Chapter 15 Vaxan #5
Kai had his back to the approach.
A sly smile spread over his face. “Sylas.”
“Kai,” Sylas rumbled. “He’s not to be harmed—or manipulated.”
“You can tone down the theatrics. He’s in no danger from me.” He took a step back from me. “I didn’t feel you tracking me.”
“I death-tethered you once.” He flicked his hand. “And, you know, the other thing.”
“Ah, sometimes a blessing, sometimes a curse,” Kai said, smirking as he turned to face him. “Why did you seek me out?”
“I texted and called, but you didn’t respond.
You’re so quick to respond, except when you’re engaged in a marathon fuck session with your loves, which I knew you weren’t, because Ari is taking Christalyn to the Guardian Movement today to ease her into her induction, Vorzyr is with Jaxon alongside my rambunctious Lazriel at the Shifter Stabilization Unit, and Nyx is at Crossborn with my Dark Beauty. ”
“And Arcanum Order?”
“You just finished up a major project and you always take a mental health break afterward for a few days to clear your head.”
Kai slapped a hand to his chest. “How well you know me, brother.”
“Yes. I do,” Sylas responded pointedly, looking between me and Kai. “So you know, then?” he stated, more than asked.
“To give your son’s boyfriend the incredible credit he deserves, he didn’t reveal anything, so much as I—”
“Deduced it with your creepy fucking stalking and paranoid monitoring of all too much?”
“Not paranoid. As you well know.”
Sylas sighed and flipped his hood down. “Yeah, I do know. All right.” He looked at me. “Okay there?”
“Yes. I’m perfectly well.”
“Hmm. Then, you must have Kai’s respect.”
Kai stepped up to him. “What did you seek me out for?”
“It was actually what I needed you away from.”
Kai frowned.
A moment later, his eyes flamed with his rose-gold power, clearly searching out something—checking on the security of his own spells, I surmised with the context.
It was brief, before it snuffed out, then he raised an eyebrow at Sylas.
“Trying to penetrate the ward around my vault, while standing right here with me distracted… impressive.”
Sylas rolled his eyes. “You reinforced it with Ketheron’s magic.”
“Something, with that ring you’re wearing, you could’ve gone around without telling me.” Kai folded his arms across his chest. “Seems you’re finally ready to bring me in on this?”
“You know why I couldn’t simply do that immediately.”
“Yeah, I do,” Kai said, sly smile slipping. “You were terrified for your son.”
Sylas’ gaze flicked to mine and I saw a struggle there, before he admitted vulnerably. “I am, Kai.”
“We’ll figure this out,” Kai assured him, laying a hand on his shoulder. “I’m here.”
A hiss escaped me. “Winter won’t be lost to us… to that heathen.”
Sylas smiled out at me.
Then he cleared his throat and eased from Kai. “I was looking into developing a fusion of your anti-Celestial spell that’s based in ancient magics with my high-level necromantic spell that I specifically designed to harm Celestial beings.”
“Oof. That’s a tall order. But not impossible.” Kai looked out at me. “There might be a way to fuse that with one of your abilities acting as a bridge of sorts.”
“Huh,” Sylas said, eyes lighting with the same realization Kai had obviously had.
“My vibrational resonance?” I asked.
The two of them exchanged a look.
“You see?” Kai asked. “The respect thing?”
Sylas beamed out at me. “I certainly do.”
“What’s your plan regarding the necromancers? How many are we talking?”
“Twenty.”
“Fuck.”
“I’ve determined who they are. Very recently.”
“So you know all their power sets?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“And… it’s a lot. At least eight of them are formidable.”
“By your standards?”
“Please. Morien’s, if we’re going for accuracy.”
“So still highly fucking worrying, then.”
Sylas scrubbed his hand over his face. “Through my experiments with the power Ketheron took of Ruxnoth’s that had infected Winter, I was able to trace it back using Win’s necromantic essence to lock onto theirs…
wherever the fuck they are. Even before that, when I was training Winter that first day actually, he wanted me to save them. ”
I smiled to myself.
