Chapter 28
Chapter
Twenty-Eight
“One of these days, we’re going to have a really boring night and then we’ll be saying, hey, remember that night we almost got blown up? That was a wild time.” I pull the towel from my head and shake out my hair.
“Things have been rather exciting since you joined the family.” Xavier stands behind me, hands landing on my hips.
I just got out of the shower and am in the bathroom, dressed in only a robe.
It’s nearly four in the morning and I’m exhausted.
I have pulled many all-nighters, but I don’t know if I’ll ever fully adjust to vampire hours.
I hang up my towel and spin around in his arms.
“Are you all right?” he asks gently.
“I’m fine, really. You took the brunt of everything when that bomb went off.” I shake my head and put a hand on his chest. “It could have killed you.”
“I knew what I was doing.”
“Did you?” I question. “It was risky.”
He cocks an eyebrow. “Says the woman who never takes chances.”
“Hah. Okay, fair. But…man, what a night.”
“I’m going to ask again, Wren. Are you okay?
What you saw tonight…the carnage…that sort of thing can haunt humans.
” He almost has a question in his voice, not sure if it’s true because it doesn’t haunt him.
He has maimed and murdered thousands over the course of his seven-hundred-year-long afterlife.
He’s lived through wars and attacks and has seen the worst humanity has to offer.
“I might have some nightmares,” I admit. “But I can compartmentalize like the best of them.”
“You can talk to me too, you know.”
I slide my hands up his chest and hook them around his shoulders. His blue eyes stare intensely into mine. “I know.” Letting my eyes fall shut, I rest my head against him. Despite the shit storm around us, I feel safe with him.
Because with Xavier, it’s not just pretty words and a fake future. He means what he says and says what he means. Only hours ago, I heard Ryder say everything I thought I needed to hear in order to be okay.
I’ve always fucking hated when people drop the things happen for a reason line or tell you that one day, you’ll look back and be glad for all your unanswered prayers.
It seemed like a cop-out, something happy people can tell those who are struggling because they don’t know what it’s like to feel the absolute crushing devastation of heartbreak.
But they’re right.
If things went the way I wanted them to, if Ryder said exactly what he said to me months ago, I would have fallen for it.
My heart would have exploded and I would have tricked myself into thinking it was everything I wanted.
I would have made myself small to fit into a world where I wasn’t fully welcome.
Slowly, I would have suffocated to death.
Wren, as I knew her, would be dead and gone and by the time I realized it, I don’t know if she could come back.
“What are you going to do about the coalition?” I ask softly.
“I will handle that,” he tells me, and I just nod. The thought of someone betraying the Malus vampires is scary—for them. But it is for us too because it means someone has it out for Xavier.
For his role. His power. His position in society.
“Okay,” I say and he picks me up, placing me on the edge of the sink. He kisses me and parts my legs, dropping down to his knees. I spread the robe open, giving him access, and rest back on my elbows as he kisses his way down, tongue lashing against me.
Putting one hand on his head, I slit my eyes open and watch as he eats me out, not stopping until I’m squirming against his face, writhing in pleasure from the intense orgasm he gave me. As pleasure still pulses through me, he carries me to the bed and takes off his pants.
I pull his shirt over my head as he moves over top of me, kissing me so I can taste myself on his lips. Curling my legs around him, I buck my hips as he pushes inside, fucking me hard. I come again, gripping tightly to him as he pushes in balls deep, finishing as well.
Heart still racing, I curl up next to him. He kisses the top of my head and my body relaxes. Things are so different with him, and I mean besides the obvious. The last time I felt happy in a relationship, it wasn’t because I liked how things were. I liked where they were headed.
And the future Ryder and I mapped out never was going to happen.
I’m not worried about next year with Xavier.
I have no idea what life will be like for us down the road, and I don’t need to have a five-year plan anymore.
Right now, he’s here, showing up for me in ways no one ever has before.
The consistency of his care and affection isn’t something I’m used to, and if it weren’t for the very real danger around us, I’d probably be making up scenarios in my head about how everything is going to crash and burn.
The world may burn, but it won’t be because of anything Xavier Malus did to me.
Wiping sweat from my brow, I gather up my notes and come inside. It’s in the middle of the afternoon, and I’ve spent the last few hours outside in the sun tweaking a vanquishing potion to use against whatever demon we might come up against.
Xavier, Theo, and Zeke all left this morning in a vampire-safe car and are meeting with the Vampire Council to discuss last night’s attack.
I checked the news several times already today.
A spokesperson from The Church of the New Dawn is claiming they had nothing to do with this, and a real Sunburst bomb wouldn’t harm humans.
I’m no rocket scientist, but even I know that’s bullshit.
You can’t send a blast of radiation out there and expect it to do nothing to those literally in the same freaking room.
