Chapter 44
Sam
Lock hit the ground and I felt the moment he died. Even if it was temporary, it fucking hurt. I’d tried to maintain my magic to fight off Erla’s water, but I couldn’t focus on everything at once. Not that I needed a reminder, but I was pitifully weak.
Raf kept saying we needed to train more and I hadn’t disagreed, but I didn’t take it seriously enough. I held to his assertion that Sibon would want to learn more before attacking. Clearly, we should have been more prepared.
Erla joined her companion, who I assumed was Davi based on Raf’s information. The two of them couldn’t be more different in appearance. Erla was pale with equally light hair, while her husband had skin that looked sun-kissed in winter. He was barely taller than me with shoulder length, wavy black hair. His eyes were dark as night and if I were to judge a book by its cover, he was not a kind person.
I funneled a significant amount of energy to Raf, hoping it would speed up his healing, then did the same to Lock. There was still a decent amount inside of me, but I could feel the thinness of it. As I brought fire to the surface, it felt like I was tugging it harder than before, forcing it to obey me.
“Alright, Jessi and James,” I drawled. “Where’s your cat friend?”
Davi’s face was expressionless as he ignored me and hauled Joseph to his feet. I stepped forward automatically, responding to the threat.
“When this one lit up, you may as well have handed yourselves to us,” he said. “We would have attacked last night, but you were blood crazed and newly mated. This was a much better idea.”
“Let him go,” I demanded. “Nobody has to get hurt.”
“To be honest, I’m not sure what your mate sees in you. You’re quite weak and pathetic.”
“Fuck you.”
“And childish. Sibon is likely to grow tired of you and simply consume you before we’ve found your last member. Erla, grab Seraphim and I’ll take the girl.”
“No!” I shouted, sending a wall of smoke toward them.
Davi moved Joseph in front of him and I sucked in a breath, expelling the magic immediately. He laughed and shook his head.
“What good is magic to someone as stupid as you? It’s a waste.”
“If you hurt any of them, I will kill you.”
I rushed toward Erla, keeping my smoke active around my body to burn through her magic. When we collided, she fell onto her back. I brought my dagger down, barely missing her heart. She gritted her teeth and slammed her forehead against mine before flipping us over.
Gripping her biceps, I burned through her skin. Her eyes watered and she cried out at the pain. As she put out the heat, I funneled more of it into my hands, too much for her to get rid of. She rolled off of me and I got to my knees. Pain erupted in my head when someone grabbed my hair, yanking me backward.
“Enough,” Davi growled.
I sent the flame toward him and he locked a hand around my throat from behind, triggering what felt like a thousand needle pricks on my skin. It traveled deeper, into my veins, then all the way to my bones. My knees buckled, a weakness spreading through my entire body.
When he released me, my hands squished into the mud. I tried to summon magic, any kind, but nothing happened. It was like I was out, but even when I was starving myself I hadn’t been able to escape it.
“Let’s go,” he ordered.
“Stop,” I rasped. “Please. Take me, but leave them.”
“That’s not happening,” Erla said. She glowered at me, rubbing at the mostly healed marks on her arms.
I racked my brain for some sort of solution. It was clear I couldn’t take them both and if I didn’t stop them, we’d be in the hands of Sibon. That was not an option. I would die before I let her have me.
Erla said fire melted ice, implying the true nature behind part of my magic. She could manipulate the state of the water, and, in theory, that meant I could do the same to hers. I didn’t know how long what Davi did to me would last, but once it wore off, I wondered if I could use that magic against her.
Come on, Raf. Wake up.
There was stirring through our connection, making the smallest amount of hope spring in my chest. It was too late, though. Davi was coming toward me, holding onto Joseph’s arm tightly. My friend was watching me with panicked eyes, but there was something else there too. Trust, maybe. I didn’t deserve it.
When Davi got close, I kicked him in the stomach. He stumbled slightly, giving me a chance to get to my feet and dart behind him. I grabbed onto Joseph, trying to wrestle him away. If we kept going like this, he would be torn in two. Regardless of my power, I wasn’t physically stronger than Lock or Raf and now, apparently, the same went for this asshole.
“He’s waking up,” Erla called as she dragged Raf around the building. “Leave her. She’ll come for her Nexus.”
“No,” I growled, rushing toward her. I slammed my palm into her chest, sending her backward.
“Erla, we’ll take the one this time,” Davi said.
Crouching beside Raf, I shook him. “I need you. Please, please, please.”
Erla moved to Davi’s side and nodded at him. I watched in horror, meeting Joseph’s eyes.
“No,” I screamed as Erla shifted into smoke.
“Sam,” Joseph whispered. “I love you.”
