Chapter 12 #2
His eyes softened. “Some merely take longer to heal. Don’t give up hope. We are immortal beings, it’s never truly over when that’s a factor, is it?”
I choked at his words. “I guess not.”
“Besides, you’re only a year older than my son, that sort of bleak resignation shouldn’t set in this young.”
He was making a joke. With me. After the recent Winter stuff, he was giving that to me.
Although, did that mean he now thought I was compromised? Like, that I couldn’t do this mission with him?
No.
I wanted to. I needed to.
“This isn’t fresh pain to me,” I assured him. “I can separate the vampire clan thing as well. These are two different situations.”
“I know.”
“You… do?”
“Yes,” he said with a smile. “Now, come on.”
He held a hand out to me.
Thrilling anticipation surged through me.
Then I grabbed his hand and his crimson power wrapped around us, teleporting us out.
We rematerialized on a hill overlooking a clearing in Averiaz Woods with forty vampires gathered around about a hundred feet away just like Sylas had described.
I saw Pierce and Andrew there amongst them.
There was a shitload of tension I was noticing, a bunch freaking out about needing to relocate, talking about Basilisk reprisal, even reprisal from Winter and me.
Winter? Nah, not happening.
Win didn’t do that.
He wouldn’t go after the vamps. And the idea of calling on Sylas or his Grandpa would’ve freaked Win out, because he’d worry about them murdering the whole clan.
And Win couldn’t carry that. When it came to this sort of thing, it was either that for him or the Guardian Movement, not underground organizations that partially operated outside the law.
But with Vaxan insisting on keeping the incident quiet, the Guardian Movement option had been off the table.
So, he’d resorted to protection only. And he was definitely safeguarding Vaxan.
I’d seen him monitoring that sexy fucking lord since the attack, basically pulling a whole bodyguard routine—but keeping to the shadows about it.
Sylas signaled me.
I reacted immediately, and called my power, my fuchsia flames sparking on my palms, a moment before I swept my hands around the area, forming the fiery containment that Sylas had asked for around the vampires.
He flicked his fingers and formed a translucent dome over the top that would block their escape if they tried it.
Yeah, if I’d done that part with my flames, because of the intensity, it would have burned them all within, the temperature rising and rising if I’d closed it with a roof of fire too. Hmm, I wondered how much practice and experience it took to think of everything like that, like he could.
As my flames stood freely, I brought my palms down, cut out the intensity blazing from my hands for a moment, then called just a defensive amount when I upturned them again and held them at the ready, prepared for whatever command Sylas gave me next.
I watched as my fuchsia flames raged around the vampires, containing them within and serving to light up the immediate area.
Sylas’ hand clasped my shoulder, and I looked to see him smiling at me.
“Well done. Perfectly controlled. Excellent.”
Pride swelled and I beamed up at him.
And then he stormed right toward the circle of flames as the vampires finally noticed our presence—or his.
That was how worked up they’d been… they hadn’t even registered us until now.
Talk about the worst time to drop their guard.
Considering they’d been freaking out about being caught, then not paying attention… wowzers.
“Necromancer,” a bunch of them hissed at Sylas as he strode forward, a shitload of might and power radiating off him.
I saw him twist a gold ring on his thumb a moment before he hit the wall of flames, which had me tensing—until he passed right through completely unharmed and not breaking his stride for a second.
I was tensing again as twenty vampires came at him at once, bursting at him.
But with a flick of his fingers, he snapped their necks rapid-fire, and they all fell to the grass in unconscious heaps.
And then a dozen of them started firing magic at him.
Fuck. I’d heard of this. Vampires temporarily able to wield magic from ingesting it from magic-wielders. It also made them super high, so that explained why they hadn’t noticed our approach sooner.
But their magic—all colors of the rainbow, meaning they’d fed from a bunch of different magic-wielders—did Sylas no damage, some of it even bouncing off and ricocheting off the invisible shield protecting him, then slamming right back into them, ripping several off their feet.
Others ducked or evaded the hits and lunged at him, while Pierce and Andrew and a half dozen others frantically tried to leap over my wall, only to hit against what Sylas had put in place above.
Sylas thrust his hand out at the rest who were trying to be a tad more strategic against him, and they froze instantly.
He raised his hand and levitated them off the ground where they were completely unmoving.
It was Undead Domination, where he could freeze and puppet death-touched beings like vampires.
“Drop the wall!” he called out to me.
I did it instantly.
But then I saw a bunch of vampires darting away.
I had to resist the urge to react.
He’d told me to await orders.
“Wall to the left!” he commanded me then.
I smiled and threw up a wall of my fire, stopping four vampires from escaping.
In the next second, Sylas thrust his left fist into the ground, and a crimson shockwave radiated out and tore into the vamps using magic against him.
It overpowered theirs completely, and even knocked them all out.
As he held that big group in Undead Domination still, I saw more darting out, trying to burst away, but fritzing—I guess because they were high or too terrified to focus.
“Wall to the right!” Sylas called again.
I threw up another wall, stopping three more vamps in their tracks.
And then Sylas slammed his palms together.
Everything stilled.
Every single vampire who wasn’t already unconscious or already trapped in Undead Domination was frozen at his will.
Hold on.
Why had he needed my walls if he could do that?
I got the circle of flames—obviously a distraction and freakout tactic. But the rest?
He let out a whistle as he stood amongst them all calmly holding it at bay like it was nothing to him at all.
Rushes of movement swept through the area, wind whipping around.
And then two dozen hooded figures with metal masks came into view right in front of Sylas.
With another burst, one stood in front of them.
“Nicely done,” he spoke to Sylas.
“Remnant, they’ll need a day in solitude until the magic leaves their system. They can’t be moved into Requital rehabilitation until then.”
