Chapter Aftermath
Aftermath
ROGUE
Once I have my blade in my hand, I feel a million times better.
I’ve had this weapon since I can remember—as most Fae do—and having it in my hand feels like a home I don’t remember.
Charging forward, I ignore the calls from my men as I dodge the twins’ hellfire and magic.
I know Rebel will be here soon; I can feel him approaching with my other mate as they fly toward this stupid storm.
It’s covering something more nefarious, which will make it easier to hide the supernatural shit, but I don’t know when that will break containment—it could be when I’m able to sink my blade into the blob I’m headed for.
“Reb will be here soon!” I scream at the twins, hoping they will hear me over the laughter and howling wind. “I’m going to stab this motherfucker until it looks like a sieve.”
My path to the fucker causing this isn’t easy—debris and magic are coming at me from every angle, and I have to duck and roll multiple times to gain ground.
I suppose that means whatever or whoever is behind this knows that I’m a great deal more deadly in this form, especially once my weapon has been called.
That’s not a big secret about Fae, of course, so it doesn’t help me figure out who is throwing lightning bolts at me like they’re going out of style.
“What in the name of Mab is going on here?!”
I grunt to myself as Rebel announces his arrival via a booming shout that echoes through the entire eye of the storm. “Always so dramatic,” I mutter as I duck a huge electrically charged bolt of magic. “Men need attention so badly they can’t even fight villains without everyone watching.”
That’s unlike me, obviously, because I’m getting closer to the blob through speed and skill.
It’s trying to kick my ass and send me rocketing back to my starting point, but it’s failing.
I’m going to make it, and perhaps Reb being ridiculous will distract my target long enough to get a good stab in its protective shell.
If that happens, I’ll let his bullshit entrance go when we’re done.
“Stop strutting and do something, dickhead,” Angelo yells at my step-brother, and I chuckle. “We’ve been fighting this since we got here, and Arch is doing his best, but we need more magical backup.”
A loud shriek sounds out, and I look up for a second to see Javier in full phoenix form, resplendent and golden as he flies into the center to join my men.
He’s bigger this time, and I wonder if that’s because he knows what’s going on or just because the storm is so big.
He dives for the murky enemy I’m headed for, his cries angry enough to shatter glass, and I know I have to follow suit.
“Good thing I’m almost there, you impulsive jackass,” I say as I push myself to run faster to meet him. “Not like you should have waited for instructions or a better opening or anything.”
Honestly, I expected this from Rebel, not my gentle, submissive birdie.
“Javi,” I yell over the noise of battle and weather.
“I’m coming, just slow down a little so we can strike from opposite sides!
” I’m not sure if the phoenix gets it but I’m hoping it does.
We mated, but he’s so secretive about his animal—like all of his kind—that I don’t know as much as I should about his powers.
“Rogue, get out of the way,” Rebel shouts as I’m almost within reach. I ignore him, feeling my muscles and meat burn even in Unseelie form as I try to make it in time to join Javier in his first strike. “Damn it, get out of there, sis!”
I don’t get why he’s acting like I can’t handle this shit; we’ve fought together many times on missions. Sure, this thing is unknown, but that’s not new, either. “Fuck off, Reb! I’m helping Javi. Why are you guys staying so damn far away?”
“He’s going to—”
Then, a blast of magic and bright light explodes in the air above the blob, and I realize that I have definitely girl-bossed too close to the sun.
That is, if my gentle phoenix is the sun and his purposeful implosion knocking me clear across the fucking eye in a crumpled heap is girl-bossing.
When my eyes open, I suck in big gasps of air trying to fill my lungs in panic. It takes a few moments for me to get my damn scrambled brain to reboot, and when I do, I sit up like a jolt has gone through me.
Javier.
Ignoring the aches and pains of being that close to what felt like a damn nuclear explosion and hitting the ground at Mach eleven, I push to my feet and stagger back towards the direction I think I came from.
I’m not firing on all cylinders yet, but I’ll be damned if that’s going to stop me from finding out what happened to the sweet birdie.
My bones feel like they’re still knitting—and they probably are—and my muscles are screaming with effort as I squint through blurred vision on my way to the blast zone.
I’m tingling with pain and fear as I shuffle like the Walking Dead, but I don’t care; I can’t care about that.
I have to know what happened, and I have to—
A sob wrenches in my throat as I grit my jaw and continue my agonizingly slow progress over the debris-filled terrain.
I bite it back, knowing I don’t have time for grief or any other emotion.
If Javi is gone, I have to get to my other mates and Reb next.
I don’t hear anyone, and that sends the terror into overdrive, but I press on.
Rogue Kelly is a survivor and a fighter; that’s how I made it through my stupid childhood and losing Reck.
