Chapter 12
~Zayn~
Come on. Come on.
If he didn’t show soon, I was gonna be late.
To my special date night with Evira.
And I really couldn’t fucking have that.
I’d been looking forward to this.
She’d been looking forward to it.
She’d even texted me earlier asking all about it under the guise of what was an appropriate outfit for the surprise venue.
Now, because I’d been delayed, I’d not only already had to tell her, but I’d also had to ask her to meet me there, rather than us heading over there together.
Argh.
Every moment that ticked on by was making me more anxious about the whole thing, about doing what I was obviously used to doing best—ruining things.
I pulled at the obsidian gems of my bracelet, alternating between that and fingering the fuchsia gemstone, while I paced in the dark by one of the equipment sheds far away from the main building.
Not that there was much space to do that within, considering I’d been instructed to stay in this blind spot on campus until he arrived to speak with me.
How he even knew about it was a whole other thing.
I was aware that Winter’s family had made him a deal not to have eyes on him while he was here.
Well, not in an invasive way. Just kind of at a distance.
His grandpa was the Commander of The Shadowed, for fuck’s sakes, and he always had his ear to the ground.
But I guess one of them had reconned the place before Winter had arrived for his first day.
Probably his Pops, Lazriel Thaine, because with his wolf-vampire hybrid nature, his senses were at an insane level, and he wouldn’t miss a thing.
I jolted as crimson magic suddenly erupted just two feet from me.
And then he materialized.
The Almighty Necromancer in the flesh.
I swallowed hard at the intimidating sight of him, height and muscle, and that sweeping hooded black leather coat that really amped up the whole magical powerhouse thing. Kind of like his dark spiky hair with the striking maroon tips. And, most definitely, his dark-red magic crackling around him.
“Sylas,” I greeted, almost managing to make my voice come out steady.
“Clan Krevorn,” he spoke in a matter-of-fact, clipped kind of way.
“What’s that?”
“They’ve all been located.”
“Located?”
“Well, hunted down would be a more accurate way of putting it. We move now while they’re all gathered.”
“We?”
“You asked for my help. I’m providing it.”
Yeah, I’d called him to see to Andrew Harkle and Pierce Dennins after they’d attacked Vaxan and tortured him in a failed attempt to get a hold of his crown that was imbued with a Sunveil shielding enchantment.
I’d even transferred the magical tag I’d put on those fuckers to Sylas when he’d agreed to get involved.
“I thought… I mean… I figured you and Requital would see to it.” I’d thought he’d come to meet me tonight just to give me an update and to do some kind of debrief where I’d be told how and what to keep secret, how to proceed in the aftermath of it being dealt with.
“That would normally be the case. Civilians wouldn’t be part of the process. But I’ve made an exception here.”
I cleared my throat. “Listen, I know after that bathroom… situation… that you walked in on, and probably some other shit you’ve heard from Win, that you—”
“You are not equipped to stand at my son’s side. Tonight we begin remedying that.”
“At his side? I thought that was the last thing you wanted.”
“It’s not about what I want. This is Winter’s choice.”
“Yeah, and he’s made it. Away from me.”
“That won’t last with your recent evolution.”
“My… what?” I mean, yeah, I wasn’t a total fucking fool, I knew what he was getting at. But I didn’t know how he knew.
“I had Velra recreate the events of the attack with her magical skill in that area.” He eyed me pointedly, making it clear that he hadn’t been able to rely solely on my word.
“Win’s mom was here? Right on campus?”
“Briefly. Cloaked so as not to disturb Winter. When she recreated what transpired, we discovered traces of Winter’s magic all over Vaxan Canor.
Combined with the conversation between the two of you, it became clear just how dear the Basilisk Lord has become to our son.
It’s not only why you assisted him, it’s why you sought to pursue this justice for him.
Well, with you, part of the reason. There’s also what befell your family. ”
That last part was something he’d helped with. More than helped with. He’d saved my parents. It was how I’d first met Winter.
Yeah, it was all complicated as fuck.
“Even with that in play, you still acted selflessly. For once. You did it for Winter, for his care for another, no less.”
“And that… absolves me in your eyes?” I highly doubted it.
“When Winter allows that to sink in, he’ll return to you. With this change in you, the toxicity the two of you being together bred is no longer a factor.” He glared at me. “So long as you don’t regress.”
