18. Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Eighteen
Ty
Ty walked beside Xena, both of them trudging through the deep snow.
The sun was setting, but she had assured him they would come to the camp where her people lived—the stryx she had called them—before long.
She seemed to like traveling at night anyway, and Ty had found himself adjusting more to her schedule over the last several weeks as they’d traversed the final few peaks of the Chasm Mountains together.
But now, as the land finally flattened, he looked up at the sky—clear for once, and cast in pinkish blues and purples—to find that there were no more mountains ahead, just smooth rolling hills.
He’d finally reached the other side.
He could barely revel in that achievement, though, because, like always, his thoughts centered on Ena.
Would she be here, at the camp? Had he made the right call by following Xena here, and not going back to look for her and Turner?
His stomach was in knots the entire evening, both in anticipation of seeing her again after all these weeks, and fear that he might not.
Xena had been alright company, he supposed.
She was still surly as fuck, though he was learning that was mostly just her personality.
And she was definitely a bit strange. Aside from the tendency towards nocturnality, she also didn’t really eat very much—at least not as much as Ty would predict for someone her size.
But she did drink a lot—both water and blood.
Ty had figured out pretty quickly on the journey that it was blood that regularly filled one of her waterskins, especially after their first hunt when she’d proceeded to drain all the blood from the rabbits first before butchering them.
He hadn’t asked any questions, though, because she was a damn good hunter.
Even with his venator, Ty had trouble finding game out here.
He didn’t know where to look, or what exactly to look for.
The scents were different, and the places animals hid were unexpected.
But Xena was well-adapted, and they’d been able to catch something almost every day.
She carried a bow and arrow with her—as he did when he led hunts from the Underworld—but hers was different.
Sleeker, more lightweight, and the arrowheads were made of sharpened bone.
So, yeah, she was a fantastic hunter—Ty would give her that—and he respected her for it. But they’d been together for several weeks now, and he didn’t know much about her besides that. She wasn’t a big talker.
That suited Ty just fine most of the time.
It gave him more time to plan for contingencies.
He’d regained his strength and healed fairly quickly after he’d washed up from the river—though he did have a couple permanently blackened fingertips—so he spent his time thinking about what he would do if Ena wasn’t there.
Where he would go to look for her next. Or, if she was there and the stryx were hostile to them, what he would do.
Xena seemed alright—but he was a daemon, and fighting was in his blood.
He was always prepared to physically defend himself and the ones he loved, especially his wife.
But soon enough, he would know—one way or another.
The sun was fully down by the time Xena turned to him and announced their arrival.
“It’s just ahead,” she said without preamble.
And sure enough, through the dark with his venator, he could just make out some humble, snow-covered shelters, most of them with smoke coming out of their tops.
The camp was smaller and way less significant than Ty had imagined—impermanent shelters, with only about a dozen of them dotted throughout the trees. But at this moment, he couldn’t care less about them anyway, as he used his venator immediately to keep an ear and eye out for his people.
Several other stryx were standing around outside the tents—he guessed that’s who they were, because their skin was the same eerie pale shade as Xena’s, only their eyes were different. They were all black as darkrock, unlike Xena’s mismatched ones, which was curious.
Then suddenly—thank fucking Iblis—he heard a voice he recognized.
“I don’t know, but I’d give her some time,” the voice was saying, coming from inside one of the tents closest to him.
“Turner!” Ty called. “Are you in there?”
Turner’s voice stopped suddenly, and Ty heard shuffling as whoever was inside moved to stand, then pushed the flap covering the tent’s entrance violently to the side.
Then the man stood before him in all his glory. The same blue eyes—wide in surprise. The same innocent face, at odds with his bulky form.
“Ty?” he asked, shocked, as if he were looking at a ghost.
“It’s me, brother,” Ty said, smiling at his dumbfounded face. “What, you thought a river would be my end?”
Ty barely got the sentence out before Turner barreled into him, grasping him tightly in a hug that enveloped him whole. Relief surged through him as he held his friend. He really was here, and he seemed alright.
Turner’s voice broke as he spoke. “We—we thought you were dead, you son of a bitch,” he said, grasping him even tighter.
