Chapter Four
Raiden
“I’ve got this,” I say.
Shock covers all of their expressions, and I don’t blame them. I never intended to use that magic again. I made my life more complicated by not using it, I had to train harder both at the magical academy and the SID training academy to prove that I was good enough. I am strong without it, but there were a lot of other people that I had to hide my magic from; none of them would have understood why I didn’t want to use it. My lack of magic was also a huge disappointment to my family, my father mainly, and yet not once through all the berating and shitty words that they threw my way did I even consider showing them what I was really capable of.
But Neith needs me, and it's as simple as that, it wasn’t really even a decision. As soon as the moose said that was what I needed to do, I knew that I would do it. I wish I could explain why the decision is so easy, and why I am willing to do something for Neith that I have never even considered for anyone else including myself, but I genuinely have no idea.
Doc frowns, “You really don’t have to Raiden.”
“He said that what we did last time wouldn’t help this time because she has died again too close to dying before. She hasn't had enough time to recover fully, and if she dies again now, which is going to happen if I don’t anchor her, then it is going to be bad, really bad,” I explain what the moose said to me.
Their expressions cloud with worry as they all grasp the seriousness of the situation, and the realization that she died recently. I am sure that they are all connecting the dots about when she last died.
“We need to get inside the wards,” Ransom says. “They should stop the council from summoning you.”
I nod in agreement although if I’m being honest with myself, I am not sure that even Ransom’s wards could stop the council from feeling the power surge and summoning me. Right now though, it doesn’t matter, only she matters, and I will deal with the consequences of what I am about to do after I have saved her.
“Fuck it,” Doc says suddenly, “Van, is there anyone else on the road?”
“No,” Van says and then suddenly slams the breaks on as we appear outside our house. “Damn man, you could have given me some warning.”
Doc frowns, “Sorry, my magic is coming a bit quicker than it usually does.”
“It’s her,” River says.
None of us reply to that, none of us really know how, although I am pretty certain that none of us will argue with him.
She arrived in a whirlwind and, even in such a short amount of time, has turned our world upside down. I have a feeling that it is only the beginning.
“What do you need from us?” River asks.
I shrug, I don’t really know for sure, I do know that it wouldn’t be good if it happened in here. “I just need to be under the stars.”
We all climb out of the van and the guys start asking me questions but it’s like the second that I stepped out she stopped trying to hang on.
“Fuck!” I curse. “She’s going.”
“You do what you have to,” Evander says. “We’ve got you.”
I nod.
I can’t do this slowly and steadily; I don’t have the time. Her spirit is leaving, and her heartbeat is slowing.
“You need to stand back,” I say. The guys hesitate, sharing a look. The lock is already loosening on my other side, almost like it knows who I need it for and what I need it for. The power leaks into my voice, it comes out deeper, full of darkness and light, and commanding, “Now!”
Their eyes widen as they all move back.
“Fucking hell,” Doc curses.
I ignore them and take a deep breath. The moose said to follow my magic, and so as hard as that fucking is, that’s what I do. I tear away the lock that is holding back my other side, my other magic, and it blazes forward. My shift is instant, my reaper bigger and stronger than it has ever been, and I look down at Neith, still cradled in my arms. My eyes burn with magic, my back searing with pain before what I instinctively know to be wings burst free.
That’s a new one.
I grasp hold of my magic, feeling whole for the first time in maybe forever, it comes easily enough, happy to help and I get a pang of sadness spear my heart. I don’t have time for any of this though. My magic picks up on what I want, and it quickly sets to work. It wraps itself around her soul, tethering it to her body with a golden thread, and another thread tethers to me. I frown slightly, I don’t know why but I don’t think that was supposed to happen.
My magic swells, as it builds the tether, and then with a sharp snap clicks into place. She is not going to be crossing over any time soon. When she is healed enough, the magic will dissipate, that I know instinctively.
Although the task is complete, I take a moment, breathing deeply and reveling in the peace and freedom that having all of my magic free is giving me. The memories are staying at the edge of my consciousness for a moment, and I appreciate that because I know that they aren’t going to stay there.
All too soon, I admit to myself that I need to pull my magic in and lock that side of me away again so that I can get Neith inside. She needs rest, and I am starting to think that she needs food too, and lots of it. Reluctantly I pull it back and force it back into the cage that I created for it. It doesn’t want to go, and I don’t want to put it there, but I manage it. My wings retract, my eyes stop burning, and that heaviness settles back over me, feeling impossibly heavier now that I have felt what it is like to be free.
When it’s finally in there, I am hit with a wave of sadness. The only thing that helps right now is the weight of Neith in my arms and the fact that I helped her. My magic helped; it didn’t hurt.
