2. Chapter 2
Camille
My eyes locked on to Jerrod’s as he cradled me tightly in his strong arms. We were now bound—mates—our souls intertwined until death.
Until death.
A flash of Jerrod, blood everywhere, flickered between my current reality and what I had seen from the gruesome mental images of the vision.
I profusely shivered at the memory of what I had just witnessed.
The cheering around us was suffocating. My breaths were coming in short and sharp.
I couldn’t get enough air. I couldn’t fill my lungs.
I gasped in little breaths as my face began to tingle.
“Camille, calm down,” Jerrod whispered softly in his most calming tone. “I know it’s a lot to take in. Just, breathe.”
I was going to pass out. I could feel the fuzziness taking over, the disorienting haze beginning to darken the outer rim of my vision.
So much blood.
There was so much fucking blood.
I needed to get away from this place. I needed everyone to shut the fuck up so I could quiet my mind. I needed—
Jerrod suddenly made a sharp, tumultuous whistle, so resounding that the entire room went deathly quiet. He kept his eyes on me and barely raised his voice, “Everyone in this room needs to shut their fucking mouths right now. Stop clapping or I’m going to start to break hands clear off of arms.”
There were a few gasps in obvious surprise and then utter silence.
You could have heard a pin drop in the arena, it was so eerily quiet.
I wasn’t even sure the crowd dared to breathe after that.
I honestly thought that he might start massacring everyone here if they made another sound.
I took in a deep breath, and then another.
He knew I needed this. Could feel I needed this moment of quiet.
The calm swept over me like a silent prayer.
“Thank you,” I whispered, barely audible as I continued to try to catch my breath.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I am now,” I admitted uneasily.
“Care to explain what happened there?” he pressed soothingly. “I knew that breaking the bond would be painful, but that wasn’t the bond, was it?”
“No. It wasn’t. This isn’t the place for the explanation though,” I voiced, clipped and dismissively. “I will tell you about it after the ceremony is over.”
He looked at me quizzically but nodded reluctantly in agreement.
I felt a soft touch on my shoulder and looked away from Jerrod, my eyes falling upon the ancient elder of Arion. Akio smiled down at me, but a look of concern lingered in his aged eyes.
“Are you well, child?” Akio asked quietly.
“I’m okay, Akio. Thank you for the worry, but I will be fine. That was a… much different experience from the first time,” I explained.
Jerrod chimed in, “I apologize for the abrupt hostility. My mate was in pain and she needed the silence quickly. Forgive my bluntness.”
“Understandable. The bond is… truly amazing, isn’t it?
” he said in praise. He looked out to the crowd and began to speak, “The bonding is now complete. You have all witnessed this holiest of days. The binding of two souls into one being, their fates forever intertwined. As you have seen today, this can be very taxing on one or both partners. May we all give our blessings to this union now, mourn the loss of one of our brothers from Salioes and allow our guests to get the rest they both so desperately need!”
And just like that the crowd began a sacred prayer, calling to Kitahl to protect us, Gishara to give welcome to Josiah's soul in the spirit realm, and Ailahwae to bless our newly forged union.
The arena was filled with the soft murmuring of the prayers for a few moments and to my surprise, everyone went silent.
Without another sound, everyone got up and began to shuffle inaudibly out of the arena.
“You may both take your leave and rest at last,” Akio smiled at us one last time and then he too, turned to leave the area, leaving us alone.
Jade, Veshkru and Kresh waited in our assigned living space after the ceremony, patiently anticipating to find out what had happened during the binding. We sat down with them quietly. My mind was still reeling from what I had seen.
The vision I had experienced was obviously something that could potentially happen in the future.
I knew visions were never set in stone. The question now was, how could I stop it?
How could I keep us from meeting that fate?
My breathing began to speed up again. Jerrod quickly found my hand, trying to center my thoughts.
“Alright, I’ve been patient enough, what happened in there?” Jerrod finally questioned.
I sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly, “I… had a vision.”
They all gasped exaggeratedly. I looked at all of them puzzled.
