Burning Slow

From hell and now she's back

Ember's eyes still remained trained on the newcomer in front of them, her face looked painfully familiar and she felt her stomach emit a burning sensation throughout her entire body, her whole body aching painfully upon seeing this girl, the familiar pain reminding her who this girl was.

Her hand unconsciously clutched her stomach, the burning sensation was centered around it.

"Sister..." Astraea averted her gaze to Grace.

She was looking at the ground, completely unable to meet anybody's eyes. She didn't want to see how they looked at her- the glares.

This was what she feared the most. The betrayal in front of her friends, in front of the people who trusted her. Her heart twisted and clenched, feeling all the looks from all her friends. Her heart just might burst from the feeling of guilt. Maybe her legend was really true.

She was helping in the apocalypse.

"Oh, how rude of me." The newcomer stated, making all eyes snap to her and Grace out of her thoughts. "My name is Faith Viotto. And I died four years ago." She announced, her voice shrill and her lips still wearing that sinister smile.

"Died?" Rocco muttered to himself. "How is that possible?"

Faith heard this and her head whipped to him. "Oh you are the necromancer, yes? I must thank you. Without you, I wouldn't be here." She smiled seductively at him.

Rocco's eyebrows furrowed, taking a small step closer to Ember. "Pardon?"

"Oh you don't know?" She paused, tilting her head to the side. "Well, you see, darling, a necromancer such as yourself, when a drop of your blood touches the earth, one of the dead can be revived- well, we're still dead but whatever- anyway, a drop of your blood touched the earth minutes ago which was exactly what we were waiting for. Why do you think you need blood to summon a spirit?"

"We?" Nick cut in.

"Yes." She replied. "Grace, myself and Mother Nature that we're standing on right now. You see children, Mother Nature is trying to destroy the humans. Just a little payback y'know. It seems you humans had already broken her beyond repair, beyond the point of ignore so she thought, might as well get a little payback on the humans before she's fully destroyed."

"Grace?" James turned to the girl.

"I'm so sorry." Grace sobbed, still staring at the ground. At her words, it was all the confirmation that they needed.

"What have you done?" Astraea growled.

"Aea, let her explain." Nick placed a hand on Astraea's shoulder, firmly holding her in place.

"Fine, then. Explain!"

"Faith is my sister-"

"A sister who's trying to make the human race extinct!" Kenneth cut her off, materializing a gun from thin air and shooting at Faith multiple times.

"Kenneth!" Jacob yelled, tackling him down from the side.

And even the gunshots weren't enough to snap Ember out of the overwhelming feeling of fear that she felt at the sight of Faith and still, nobody noticed their suddenly silent leader, her pupils shaking along with her whole body.

"Is she dead?" Rocco moved closer to Faith's unmoving body, her crimson red blood strikingly bright and eye catching against the snow.

"Obviously, I am." She coughed, getting up. "What part did you not understand that I died four years ago?" She spat out blood before standing up. Her clothes now bloodied and even more tattered from the bullet holes, revealing even more of her skin.

"I can't die, duh. I'm already dead!" She answered the question swirling through all of the teenagers' minds. "Ugh, enough chit-chat. Grace," She extended her hand out towards her sister, motioning her to come to her.

Before Grace was even able to take a step forward, Nathan blocked her with his body. "You're not getting her." He growled. "You'd have to go through us."

"Nathan, please." Grace pleaded behind him, holding his arm.

"Oh? And what are you going to do about it?" Faith smirked at Nathan.

"Not me." Nathan smirked back. "James!"

All of a sudden, the area that Faith was standing on was struck by lightning, all of them being flown back to the edge of the cliff.

All teenagers were covered from head to toe with snow as they struggled to stand. All of them struggled to stand except for Ember. Again, nobody had noticed her already unconscious, centimeters away from falling off the cliff.

"You can't kill me!" Faith roared, her voice echoing throughout the whole area. "If you don't hand over Grace, I'm going to kill all of you!"

Grace heard this and she was immediately on her feet, starting to walk to her sister, ignoring her aching body.

"Grace, how could you do this to us..." Nick was the one who held onto her arm, stopping her from walking.

"I owe her my life, Nick! She died because of me." Grace snapped, her body shaking violently. She shook her head, a futile attempt to stop her tears from falling.

"I can't let her get you guys..."

Jacob was the only one near enough to hear the conversation. "We can fight her. Together." He coughed, still struggling to maintain his balance.

"Didn't you hear her? She can't die." Her voice stern. "Please, we don't have much time. Let me go, Nick." The man only gripped her hand tighter.

"GRACE!" Faith's voice boomed meters away from them, making the girl sob again.

"Let me go, please." This time, Jacob reached out and tried to make her stay with them too.

"I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry." She sobbed again and again as her hands started to glow blue. She harshly pulled her arm from Nick and Jacob and formed a huge blue ball of her power, blasting it to her friends.

The last thing that the conscious teenagers saw as they fell off the cliff was Grace's sobbing figure as Faith hugged her from behind, slowly disappearing and the bomb exploding not too far from them.

"I'm sorry." Grace whispered before Faith fully overtook her body.