Chapter 6 Creed #3
“Twenty-seven minutes. Give or take. I may have messed up my count. Please take him.”
A gut-wrenching sob falls from her as she attempts to move, and I lay my hand on her shoulder to stop her.
She takes a moment to catch what little breath she has left, then she raises her baby boy in her arms and nuzzles her cheek against his.
I turn my head to ignore the softly murmured words she whispers to him.
“P-please,” she begs once more on a broken, tender stutter, passing him to me with shaky hands as I face her again.
I would’ve taken the child no matter her request, but it kills me to know that she and whoever may have put it in her mind to pray to me, would think I’d leave a helpless, innocent child behind in a situation like this.
I may bring death, but that doesn’t mean I purposefully, cruelly take life.
Now isn’t the time to explain to her my moral compass or beliefs.
“Does he have a name?”
“Yes. Ezra.”
“You don’t wish to bestow him your last name?”
“No. I don’t want him to grow up being known as the child of traitors. Allow him to take the name of the mother who becomes his.”
Ezra Akova.
A strong name for a strong baby.
His wails ring out, and her tears stream faster down her face. I adjust the little one into the crook of my elbow and bounce him softly as I lay my hand to his mother’s heart.
“What is your dying prayer, Griery?”
“H-him. Only him.”
“He is innocent and won’t come to any harm while he’s in my arms. Pray for yourself.”
A watery smile trembles across her lips as her eyes flutter closed.
“I pray to you, God of Death. Take me as well, please. Allow me the opportunity to beg the Valories for forgiveness so I may watch over my son.”
My eyes soften on her as I wipe the bloody tear streaks from her cheeks.
“I will do that for you.”
“Thank you,” she gasps out on a shuddering breath that’s laced in agony and blood. “Prepare yourself. He has plans for the Valorian Veil.”
My power pours out of me as I latch onto her soul as it splits from her vessel.
I don’t waste any time pondering her words or giving her body a proper burial like I usually would.
I can’t.
Time isn’t on my side right now. I left him behind.
I stand rapidly as my power holds onto the piece of her while my large arms bounce her baby.
The blood trail she left to get to safety leads my way out of the dilapidated building.
I wouldn’t need to follow it, but right now, I feel it’s the only way I can pay respects to what she went through to get here.
Little Ezra’s cries continue to grow louder as my feet maneuver us faster. I can’t think about the fact that not only is this infant missing the connection to his mother, but he’s in pain because his power is attempting to settle.
Thirty-three minutes is all I have to get him to the Gods Veil.
“H-hold on for me, little one. This is going to be uncomfortable and painful. I’m so, so sorry.”
My voice cracks with my emotions that are darkening like the clouds before a destructive storm. My power wraps around us and we starshoot all the way to the Gods Sanctum.
It’s only because he has no power yet that I can do this with him, but it’s a double-edged sword.
Since he has no power, this isn’t natural for him or his body.
It doesn’t feel as smooth and as normal as it does for me.
It’ll hurt, make him dizzy and ill. I’m not sure how a baby twenty-seven—fuck.
Thirty minutes now—will handle it. He may have already had to do this once if his mother had the strength for it.
His cries are stabbing as soon as we appear out of the starshoot and I race down the hall that leads to the Gods Veil. The whispers of the dark souls I’ve destroyed remind me of my failures. They laugh and taunt that I won’t make it.
Listen to his screams. He’s dying.
Might as well consume the little soul now.
I shake my head viciously as I tear through the Goddess of Illusion’s power that’s in place, blocking the entrance. My knees nearly crumble as I enter the room.
In front of the white swirling wall stands not only Ellian but Annalise as well. The sight of her lightens my dread slightly, but it also causes a ball of emotion to form in my throat.
I shouldn’t be surprised she’s here. Although I bring back more adults than I do children, she always shows up, ready to support or step in, but still…
I have to tell her, once again, I brought her another abandoned child to care for.
