46. Adam
Adam
My lungs suddenly fill with air and I’m gasping, my throat dry and my heart pounding like a bass drum in my chest.
My vision is hazy and I’m sputtering, trying to get more air.
“It’s alright, you’re okay,” someone says. I can feel a hand on my chest. “Just breathe. Is the Slayer back with you?”
I can’t even think. Nothing makes sense, and I’m panicking as I reach for the person in front of me.
Strong hands grasp my arms, holding me against the ground, and I’m pretty sure I’m dying.
“Adam. It’s okay, you’re alright. I’m going to cast a breathe easy spell, okay?”
“What. The. Fuck?” I’m able to hiss out as I feel a wave of air crest through me. My heart rate returns back to normal and my vision becomes clearer.
The Alpha shifter married to one of Iris’ best friends is holding me down as Violet presses her wand to my chest.
“Are you stable now?” Silas asks, and I give him a quick nod, just resting on the ground, letting myself get recalibrated with my own body.
I rest a hand over my chest, and everything slowly comes back to me. Violet stopping my heart, the Slayer’s soul ripping out of mine like a massive fissure, and then waking back up.
“Did it work?” I rasp out, and Silas furrows his brows as he looks over at his witchy wife.
Marriage was never anything I considered before, but looking at them now, I hope with every fiber of my being that the Slayer was able to get the message across to Iris and that she’s safe.
Given the chance to see her again, I’d make her my wife in a second, spending the rest of my life doing my damndest to make sure she felt safe and taken care of.
“You…you can’t sense the Slayer?” Violet asks, her face paling.
I pull the neck of my shirt down, glancing at my chest, and I see that the slayer marks are still there. My mind is still weak, but I search for his presence. I never thought I’d want him with me right now, but I’d do just about anything to get him back.
It’s faint, almost like a whisper, but his essence is there.
“Slayer?” I ask him.
No response, but there’s definitely an entity inside me. It reminds me of when he shut down after his first altercation with that slayer in the alleyway, but this isn’t on purpose. He’s weakened.
“He’s there, but traveling to the void must have seriously weakened him.”
“I’m going to give you a few more healing potions. Maybe your strength will help the Slayer gain his. We need to know if it worked before we do anything else. Iris brewed these,” she says softly as she hands me the small potion bottles.
I think about watching second hand as she moved around her laboratory, and how much she loved brewing, creating, and being an important member of her coven. She loathed having visions, but potions were her outlet.
It takes a moment, but the potions flood my system, and my strength is steadily being replenished. After a few moments, I realize there are a few vampires around us, too.
The Slayer doesn’t hardly stir.
“So, this is the big bad slayer?” a woman with inky black hair asks, looking unimpressed.
“Do not needle him, Samantha,” a man in a bespoke suit says next to her.
“I’m just saying he doesn’t look like he was worth all the drama.”
“Samantha,” Ember chastises, but there’s no heat to it.
“Fine. Fine. So we’re just what? Going to sit out in this nasty little outcrop all night?” Samantha complains.
Ember blows a pink piece of hair out of her face.
“I mean seriously, you’d think a vampire slayer would be more intimidating. I mean, sure, he’s tall, but he doesn’t even have the drive of a slayer,” Samantha says.
“You’re right. I ripped his throat out pretty good that one time. His aim with the stake was subpar,” Warin says.
The teasing stirs the Slayer up and I have to contain my amusement over the vampires deciding that the way to wake him up was to pick on him, because it’s absolutely working.
“What does a slayer taste like? Worse than that one guy who only drank Monster and did coke?” Samantha asks Warin.
“Worse. Completely foul creature, to be honest. I was spitting out his blood as soon as I sunk my teeth into his no good, dirty, worthless—”
He doesn’t get another word out as the Slayer takes over in full force, moving at super speed as he grabs Warin by the throat.
The vampire grins at him, achieving what he wanted all along.
“You’re lucky my Iris said not to kill you,” he seethes, tossing the vampire as far away from us as possible.
Warin has a sly grin on his face as he dusts himself off as if we’re disgusting and he needs to wipe off our germs. What a fucking prick. Maybe I don’t like this vampire either.
“I was able to relay the spell to Iris. I’m not sure if she understood as I had little time. I need to rest now,” the Slayer says it all quickly before retreating and giving me control again.
I’m shocked at the relief of him being present again, even if he’s in some sort of slumber state.
The witches reconvene, gathering and talking in hushed whispers, and I stand there with my arms crossed, feeling like the weakest link in all of this. I still have the Slayer’s strength, so it’s not like I’m some completely useless human, still, I can’t help but wish I could do more.