Slowly, I turn to face the guys. I frown when I see them way further back than they were.
“What are you doing all the way back there?” I ask, and then fear spears me. I wonder if they are that far back because they fear me.
Evander grins, “You pushed us this far back with your magic.”
“All of you?” I ask, my eyes on Reed.
He nods, “I moved with the others to a safe distance, but you didn’t move me. I think you could one day though.”
My eyes widen, holy fuck.
River rushes up to me and then bounces around, my eyes barely able to trace his rapid movements, “Dude, that was fucking epic. I mean, your other magic is insane.”
I allow myself a half smile, more for River’s benefit than for my own, as I stride toward the house, each step feeling like it weighs a ton. Allowing my magic free was far easier than I ever thought it would be after all of these years. Putting it back, however, was extremely hard, and I hadn’t realized how much it was dragging me down having it confined.
All I can hope is that it gradually gets easier because if it doesn’t, I don’t know what to do.
“You never told us you had wings,” Doc says, watching me closely.
“I didn’t know I did,” I reply honestly as I gently place Neith down on the same couch she was on only a few days ago. I am incredibly grateful that she is in better condition now than she was then. As I finally drag my eyes away from Neith, I catch Reed and Doc sharing a look. “What?”
“You do realize what tier your wings will make you?” Doc asks me.
I tense, and they all see it. “Yes, I am aware. They won’t find out.”
“Raiden, we need to talk about if,” Evander starts, and I just shake my head.
“Not now, please,” I say and then add with a level of honesty that I can only have with my brothers, “it's too raw.”
Evander immediately nods, “Okay, you got it. Let me know when you are ready.” He changes the subject, “I am assuming since you are no longer panicking that it worked, and she is tethered?”
I let out a relieved breath, grateful that he is not pushing the subject. I know that the conversation about the council, and my tier will have to be spoken about at some point, but I do not have the mental capacity to have that conversation right now.
I nod, and then explain what I intuitively know from my magic, “Yeah, she is tethered, the tether will fade when she is fully healed and back up to where she should be.”
“Do you have to feed magic into it to keep it strong or anything like that?” Ransom asks curiously, his eyes darting between Neith and me.
I shake my head, but my eyebrows pull down slightly, “I don’t think so. I got the impression that once it was done that was it.”
Ransom’s eyebrows raise, “That’s some pretty fucking strong magic, dude.”
I grunt.
“It’s impressive,” Griff adds, a smile playing around his lips. He obviously knows that it is making me uncomfortable again though, because he changes the subject. “Are we going to assume that she is going to wake up absolutely ravenous?”
I nod, but before I can say anything, Reed does, his power leaking into his voice, “She died before she came here and was nearly dead when she arrived.”
“We need to wait and let her explain what happened,” River says, sitting down on the couch next to Neith and picking her feet up. He places them in his lap like he has done it a thousand times before.
His eyes connect with mine, and I can see the shadows that have been left behind after watching Neith die, ones that I have no doubt are in mine, too. I never want to go through that again. I can’t.
“You’re right,” Griff agrees, “I am going to order food. Van what pizza does she like?”
“Erm, pepperoni, mushroom and black olives, extra cheese,” he replies immediately.
I smile, yeah, you don’t remember the pizza order of someone who you haven’t seen for over ten years and was only a friend.
We have always known that though.
Her being a part of the team, under our protection and also living here, is going to make more than a few things complicated. However, I don’t think any of us want her anywhere else.
She is very much a part of us now, and I am kind of terrified to think about what it is going to be like a few months down the line if she has affected us this much in only a few days.
I know one thing for sure: she represents change and significant change.
Neith
I sit up, my eyes still closed as I sniff the air like I am deranged.
“I told you she would wake up as soon as she smelt the pizza,” Evander chuckles, and I pop my eyes open.
“Pizza?” I ask curiously.
Doc smiles as he hands me a large pizza box and then points to the spread on the guy's large coffee table, “We got lots of sides, help yourself.”
I smile gratefully, but that is about as far as my thoughts get because my focus is on the food. Standing up from the couch, I settle on the floor, open up the pizza and add all the sides that I want, which is of course all of them, to the now flattened lid.
“That’s brilliant,” River exclaims, sitting next to me and doing exactly the same.
He moves with such fluid grace, crossing his legs with an ease that such a giant man shouldn’t have. It fascinates me but not enough to take my attention off the food for very long. The guys clearly learned from last time because a second one appears as soon as I finish my first pizza, and I smile gratefully up at Griff.
