Chapter 24 #3
He shuddered as he uttered an incantation the two of them had written together months ago when they’d still held hope that they’d be able to get their hands on the portion of the core and Corvin’s magic.
Latin fused with an ancient tongue filled my ears, a complex construction that I would certainly tell Ketheron all about, as he delighted in that sort of thing.
“I can’t… sorry,” Sylas rasped to Kai. “Can’t… let go…”
“I know. It’s okay,” he managed, as he pushed harder so the core could reset within Sylas properly and then have the infection rooted out with the very magic of Corvin’s that had first inflicted it upon him.
I felt a wave of emotional pain through the Soul Brand and looked out at Velra who was clutching Lazriel as he fought against his clear overwhelming need to go to Sylas.
She was right there in that need with him.
Yet, of course she was holding it together—for both of them, for all of us.
It was what she did. Bound us beautifully as a foursome, as former lone wanderers into a family, a rather curious and rambunctious one also.
“Stay back, son,” Remnant called over, while shifting his weight in preparation, feeling the escalation coming.
Ambrose held his power steady, his laser-focused gaze on Sylas.
A curse from Kai flipped my full focus back to him and Sylas.
Sylas fisted his shirt and jerked him against him. “Hurry… you need to… break contact.”
Kai let out a pained laugh. “Things really have… changed for you. Never missed a chance before… to…”
“Know where… my heart lies. And so… do you.”
Kai’s hand trembled as he ripped it from Sylas, then reared back and thrust forward with a formidable blast of power that rushed into Sylas.
In the next second, Sylas blew him back with an explosion of his crimson magic, just a moment before he let out an orgasmic cry, clearly wanting to spare Kai from sharing in it, both for Kai’s sake, and Sylas’ love for the three of us.
He staggered and I was there in the next moment, grasping his arms and holding him steady as he panted. His eyes, both blazing and hooded met mine.
His magic was burning into me as he struggled to contain the storm within him as the spell worked its will to recalibrate what should have never become unbalanced and damaged in the first place.
My Immortal physiology stood against the volatility, absorbing the damage, as he clutched at me.
“You know… I do… right?”
Of course now would be the time he chose to have this exchange between us.
The only one left within our foursome.
I smiled. “I know that you love me, yes. As I do you.”
I heard a cry of excitement from Lazriel, then him and Velra discussing the mutual confession, overjoyed by it.
I leaned in and breathed at his ear, “Almighty Necromancer.”
He snagged my belt and jerked me against him as the stimulation of the spell started to get the best of him, even another pleasurable cry escaping him.
“Reclaim what’s yours,” I told him, fighting against the need he was sparking in me at seeing him in this state, which was then further tested as he ground against me, his hardness making itself very much known. “Take back what they took from you.”
I heard a snarl from Lazriel.
It was his aroused, erotic snarl, and I had no doubt that it was a result of him scenting the need in Velra, something that had likely sparked because she’d felt mine through the Soul Brand—and it was indeed potent. And mighty difficult to maintain focus through.
“Get… clear,” Sylas strained to utter. “Cas… help Kai.”
I saw Ambrose react to his words and snatch the ball of black tendrils he’d created in his left hand, while his right palm sparked with his ebony power.
In the next moment, I ripped myself from Sylas, snatched up Kai, and rushed us both with my Immortal speed to Velra and Lazriel.
“Oh my God,” Velra breathed, just as Sylas’ crimson power erupted out of him in a mammoth explosion, another orgasmic cry tearing from his throat as he thrust his arms out either side of him and threw his head back.
As it rushed out from all around him, Ambrose threw up a wall of ebony power just in time in front of him and Remnant, a hair’s breadth away from it tearing into them.
Remnant hadn’t even flinched, rooted to the spot, as he knew he needed to be in case it escalated and Sylas invoked Risen Reckoning.
And then it happened—what we’d prepared for.
Sylas howled in ecstasy as crimson lightning lit up the sky, sparking violently, attacking the atmosphere essentially.
The invocation of Risen Reckoning.
“Sylas, no!” Lazriel screamed, starting forward, only to be held back by Velra’s swirling shadows.