“And you’re just willing to chance that?”
“Like I said, this is Winter’s choice. But my concern is the way you handled the situation with those vampires. I can’t allow that around my son. Winter is sweet and gentle, but he’s also susceptible and sensitive to certain things.”
With a wave of his hand, my own voice from the day I’d fought those shitheads off Vaxan sounded in the air.
“You’re in for a world of horrific pain, fucker.
You see, there’s no limit for me when I happen upon this sort of sickening shit, victimizing people, using their inborn weaknesses against them that they can’t fucking change and already fear living with in case assholes like you pull this despicable bullshit. ”
I grimaced. “I was… worked up.”
“Your approach is too hardline. There’s a very small leap from that to actually taking lives.
And that’s not good for the soul—especially not ones so young.
It’s certainly not something I want my son around.
” He regarded me curiously. “That said, I don’t actually think you believe what you spouted.
You may lash out and embody chaos all too often, but you’re not cold and merciless at your heart.
Yet. With your history, you’re susceptible to being twisted into that. So, tonight, we begin seeing to that.”
“You’re gonna trust me on a mission with you?”
“Yes.”
He flicked his fingers, sparks emanating, and he rolled them between his fingers. Whoa. “You will defer to my command, listen, and only act at my word. Clear?”
This was… a lot.
“Zayn?”
I blinked. “Yeah. Yeah, we’re clear.”
“Clan Krevorn consists of forty members. They’re all convened right now in an emergency meeting in a clearing in Averiaz Woods.
They’re panicking due to the botched attack on Vaxan, where they showed their hand.
I’ll teleport us into the area. At my signal, you’ll cast your flame in a sixty-foot radius, forming a forty-foot-high wall to contain them before they can scatter.
Remain off to the side where I bring us in and wait on any further orders from me. ”
I straightened and rolled my shoulders. This was really happening.
“Yes,” I told him, nervousness giving way to some real anticipation now.
He went to invoke his power to teleport us, but then he pulled up short as he looked at me.
“What?” I asked.
“Breathe. Take a couple of moments.”
I was about to do my usual fake-it-till-you-make-it thing, but I stopped myself.
Not only wouldn’t that bravado get past the likes of Sylas Morgrave, but I did actually need a moment.
As I set about centering myself, he told me, “If it makes you feel better, Klyra and Romus are aware that I’m doing this with you.”
I jolted. “You talked to my parents?”
“Yes.”
“Did they… are they good?”
He frowned. “You aren’t in contact with them?”
I looked away. “Not much. A few texts every couple of months.”
“Since when? They didn’t mention that to me.”
“The last couple of years. They’re still recluses, as you must know if you contacted them. But now that’s kind of extended to me. The embarrassment of being caught in Cursed Servitude isn’t something they’ve been able to shake off.”
Another thing that had been perpetrated by a vampire clan. In that case, five years ago, when I’d been sixteen, it had been Clan Sceptrum, something that didn’t exist anymore after I’d found Requital and gotten them involved when my parents had been taken by the clan.
Some Ifrits were biologically predisposed to being trapped in Cursed Servitude, their magic at the command of others, and my parents had fit that bill.
Due to our species’ emotional volatility, many years ago, Ifrits were believed to have needed containment, to have our powers controlled by others.
So that Cursed Servitude shit had been forced on us centuries ago by the Celestial Plane.
But over time, Ifrits had evolved where they were now producing kids who weren’t afflicted with that curse. Like me.
When I’d found Sylas through Requital, he hadn’t just freed my parents, he’d broken the curse permanently with Necromancy by resetting their magical biology through sending them into the Valley of the Dead while tethering them, then bringing them back.
It had taken time to locate them after they’d been taken, though, and during the whole thing—and in the immediate aftermath when my parents had been in a real state—Sylas had taken me into his home.
And that was when I’d met and grown close to Win.
Just as friends for many years—until he’d turned eighteen about two years ago.
Around that time, he’d finally been allowed out into the world for a few days here and there, and one of those times, we’d hooked up, things becoming more than friendship from then on out.
“I’m sorry,” Sylas spoke, jarring me.
I lifted a shoulder. “It is what it is. Some people just remain broken, I guess.”
And I’d tried a fuck of a lot to help them, but nothing had worked. They’d just gotten worse and worse.
“Not always.”
“What?”