by Cheree Alsop
I wouldn’t call my landing graceful. It was more of a rolling disastrous collapse in my effort to keep from clobbering my leg. The pain upon impact was so excruciating I had to gasp to catch my breath. Relief filled me when I looked up to see that the warlocks were so focused on their battle that neither had noticed my landing.
I had to get into Clay’s head. That was the only way to keep him from destroying Virgo. But he had stopped a dart from the gun with a mere wave of his hand. I couldn’t attack him directly. I had to create a distraction.
The forms behind the archway barrier writhed and fought to get free. It gave me an idea.
“Take this,” I said.
I hefted a piece of scrap metal from the crate and threw it at the door. It rebounded off with a heavy crack. Clay shot me a wild-eyed look.
“Are you insane?” he demanded.
“Maybe,” I replied.
I grabbed another piece and threw it. This time it hit with a static sound. The demons on the other side surged forward.
“Stop!” Clay shouted. “If you let them out without me binding them to me as their master, they’ll listen to no one!”
I grabbed another huge chunk of metal. “Better than them listening to you!” I shouted back.
I was about to throw the piece when Clay turned both hands to me and shot me with his lighting. I slammed against the side of the doorway and fell to the ground writhing in pain.
But the momentary lapse was all Virgo needed. He dropped his shield and threw all of his energy at Clay. The warlock’s eyes widened when he realized what he had done. He let out a strangled yell as the magic coursed through him. His back arched, his hands and legs locked, and then the most amazing thing happened. Virgo shoved him through the demon barrier.
The reach of Virgo’s magic cut off the moment Clay passed the divide. He fell to the ground on his hands and knees and drew in a breath. Virgo and I watched in speechless silence. When the warlock looked up and realized where he was, terror washed over his face.
“No!” he shouted.
He leaped to his feet and pounded on the barrier, but it wouldn’t let him through.
“Help me!” he pleaded. “Please, son. Don’t leave me here!”
Virgo walked to the doorway. He regarded his father’s furious pounding with a quiet, majestic silence.
When he finally spoke, I saw the warlock Virgo would become in his visage.
“You may have been my father once, but you’re a different man now. I’ll remember you the way you were.”
“No!” Clay screamed.
Another form appeared out of the darkness on the other side. I watched with my breath caught in my chest as Virgo’s mother stepped from the shadows.
“Mom?” Virgo’s voice cracked with the word.
She gave him a soft, motherly smile before turning her gaze to Clay.
The warlock shrank from the anger on her face. He held up his hands as if to shield himself from her.
Rosalinda Stein spoke a word too quiet for us to hear. The demons who had kept a respectful distance when she appeared rushed forward. Clay screamed and tried to break through the barrier again. The demons engulfed him, cutting off his yell. When they drew back, there was no sign of the warlock. The demons vanished with him into the darkness.
Rosalinda turned back to Virgo. “I’m so proud of you,” she said. Her voice echoed strangely from the other side of the barrier and her eyes shone with tears she didn’t let fall. The woman’s red hair still stuck out in every direction and the bright colors she had worn when she died hadn’t faded, but there was an elegance to the way she held herself as she looked up at her son with all the motherly pride a woman could have. Tears rolled down Virgo’s face and I felt the same on my cheeks.
“I miss you,” Virgo told her.
She nodded. “I miss you, too.”
Virgo glanced at me. A strange expression crossed his face and he turned back to his mother.
“Give me your hand,” he told her.
“I can’t,” she replied with sorrow in her voice.
Virgo whispered several words and slid his hand forward.
My breath caught in my throat when his fingers passed the barrier.
Virgo’s mother looked as shocked as I felt. With shaking fingers, she put her hand in Virgo’s.
The warlock took a step back, drawing his mother with him as he did so. There was a crackle of energy, then Mrs. Stein was on our side of the doorway.
“Oh, Virgo!” she said; her tears broke free.
Virgo threw his arms around his mother and held her tight. The warlock sobbed unashamedly, and I did as well.
Rosalinda looked up from her son and met my gaze.
“Zev, you kept your word,” she said, her voice soft and broken.
I nodded, but couldn’t speak past the lump in my throat.
Virgo and Rosalinda helped me carefully to my feet. When I was standing, we all hugged. It wasn’t something I did well or ever, but it felt right to be there, celebrating the lives that had been saved.
A scream tore through the air, shattering the calm.
Chapter Thirteen
“Zev!” Ten shouted.
I looked over to see shades swarming Ten’s team and the broken barrier around Fray. It looked as though any control Clay had over them was gone. They reached with hands curled to maim and teeth gnashing to tear the humans and dhampir apart.
“What can we do?” Mrs. Stein asked.
“I don’t know,” her son replied.
“Stop!” I yelled.
The shades slowed, but didn’t respond as quickly as before.
I pushed gently away from the mother and son and limped forward to the end of the shipping containers.
“Back away,” I ordered and thought at the same time.
The demons stopped advancing on the others, but it was clear by their shifting feet and mangled muttering that they weren’t happy about it.
I lowered myself carefully to the ground. My leg gave out despite the brace and I rolled. The pain stole my breath that was coming in wheezing gulps through my damaged lungs. By the time I pushed myself up, the demons were advancing again.