It’s how I’ll get through this and take my vengeance on whoever did this, if my men are gone.
There is nothing in this realm like the unfiltered rage of an Unseelie when they begin a rampage, and I will show those motherfucking rebels what that looks like without prejudice.
“Come on,” I whisper to myself as I feel the shaking in my limbs. “It can’t be much further. You are strong enough to make it, and you will handle this. I won’t allow their deaths to be in vain. Just. Keep. Going. Rogue.”
It takes longer than I’d prefer to reach the spot where the pedestal was—I can tell by the big-ass smoking hole in the ground—and my hand flies to my mouth when I only see debris there.
My breath comes in heaves as I double over, trying not to let the panic that’s making my balance wobble drop me to my knees.
“No, no, no, no…”
He can’t be gone; he just can’t. We had so little time together, and our family was forming so nicely, and the bond was—
Wait.
I blink rapidly as my mind latches onto something, and I have to swallow hard to focus on it.
Licking my lips, I use every ounce of my being to push away the anxiety and negative emotions, shutting them in an imaginary box.
The aura around me settles slowly as I go from completely open emotionally to shut down like I usually am in battle.
It takes several moments of letting that ice slide through me before my mind gets sharper, clearer, and able to process what has happened without the pesky feeling muddling it up.
“Javier is a phoenix. Phoenixes have many, many lives.” The revelation makes me pop upright, and my eyes fly wide as I look at the hole full of debris and weird goo and fuck knows what else. “Get your ass in there and see if you’re right.”
Talking to myself is all I have at the moment—that and the minuscule sliver of hope my brain just gave me.
So I stagger over and drop to the ground, sitting on the edge of the hole so I can slide into it.
I’m definitely not spry enough to do anything more yet, but my healing will eventually get me back to speed.
Shucking all those damn feelings will help it along, I think.
My body needs all my energy to recover now, and this redirects my magic to the physical needs.
Yeah, it’s also easier; I’ll deal with that shit later.
As I reach the bottom of the crater, I find my balance and then glance around.
I have no idea what that neon ectoplasm stuff is, and I don’t really want to touch it.
But it’s covering a lot of the bigger pieces of pedestal and tornado detritus, so I’ll have to.
Making a face, I summon my blade. Using it to shift the pieces that look like they’ve been drenched by Vigo the Carpathian is safer than using my hands.
I can’t waste magic on moving things when I’m trying to heal up.
“Okay, Rogue. Where to start?” My eyes land on a large glittering shard, and I frown. “That seems like it’s a good place. Didn’t even see a fucking crystal or whatever.”
Carefully, I pick my way around and over things to get to the jagged gem-thing.
It doesn’t feel like it’s going to shock me or fight back, so I nudge it with the tip of my blade.
When I’m not sent reeling by a spell, I breathe a sigh of relief.
This time, I dig the blade into the ground below the damn thing and try to use it to leverage the crystal away from whatever it’s covering.
It finally pops free after a few tries, and I tilt my head at the iridescent slime under it.
What the actual fuck is that?
Again, I’m not touching things I can’t identify, so I move on from the new goo to a spot where there are shiny pieces shattered nearby.
I feel like an archaeologist or something, hunting clues in the wreckage of a civilization long dead as I follow the splintered metallic bits along a trail to a huge chunk of stone.
My brows furrow as I dig the blade in again, putting my entire body into the lever this time until it finally gives.
A loud shriek echoes through the air, and my heart almost stops in my chest as it reveals a tiny, very dirty, ugly-looking baby bird.
Holy shit on a shingle, is this…?
Leaning down, I reach out to pick up the damn thing and suddenly, I feel the bond snap back into place like a rubber band from a slingshot.
It aches for a moment, and I can hardly catch my breath as it settles into place, but once it does?
The trembles stop and my soul feels like it’s knitting a tiny bit.
I look down at the hatchling, chuckling as I realize Javier knew he’d reform, and that’s why he did what he did.
I suppose the others did as well, which is why Reb was so fucking intent on calling me away from the blob thingy.
However, I’m going to kick every single one of their asses hard enough to send them back to their births when I get my hands on them.
This fucking scared a few decades off my life, even if I’m likely going to outlast the damn planet at this point.
“Okay, little guy. For now, you get a pass. I don’t know how long it will take for you to go from a gross-looking naked thing to the Javier I know, but trust me, once you do? Your ass is grass, and I’m a goddamn lawnmower. Got it?”
The bird makes an indignant shrieking sound, and I wince.
That kills my Fae hearing, and I’m going to have a bad time until it can make noises other than screeches.
This feels more like a punishment for me than for the fuckers who whipped up this storm, but I don’t have time to focus on that indignity.
I have to get out of this hole and go find the others.
One down, four to go…