I didn’t understand why having a vision was so unusual, especially when Jerrod was now my bonded partner.
I gained tons of abilities from Josiah, granted most of them had been physical, but I still gained things he excelled in.
I didn't really understand how gaining future sight would be different.
“What… exactly… do you mean by that?” Jade suddenly clarified, like she didn’t quite understand what I had just said.
“Like, I saw something from the future,” I said in almost a question, my eyebrows pulled together as I looked at her even more confused. “I’m sorry, but, what exactly am I missing here?”
“That is not normal,” Veshkru blurted.
“Well, that's not at all surprising, I guess. I mean, when has anything ever been normal for me?” I laughed to myself.
I was apparently just a cosmic joke, consistently experiencing unusual and random occurrences at this point. Why wouldn’t I gain the ability to have visions when I wasn’t supposed to?
“What Veshkru was trying to say, was that visions gained through bonding has never been recorded in the past,” Kresh said, trying to make me feel better about the bizarre situation at hand.
Jerrod was unusually quiet. I squeezed his hand in hopes of snagging his attention. His teal eyes found mine.
“What exactly did you see?” he asked gently, a tinge of sadness laced in his words.
I wasn’t sure I could stomach reliving it.
My heart rate spiked again as the memory of my hands came into view, covered in blood.
Covered in his blood. So much blood around us.
Pooling like a crimson abyss underneath him.
My breath caught in my throat and I willed my lungs to take in the air.
I took in a deep breath and then looked at him sadly.
“I was seeing the vision like I was actually living it,” I admitted.
“So you saw this vision from your perspective?” Jerrod asked.
“Yes, like I was in the moment and experiencing it… and I was holding your hands,” I said as I drew in another deep breath and shuddered. “I don’t know where we were… but there was blood. So much of it. All over the ground. On my hands. Everywhere.”
His face grew more pensive as he listened, “Whose blood was everywhere, Camille?”
“Both of ours,” I admitted sadly. “I was dying and so were you.”
“Visions aren’t set in stone, Sister,” Jade argued.
“Maybe not, but we were dying in this vision. I could feel all of it. It hurt and I was so cold,” I revealed. They all looked at me with perplexed expressions. “Let me guess, feeling a vision is not normal either.”
“I have distinctly accurate visions on a regular basis and I have never once felt anything from a vision that I have experienced. Even ones from my own point of view,” Jerrod explained.
“Could you hear anything—anything at all that would maybe divulge where you were at?” Kresh asked.
“There was screaming around us. Bodies scattered everywhere. I suppose it could have been Earth. Jerrod told me to… forgive him… for what he was going to do. I don’t know what that means,” I confessed. “The vision ended before anything else happened.”
“Well, that is all super ominous and vague,” Veshkru snorted cynically.
We all looked around at each other. I was beyond exhausted and frankly, feeling a little hopeless.
I already knew that there was a really good chance I wasn’t living to see the end of this journey.
I’d probably end up sacrificing myself, being the chosen one and all.
Wasn't that what heroes were supposed to do?
I closed my eyes and let out an exacerbated breath.
This fucking sucked.
“I think it’s pretty evident that Camille probably needs to rest,” Jade said, finally breaking the silence.
Jerrod sat there, deep in thought. I wasn’t sure what he was doing, but I could feel a hopelessness coming from him, too.
“I think you’re right, Jade. I’d appreciate some time to recharge. The bond with Josiah is gone but the process was… well… it was fucking savage. I think I just want to go to sleep,” I said softly.
Without another word, the three of them filed out of the room and left me with Jerrod. I turned to him and put my hand to his face. His teal eyes, gold flecks sparkling in the background, were sorrowful as they found my own.
“I will tear this universe apart before I allow you to die,” he finally rasped.
“Let’s not think about that for now,” I implored. “Take me to bed. Hold me.”
Without another word, he picked me up and strode to the bedroom.
He set me down on the bed and crawled in behind me.
I turned toward him, nuzzled into his chest and listened to the steady beating of his heart.
His arms firmly held me against his bare chest. The even rhythm slowly lulled me into a mindless sleep.