I didn’t wake up with an IV line in me, and I was very definitely fading, yet all I currently feel is hungry, really fucking hungry but only that. I glance around the room at the guys, they must have done something because I nearly slipped into the Darkness again, I was sure of that. It has also only been a couple of days since I died the last time, although it feels like a lot longer, and now that I am really thinking about it, I don’t think I have ever died in such quick succession before. Maybe that’s why I ran out of steam so quickly and could feel the Darkness tugging on me again.
So what happened while I was out for the count, and how did they manage to do something that stopped the Darkness from taking me? I instinctively know that even though I died a few days before and not straight before my second death, it still wasn’t great that I died with very little time between deaths, and I was in a really bad way.
I take a breath and focus inward, trying to see if I can somehow feel what happened, tilting my head slightly as I find a familiar magic, definitely not mine, I don’t have magic, or maybe I do? I am still not ready to confront that either way.
The magic is comforting to me and fills me with warmth. My gaze lands on Raiden, who is distracted by his food. It’s him, it’s his magic, and I know that without a shadow of a doubt. I frown as something niggles at my mind, something that Wallace said about Raiden; at least, I think that is what I am trying to remember, but as soon as I believe that I have grasped hold of the memory, it slips from my grasp again. No matter how hard I try, the memory just slips further and further away. I’m clearly not supposed to remember it, so I let it go.
It makes sense in a way that he was the one to help me since I was dead and he is a reaper, although I will admit that at first, I thought that it was Doc who had helped me, since he is the doctor in this group.
I am extremely curious about what he did, but I know that if I bring that conversation up now, then they are going to think that it is go time on the conversations that I know that they want to talk about, and I need more pizza before that happens.
They are being very patient, I know that they have questions, and I kind of love that they are letting me eat before they ask me anything. Of course, that might be because Evander has told them stories from our childhood about what happens if I don’t get food or get interrupted before the hanger has been satisfied. Whatever the reason, I am grateful.
They last until I am halfway through my second pizza before they start the conversation.
“Okay, I can’t keep it in any longer,” River suddenly exclaims from beside me, and I glance up at him. “You died.”
“I did,” I reply, because there really is no point in trying to say otherwise, I had a knife sticking out of my chest. It pierced my heart, no one could survive that.
“But you are alive,” Griff adds, as a statement and not a question.
“Yes, I am.”
“Neith,” Evander says, pulling my gaze over to where he is studying me closely, “did you die before you came here?”
I sigh and put down my slice of pizza, “Yes.”
There is a rumble of growls that echo through the room and send a thrill through me. I'm not even sure who is growling, I just know that it’s more than one of them and I strangely like it.
“I think you had better start from the beginning, Love,” Doc says, his eyes filled with anger already.
I’m not focused on that at all though, he called me love. I know it doesn’t mean anything, but it still makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and since the following conversation isn’t going to be warm and fuzzy at all, I’m going to enjoy this moment for a short while longer.
“Neith?” River asks curiously.
I hold up my hand, “Give me a second.”
“What is she doing?” Ransom asks.
I watch Evander shrug and then smirk, “If it’s the same thing she used to do when she was a kid, then she’s committing something to memory.”
I melt, “Aw, you remembered.”
“Of course I did,” Van replies with a slight frown like he is confused about why he wouldn’t have remembered something like that about me.
It may not mean a lot to him and may seem like a small thing to remember, but to me it's huge, and it means something.
“Neith, you were going to explain how you died?” Reed’s voice rumbles through the room, his patients clearly running thin.
“Okay, so you know how I said that HID tried to kill me and bopped me on the head and then abandoned me, blah blah blah,” I start to explain, my hand waving dismissively in the air.
The guys just stare at me incredulously before Raiden nods and answers, “Yeah.”
“So, I may have fudged the details because it sounded insane and I had no idea if you guys were going to help me, and I can’t take down the corruption at HID by myself, and I also needed help to hide, and I didn’t want you to be like nope, that sounds like too much hassle fuck off,” I ramble, I know I’m rambling and yet there is fuck all that I can do about it.
“Erm,” River starts, but I interrupt him because I’m on a roll now, and there is no stopping me.
The voices have gained volume again and seem to be excited about something, although I, of course, have no idea what the fuck they could be excited about. If it’s because they think that I am about to mention them to the guys they have another thing coming because there is absolutely no way that I am going to be doing that. There is already enough crazy about to be explained, and whereas the dying and coming back to life can be explained by magic, especially now that I am apparently a supernatural, that’s getting easier to think now, the voices aren’t as easily explained, I have done the research and no supernatural creature has voices that behave like mine.
I won’t be telling them about the voices because there is a very real possibility that I am crazy.