“Creed, my boy,” she says with worry and tears forming in her eyes as she looks me over, then at the little bundle in my arms. “The mother?”
All I can do is shake my head.
“Ellian,” she commands.
“Right. Here, let me have the little one.”
They both step toward me and I take a step back before forcing my body to stay still. They ease their approach, and I inhale deeply.
“He was born over thirty minutes ago now.”
“We have time, Creed,” Ellian says, holding his hand out for me to pass him the baby.
I spare a glance down at the sweet but twisted face that hasn’t stopped crying. My eyes fall closed as I run my thumb over the wrinkles in his forehead.
Valories, bless this little one, for he is pure innocence. Don’t let his parents’ stain follow him. He doesn’t deserve that.
I pass Ezra to Ellian and he rushes to the Veil, whispering sweet reassurances the whole walk. He kneels on the ground and as his hands pass through the Veil to lay him down, my power untangles its weave from around his mother’s soul.
A deep breath, one strong enough to make my body slump, falls from my lungs as it detaches from me and enters the essence of the realm.
Valories…forgive her as well.
“Creed,” Annalise mumbles.
I blink, but I can’t see. The fog of the Abandon is clouding my sight through my mind.
“His name is Ezra. His mother requested he take the last name of the mother who becomes his.”
She nods in understanding. “I will honor her, and he will be loved. Now you listen to me, okay? You’re going to go straight home, preheat your cooker, and take a shower.
When you get out, you’re going to fix a cup of tea, make a loaf of rosemary bread and some medley soup to go with it.
You remember all the veggies that need to be chopped for it, yes? Of course you do. Repeat that to me.”
“Go home, preheat my cooker, and take a shower. Fix a cup of tea, make rosemary bread and medley soup.”
She goes to reach her hand out to lay on my arm, but at my flinch, she stops herself. “Good. Go do that. We have everything here.”
I turn wordlessly and walk out of the room. My breathing falls faster from my chest the more steps I take and my fists clench tightly at my sides. My head twitches with the sounds of Griery’s labored words and Ezra’s wailing cries that are stuck in my mind.
Before I can hit the main lobby of the Gods Sanctum, I close my eyes and wrap my power around me once again.
When they open, I’m met with the familiarity of my living room and my feet carrying me mindlessly to the kitchen.
Preheat cooker.
Take a shower.
Make tea, rosemary bread, and medley soup.
You could go to Hellveilious instead. Release all this anger on those deserving of it.
No. No, no…
Glass shattering on the floor startles me still. Shaky hands grip my biceps and don’t let me go as I try to rip away.
“Creed, it’s me. Please stop, let me look at you. Are you okay? What happened? Oh, there’s so much blood. Valories…should I get Kyzen?”
Thayla’s panicked voice and soul calls to me from where I’m lost to the dark whispers I’m battling to drown out.
I nearly jump out of my skin when she places her hand on my cheek.
My soul slithers forward, touching hers.
My knees threaten to buckle beneath me with the strength it’s taking to fight it from claiming hers completely.
“Don’t. Don’t touch me, my endling.”
My voice croaks as I remove her hand from me and back away. Her mouth opens and closes repeatedly.
“Creed,” she breathes.
Out of nowhere, Kyzen steps in my line of sight, blocking her from me with his hands out, palms facing me.
“What do you need, brother?”
“Preheat the cooker. Take a shower. Make a cup of tea, rosemary bread, and medley soup.”
“That sounds delicious. Anything else?”
My back hits my door.
“Some space.”
I fall through my threshold, not bothering to catch myself.
The dark, disgusting whispers of the angry souls from Hellveilious, from the ones who scream before I destroyed them, from those I couldn’t save, those I…they all continue to blare in my mind as I crawl to the shower.
It isn’t until I hit the tile and turn the water to scolding hot that I can breathe.
Then scream.
Fuck.
I can never have her.
I can never fully allow this darkness—this death—to devour the only bright ending inside of me.