Chapter 9 #2
Her words didn’t come.
They couldn’t, because then her eyes fluttered closed and her hand went slack in mine.
Death coiled all around her, her light fading.
No.
I grasped the dagger and pulled it free, crushing it in my hand with a growl that could only be described as feral, a rage taking me that I’d never felt the likes of before.
Strong emotions didn’t compute.
And it took me over all too quickly due to the lack of defenses to something I’d never experienced in all my days.
It crumbled to kindling in my fingers.
And then I hovered my hand over the wound, my white power burning bright.
It wasn’t enough.
She was already straddling the line between life and death.
It required more.
A great deal more.
Hesitation wasn’t an option.
A moment longer and I would be unable to reach her without pulling back the veil between the living and the dead.
It required a tether.
I straddled her, pressing one hand to her heart, and the other directly over her wound.
And then I pulled on my power, and poured my Celestial Light into her, destroying the infection at the site of the wound and coursing it through her body, while my other sparked with my white lightning, to restart her heart that had just ceased to beat.
I kept my hand tight to her wound even as her body jolted beneath me from the magical electrical current I was afflicting her with.
On the third rush of lightning, I felt it—the beat of her heart.
She lurched up, drawing in a long, choking breath, her eyes shooting wide.
Clearly in a state of shock, she bucked, trying to move away, but if I allowed it, the infection would not be healed, and she would die once again.
I pressed my hand to her back and gathered her to me with one arm, holding her steady, cradled against my chest, as I continued pouring my Light into her wound.
“Be still, little shadow,” I spoke into her hair. “You will be well in moments.”
“I… it burns.”
“Painfully?” It was my first time doing anything like this.
“No… a different kind of burn.”
Oh.
She wasn’t strained in speaking anymore, but there was a different sort of struggle, and with what she seemed to be conveying, it appeared to be arousal.
I didn’t know what to do with that.
But then she lifted her hands, careful not to impact my healing of her abdomen as she did, and her fingers clutched at my shoulders, little moans escaping her that warmed me in ways I couldn’t deny I found… favorable.
“God,” she breathed.
How ironic.
“I’m sorry to inflict this upon you.”
“You’re saving me.”
“I didn’t know it would come with these… side effects.”
“It’s okay,” she murmured softly.
Her fingers trembled and she tightened her grip. I looked down to see her cheeks heating also. Those little moans continued, moving between those and pants.
Needy, gloriously titillating.
And wholly undeniable.
I felt my Light complete the healing process, flushing out the poison in its entirety.
I removed my hand from the now sealed wound and lifted my fingers to beneath her chin, guiding her heavy-lidded gaze to mine.
She stared at me, still panting, still clutching my shoulders, and I felt her hold tightening, her strength returning. She certainly had some might to her. “Thank you,” she breathed.
“I had to tether you. There may be repercussions.”
“Tether me?”
“You had already begun to slip away. To spare you, I had to pull you back while you were in transition from life to death.”
“That’s… I don’t know what to do with that.” She beamed up at me and clasped my wrist that was still holding her chin for some reason.
I should have let go once I’d had her rapt attention for what I needed to convey to her. But… the feel of her… the warmth… the spark that bled into me in a way I didn’t understand… it had me wanting to remain.
In this position.
Holding her.
Touching her.
Breathing in her lavender scent and feeling that frost whispering in the air between us as she spoke, an aspect of her Wraith side that was incredibly endearing.
She winced then, shifting on me, and then to my regret, she pulled away from me.
And then she was looking down at the site of her wound.
A gasp escaped her and a similar reaction betook me as I saw something branding itself on her skin.
Two jagged lines intersected, one a glimmering white—the mark of my power, and the other a vibrant amethyst tinged with black flecks—the mark of hers.
“Is this one of those repercussions?” she asked, gazing down at it, before her gaze flicked back to mine in question.
“It would appear so. The tether connects us.”
“Connects us how?”
A rush of power rolled through me.
I reached out with my senses, identifying it as belonging to several beings.
Ryker Morgan was returning, and the Guardians were amassing, moments away from swarming the Compound.
