Chapter 9
Chapter
Nine
PRESENT DAY
Reid
Reid’s eyelids felt like boulders. He managed to open them a slit only to slam them shut against the light jabbing into his brain.
He took a deep breath and slid his arm in the direction of Kerak’s side of the bed.
He couldn’t remember what he’d done the night before…
had he drank too much? Was he sick? There had to be a reason he felt so terrible.
When he’d stretched his arm out fully and only found an empty mattress, he frowned. It wasn’t normal for Kerak to leave him when he felt poorly. If anything, Kerak hovered. Ready to fetch anything Reid needed or just keep him company.
He licked his lips and tried to open his eyes again. “Kerak?” He cringed at the scratchy rasp of his voice. He must be sicker than he realized.
“He’s not here, I’m afraid.”
Reid’s heart lurched in his chest.
That voice.
Using every bit of energy his now pounding heart could muster, he turned his head in the voice’s direction and opened his eyes.
Selin.
Selin sat in the corner chair of his and Kerak’s bedroom in Deadwood.
Deadwood? Hadn’t they been in Solston? Pieces of memory started to come back to him.
He’d lost his appetite and energy. They’d been to so many doctors and specialists.
No one could figure out what was happening.
Kerak had been so worried. They’d returned to Solston and contacted the Saint coven.
He barely remembered Calliope coming to see him.
Looking up, he met Selin’s gaze. It must have been him all along.
His face was the same as Reid remembered, pale with a sharp nose and jawline, and the brightest turquoise eyes Reid had ever seen. Even all these years later.
“Imagine my surprise when I discovered my dear brother found a way to both keep you human and make you immortal.” Selin uncrossed his legs. He wore dark slacks and a button-down in a deep purple. The color was stunning on him, but the hate glaring out at Reid would never let Selin be beautiful.
“What do you want, Selin?” And more importantly, where was Kerak?
“Your dearly beloved is surely right now figuring out the trap I laid for him.”
“What did you do?” Reid placed his arms on the mattress beneath him and pressed up, arms struggling to hold his weight. He didn’t want to be lying down for this conversation.
Selin stood, and before Reid could protest, he slipped his hands beneath Reid’s armpits and lifted him until he was sitting with his back against the headboard.
When his hand twinged, Reid looked down and realized there was an IV port in his hand, but it wasn’t attached to anything. He must have been sicker than he’d realized. A sinking feeling pulled at his gut, and he looked at Selin again.
“What did you do?” He repeated with more force.
“What’s a little death spell between in-laws?” Selin smirked. “Obviously, you’re fine, and my little brother will rush in here anytime and save the day.”
Reid’s head hurt. “Then why? What’s the point of all this?”
“The point, human, is that he’s never belonged with you, and I will see his face when I remove you from this earth.”
Kerak
The IV-line dripped on the floor. Selin had removed it from Reid’s port but hadn’t bothered to clamp it off. In the other room, the mages were helping Calliope off the floor. Selin had stormed in, knocked her unconscious, and taken Reid.
Well, she’d put up a hell of a fight first. Kerak was surprised Selin had left her alive.
Selin was behind everything, and he’d waited for Kerak to open the door between this world and the Fae realm so he could sneak in right under their noses.
He didn’t know why Selin was there, but it wasn’t hard to imagine their father banishing Selin back to the Fae world.
Honestly, Selin probably aimed for that to make his return to the human realm easier, only to get there and find the door had been sealed.
As soon as Maren had told him Selin was the new Hunter, he’d turned and run back through the door.
While the others dealt with the Hunt, he called the Seer’s Guild only to find Derek had already rallied them.
He needed backup, not for himself, but to contain the damage he was surely going to do when he found his brother.
Atlas stepped into the doorway. “Is this yours? It was the only thing not in tatters.”
Kerak walked over to him and took the pamphlet from him. It was a brochure for tours of Historic Deadwood.
“Of course,” he said, more to himself than to Atlas.
“Kerak?”
“I know where he’s taken Reid.”
“Where?”
“Home.”
Going back into the living room, he found Lark and Pike with Calliope. They’d gotten her an ice pack and some water.
“Pike, will you stay with her? Lark, Atlas, I need you to come with me, please.”
“Let’s do it.” Lark hopped up from where he’d been kneeling in front of Calliope.
Kerak went to her, offering his hand. “I’ve called your brother. He’s on his way. Thank you for trying to defend him.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t stop Selin.”
