6. Chapter 6 #2
Izzy shook her head, and Sarah left the apartment.
Without Sarah’s presence acting as a buffer, Izzy’s mind fizzled with electricity and yearning.
She was familiar with the concepts of sexual attraction, hormones, and evolution, so she didn’t doubt that a male with his physique attracted women.
She’d met men worthy of calling a mating partner, but none had such a composed manner while hiding such raw power inside them. And none of them had attracted her.
Each time he’d stared at Sarah on the private jet, his awareness caressed Izzy’s spirit. She’d never met a man whose gaze penetrated straight to her spirit. Under his metallic-eyed scrutiny, she shivered.
She’d never experienced such attraction. Would this be a new learning experience for her? A smile grew in her mind.
Quit pining. This attraction will only weaken you. Your goal hasn’t changed. You need to find a way to collect your feathers within one lifespan.
“What…do you want?” She tried to sound strong through her wavering voice.
“To help you with your Tattered One problem.”
“Well, I want to get rid of this link,” she said. “So, please break it.”
“I can’t.” His jaw ticked. “I don’t even know what it is. Maybe if we learn about each other, we can find a way.”
“I’ve never heard of a link like this, nor has it been spoken of among my kind. You’re the one who needs to share.” She crossed her arms, fingernails digging into her spirit flesh.
“Stop acting like I was the only culprit here,” he said, tone flat.
Heat spread across her cheeks. Her energy had reached for his, but why?
“Look, we need to work together to…” His voice was hoarse on the last word. He coughed on what sounded like a growl. “To break the link. And kill the Tattered One.”
He was right on both counts. She could lock down and hide from the Archfiend, but this would not defeat him.
But the idea of spending time with Daxton roiled dread in her stomach.
It’ll be okay. You just have to keep your distance.
Your psyche will be strong if you don’t allow emotions into the equation.
Which was easier said than done when he influenced her like no one else could, and she felt his warm breath down her neck along their link.
She sighed. “Given how strong I know Archfiends are, I find it hard to believe something like you would be capable of destroying them.”
His fingers drummed on the table, drawing her attention to his hands.
Faint white scars traced the knuckles in diagonal slashes, too straight for brawls, to careless for crafts—quiet evidence of a man who built things to last. The pads of his fingers were worn smooth, subtly flattened by years of gripping tools. A construction worker perhaps?
“You’re right,” he said. “We can’t.”
Can’t what? She brought her mind away from the distraction of his hands and focused on the question she’d asked. “Then what do you do when you hunt the Archfiends?”
“We stop them. Why haven’t you killed others of your kind and joined the Tattered Ones’ ranks?”
She clenched her jaw. Evasive much. “Besides the fact that I’m not a killer? I have too many distractions. A need for power is not one of them.”
“What were you doing in Acadia that night?”
“Research.” Mentioning her trip brought forward the memory of that inhuman energy in the cave system—one that was synonymous with the energy of the dragons. “Your language was written in that cave. The demon was afraid of your kind.”
“You lost me.”
“I’m assuming your kind also hunts demons.” Odd that demons never shared this information, even if they just let it slip. “There’s a cave near where you found me that has carvings.”
Daxton stared past her as if lost in memory.
“That was part of a peace treaty the dragons made with the Panawahpskek tribe centuries ago. That cave was once sacred, but now it only holds memories of heartache. Dragons were forbidden from directly assisting the natives’ plight against the settlers who took their land. ”
That explains the foreign text. Izzy swallowed. “How long have the dragons been around?”
“Our bloodlines have existed since the beginning of time. But our dragon history didn’t start until after we could shift to the dragon, which was a century or two before Christ’s death. There may still be a few in the eastern hemisphere who are from that time.”
Her breath caught. Dragons have true immortality. The answer to her reincarnating punishment. She, technically, was older, but her longest human life had been one hundred years. Though when the Supreme was involved, anything was possible.
Simon was far older than humanly possible, thanks to Izzy’s power to grant miracles.
A gift she could not use on herself. Daxton gave off the impression of being older, but she couldn’t pinpoint his exact age.
How were they able to stay hidden for so long?
For her, by not delegating human caloric energy to her spirit form, she could keep it out of the visible spectrum, making her invisible. Could the dragons do the same?
“May I have that journal? I’d like to understand how we’ve been clueless to each other’s existence.” And how you are immortal.
“Tell me more about your kind, and I’ll consider sharing it with you. We can’t figure out this…link unless we share information.”
Curiosity won over self-preservation. “Fallen have been condemned for our betrayal.”
“A betrayal? Are you talking about the devil?”
A tingle of a blazing fire belonging to the Betrayer surfaced in her thoughts, but she snuffed it out and rested back in her chair.
Taking a deep breath, she said, “If you consider the Hebrew Bible, then my history can follow that story. We refused to protect the Supreme’s precious humans, and we were punished for it.
Fallen share similarities to many religious creatures—pick your preference.
I don’t have one. All I know is we were a militia—a host of beings—and we made a transgression against a powerful entity we call the Supreme.
Those who didn’t ask for the Supreme’s forgiveness became demons.
The rest of us who asked were given mercy. ”
“What kind of mercy?”
His question ruptured the control she had over the memories. They existed in the back of her mind, like dreams she recalled if she thought long and hard about it. But the strongest of them had a way of pushing to the surface on their own.
A force like the sun smashed into her, ripping, shredding, and taking. It tore her apart. Gravity yanked against her energy. She was falling. A bright flash and a plane of time slammed into her. A foreign presence breached her mind—emotions.
Pain zinged through every new nerve. Sorrow weighed her spirit down to sluggish movements.
Regret knotted her consciousness into a tight ball.
All her emotions drowned her in an immobilizing agony—her own personal hell.
She had lost everything, and it ravaged her.
Not in a physical sense, but in a heart-wrenching loss only those who had experienced the same anguish could describe. And she cried into the world.
She slammed the door shut against the gripping memory. The horrors of the past still whispered in the pounding of her aching heart. What was worse, she had thought she’d never feel that pain again, but then she lost the person closest to her. Extending her hand, she said, “Book first, dragon.”