Wake Up
ANGELO
I’ve never been this close to Javi doing his thing before, and I never want to be again.
I feel like I’ve been cast down to Hell and summoned anew.
Every inch of my body aches, and I can barely expand my chest to breathe.
Demons are hard to injure mortally, but we have pain points.
Apparently, the nuclear winter-level blast of a phoenix imploding is one of those fucking things that can knock us out of commission.
Who knew?
The silence is eerie as I work to pry my eyes open.
It’s not working well, and that makes me nervous as fuck.
Damon is my twin, but his power status is lower than mine.
He’s got to be doing worse, and I have no clue what this shit did to Arch, Reb, or Rogue.
There’s no sound but for the low ringing and buzz in my head, so I can’t get a fix on their status with my other senses while I fight my eyelids.
Having Javi do his thing solved one problem, but it may have created a multitude of others.
Suddenly, the air around me changes and the energy gets more frenetic.
I think that means someone is getting closer.
Growling weakly, I order my eyes to open again, and my frustration mounts when they don’t obey.
This is ridiculous, and if I need to draw on the small well of re-formed power I have left right now, I will.
But I’ll be damned if I’m going to lie here and not know if that’s an enemy approaching.
“Angelo!”
I think my breath comes out in a soft whoosh as I hear Rogue’s voice and realize that freaky sensation is her. My senses are totally overwhelmed, it seems, by the blast, and I’m not registering shit very well. I definitely should have known my mate was coming, not a combatant. “Mmmmmnnuughhhh.”
That was eloquent. I guess talking is out for a bit as well.
“Oooookay, then,” Rogue says, and a loud screech lances my ears. She must have found bitty Javi, and I’m sure that’s going to be a long, angry conversation once this nightmare is over. “Angelo is alive and seems to struggle with moving or talking.”
“Nnnnghhgghhh,” I groan, trying to help but failing.
This sucks, and I’m definitely putting D on figuring out if there’s some sort of shielding we should have done before our friend went ashes to ashes.
I never want to feel like this again, and I sure as fuck don’t want to scare our girl like this.
I can’t see her, of course, but I hear the strain in her voice.
“Right. So, Ang, you’re not doing so hot, but you’re stable, which means I have to take this piece of fried fucking chicken with me to check on someone else.
I don’t know how I’m all mobile and shit when I was closest, but that’s a question for later.
I've gotta know if everyone is breathing first, you know? Just… hang tight, okay?” She reaches down and squeezes my hand gently, and it takes everything in me not to wince in pain.
She doesn’t need to feel any guiltier than she already does.
“I’m gonna give you a tiny sip of this and, um… well, it might help. I don’t know if this works like it does for Reb and me, but you are my mate, and I can’t just do nothing. So don’t be grossed out, and if it doesn’t work, then I’ll know when I get to Damon. Got it?”
I can’t answer, but I hope she knows I’m agreeing.
I’d trust Rogue with anything she asked, and if she thinks that whatever she’s doing will help, then I’m in.
After a moment, I feel skin against my mouth, and my lips are pushed apart by her fingers.
Slowly, a floral-tasting liquid drips onto my tongue.
I realize it has to be her blood, and it makes my demon fight to the surface.
He’s keen to consume her essence again, whether it works to heal me or not.
As it runs down my throat, I feel a low hum spread across my chest. The magic in her blood might actually work the way she’d hoped.
I let myself relax as my demon practically purrs in approval; no one told me that imbibing my mate’s blood would calm him this thoroughly.
I suppose it could be because they didn’t know—Luca and Lola are not fated, so they likely have no idea.
They didn’t allow the staff who helped raise us in their frequent absence to teach us about lore and legend, either.
Damon will be just as shocked when he figures it out.
I know he’s alive, by the way; the twin bond is as strong as the mate one, and I would feel the empty spot where he should be inside of me.
Unfortunately, I can’t share that information because our sweet little birdie blew me almost to Hell and back.
But Rogue’s magic is doing something, and if it keeps working, I might be able to speak soon.
The knives in my throat are dulling, and the weight of my limbs is slowly becoming less burdensome.
If she has enough power to continue for a bit longer, the effects will free me from the silent, motionless prison—I think.
“Ang, come on, man. Wake up and bully me. Make me tell you that you don’t control me anywhere but the bedroom.
Please,” Rogue whispers, her voice raw and pleading.
It makes pain lance through me, but this is an emotional ache because I’m here but I can’t convey it to her.
“You know I love you, you colossal idiot. I’ve loved your stupid, smirky face and uppity attitude since we were kids, and it was too weird and scary to admit.