He shook his head. “There are few who can.”
He looked at the others. “Come.”
Walking back into the bedroom, he went into the closet and through the door that led to the circular hub room at the Seer’s Guild. Fred was standing beside the fire pit, waiting for them.
“To Deadwood?” he asked Kerak.
“Yes.” Kerak turned to a plain wooden door midway around the room.
It was the same dark stain and simple design of all the doors in his and Reid’s house in South Dakota, sitting right on the claim he’d made all those years ago.
The vista they both loved so much greeted them every time they walked out their front door.
Behind him, Fred said to the others, “Don’t let him destroy anything.”
The rage building in Kerak didn’t leave room for levity. He placed his hand on the knob and looked back at Atlas and Lark behind him. “You are to get Reid and get him to safety. Only then do you switch to damage control.”
“Understood.”
He twisted the knob and pushed the door open.
Eucalyptus and lemongrass still floated in the air from the diffuser Reid always had running in the living room.
They hadn’t been there in weeks, but it still smelled like home.
More than that, he could hear Reid’s heartbeat—faster than normal—coming from down the hall.
The door from the hub opened into his study in this house. Everything looked exactly as he’d left it. He moved farther into the room, giving Lark and Atlas space to follow behind him. They shared a glance and a nod before Kerak headed to the master bedroom.
When he reached the bedroom door, he found Reid awake and sitting up against the headboard of the bed. Relief swamped him. Reid was unhurt, and the spell had truly been broken. He’d known it, felt it, but seeing Reid with his own eyes unwound the final knots in his stomach.
“Kerak,” Reid breathed, eyes shiny.
“Hi, sweetheart. Are you okay?” He moved to the bed and reached out a hand to Reid, who took it immediately. He could see Selin out of the corner of his eye, sitting in the chair by the window, but he ignored him.
“I’m okay,” Reid said.
He was pale still, but Kerak was glad to see some of the color had returned to his face. Kerak pressed a kiss to the back of Reid’s hand and turned to face his brother.
“Selin. You’ve been busy.”
“Well, after one’s dear little brother dumps one back in hell, one does have to pick up some hobbies.
” He uncrossed his legs and stood. Physically, he hadn’t aged, looking just as he had all those years ago, but his eyes told a different story.
The bright turquoise glow seemed dimmed. Harder. Harsher.
“What do you expect to gain from all this? You know it won’t be banishment that awaits you this time.”
With a sigh, Selin dropped his head back.
“And they say I’m the dramatic one.” He met Kerak’s gaze again.
“You know, I could have been happy just killing your little pet, but I really am glad you opened the door. You might best me, brother, but I want to see the look in your eyes when the last breath leaves his body.”
Without warning, Selin lunged, a sword materializing in his hand. Kerak leapt onto the bed, standing over Reid. He shifted his fingers to talons and deflected the blade with a metallic clang.
“Atlas!” Kerak shouted.
Selin looked confused for a second, but it turned to fury in a heartbeat.
Kerak stepped off the bed, talons still extended, black and gleaming. “Did you really think I’d leave him to chance? I was willing to open the Fae door. Willing to let the Hunt ravage this realm. You don’t get your twisted revenge. He’ll be safe, and you’ll be dead.”
Atlas barreled into the room through the door, heading straight for Reid. Lark, though, swept in through the window and launched a fireball directly at Selin’s head.
Selin blocked it with the sword. The ball of flame ricocheted away and back into Lark’s hand.
“More humans?” Selin snarled.
“Mages, actually.” Lark darted to the side and threw the fireball again, sweeping past Kerak and blocking the view of the door as Atlas rushed back through it with Reid cradled in his arms.
Selin screeched and rushed at Lark, but Kerak got there first again. “You’re done, brother. You’ve failed.”
Raising the sword, Selin hacked at Kerak.
Kerak deflected nearly every blow. A sweeping graze on his shoulder and a singular stab to his midsection found their way past his talons.
Selin had always been the better swordsman, but Kerak was stalling, and it was time to stop.
His brother had been lost to him years ago, but some small hope had remained.
No longer.
With a perfectly timed strike, Kerak knocked the sword loose from Selin’s grip. He grabbed his brother by the chest, sinking his talons deep. Selin screamed and lashed out, but Kerak didn’t relent.
“Goodbye, brother.”
Kerak eased his grip on his power and engulfed them both in demon fire.