Of course he did.
In spite of everything, in spite of the threat they posed to him and everyone he loved, Winter’s gentle nature stood strong.
“Winter was infected?”
“Yes.”
“Sylas—”
“I know. I’ll give you all the details. And, yes, it’s impacted Winter. I just can’t determine to what extent. Ruxnoth has made that impossible.”
“If he’s made that impossible, then you being able to determine all that about the necromancers working for him… he’d know you could do that.”
“He’s likely trying to influence how I see to this nightmare.”
“You mean, trying to take you out?”
“Perhaps.”
“We suspect you’ll try to siphon their power,” I told Sylas. “You cannot. It will mean your demise. Your goal is to safeguard Winter. You doing that will shatter him.”
“Agreed. If he’s influenced by this bastard like you suspect, brother, losing anyone he cares about so very dearly could be the thing that pushes him toward this maniac. Something said maniac could very well be counting on.”
“Winter told me he loves me,” I spoke. “I’m conveying this to demonstrate that even being infected, Winter is still Winter. Deeply stressed and burdened, but not unduly influenced and merely masking it. He’s stronger than you may believe.”
“Unless something tips that balance,” Kai said, giving Sylas a fierce look.
Sylas blew out a breath. “I would die.”
“What?” Kai essentially snapped.
“I’ve run the calculations now I have the power levels of all the necromancers, and if I siphoned them to the point of no return for each of them, I wouldn’t survive it.”
“See, that’s what—”
“But there is a way for Win to pull me back. If we prepared for it in advance. And, before you ask, Kai, yes, without harming the Valley.”
“Even then, the risks are beyond.”
“There’s also a way for me to perform Risen Reckoning on Ruxnoth. Wipe him the fuck out utterly.”
“How?” I asked. “A Celestial being with warped magic? And protected by twenty necromancers? You have the means to do that to any pure Celestial, yes? Morien was on his way to doing that twenty years ago against Mia, Jaxon, Cassius, and Cornelius, who were among those holding up that shield against him—before you arrived and defeated him, yes?”
“It’s not even how, it’s you even doing it at all, Sylas. Using Risen Reckoning on the living—just like Morien did. Like you’ve vowed and shown everyone for twenty years that you would never ever do,” Kai warned.
“This. Is. My. Son.”
“If you did this, Winter would be forever tarnished in the eyes of the supernatural world, far worse than he is now,” I stated.
“Due to you. It wouldn’t be protecting him, not in the long term.
Especially with how desperate Winter is to be accepted.
” I held up my hand. “Whatever is determined here needs to keep that in mind. Not just the defeat, but the aftermath. Ideally, a stand needs to be made that reframes Winter in the eyes of the supernatural world. Much like Ariana and Ketheron experienced when they performed the Severance. It forever reframed all that fear toward two insurmountable beings as heroes and protectors of us all.” I strode over to them.
“Winter needs to be part of this solution, part of this fight. Not just trained to withstand Ruxnoth’s corruption.
Not just as a backup if he is taken again at some point, or things don’t go to immediate plan and he’s pulled into Sanctus. ”
“Sanctus?” Kai mused. “That’s what he’s calling his construct? What a fucking ego trip that is.” He eyed Sylas. “I’m guessing that your loves would be calling for the same thing Vaxan is—empowering Winter in this, not fighting the battle for him.”
“Yes,” Sylas gritted. “Something I’m trying to stick to. But things don’t always go to plan, do they?”
“So this is your last-resort thinking in play?”
Sylas nodded.
“These are beyond last resorts,” I said.
Kai winced. “Actually, they’re not—for Sylas. Par for the course, unfortunately. And on steroids because it’s his son.”
Sylas flexed his fingers, staring into space for several moments. The war taking place all over him was gut-churning, honestly.
