Chapter 31 – Farrah
The warspear’s poison is spreading through Locheran’s body. I can taste it in my mouth. It’s bitter and painful, but my rage overpowers the ache.
The ache of my mate dying before me.
“How could you?!” I yell at my father.
“I’m a monster hunter. You are too, yet you betray us to love one of those evil beings? Just like your little brother. He was beginning to stray.”
My father holds up the iron sword as if readying to use it on me. It drips with Locheran’s blood—a shade of red so dark, it almost looks black.
“Ethan?”
“He refused to kill. I hadn’t realized that he never killed a monster. He always let me or Dean do the job. Then a year ago, he said he was going to leave the hunt, just like you, Farrah.”
“Then why was he at that warehouse? Why is he dead if he refused to fight with you?”
My father puffs up his chest. “Because I forced him. Ciara cast a spell on him that took hold of his will and forced him to fight. It was the same spell I was going to use on you.”
Why didn’t Ethan tell me? I could have protected him. More importantly, what changed his mind?
It doesn’t matter. He was trying to do what’s right. Maybe he didn’t want to bring me in because he knew how our father would have reacted. Maybe he knew Mally would harm me as well.
“And you call them the monsters?” I sob. “You’re the only monster I know!”
“Yeah?” My father smirks. “We’ll see what the humans believe when I release that video of the vampire attack.”
“What?”
“The one on your phone.”
Fuck. I forgot about that video. “It’s not real. No one will believe it.”
My father shrugs, taking out his phone and sending someone a text. “It's done. The video is rather convincing, I must admit. Isn’t that what it was intended to do? Convince me it was real? That you saved the woman so you can join us and be a spy for the monsters?”
What the fuck? How did he know?
He answers the silent questions. “I told you. The witch sees more than you can imagine.”
“I don’t understand. I thought you didn’t want their world revealed to humans.”
He shrugs. “If humans know the truth of what monsters are, then we can band together to capture them. We’ll be safer if we fight back and end their existence.”
I need to get away from my father. He’s gone completely mad. I glance at my mate suffering on the ground. I need to go to him. I need to save him. If I can get him out of here and take him to Mira, certainly she’ll be able to help.
The moment I make a move toward Locheran, my father steps in front of me.
“Ah, ah. The gargoyle is mine. The horns will be worth nearly a million dollars with how old this one is.”
The pit of my stomach clenches. Electricity replaces the blood in my veins and lights up my body like a live wire ready to explode.
“No,” I growl and slam my palms into my father’s chest.
A burst of light blankets the space. I close my eyes and lift my arms for protection. The blinding brightness seems to last forever, but when it finally fades, I slowly peel my eyes open.
My father is on the ground, unmoving.
Did I do that?
How?
Is he dead?
I shake my head because I have more pressing matters to deal with.
I fall next to Locheran, lifting his shirt and finding the wound on the left side of his stomach.
It’s two inches long and seeping blood. I place my palm over it, attempting to stop the bleeding.
“I’m so sorry, Loch. I’m so sorry. I love you. Please don’t die. I need you. I need my mate.”
He says nothing. Does nothing.
He’s breathing, but barely.
His pain courses through me and it’s near debilitating, but I can’t let it claim me too. I have to be strong for him.
Heavy footsteps approach and I stand, fists in front of me, ready to fight off whoever it might be.
But when familiar faces round the corner, I drop my stance.
“What happened? We saw a bright light,” Evangeline says, running to me. She brings me into a hug, and I sob into her neck.
“My father. He… he stabbed Locheran with a warspear.”
Xander passes us to reach Locheran. He scoops him up into his arms.
Thorne is beside him and says, “We need to take him to the witches. They might be able to help.”
Evangeline keeps her arm around me and leads me out of the back alley. We walk to the front of the building where supes gather. Many are injured and bleeding. Bodies litter the sidewalk and street, some supes, some humans.
“Did the hunters…”
“We captured many of them," Evangeline answers. “A few were killed in the crossfire.”
“My brother, Dean?”
“He’s in a holding cell,” Thorne adds. “We’ve removed the kill pill embedded in the tooth in his mouth.”
I nod as we walk to the triage tent that’s been erected a block away. The smell of blood fills the air mixed with burning wood and something else that makes me want to gag.
I’ll hear about the details of the battle later.
Locheran is all I care about right now.
Xander sets him on a table, and a group of men and women surround him and start chanting in a low hum. A healing spell, if I were to guess. Evangeline leads me to an open spot next to his head. My best friend then stands beside a woman working on cleaning Locheran’s wound, waiting for instructions.
That’s right. Evangeline quit her human nursing job to become a supernatural medic.
Xander wasn’t thrilled about the new position, but mostly because he’s possessive about his mate.
He worries about Evangeline’s safety, which is why he always has at least two bodyguards with her at all times…
sometimes three… when she takes a shift at the supe clinic.
An older woman stands next to me. Despite her graying hair, her slightly paled and freckled skin is flawless and lacks wrinkles aside from barely visible crows feet around her eyes.
She introduces herself as Saoirse, coven leader for the New York City witches, then points to the woman next to Evangeline, explaining to me that she’s a wolf shifter and supernatural medic named Claudia.
Claudia inserts an IV into Locheran’s arm and checks his pulse. “It’s weak, but it’s there. That’s good. He’s still breathing. He’s still fighting. The toxin from the warspear is slowing his healing. We just have to hope it hasn’t spread too much.”
"We can try to push it out of his system,” Evangeline adds. “If it’s spread too much, it won’t work and will only cause him more pain.”
“Can I help?” I ask.
The two look at each other momentarily in thought. Before they can answer, Mira clears her throat. She’s standing at the end of the table at Locheran’s feet.
“Try giving him your blood.”
I nod, not hesitating and determined to do anything they suggest.
Millie stands on my right. She takes my wrist and opens my palm. She drops her fangs and pierces the skin. Blood beads to the surface, and I hover my hand over Locheran’s mouth. Squeezing into a fist to allow the blood to drip down over his lips and onto his tongue.
“Has this worked before?” I ask. “A gargoyle mate’s blood to save him after being injured by a warspear?”
Mira offers me a hopeful smile. “It’s just a guess. We all saw the bright light behind the building. It came from you, correct?”
“I… yes, but how?”
“Fated mate bonds are an ever changing and beautiful thing. Perhaps it was the magic of your connection fighting an enemy. Fighting the one who threatened to tear you two apart. If that’s the case, then Locheran needs you. He needs your blood, your touch, your love.”
My mind, my body, my soul.
My blood continues to pour into his mouth. I’m leaning over him, the fingers of my other hand running through his soft blue hair. I’m crying too, and I don’t stop my tears from falling onto his skin.
“I do love him. So much. My mate. The monster of the night who never let me fall to darkness. Who saved me from myself and the life I never belonged to. He saw me before I saw myself. I love how he kisses my forehead any chance he gets. Or how he makes sure he’s touching me in some way—holding my hand, pressing his palm to my lower back, skimming his fingers over the nape of my neck.
I love that he worships my body… a body I’ve struggled to appreciate.
I love that he knows exactly what I need when we’re together.
I love how cats terrify him, yet he makes sure my cat, Potato, is always fed and cared for. ”
A few sniffles and soft laughs sound around me.
“I love you, my gargoyle soldier, who fights wars with such viciousness yet holds me in those strong arms as if I’m fragile.”
I lean in to claim Locheran’s mouth with a kiss. It tastes like blood and salt and life. I pull away, and say, “I love you, Loch,” and wait. And wait. I wait until I’m sure it didn’t work and my mate will die.
Then he gasps.
And opens his eyes.