“You will be well, little shadow,” I said, easing her to her feet, before releasing her and stepping back.
I went to leave, to tend to Ariana—my mission—but her fingers brushing mine stilled me.
“At least tell me your name,” she beseeched me. “You already have mine.”
I smiled. “Cassius.”
I opened my eyes and started at what I saw through her dormitory window now.
There she sat up at a desk working on her jewelry-making.
She appeared to be fashioning some sort of bracelet, and I even watched her very carefully call her purple Dark Fae power and summon some forest-green gems.
Hmm.
The green… like the wolf-vampire hybrid.
My chest ached.
A great deal of me ached.
But it was a small price to pay for her liberation, for her to have a chance at her best life. She’d long been denied it and she deserved it so dearly.
I drew in a centering breath, rose to my feet, called my wings, then ascended into the night sky.
I arrived back at my apartment—our apartment, actually—and tucked my wings away, before unsealing the ward protecting the space with a brief call of my power.
I opened the door, stepped inside, then sealed it.
It was actually additionally protected by the magic of Ariana Martel.
The way we’d crafted the ward enabled me to pass through despite her much greater power now that I was a Fallen being present.
She’d wanted to ensure that my roommate was safeguarded.
But there’d also been a second aspect to it.
The supernatural world, especially the Guardian Movement and the Unity Council had needed assurance that there was a barrier strong enough in place should it prove necessary, should my roommate become a threat again.
He wouldn’t be.
He never really had been.
Those who had controlled him had been responsible for the destruction he had wrought. He hadn’t been in control of his own actions. They had violated his free will.
And many other things at that.
Ketheron.
He was a Polygenus Entity, a being made of many different species, abilities, and magic.
He’d been experimented on and created through a partnership between Chimera Circle and the Celestial Plane.
They’d forged him to become their weapon against Ariana Martel, the only True Celestial—or merely, angel, as they preferred to refer to her here—who hadn’t been bound by the Celestial Plane and had free will.
They hadn’t liked that. It had terrified them, in fact.
They’d intended him to be used to take her life and then to facilitate a greater foothold for the Celestial Plane.
However, one of his makers from Chimera Circle had co-opted that power for himself.
Corvin Morvain, maniacal Ancient Vampire-Sorcerer hybrid.
He had wanted to take command of the Guardian Movement and the supernatural world as a whole.
Thankfully, he had fallen the very same day that we’d severed the link between this mortal realm and the Celestial Plane.
Ketheron was now free.
But he was damaged, suffering from severe trauma due to being experimented on, then being used, and leashed like a thing and not a person.
He had a child-like understanding of emotional situations, yet he also possessed high-level Celestial and magical knowledge.
It had initially seemed as though it would have served him well to have been under Ariana’s care, because he had imprinted on her.
However, her family hadn’t wanted that for her. She’d already endured a great deal during that tumultuous time. And she was building a life now with her three loves. Moreover, Ketheron’s imprinting could easily cross into obsessive territory and actually lead to a regression.
Besides, the three of us worked together at Haven Initiative and saw each other most days anyway, so he was never out of contact with her for long.
When I’d ventured unto the Celestial Plane to enact my part of the Severance spell, I’d discovered those deplorable fools had been keeping dozens of children in suspended animation—they’d intended to create an army that would follow their intentions for the mortal realm with Ketheron.
But the children had possessed free will, so the True Celestials had considered them failed experiments and just…
left them. I’d liberated them all with Ketheron’s assistance and now we cared for them and helped to rehabilitate them via our work at Haven Initiative.
I hung my black coat on one of the hooks by the door, then took off my boots and slid them into a pair of charcoal slippers from the shoe rack.
I made my way into the space.
This apartment was a former Guardian Movement safehouse, now bequeathed to us for long-term use.
The architecture was acutely similar to that of the Guardian Compound itself.
It was a seamless blend of classic architectural gravitas and subdued, more homely ambiance.
Ornate Corinthian columns rose from the tiled floor to the ceiling, anchoring the space.
Everything was steeped in shadowed green and soft amber tones, the only illumination coming from scattered candles that flickered with a steadiness that served to assist with creating a calm atmosphere that Ketheron required.