my T-shirt out a bit to look down only to see them stop just below the waistband of my bra. It started out as one bolt from either side of my neck but soon split into hundreds of little bolts covering the expanse of my chest. Like all the other tattoos, this one was outlined in black but the filling was an electric yellow which pulsed with power. Unlike my hand and wrist tattoo's this tattoo didn't stop pulsing. It carried on. I looked at the two guys and grinned.

"Erm... Libby. Your eyes.... They're...." Ashton began.

"They're yellow!" Julian finished.

I quickly turned the phone screen to my eyes and saw the guys were right. My iris' were flashing the same colour as my tattoos.

Now this was going to be a hard one to explain.