It’s better to lose one of us than let her get stronger.
No. This was my responsibility. He was. All of them were. Lock, Seraphim, Joseph. All of our coven and my friends. Ryan and Artie. Ruth. Mark and maybe Alex, even though I didn’t want him involved.
My body shook as a tear fell from my eye. “Joseph, I’m sorry.”
Davi began to shift, the movements easy to track for someone like me, but Joseph’s human senses would barely be processing it. He’d simply be forced into the form and carted away to god knows where. They’d probably torture him. Maybe they’d change him so I would be able to feel his pain more fully. Raf was right. I wouldn’t be able to resist going after him, even if it meant walking into Sibon’s trap.
“I’m sorry,” I repeated, drawing what little magic I could from my connection with Raf. He was still out, so there was hardly anything to latch onto, just enough for what I needed to do.
Joseph’s mouth dropped open, a small huff of air coming out. Davi shouted something I couldn’t process through the pain in my chest. He released Joseph, who immediately fell to his knees. I wanted to go to him, needed to, but I was overwhelmed. It felt like someone was tearing my chest in two and shredding my insides.
Raf sat up abruptly, glancing around. He clutched at his own chest, breathing heavily.
“No!” he shouted, jumping to his feet.
I could barely track what he was doing, but I was vaguely aware of him going for Davi. Erla’s voice joined the fray, yet I could still only look at Joseph. The ice sticking out of his chest. The blood coating the front of his shirt and beginning to drip from his mouth.
Joseph.
One day soon, we’ll be far away from here.”
“A lot can happen in a year.”
“As long as we’re together and not in this place, we’ll make it work.”
A pained wail came from deep in my chest and I forced myself to crawl toward him. Every move made my body feel colder. I was shivering and the tips of my fingers were going numb. When I got to him, he slumped forward and I caught him. I wanted to melt the ice, but I thought it would make it worse and it didn’t feel like I could summon any magic.
I was too weak to hold him, so I just fell into the mud with him, my head pressed into his chest. His heart was barely fluttering and I didn’t even know if he was breathing anymore. I couldn’t focus on anything but the pain and the fucking cold.
“We’re going to get fancy degrees,” he murmured against my mouth. “We’ll live in a small, rat infested apartment. You’re going to build the most acclaimed building in the city. Your name will be everywhere. Even our parents will hear about it and they’ll be so pissed.”
“Please,” I whispered.
Ice was spreading out from where we touched. He met my eyes just before the sound of his heart stopped entirely.
“I think everything happened exactly how it was supposed to, even if we had to survive through some pain for a while.”
“No,” I cried. My teeth were chattering, the sound blending in with those coming from the fight. I failed him. I failed us all.
“I’ve always been yours, Sam, and I always will be. Whatever that means.”
The pain in my chest intensified and I screamed. Curling in on myself, I continued to cry out from the agony. It was more excruciating than anything I’d ever felt. It was blinding, terrifying, like the endless blackness I’d been lost in when I went too deep into my connection with Raf.
Suddenly, warm arms surrounded me, pulling me into something solid. The heat didn’t warm me, though. I felt it, but I was cold everywhere. Ice felt like it was cutting through my insides, shredding me apart.
I couldn’t even see anything except for Joseph. His smiling face as a teenager. The joy in his eyes when he opened his door. The strange hope that had been there when we confirmed he was part of the Nexus. He’d been all in so easily, ready to do this with me. To put his life in my hands.
“Sam.”
Continuing to scream, I let him hold me. I thought we were moving, but I couldn’t tell. I was lost. So fucking lost. I was going to freeze to death right here and everything would be over. Sibon couldn’t have me if I didn’t make it through this. She couldn’t have anything else.
“Who the fuck is this?” a distorted voice asked.
“It’s Seraphim.”
“Why the fuck are you calling me?”
“Mark, listen to me. I need you to meet me at the tower. How soon can you get there?”
“I can hop on a plane and be there in just over half a day. Why?”
“I’m on my way to steal a jet. I need you to make sure I have access to the building when we get to San Francisco. Can you do that?”
“In theory, but-”
“Good. I have Sam and I’m going to need you. I’ll explain later.”
It got silent and I felt pain radiate through my body again.
“Lock,” I moaned. I couldn’t open my eyes and I was still shivering. He was still dead, I could feel it. I just wanted him to wake up and take away this pain.
“It’s okay, Sam,” Raf said.
“Lock. I need him.”
“I know. Just rest. Everything will be fine. I promise.”
I think everything happened exactly how it was supposed to, even if we had to survive through some pain for a while.
“I’m so sorry,” I breathed before letting the pain drag me into unconsciousness.