I don’t know the first place to look for Iris, or what to even do if I find her.
Something rubs against my leg, and I glance down to see that it’s Scarlett. Ember must have brought her and her familiar, which appears to be a fat raccoon eating Pringles in a lawn chair.
“I can sense her. She’s here, she’s awake.”
“Shouldn’t we tell the witches?”
“We need them to preserve their strength. They can’t teleport as far as you can. I know exactly where we need to go,” she says as she digs her claws into my pants leg.
I pick her up, cradling her in my arms. Her tongue swipes out, licking my forearm for a moment.
“I’ve never teleported. The Slayer always does it.”
She bites the same flesh she just nipped. “Don’t be dense, it’s unattractive. You two are one. Not only do you share the same body, but the same abilities. Just focus on where we need to go and get us there.”
“And where exactly is it we need to go?”
“Well…that’s the funny thing.”
She tells me where to go, and I can picture it like the back of my hand. The last place I’d ever want to be, somewhere I never thought I’d ever step foot in again.
I focus, using the Slayer’s abilities and teleport us to my childhood home.
“This place is absolutely fucking disgusting. Do not dare put me on the ground,” Scarlett complains as we manifest right in front of the dilapidated house.
“You’re sure she’s here?”
“She’s my mistress. I know where she is at all times. Well, unless her soul isn’t on Earth. She’s definitely here.”
This time when I approach the creaky, run-down steps, there isn’t fear, just unadulterated rage. Not only did they sacrifice me to the Slayer, but now they’ve taken the woman I love?
I pause on that thought for a moment, but I know the words are right.
I love Iris, and the moment we’re out of this I’m going to spend every moment proving it to her.
With a hefty kick, I slam open the door, but to my shock, no one is inside, and half of their shit is gone. I laugh sardonically.
They sacrificed me for good fortune and it seems like they got it, but I know no amount of money or better standing in life will be good enough for them.
My family is miserable to the core, and they aren’t my family anymore.
Apparently my new family is a slew of paranormal beings and I’m better off for it.
With heavy footsteps, I rush to the bedroom. When I open the door, the same old bed sits in the middle of the room, but it isn’t vacant.
Iris lies on top of it, looking like she’s fast asleep.
“Grab her and let’s go,” Scarlett says quickly, and I do as she says, scooping Iris in my arms, not even hesitating for a second.
She whimpers in my arms, but I don’t even look down at her. I need to focus as I teleport us back to Violet’s yard.
The moment my feet are on soft grass, I finally look down at the witch in my arms. Tears are in her eyes as she wraps her arms around my neck and squeezes me for dear life.
“You saved me. You both saved me,” she says as I hold her tighter than I should.
If I could attach her to me forever to keep her safe, I would.
“Are you okay? Did she hurt you?” I ask, not ready to have her pull back, but as she does, she cups my cheek affectionately.
“I’m alright. Is the Slayer?” she asks, the tears she was trying not to shed fall down her cheeks.
“Why don’t you find out for yourself?” I say, and the Slayer slowly takes control.
The moment he does, Iris is squeezing us again, and it’s the first time that I really feel like we can do this. Me and the Slayer can work together.
Anything for Iris.
“You came to the fucking void!” she screams in his face, but he doesn’t even care, neither of us do as we lean down and kiss her perfect, plush mouth.
“And I’d do it again. I am safe, we are together, that’s all that matters,” the Slayer tells her, and I know it pains him but he immediately retreats, giving me back control.
She cups both sides of my face and stares at me. “I thought…”
“I know, baby, I got you.”
I squeeze Scarlett between us and she doesn’t even complain as I hold them both, but it isn’t long before the whole coven is bustling in our direction. Iris’ grandmother and best friends reach her first.
“Thank the goddess,” her grandmother says.
Ever so slowly, I let her out of my arms; she slides down my body as her feet hit the ground. She hugs her coven members, but I’m not far away. I’ll never be again.
I’m keeping her glued to our side from here on out.
There’s a lot of chatter and I wonder what we do next? Do we stay in Iris’ apartment for the rest of our lives? Are her wards strong enough to hold up against a witch like Celeste?
My eyes don’t leave Iris while she assures everyone that she’s okay, but I see it in the way she holds herself. My girl’s not okay, and neither am I. What we went through was so monumentally fucked-up and traumatizing, which I think we’ve both had more than enough of in our life.
“What do we do now?” Iris asks her coven.
It’s her grandmother that answers with a sharp, scary tone.
“We kill the bitch.”