Ty held him back firmly, reassuring him with his embrace that this was real. He was real. “I almost was,” he said solemnly.
After a minute, the two of them reluctantly released one another. Ty wasn’t surprised to find tears in Turner’s eyes. They glistened in the moonlight, and he realized in that moment how dire things must have seemed for them when they couldn’t find him.
“And you? Are you alright?” Ty asked him, tears coming to his eyes in return.
Turner nodded. “Yes,” he said, huffing a small laugh. “Yes, I am now. You have no idea how relieved I am to see you.”
“Same,” Ty responded seriously, grasping his cousin’s shoulder. “And I’m so glad you’re okay. Now, where the fuck is my wife?”
***
Ty all but ran in the direction Turner had indicated—deep into the darkening woods.
He needed to see her—feel her—to know she was alright. She and the baby. Turner had assured him that she was, but something about the hesitant way he’d said it told him something else was going on. Something he didn’t want to tell him yet.
He used his venator to catch her familiar blackberry scent on the wind, and he followed it to a beautiful, crystal-clear stream. Then, he spotted her, and he felt the tension he’d been feeling for weeks melt from his body.
The hood of her cloak was down, and he could see her dark hair braided down her back.
She sat, resting on a downed log by the water.
He couldn’t see her face, but he could tell from her body language that something was wrong.
She was staring at the water as if it was haunting her—deep in thought—and it reminded him of when he’d found her by the River Wry after the unbinding ritual.
When he’d confessed his love for her and told her he would never leave her again.
Guilt surged through him then, because it was another promise he’d broken, even though he hadn’t done it intentionally.
He paused—watching her for a minute like a hunter stalking its prey—wanting to just soak her in.
Her head turned towards him in the dark. She Knew he was nearby, but probably couldn’t see him yet. She didn’t have enhanced eyesight like he did, but she no doubt heard him.
Her face was tired, and filled with worry, so Ty started moving faster, and he could tell the exact moment she spotted him through the darkness.
She gasped, her hand going to her mouth in disbelief, and he froze, not wanting to scare her.
“Is this—is this a hallucination?” she asked, her voice shaking.
“You tell me, viper,” he said as he took a few steps closer.
She stood up, as if unsure whether she should run to him or from him. He covered the last few strides between them quickly, in case she decided to run, and then he reached out, grasping her upper arm in his hand. She was solid—real—warm and his. He nearly sank to his knees at the gift of it all.
“Ty,” she whispered, her voice in disbelief and almost pleading.
“Stop talking,” he said, and he wrapped one arm around her, holding her body flush with his as he placed the other on the back of her head, and kissed her.
He kissed her to erase all the fear and the worry she must have felt.
That he’d felt. To assure them both this was real; they were together once more.
But most of all, he kissed her for love.
Because how wonderful it was to be reunited with the one person in all the world who brought him peace.
To hold her in his arms and know that she was safe.
She tasted of blackberries and lavender and hope, and as their tongues tangled with one another, he felt the wetness of her tears on her cheeks as she clung to him with all her might.
After a minute or two, though part of him never wanted to, he pulled back, holding her face in his hands as he looked into her eyes.
“I’m so sorry, Ena,” he breathed, his voice breaking. “I’m so sorry it took me so long to get back to you.”
Her eyes shone, tears running down her face as she smiled despite them. “Ty,” she sobbed. “I don’t understand. You were dead. I thought you were gone. How are you here?” she asked.
“Shh,” he said, soothing her as he choked back tears himself. “I will tell you everything, I swear. Just let me hold you for a minute, okay?”
She nodded at him, and he pulled her into him once more, their bodies melding like two pieces of metal fused together—making each other stronger.
They stayed like that for a long time, just breathing together, until he could feel Ena sagging in his arms. She must be exhausted. He was exhausted, too, and he had no idea what she’d been through since they’d been ripped apart.
“Do you want to tell me?” he asked quietly. “Whatever’s happened.” He could tell there was something big. He just hoped it wasn’t about her or the baby’s wellbeing, but he feared that was exactly what it was.
“You were dead, that’s what happened,” Ena said, huffing a small laugh into his chest as she gripped him tighter.