According to the spokesperson, the Sunburst used last night was “homemade” which would actually be really impressive if it was done in someone’s basement without fancy equipment.
No one on social media is buying it, and a lot of humans are calling to shut down the church.
They shouldn’t have to fear being killed by humans like that.
Xavier is speaking again, and I’ve already declined to comment.
And by that, I mean someone from the VC is acting as my PR agent.
I can stand next to Xavier and keep my cool, but actually talking to someone on the news would be a totally different story, and I’m guessing a reason why Theo doesn’t give interviews.
He has the same learned control as Xavier when it comes to resisting blood lust, but the guy is moody and impulsive. I don’t think he’d know good bedside manner if it bit him in the ass, and even when he’s not talking, it’s as if his face is giving subtitles of his inner thoughts.
After the VC meeting, Xavier and Theo are meeting with the coalition. Only the leaders of each prospective group are going, which means I’m staying home—which is fine by me. I overheard Theo talking to Xavier about doing some sort of internal surveillance to try and snuff out the mole.
“Hey,” Mabel calls from inside the dining room when I enter the house, coming in the side door off the breakfast area. “Must be hot out.”
“Oh, uh, yeah,” I say, realizing how sweaty I actually am. “The sun is brutal.” I wince right after I say it, knowing she misses feeling the sun on her face. “It’s pretty awful, actually.”
“Hah, sure it is.”
I go into the kitchen and set all my stuff down. Mabel zooms in, inhaling so she can smell the sunlight in my hair. If it were anyone else, it’d be creepy. But Mabel gets a free pass.
“Are you making a potion?”
“I’m going to try something new.”
“Can I help?”
“Sure,” I tell her. “A lot of this is just crushing up herbs. I’ll add them with the intention.”
She beams. “I’ve always wanted to make a potion.”
We get out a large simmer pot and jars of herbs. I write down the spell on a piece of paper, fold it three times away from me, and drop it inside the pot.
“Ignis,” I whisper, and the paper lights on fire.
“Wow,” Mabel says quietly, looking over my shoulder. “Now what?”
“Those ashes are the base of the potion. There’s a list of herbs we need to add in a certain order all while charging them as they go into the potion. We get to work, and having someone help with the prep makes it a breeze.
“This is a lot like making soup,” Mabel notes, putting her hands on her hips. “Wouldn’t it be funny to have a soup or potion challenge? Make people taste them and guess.”
I laugh. “It really is just the same as making soup. And depending on the potion, it could be hilarious. I’ve never made a truth potion, but can you imagine people saying exactly what they think?”
“Wouldn’t life be easier that way?”
“You’d think so.”
We add a few more ingredients to the pot and I hold my hands over it, concentrating on the intention. “Vis, surge. Incantationem meam ale,” I chant. “Vis, surge. Incantationem meam ale. Vis, surge. Incantationem meam ale.”
“Crazy how just a few words work, right?” Devon appears in the kitchen, standing apprehensively to the side. He’s dressed in dark jeans and a black t-shirt, looking like his normal self once again.
I remind myself not to be fooled.
“Magic can seem so simple yet so complicated at the same time.” I lower my hands, and turn down the burner. I stir the potion thirteen times clockwise, repeat the incantation three more times, and then stir it counter clockwise.
“It’s done,” I say and turn the burner off.
“That’s it?” Mabel asks.
“Yeah. We can strain it and put it in the vials once it’s cool,” I tell her, motioning to the little glass vials I have on the counter next to my book.
“How does it work?”
“If a demon is inside a body, typically you get the potion inside. Usually by pouring it into their mouth. I guess it works like a supernatural antidote and the demon either leaves or dies if we’re lucky.”
“Have you ever not been lucky?” Mabel asks, making a face.
“Oh yeah, and then you gotta think on your feet pretty fast to figure out what to do. And pouring a potion inside someone’s mouth is easier said than done.”
Devon chuckles. “You just said you have to get it inside the body.”
Turning to look at him, I laugh too. “True, but the alternative isn’t any better. Or easier.”
His face lights up with a smile, and it’s like the old Devon is back. He picks up a potion bottle, seemingly ready to make another joke, but then goes sullen.
“Devon?” I ask.
“I remembered something.” Devon rolls the potion vial between his hand, tipping his head to the side. “From the night I died.”
I put the spoon down and turn, eyes latched to his as I sharply inhaled. “About what you found out and were coming to tell me?”
“Yes,” he says, head slowly bobbing up and down.
“Well, spill,” Mabel presses. “What do you remember?”
“I can’t place it directly,” he starts, closing his eyes to try and help remember. “I hear a voice, and something about a seal.”
“Like one you see in the ocean?” Mabel asks.
“No,” Devon and I say at the same time. He holds my gaze, a line of worry forming between his brows, knowing I understand exactly what kind of seal he’s talking about. “They said something about a seal needing to be broken.”