Remnant. Winter’s grandpa.
“Yes, I can feel its potency.”
Sylas told him, “I’ll have Charles ascertain all the magical signatures and we’ll track the corresponding magic-wielders they’ve fed on and see to them. If they’re still alive.”
“Let’s hope for the best where that’s concerned.”
“Indeed.”
Remnant looked out at me. “Nicely done also, youngling.”
I smiled and we exchanged a chin lift.
The two of them lowered their voices then and I could no longer hear, likely talking Requital and The Shadowed business.
A few moments later, Sylas flicked his fingers, snapping the necks of all the vampires remaining conscious, knocking them out, before then ending Undead Domination, where they all dropped heavily onto the grass.
And then as fast as they’d come in, Remnant and a mere fraction of The Shadowed sped away, taking the fallen clan with them.
Sylas spun around and told me, “Clear your magic.”
I got rid of the flame walls, making sure I hadn’t left any sparks.
I’d been careful when erecting them, even so quickly, not to touch the trees and bushes.
The grass was a little charred, so I swept a healing wave of my power over it.
Not fuchsia flames, but a smooth, glowing film that restored the grass to its former state.
I watched Sylas sweep his magic over the area then, conducting what I recognized as a scent-wipe.
And then he strode back to me, his leather coat flapping behind him.
“Well done,” he said as he reached me.
“You didn’t need my walls really, did you?”
“I did. Just not for the reason you believed.”
“Those were tests of my control and ability to follow instructions in a chaotic situation like battle?”
“Among other things, yes.”
“You could’ve taken them all out in one shot, then?”
He lifted a shoulder.
“Wow. Forty and you could’ve put them down like nothing.”
“You’re not a member of Requital. You’re a civilian. And you’re my son’s love. I wouldn’t put you in danger.”
“But thinking it was real meant my reactions were, that the stakes were, that the pressure was?”
“Well, it was most certainly real.”
“Even so.”
He folded his arms across his chest and regarded me.
“You were able to take my instructions and maintain absolute control of both your magic and your mental faculties through all of that. You also pulled back when you were torturing those vampires during your rescue of Vaxan after he urged you to. Why, then, do you think you can’t do that on your own, without orders or the influence of a steadying hand? ”
I shrugged. “My Ifrit nature left untamed won’t allow it. It needs to be checked by others?”
“No. We’re not slaves to our natures, to what we are.
By that reasoning, as an Ancient Vampire, Remnant should be a bloodlusting monster.
Lazriel should be raging wildly all over the supernatural world.
My son should be a bringer of death to everything and everyone around him.
You see, there’s also who we are. We define us.
It’s not about taming our natures or repressing them, because that would steal our identities away.
It’s about streamlining them, striking a balance between what and who we are. ”
“How? I don’t always know where to find that balance, that line.”
“You allow that fear and rage of what happened to your parents to twist who you really are. Being Ifrit, fear and vulnerability easily morph to rage if you don’t recognize the source and catch it quickly.” He smiled sadly. “Your self-loathing also doesn’t help.”
Our eyes locked.
Oh no.
I could see him considering whether to speak to what he seemed to want to—or felt like he needed to.
And then he did. He said it.
“Dominance doesn’t always equal power and control.
In the context you have trouble with, there are many who find freedom and power in the opposite.
” He laid a hand on my shoulder. “There’s absolutely no fucking shame in that.
I promise.” He let go, then told me, “Also, if you hadn’t had your walls up, you would have noticed that Winter isn’t of a rigid mindset where that’s concerned.
It doesn’t need to be one or the other either, so keep that in mind.
” He winced. “That’s all I’ll say or Winter will kill me.
Already saying this much is bad enough.”
A laugh burst from me, despite all the heaviness—and the fact that my former lover’s dad was talking to me about fucking, about my sex with Winter at that. “Yeah, Win plays all that close to the vest.”
“Well, he’s much more reserved than I am when it comes to that.” He shook his head to himself. “He must’ve picked that up from Cassius.”
“I’m all for the brazen and brash, but Win won’t have it.” Evira would, though, and she liked it a hell of a lot.
Evira!
I hastily pulled my phone from my studded leather jacket pocket.
I was nearly half an hour late for our date!
“I need to go,” I told Sylas, unable to hide my panic now.
After all of that, and me doing such a great job, now I was freaking out in front of him.
But he didn’t call me on it.
In fact, his lips quirked.
What was—
“Enjoy your evening,” he said. “We’ll be in touch.”
“In touch? You mean, with this sort of thing? Requital operations?”
“If you want.”
“I… really?”
“You did well tonight and showed a lot of potential. Once Winter has completed his pre-apprenticeship assignments, I’ll need to direct a lot of time into that next-stage training with him.
But at the rate he’s going, several weeks are on the table.
In the meantime, I can work with you on this myself if you like. ”
Rather than a stranger doing it. And because he knew it was his way of doing this sort of thing that appealed to me, that I really liked.
Wait. What? What about an apprenticeship Win was supposed to be doing with Sylas?
But Win’s magic… I’d seen some issues with his necromantic side. Him staggering, blinking, looking ill at ease after casting.
I hadn’t said anything because we were barely speaking.
Wouldn’t Sylas—what was going on?
Oh, dammit, Win. Sylas didn’t know.
“Everything all right?”
I blinked. “Yeah. Just… taking it all in. And… thanks, Sylas. Just know that I get it. All of it.”
He smiled. “I see it.”
Relief flooded me.
I sucked in a breath, then called my power and teleported out, hoping like hell that I didn’t already have another fuck-up on my hands with being late to my date with Evira.
After how much things had shifted lately in me, I couldn’t have that.
I wouldn’t.
I’d fix it.