“And…something else too.” She pulled back, removing herself from his embrace so she could look up into his face.
Her bright-blue eyes filled with trepidation.
“It’s about me,” she said. “About who…or what, I am.”
“What you are?” he asked, feeling increasingly confused.
She swallowed, as if nervous to explain. “You remember the strange cravings I was having? For your blood?” she asked.
“Of course, I—” Ty froze, some tiny inkling of realization creeping into his head, but he let her keep talking.
“Well, you probably don’t know this yet, but the Omnis worshippers, they’re called the stryx, and they…drink blood to survive,” she explained. “It fuels their magic, which they call the Change. They can turn into other beings on the full moon.”
“I actually did know that, or some of it at least,” he said, feeling a little blindsided by the turning-into-other beings thing.
Was that cause for concern? “One of them found me—it’s how I survived after the river.
She led me here, and I saw her drinking blood, though I did not know about the Change. ”
“Oh,” Ena said, and he could practically see the thousand follow-up questions on her tongue about his journey after the river. “Well, it’s intense to see, to say the least. It scared the shit out of Turner at first, but the stryx have been nothing but welcoming and kind.”
“Are you saying…your cravings are somehow related to these people?” he asked, feeling like an idiot for not making that connection on his own sooner. He’d known Ena was craving blood, and he’d seen Xena drinking it like it was fucking woodwater.
“Not just the cravings. Me. I am related to these people. I’m pretty sure my grandfather was stryx,” she said.
Ty’s eyebrows flew up in shock. “Are you sure?” he asked.
“Pretty sure,” Ena said. “Remember that story I told you? About the Aquilo seer and the men from the other side of the Chasm Mountains? Well, I think it was true, and it was about my grandmother,” she explained.
“Fuck,” Ty said, at a loss for any other helpful words.
“And…there’s more,” she said.
“More?!” he asked. “More than the fact that you are part of this secret third race of magic that drinks blood to survive?”
“Yes,” she said, the corner of her mouth tilting up slightly at his reaction.
“And it has to do with you. Because I am so, so relieved you’re alive, Ty.
” Her voice cracked as she spoke. “Not just because you’re my husband, and I love you, and this last month without you has been pure agony, but also because you’re my bloodmatch. ”
“Bloodmatch?” he asked, feeling like he was just asking one constant question after another at this point.
“Yes,” Ena began. “Apparently, it happens when one person’s being complements another’s; their blood becomes the perfect food for a stryx. Only, once they drink it, they cannot survive without it.”
“How do you know I’m your bloodmatch? When did you drink my blood?” Ty asked, all of this almost overwhelming, and yet, at the same time, relieving, because it explained a lot.
“During the unbinding ritual,” Ena explained.
“I accidentally got some of your blood in my mouth and well, that’s what triggered my bloodlust. And it’s only gotten worse since you left.
I thought…” Ena collapsed in his arms again then, hanging her head as she spoke into his chest. “I thought I was going insane without you, Ty. I have been going insane without you. The bloodlust…it’s been changing me.
And I thought I was…I was getting ready to die. ”
Ty didn’t even know where to begin with any of this, but his heart broke at hearing how upset she was. Hearing her even contemplate death made him so unimaginably angry, he knew he’d do whatever was in his power to fix this.
“So you need to drink my blood?” he asked cautiously. “And then you’ll feel better?”
She didn’t say a word, just nodded silently against his chest, and that was enough for him.
“Then let’s go,” he said. “It’s cold out here, but we’ll go back to one of the shelters, whichever one you’ve been using, and you can do it there,” he said.
“Ty—” she began, her voice sounding unsure as she lifted her head to look at him, her eyes filled with guilt, but he grabbed her chin and stopped her, tilting her face up so she could see his fully.
“Ena, you don’t need to say another word. If you need this, it’s yours. My blood, my heart, my life is yours. Always has been, always will be.”
She stared up at him with a love that he didn’t truly deserve, not after everything he’d put her through. But he would take it, nonetheless, because he was a greedy son of a bitch when it came to her.
“Let’s go,” he said, and without another word, he led his wife back towards camp so he could take care of her.