Chapter 8 Velra #2
“To combat blood poisoning. When he was trying to heal you with his blood, yours entered his system.”
My gut twisted. “Oh my God.”
“He is well. Healed. He was careless. Do not aspire to carry more guilt that isn’t yours to bear.”
It took me a few moments, but I managed a nod. “And scent-tracking him?”
“There was nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“I had Vorzyr Titanus, the dragon love of Kai, Nyx, and Ariana, attempt it, even partnered with Lucian Black—two of the most talented trackers across the supernatural world—and they could not find a trace of him.”
“I don’t… no. That… that can’t be. Lazriel isn’t… I mean… he’s not…”
“He is not dead,” he said quickly, before my full panic could set in.
“He is being hidden. By The Shadowed, I believe. The way the tracking became impossible for Lucian and Vorzyr wasn’t natural.
There was a scent barrier. A most prominent one.
It is similar to the Death Seal that Remnant had employed when Lazriel tried to perform a Blood Trace to find him, which misrepresented his father as being dead. ”
“The Blood Trace… wait… then—”
“My thought exactly. Attempt to locate Lazriel through another. Using his mother.”
“And if a Death Seal is in place? Do you think Sylas will be well enough to attempt a spell of that magnitude?”
He noticeably avoided looking at Sylas as he answered, “A Death Seal is necromantic at its root, but it can be overcome by any being who operates on the same twilight resonance as a necromancer—like you with your Wraith abilities. Or even through other methods.”
The other methods I knew meant black magic.
That wasn’t an option.
“Cassius, I don’t know the spell or how to—”
“I do. I will teach you. If you so wish. And if you feel comfortable enough to try.”
I studied him. “You think I need to do something magically forceful to help me recover from what Sorin did… his latest violation.”
“Yes. I do. He undercut your power, violated you despicably. He tried to inject terror and revitalize trauma you had come so far in dealing with and finding some peace with.”
A shudder rolled through me and I felt Cassius’ hold tighten around me.
“We can’t leave Lazriel out there. And I can’t… I can’t have him apart from us. So I’ll do it. But I may need your help… with more than just the mechanics of the spell itself.”
“You are concerned that your magic usage will become unstable after enduring this latest trauma?”
Hearing it put out there so blatantly was brutal. But right on the money. “Yes.”
He stroked my hair reverently. “You do not give yourself enough credit. You have come so very far since the day I tethered you after that attack. You are not the same. You are stronger, more resilient. You are full of life and love—that is what leads the way now. Not defeat any longer.” He smiled. “This is different.”
“Okay,” I murmured. “Okay, I hear you.”
“Good,” he said, brushing his lips over mine.
I sucked in a breath and looked over at Sylas. “He’s not healing, is he? Even with the serum.”
“No, he is not. At this point, if the serum is not constantly injected into his body, the desiccation will utterly take him. Moreover, if he uses his magic, it will spread beyond even what the serum can counteract. And his body can only take so much of the serum as it is. It contains its own level of toxicity.”
I choked, breaking from him and staggering over to Sylas’ Restoration Chamber, bracing my hands on the surface as I stared down at the heart-wrenching state of him. “How long?” I croaked out.
“Days. Perhaps a couple of weeks at the most. That is if things remain the same.”
“Remain the same? You know of a solution?”
“There are a couple that can be employed with what we already know. But I also have no doubt that Lazriel’s mission with The Shadowed includes obtaining information to help Sylas.”
“If there is even information to be found there.”
“It is likely. The Shadowed is a vast underground network. While magic-wielders are among their members, vampires are the most prominent. Necromancers would be a chief concern of theirs, given that they can be puppeted and controlled by such beings, something they would not take lightly. This network thrives on knowledge. It stands to reason that they would possess a great deal of information in that area. However, whether Lazriel will be able to obtain it given their strict levels of secrecy is another matter. Especially within the time constraints that we are working with.”
I stroked the surface of the Chamber, gazing at Sylas unconscious, helpless, wracked with desiccation, and so fucking sick.
Cassius came to me and stroked my hair. “When Sylas was working with Kai to determine a solution, Kai came up with a plan, one that, although dangerous, is viable. It involves finding another learned necromancer to tether him inside the periphery of the Valley of the Dead, and to reset him in death energy and the foundational aspects of necromantic essence. Finding a necromancer, especially one of the caliber needed to perform such a complex spell is the issue. Although Sylas was against me doing so, over the last couple of days, I went ahead and created a tracking spell using necromantic essence as a specific search parameter. It is currently sweeping the entire supernatural world.”
“Holy hell, isn’t that incredibly taxing? Even on you?”
“I am well, I assure you. I am doing it safely. However, it is time-consuming. And there is another issue also.”
I cocked an eyebrow.
“I have already found two viable necromancers—deceased.”
“What?”
“They were murdered. Torn apart, actually. With magic. Not claws or talons.”
“You think this was targeted? Something to do with Sylas, that somebody or someones know he could be helped this way, and they’re actively preventing it?”
“The reason is unknown until we acquire more information and proof, but there is a pattern forming, suggesting these deaths aren’t merely a coincidence.”
“Fuck. Well, is there anything I can do with my magic? I’ve used it to boost him before, to take some of the weight off the serum when he’d started using more doses to ensure he didn’t lose power even though the sickness was draining him.”
“That’s just it, you can only boost what is already there, once he sparks his magic into being. He cannot do that now. Not without severe, even fatal damage at this point. I am sorry, we are far beyond that point, Velra.”
“And if we can’t locate a necromancer? If Lazriel can’t obtain other intel from The Shadowed that could provide another solution?”
He grimaced and stared at Sylas forlornly.
Several moments passed, where he scrubbed his hand over his face, and continued to take him in.
“Cassius?” I pressed gently, my entire body tensing.
He drew in a stilted breath and looked at me. “Then, in order to survive, Sylas will need to be stripped of his magic.”
“No. No. He won’t accept that… he won’t be able to live with that. He is his magic. It’s everything to him.”
“Not anymore. It’s not all that he is now. The question, however, is whether he is ready to recognize that, should the decision need to be made.”
“We’re not going to let it come to that. We’ll fix this. Now. We move now, locate Rhyza Thaine to perform the Blood Trace to find Lazriel, and your spell will discover more necromancers in the meantime.”
When he just looked at me, I pushed, “Right?”
He grasped my shoulders gently, stroking. “We will do everything in our power to spare him from this, to return Lazriel to us, and to defeat Puritas. That is what I swear to you.”
I nodded and sank into him, as we both gazed at Sylas.
It would be enough.
It had to be.