Chapter 44
Then, with a breath that felt like my last, I gathered up the thousand knots that were me and severed them in one painful swoop, weaving the raw essence of my power, my love, my very soul, directly into the threads of those I loved.
For a few fast breaths it was agony, a soul deep flaying of my consciousness.
Weaving my essence into their hearts as a barrier gave me a few seconds of balm to ease the pain before the dam broke.
All of me flooded into them—power, heart, soul, and hope.
I prayed they understood, even as the last of my strength waned.
I reinforced Angel’s golden bond, weaving my essence into a fortress around his soul. The fear that had haunted me, that he would fade, vanished. He would be safe. My final act would be his shield. The last snags of his trauma, healed, leaving behind an unbreakable anchor of pure, protective love.
Nox’s wild magic fluttered with panic as it recognized my intent. His spirit, still refueling its strength, clung to mine. But I reanchored him as a guardian to Angel and Ivan, weaving a conduit of shared energy and protection between them.
Then I turned to the newer threads. For Ivan, I wove a shield of fierce, big brother love, a barrier that would harden with any threat, hoping it would grant him the resilience I wouldn’t be there to give.
For Remi, Wade, Tiana, for the whole team, I sent a final spark of my own stubborn will to live, a gift of resilience woven into the fabric of their souls which would add strength to their abilities, healing, and clarity.
And finally, to those beyond the supernatural reach, I gave them peace—Grandpa, Nikki, and even my old partner, Joe.
The last dregs of my consciousness began to disintegrate as the final threads began to slip free from my fingers, and Erlik roared a scream of pure, cosmic rage, “What have you done?”
Erlik dug into my soul, searching for the power, and found it empty. He grasped the last few threads and tugged, coiling them around my body as if it were all he needed to hold me together and use my power, but there was so little left, I doubted it was the magic he’d dreamed of.
“Useless parasite,” he snarled.
The connection to the void snapped. For a single, weightless moment, I was falling.
A jarring, icy shock stole my breath. My eyes flew open.
I was submerged in a thick, viscous liquid that glowed with a faint, sickly green light.
It burned with a cold that seeped into my bones, my chest, my empty soul.
Through the distorted glass, I could see the hazy outlines of other jars, other forms suspended in the same eerie solution. The soul prison.
Erlik’s larder.
Panic, dull and distant, tried to surface, but my body had nothing left to give it. My limbs were leaden, my thoughts scattering like smoke. The green liquid pressed in, a cold, chemical kiss, pulling me down into a silence deeper than any I had ever known.
My eyes closed. Darkness, true and absolute, swallowed me whole.
The final thing I knew was not Erlik’s rage, but the distant, steady pulse of Angel’s heart, now beating with a rhythm woven from my own, and the faint, purring echo of a little dragon’s love. They were safe.
Then, there was only silence.