Then he looked at me. “Winter said those words to you?”
“He did. And I to him.”
Emotion welled in his eyes. “Well, then.” A smile spread over his face.
A spark.
Of hope.
“Risen Reckoning is off the table. Never to be used on the living.” He ground his jaw. “Even that parasitic Celestial.”
“Thank fuck,” Kai breathed. “Taking you down is not something I want to be doing.”
Sylas eyed him. “You taking me down? Hilarious.”
“Sylas, I’m not—”
Sylas held up a hand. “No, I get it, Kai. Injecting some levity into all this hell… great call.”
Kai shook his head. “Motherfucker.”
“And the siphoning?” I pushed, obviously needing to ask. For Winter.
“Last resort.”
Curses.
As Kai and I both started to protest, he cut in, “Win’s come a long way in a short amount of time training with me. There’s a lot he can do. I just… need to let him.” He fisted his hand. “Not ‘let’ him… step back. A little. Maybe more than a little.”
“Wow, that was like pulling teeth, but at least we got there,” Kai commented.
“On to problem-solving the spellwork actually in play now, then,” I said. “The anti-Celestial fusion spell.”
Sylas gave a nod. “Yeah.”
“I can’t keep this from Winter for long,” I warned.
“I know,” Sylas said with a kind smile. “Me neither.”
“Just until the spellwork is solidified?”
“Until we know we have something,” Kai cut in. “Otherwise, if this can’t be handled discreetly, quickly, and without those already in the know sustaining harm, we have to open this up—Ari and V at least.”
“Agreed,” Sylas said. “Speaking of those already in the know, I’m gonna bring in Cassius right now with this spellwork.”
“To test it on him?” Kai asked.
“What? No. You think I’d let somebody I love be tested on? With this shit, too? A spell meant for a True Celestial—tested against a Fallen?”
“I’m thinking he’d insist if it can help with this situation, help his son. Familiar sentiment, huh?”
“Kai.”
“We’ll use some of the Celestial magic Vaxan has in his possession to test it on.”
“You have what?” Sylas exclaimed.
Kai held up his hand to him. “It’s fine. I’ve got it.”
Sylas shook his head in dismay. “Basilisk Lord respected by a motherfucker like Kai Hunter, able to access Celestial magic, defying his kingdom for my son, who he loves. A dragon princess giving up her title in such a powerful way and now starting a group that will empower heirs across the supernatural world in a way never known before. A chaotic Ifrit reinventing himself, fighting for those who can’t fight for themselves and reminding me of my vigilante days.
That’s quite the relationship unit Win’s got around him. ”
“Certainly nothing to sneer at,” Kai said with a chuckle.
“All right,” Sylas said, “Let’s see to this spellwork. It’s gonna take time and be extremely difficult to see to. And that’s coming from me.”
“And me actually. It’s deeply complex.”
“Then perhaps a younger perspective will assist,” I said.
They both eyed me.
“You mean ‘modern’?” Kai questioned. He nudged Sylas. “Is he calling us passe? Sylas?”
Sylas grinned at me, then told Kai, “No. He’s lighting that fire in us. He knows of our ego issues.”
“That’s conjecture. Misinformation.”
Sylas burst out laughing.
And it was honestly a salve very much needed at this juncture.
It had me chuckling too, especially when Kai went to ruffle his hair, but ended up receiving that instead from Sylas.
It was a much-needed reminder for me.
With so much darkness closing in, the suffocating nature of it, there was hope to be had, more than just the fight to be had.
There was this, moments like this.
Moments I’d relished with my loves that were much like this.
Joyful, unburdened.
And worth everything.
Most certainly worth every fight.
It reaffirmed something integral to it all.
Integral for me.
No matter what came our way, Winter, Evira, Zayn, and I would remain.
Our relationship.
Our closeness.
Our lives we were building ever deeper together.
Our love.