Chapter 18
Elias
I woke at sunset, my body instantly alert the way it always had been since turning.
The death-like sleep of day shifting in a heartbeat to full consciousness.
Reaching across the bed, I found empty sheets, still warm from Talin's body.
I listened in the quiet apartment and heard the soft scratch of pencil against paper coming from the living room.
I pulled on my jeans, used the bathroom and brushed my teeth, and then padded barefoot across the old floors.
Talin sat cross-legged on the couch, hunched over the coffee table.
Her long black hair fell in a curtain around her face as she sketched furiously, completely absorbed in her work.
She hadn't bothered dressing and was still wearing only the oversized t-shirt I'd given her last night after her threadwalking nearly killed her.
Pencils, markers, and crumpled paper surrounded her in a messy pile that would normally set my teeth on edge. But seeing her there, alive and focused after what she'd been through, I couldn't bring myself to care that much about it.
"How long have you been up?" I asked, my voice still rough with sleep.
She startled, glancing up with those striking green eyes that never stopped catching me off balance. "Um. About an hour."
I moved closer, looking over her shoulder at what she'd drawn. Four distinct locations sketched from above, like crude maps, each bearing a symbol that seemed to shift and writhe on the page when I tried to focus on it.
"The binding points?" I asked.
She nodded, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
I circled the couch, sitting beside her close enough to feel her warmth but not touching.
"Let me see," I said, reaching for the drawing closest to me.
"I already know where this one is," she said, pointing to the first sketch. "St. Louis Cemetery, where we fought Marcus before. And this one,"—she tapped another drawing showing water and a distinctive curve—"has to be down by the river in the Quarter."
I nodded. "And the others?"
"I think this is City Park. See the shape of the water? And this last one..." She frowned at the fourth drawing. "Some kind of warehouse or industrial building. Abandoned. Maybe the one I was drawn to that first night when you followed me."
"You got all this from the threads?"
She nodded, still not meeting my eyes. "It's getting clearer. The more I practice, the more I understand what I'm seeing."
"That's good, right? The faster you learn to control it, the safer you'll be."
"Maybe." She gathered her sketches, organizing them with quick, nervous movements.
She was afraid. I could feel her fear skating over my skin. Smell the way it changed her scent. I touched her arm lightly to stop her nervous shuffling of papers. "Talin. Look at me."
She hesitated, then raised those green eyes to mine, and what I saw made my heart ache.
"You're still you," I said firmly. "The power was always inside you. It's just awake now."
"And you?" she asked quietly after a moment. "What's awake in you, Elias?"
I knew what she was asking.
"I wasn't asleep before I met you, little witch. I knew exactly who I was. What I wanted."
"And now?" Her voice was barely above a whisper.
I cupped her face, my thumb tracing her cheekbone. "Now I want you."
She pulled back, breaking the contact. "You don't know that. You can't."
"The hell I can't." I couldn’t keep the frustration from my tone. "I've lived for over a century, Talin. I know my own mind."
Pressing her mouth into a thin line, she looked away.
What the hell was going on? "Are we really still doing this?"
She stood, gathering her sketches. "We should get ready. Judy called while you were sleeping and she's having an emergency meeting at her place in an hour so we can make a plan."
The abrupt change of subject was like a slap. I grabbed her arm, pulling her back. "Don't do that."
"Do what?"
"Pull away from me. Hide from me." I gentled my grip, remembering how fragile humans could be. "Not after everything we've been through."
Something flickered in her eyes. Longing? Fear? I couldn't tell which. Then she stepped back, breaking the contact.
"We need to focus on finding Alex," she said. "That's what matters right now."
The dismissal in her voice made me want to punch something.
Or someone. Preferably Marcus, for putting us in this situation in the first place.
Instead, I nodded stiffly and headed for the bathroom.
The shower ran cold, but I barely noticed the temperature.
All I could feel was the hollow ache where Talin's trust should be.
Talin had been silent during our walk over to her aunt's, the distance between us growing with each step despite the mate bond tugging us toward each other.
"Are you ready for this?" I asked as we climbed the steps.
She nodded, clutching her sketches to her chest. "Yes."
The door opened before we could knock and Judy stood there, her short gray-streaked hair disheveled as if she'd been running her hands through it. Her sharp blue eyes took in our appearance, lingering on the obvious space Talin put between us.