I saw Sylas grimacing and fighting to get control.
“Come on. Come on.” He was whispering fiercely to himself.
I saw the lightning peter out.
But only for a moment, before it escalated into one hell of a mighty storm.
He slammed his hands down and the lightning leapfrogged across the ground along with a rush of his crimson power, like liquid energy—headed straight for us all.
Ambrose spun and threw his sphere.
It hit the stream and lightning combination and exploded, tendrils of black magic seeping into the power and working its will on it.
The stream decimated the ebony wall and hit Remnant, tearing into him, making him grunt, his hands turning that awful gray tinge marking desiccation as Risen Reckoning invoked on the living did its due damage.
Anyone other than an Ancient vampire would have been vaporized in moments, if not at the point of impact itself.
“Hold,” Ambrose urged Remnant. “One more moment.”
“Have them take their leave.”
Ambrose frowned. “You would not normally doubt your inability to—”
“It’s my son. My son, his loved ones, and their unborn child.”
“The child is safe.”
“What are you—”
“Go!” Kai yelled, cutting through my listening in over a hundred feet away.
I caught Lazriel’s eye and saw he’d heard also and he was looking at Velra curiously.
She grasped his arm, making him blink. “We can’t leave him. He needs us here. He keeps looking out at us. For Sylas that’s his signal that we’re anchoring him, that he needs us.”
“Urgh,” Sylas choked, and I looked out to see his stream being forced back and then moving around Remnant.
Ambrose’s intervention was working.
Temporarily.
Sylas dropped to his knees with a hefty thud, his eyes aflame and still hooded, his body reverberating.
And then he gritted his teeth and yanked his hands in tight to his chest.
It served to pull back his stream and then nullify the lightning utterly.
Remarkable.
Remnant staggered back.
Ambrose caught him and began healing the desiccation, while keeping a wary eye on Sylas.
Further and further Sylas drew the stream back toward him, absorbing the magic into himself.
Commanding it.
His fingers shook, then he closed his fists, and choked as the rest of the magic rushed back into him in a blink.
“Fuck me,” Lazriel breathed.
“He did it!” Velra cried.
Kai was nodding along with a bright and impressed smile.
Ambrose sighed heavily and pulled his tendrils back, reabsorbing them without even stopping his healing of Remnant.
In the next moment, Lazriel was rushing over and fussing over his father, until he was shown that the damage had been mostly healed, the rest well on its way.
“I need to head to the Shadow Tunnels. Prepare for battle,” Remnant told Lazriel.
“Right now? Don’t you need to rest, or—”
“I need to feed. You need to be here.” A smile lit his eyes. “Your necromancer is in great need as I’m sure you can sense… potently. As is your Wraithqueen.”
“Dad, can you not scent their—”
“Apologies. I am merely redirecting your focus where it is needed most. With me having been in danger and bearing witness to that, it’s pulling you in two different directions when there is no need.” He stroked Lazriel’s hair. “All is well. Just like I promised.”
I walked over and wrapped my arm around Lazriel. “He’s right. On all counts. Come.”
He nodded, and I started to ease him away.
In the next moment, Remnant gave Ambrose his thanks, then exited the Rifted Cradle with a burst of speed.
Ambrose ventured over to Kai, and I heard them discussing Kai’s complex spellwork that Ambrose had borne witness to today, along with Ambrose explaining how he would purge his black magic usage from our Rifted Cradle, how it could properly be cleansed, as Kai was curious.
Well, he did always like to be prepared.
I led Lazriel over to where Velra now had her arms wrapped around Sylas, who was still on his knees, now panting and dripping with sweat.
“Is it messed-up to say that you look hot as fuck right now?” Lazriel spoke, looking Sylas up and down.
“Not messed-up at all,” Sylas told him. “You know what might be messed up, though?” he said, as he rose to his feet, taking Velra with him and stroking her hair in a very sensual way that had me stirring.
“What’s that?” Lazriel asked, swallowing hard.
Sylas’ eyes darkened with carnal threat. “The filthy depravity that’s gonna happen next.”