The Ascended (The Saving Angels 3)

"We're almost there. I can feel a large group of Daemons up ahead of us." I finally said, trying to fill him in on what we would be facing. "Your sister and Victor are waiting for us also."

"So, you're trying to tell me we're walking into an ambush," he said with a small smile, obviously trying to lighten the mood.

"Exactly," I said, lacing my fingers through his as we approached the double-wide doors. I fought the temptation to flee with him in the opposite direction. The thought was irrational. I knew that if we left our friends behind, we would never forgive ourselves.

Mark placed his hands on the door handle and pulled the large door toward us. The essence of evil in the space beyond us was staggering, causing me to take a wobbly step backwards, trying to adjust to it. I fought with my own emotions, pushing it back to protect Mark and me as we entered the oversized lab space.

"Sheesh, what's with your dad and his mad fascination with labs?" I gripped sarcastically to Mark.

"I'm pretty sure it has something to do with his God complex," Mark piped in as we studied the obscure scene in front of us.

Kim and Kieran were still unconscious on the lab tables, just as we had seen on the monitors earlier. John and Jacob must have become a little harder to handle since they both were tied against two of the pillars that ran from the floor to the ceiling in the center of the room.

I fought the urge to run to my friends, fearing that they suffered similar injuries as Sam from Harmony's brain manipulation. Anger built up in me as I eyed their prone bodies and the dazed look of their Protectors. Without turning to face Harmony, I gathered my emotions together, feeling them grow stronger than ever before. I pushed them out away from me, blanketing John and Jacob before moving on to Kieran and Kim. I cringed, feeling the evil that Harmony was subjecting them to. Their every emotion was nothing but grief, despair, and hopelessness. I focused my concentration, taking in every negative emotion and replacing them with my own positive energy.

Turning from my friends that were now safely tucked under my emotional protective cloak, I turned to face Harmony.

"I see you made it back," she said snidely.

"And I see you're still daddy's little toy," I answered, sweeping my eyes around the room to gauge where the biggest threat was. I observed most of the Daemons hanging back on the far wall, surprised they had yet to try to apprehend Mark and me. Confused, I moved my eyes beyond them before finally resting them on Victor, who was eyeing me appraisingly. Using my gifts, I delved into his mind without any effort and pulled the thoughts from his head. I could see that he had been waiting months for the moment that Harmony and I would face off with our gifts.

My protection began to clear John's and Jacob's heads and I could hear them off to the side as the realized their Guides were somehow in harm's way.

I wanted to help them, but we were in a standoff, with each side waiting to see who would flinch first. I knew that a step in their direction would be the the catalyst Victor was waiting for. So, I ignored their pained voices as they worked to loosen the knots around their wrists. Their pain was mine as they anxiously tried to rouse their Guides on the table. Harmony shot me a sinister grin as she read my inner turmoil.

"You see why being an Ascended is subpar? You'll always have others pulling at you, wanting, needing. Always taking your gifts for themselves," she mocked, pushing back on my protective blanket, making me work harder to keep it in place.

"That's where you're wrong Harmony. That's the very best thing about being an Ascended. There's no other feeling in the world better than knowing your gifts have helped someone. You're wasting your time. I'm not letting you mess with them anymore," I said, indicating my friends.

"I'm bored with that game anyway. I'd much rather show my father that you're not half as talented as he thinks you are," she said, pulling back from my friends abruptly.

Her attack came at me in an instant. Blackness encircled me and everything went dark as she thrust her evil energy straight for my soul. The force of it knocked me flat on my back before I had the chance to protect myself. My mind struggled to sift through the darkness that tried to burrow through it. Images of mass destruction flooded my thoughts making it hard to breath. I could feel it channeling into my brain much like I had seen once in an alien movie. Its tentacles worked to tangle into my every thought, taking over. I began to succumb to the images, forgetting everything that was important or that I cared about.

My perspective changed and I could feel myself being pulled to Victor. Suddenly, I could no longer remember why I had fought so hard to reject him. He was right all along, I knew that now. I could feel him urging me to my feet, to accept my rightful place.

My feet began to move on their own as I slowly limped away from the person that was trying to anchor me to him. I could hear him pleading with me, but his words no longer made sense. I jerked my hand from his, turning back toward the voice that beaconed me forward.

I paused when another presence finally weeded its way through the darkness, stopping me in my tracks. The presence was everything the dark wasn't and I could see its bright light as it slowly began to unravel the tentacles that clung to my mind. I pulled away from the dark, swiftly resenting the intrusion and embraced the light. As I pushed the darkness the rest of the way from my mind, I was finally able to see the light clearly and the person it belonged to.

Mark had Ascended.

Chapter 17

I could faintly hear Harmony's snarl of displeasure as she reached the same conclusion as me. Tuning her out, I turned to Mark who was smiling broadly at me.

"You did that?" I asked in awe.

He nodded.

I limped back to his side, grasping his hand. I could feel his newfound power flowing through him and the joy he felt from it. I allowed myself a moment to glimpse into his soul and had to control my gasp at the purity of it. With the exception Haniel, I had never seen a soul as crisp and clean.

"See, for once I get to be the one coming to the rescue," Mark silently teased, finally able to read my thoughts once again.

I turned and smiled at him in surprise, overjoyed to have him in my head again.

"Father he's an Ascended," Harmony shrieked, stating the obvious.

"I'm well aware of that my dear. It would seem once again that you've failed me."