"Good, you're here," she said briskly. "Everyone else is waiting."
We followed her into the living room, which had been transformed into a war room of sorts.
Maps of New Orleans covered every surface, marked with symbols I didn't recognize.
Killian and Kenya sat on one couch while Lizzy made a cup of tea in the kitchen.
Esme, Alice and Angel sat on another. Brogan sat on the arm near Esme.
Jamal leaned against the wall, arms crossed.
Dae stood behind Alice's seat, his presence surprising me.
He rarely attended these mixed gatherings, but I guess Killian would've requested for him to be here, too.
"Now that we're all here," Judy said, taking her place at the head of the room, "Talin, show us what you have."
Talin spread her sketches on the coffee table. "I think I found the binding points," she explained, gesturing to the drawings. "Four of them, forming a perfect circle around the city. And I think Marcus used them to create the pocket dimension where he's keeping Alex."
"And these binding points," Kenya said, pointing to the sketches, "they're what's keeping the pocket dimension stable?"
"Yes. They're anchors, tying Marcus's dimension to ours." Talin spoke directly to her aunt. "If we can disrupt them simultaneously, I think we can weaken the barrier enough for me to slip through and get Alex out."
Judy frowned, studying the drawings. "These locations aren't random. They form a perfect ritual circle encompassing some of the oldest parts of New Orleans."
"Places of power," Angel added, her voice soft. "Where the veil between worlds is already thin."
"Can we destroy them?" Killian asked. "So he can't use them again?"
Judy shook her head. "No. But we can do what Talin suggests and disrupt their currents. Breaking them entirely could have catastrophic consequences. We'll have to be very careful as it is."
"Like what?" I asked, not liking where this was heading. "What kind of consequences?"
"Like collapsing both dimensions," Alice said quietly. "With Alex and Talin trapped inside."
My body went rigid. "Okay. No. We're not doing this."
Talin glanced at me, her expression hardening. "It's the only way."
"We'll find another way," I insisted.
"There isn't one," she shot back. "I've seen the threads, Elias, remember? All of them. Every possible future. This is our only chance."
"There has to be something," I insisted.
Esme spoke up from the other side of the room. "She's right, there's not."
"No one's talking to you," I snapped.
"Hey!" Brogan stood up, flashing his fangs at me. But the pink flamingos on his shirt made it kind of hard to take him seriously.
Esme's brown eyes widened in shock, and I immediately felt bad.
When she came to this town, I was one of the few people who were on her side, and she didn't deserve to have her head bitten off like that.
"I'm sorry, Es. I'm just…" I couldn't seem to describe the whirlwind of emotions whipping around inside of me.
"It's okay," she said, pulling Brogan back down. "I understand. But Talin is right. This is the only way to get through to Alex."
The room fell silent.
"So what's the plan?" Kenya asked softly, breaking the silence. "How do we disrupt these points?"
Judy sighed. "We'll need four teams. One witch and one vampire at each location. The witch disrupts the magic while the vampire provides protection."
"I'll take the cemetery," Angel volunteered. "I know the grounds better than anyone."
"I'll with her," Jamal said immediately.
Judy nodded. "Alice and Dae can take City Park. Lizzy and Killian, the French Quarter. Brogan and Esme can handle the Ninth Ward."
"And us?" I asked.
"You and Talin will be here," Judy said. "Once the binding points are weakened, Talin will thread-walk into the pocket dimension with you as her anchor."
"No," I said firmly. "I'm going with her."
Talin shook her head. "I don't think that'll work, Elias. You can't physically enter the thread realm."
I looked at her in surprise. "And you can?"
"I'm going to try," she told me. "Alex is there, so there must be a way, and I think this is it. But I need you here, keeping me tethered to this world."
I couldn't let her facing Marcus alone, without me there to protect her. She wouldn't survive.
As if she could read my thoughts, she came to stand beside me and took my hand. "It's the only way."
I wasn't quite sure I believed that, but it seemed I was outnumbered.
"When do we do this?" Killian asked.
"Tomorrow night," Judy said. "At midnight. That'll give us time to get everything ready, and the moon will be full, at maximum light and energy, which will help us hold the spells."
I stared down at Talin, who held my gaze, and I knew she was going to do this with or without me. I wouldn't be able to stop her. "Fine," I conceded. "Tomorrow night."