Chapter 51
THE VOID
After seeing the redhead in a vision, nothing else existed for Caius except a darkness invading him like a sea of power. Was he moving? He couldn’t tell, but he never wanted to leave. Here, he was darkness and power.
“Caius, help me,” a voice sobbed, crying out his name.
He wandered through the void, following the screams, unable to walk away. Whoever it was, their throat was raw but not enough to muffle their pain.
As her screams grew louder, the darkness faded, and clarity pushed at the recesses of his mind.
The woman cried out for him, and he broke into a run, needing to find her.
“Caius,” she said in a broken whisper, ripping at his heart, but time stood still when her voice faded as she said, “I’ll meet you in the aether.”
Rory.
***
Vincula
Caius lay on his bathroom floor, staring at the ceiling.
Rory. Rory. Rory. Rory.
Her name echoed through his mind like a sacred chant.
He tried to understand what happened as he picked himself up off the floor. Remembering the vision of the redhead, he cursed.
A long whoosh escaped him when he stared at his reflection. The veins that had once vanished were back, covering everything but his face.
The time on his clock showed it was well into the morning. Did he dream it all?
If Rory was still in danger, he would have another vision, yet he couldn’t shake the sense of wrongness.
After getting dressed, he grabbed a glass of water from the bar cart, but it shattered on the ground when he fell to his knees and screamed at the vision and pain assaulting him.
He couldn’t breathe or move his arms, and white fire burned through him, causing more pain than Caius thought possible. Gedeon’s face appeared in his line of sight. “I will enjoy carving my name into your dead body before having it delivered to Caius.”
Caius was thrown back into his own body as a guttural sound unlike any he’d ever heard erupted from within him. His mate was dying.
The shadows from all corners of the realms rushed into him as he screamed her name.
Gedeon would not take her from him.
As fast as the shadows surged into him, they left, detonating his body until there was nothing left.
Sam stood in line at the cafe in Vincula, waiting on his coffee. The dark liquid coveted by so many was disgusting, but he’d been awake for over twenty-four hours, and even Angels needed sleep to function.
The inmates nearest the cafe windows had their attention on something outside, drawing his eyes to the street. Everyone stared in the same direction, and he sighed.
What now?
When he stepped onto the cobblestone sidewalk, he expected to see a fight or something of equal caliber. What he did not expect to see was Lenora running down the street, yelling his name.
Everything in him filled with a sense of doom as he ran to meet her.
“Sam!” Her eyes were wide with the beginnings of hysteria. “I was wrong! I was wrong!”
He grabbed her shoulders gently to calm her down. “Breathe.” The woman wasn’t easily rattled, and his hair stood on end. “What were you wrong about?”
“It’s not her,” she told him. “I couldn’t see it before. I thought it was Rory, but it’s not her.”
He understood her words but not their meaning. “Who is not Rory?”
They were plunged into darkness as the realm shook beneath their feet.
He tucked Lenora into his chest and covered her head with his body, unsure of what was happening.
The dusky morning sky was gone, the candles illuminating the sidewalks and shops were snuffed out, and he couldn’t see anything as if he were blindfolded.
Screams filled the air, and Sam barked orders at the legion members within hearing distance, telling them to collect who they could, seat them together to ensure their safety, and find their way to the nearest shops for candles and matches.
His legion spoke to the inmates, trying and failing to calm them down.
“Caius,” Lenora whispered.
“You thought Caius was Rory in one of your visions?” he asked her, keeping his voice even. If his brother was in danger, he would drop everything to help him.
“No,” she replied as her voice regained its strength. “Caius did this. He broke the barrier.”
Sam pulled back, ready to take flight, but Lenora stopped him. “You must save her.”
“Who?” He wouldn’t ask again, not when Caius broke the sky and was going to Gedeon.
“The maid,” she insisted, stopping his entire existence. “The maid holding my daughter’s soul.” Tears slid down Lenora’s cheeks as she whispered, “Only the golden child can save her. Only you can save her.”
Sam shot into the sky.