Just… respond or something, ‘cause I have no idea what I’d do if you were confined to a machine or stasis or whatever the fuck they do to demons who won’t wake up. ”
She’s terrified; I feel it in the surrounding air.
Rogue isn’t one to admit that sort of thing out loud, and this is as close as she’ll get to it, but my lack of reply in any form is wigging her out.
I think I grit my teeth and gather whatever energy is reforming internally at the agonizing rate.
Preparing myself mentally for it not to work, I throw all of that into opening my eyes and mouth.
Shock fills me when it works, and I groan softly as my blurry vision lands on her leaning over me.
Holy shit, I did it.
“Angelo! You’re… You’re really conscious. Sort of. I mean, enough for me to verify you aren’t in a goddamn coma or something. That was a sound, and I think you can see me. If you can see me, even a little, try to blink or moan again.”
That’s asking a lot, but I do what she says, and my eyes are the ones who obey.
Rogue is still blurry; the images haven’t merged entirely yet, but her blood is also dripping one fat drop at a time in my throat.
I suppose she’s keeping it that slow, so she’s able to save enough for everyone who needs it.
However, I think I’d be moving along faster if she weren’t.
My impatience aside, I’m lucky to be this healed as it is, and that she’s so damn mobile and spry is a fucking miracle.
Reb is going to answer for this shit when we’re all back to normal; that is for damn sure.
“Good, good. Okay, I want to stay here so badly, Ang, but I have to move on to the next person. I’ve got Javi bundled close, and I’m going to murder you all for that surprise, but we need to go check on our fam.
Stay here and just… breathe. Let the magic and time work on you, okay?
I know you’d fight me if you could, so I’m taking advantage of the fact that you can’t.
You’ll have to forgive me for it later.” Her wrist moves away from my mouth, and I see her dip down before I feel her lips on mine, then she’s gone.
That little brat—I’ll get her for this later, even if I know she’s right.
Once Rogue has left me, I’m stuck lying here as I wait for my body to catch up with the injection of healing her blood gave me.
Piece by piece, I feel my lips and mouth regain the ability to move, and then the rest of my face.
My vision finally clears up so that I can see the blue sky above us, and I hear faint movement nearby.
I would have expected my limbs to free up first, but it seems like my senses are the beginning of the process.
It’s fucking weird that my demonic magic took such a hit when Javi let loose.
“That might be a clue,” I slur to myself as I impatiently await my body’s range of motion to return. “The blob thing could have been destroyed, but sent out… something?”
My head flops to the side, tired from even the small amount of thought and puzzling I did.
Whatever the actual cause of my non-ambulatory state, it’s damn powerful and laser-focused.
I think if the effects of the implosion had rocketed out far and wide, we might have ambulances or more damn Guardians here.
With the event so close to our property, it might have even drawn some of my father’s minions to the site.
“The fact that no one has appeared makes it feel even more suspicious. I wonder if this was the only attack or if there were more test runs in Bay City—or even in other places.”
Considering how big the conspiracy is supposed to be, I bet there were other incidents in other places.
I can’t imagine it would be useful to only hit this town when a multi-location strike to test the defenses would give the rebels more data.
But then, I’m not the one in charge, and I have no damn idea if they have a good strategist running this shit or a nepotism one.
That would make a difference, and it might also give us an opening when we head down to Hell to poke around.
After all, Hell is preparing for the first Caliphate Games in centuries, and the bigwigs in every arena have to be busy as beaver demons getting ready.
That kind of realm-wide event would generate lots of revenue in the cities, on the intranet, in merchandising and food sales, gambling…
There’s very little enterprise down there that wouldn’t see a serious spike as those damn things head towards their beginning.
Lucian Darkstar has to be shitting his pants with glee over this; it endangers the royals and opens a path to the throne.
I blow out a slow breath, pleased when every inch of my frame doesn’t scream in pain.
Rogue’s plan is working incredibly well, and hopefully, she’s moved on to my twin, Arch, and her stepbrother.
It will take a while for Javier to run through his growth cycle, but I’m sure she’ll figure something out for when we go on our clue hunting trip.
I don’t want to leave him behind in that vulnerable state, but taking him along has its challenges as well.
“Angelo! I feel you getting better. Try to move!”
Rogue’s voice is strained, and I react blindly.
My palms push flat to the ground, and I’m lifting myself to a sitting position before I know it.
It hurts like hell, and every inch of me is fighting the movement.
There was definitely something left behind to keep us weak and helpless, which makes every one of my internal alarms go off.
This battle isn’t over, and we played our trump card too quickly.