“Enough,” I growled. I sent the thought with such force that all of the demons stopped in their actions this time.
I used the crate to pull back up to my feet. The sight of the hordes between Fray and I was intimidating, but I couldn’t let the shades feel my hesitation.
I gritted my teeth and limped forward. Each step hurt, but I refused to let the pain show on my face. I kept my eyes locked firmly on the wooden pole where I knew Fray was chained. I couldn’t see her through the mass; I could only hope she was still alive.
The shades moved reluctantly to the sides as I passed. Teeth gnashed in my ears and hands reached for me, but none of them dared to touch me.
The whisper of the moonlight above threatened to be my undoing. I was weak from the pain and from Clay’s electrocution. My body needed to phase. I had never withstood the light of the full moon before. My body shook with the want to bend to its will. I felt on the verge of a breakdown.
“Don’t go down,” I said over and over again in my head. “Don’t break. Now is not the time.”
I reached Fray. The dhampir watched me with tears of pain in her gray eyes. Bite marks and scratches showed on her arms where the shades had attacked her. Her clothes were torn and her wrists were raw where she had fought to free herself from the chains.
I reached up and channeled my strength. With a yell, I snapped the chains. Fray’s legs gave out. I caught her before she could hit the ground.
“I’ve got you,” I whispered in her ear.
Her arms circled around my neck and she clung to me. I could feel her body shaking. But when she pulled back to look at me, there wasn’t fear in her eyes. The moment she met my gaze, there was something else I didn’t recognize. It held me frozen to the ground as a thousand uncertain thoughts raced through my head.
�
��What is it?” I made myself ask.
“I’m falling in love with you,” she replied in a whisper.
She closed her eyes and rested her head against my neck. She held onto me as if she would never let me go.
I wanted the world to go away. I wanted to stand there with her in my arms for an eternity. I heard her words whisper over and over in my mind; I felt just how much she clung to me and I wanted it to last forever.
But the world couldn’t wait.
I looked up at Virgo. “I’m going to send the shades to you. Separate them from the humans and send them through the barrier back to where they belong.”
Virgo shook his head. “I don’t know how to separate them.”
“I’ll show you,” Mrs. Stein said.
It took a few strong words of encouragement, but the shades finally listened. Ten’s team reached us and formed a protective wall around Fray and I as the human hosts climbed up the side of the shipping crates and reached the witch and warlock. Mother and son worked together to separate the shades. At another word from Virgo, they vanished through the barrier. The other teams from the Division arrived to help debrief the disoriented humans and see that they returned safely home.
Holding Fray there in my arms as I watched sanity return to the world felt like the longest, most satisfying moments of my life. My body hurt in ways I hadn’t known it could, the moonlight refused to cease its demands, and I could barely breathe, but Fray was safe, Virgo and Rosalinda Stein were alive, and Clay was finally gone for good. It was enough.
By the time the truck carried us back, my body wouldn’t stop shaking. When we reached the Division, Virgo carried Fray while Serian and Riot helped me out of the truck. The pain of putting any weight on my leg even with the brace was too much. In the end, much to my dismay, they ended up carrying me.
Ten waited with his team by the doors in full salute. I reached out a hand in gratitude and he took it.
“Thank you,” I told him.
“It was a pleasure, Sir,” he replied before pulling open the door for us.
When we reached the medical ward, the nurse Carrigan led Virgo to another area with Fray. I wanted to go with them, but nobody would listen to me.
“Put him right here,” a doctor with thinning blond hair and a goatee directed. He met my gaze. “Zev, we should have kept you in a chemically induced coma. You’ll probably lose that leg.”
“If you had, this world would no longer exist,” Rosalinda said in a stern voice.
Dr. Fi stared at her. “Who are you?”
“One of his mothers,” she replied. “And you owe him your gratitude.”
I curled inward on the bed as my body began to convulse.
“What’s happening?” Riot demanded.
“His body is going into shock,” Dr. Fi replied. “Werewolves need to phase on the full moon. I don’t know how he’s fought it for this long in his condition.”
Another nurse appeared with a syringe of something I couldn’t identify. She gave it to the doctor. I bit my tongue as the convulsions got stronger.
“This will help you sleep,” the doctor told me. “Take a deep breath.”
I wanted to stay awake and make sure Fray was alright, but I couldn’t unlock my jaw long enough to argue.
The prick of the needle and the ensuing spread of cold up my arm and through my chest made me relax. The easing of the tension from my muscles brought with it a lethargy I couldn’t fight. I closed my eyes and let sleep take over. A sigh of gratitude escaped me as the pain faded to the background.
When I opened my eyes again, I was alone. The quiet beeping of the monitor near my head was reassuring in its steady drone. A thought made my heartbeat spike. I reached down with both hands, groping for my leg.
The reassuring feeling of the brace beneath my fingers made me fall back with a breath of relief. Despite his threats, the doctor hadn’t taken it. When I pushed up to a full sitting position, the answering pain made me wish that maybe he would have.
A wry smile touched my lips. I turned and eased my leg to the ground. The déjà vu of doing the same thing in the same bed struck me. In between that moment and this, I had actually saved the world.
I shook my head. I hadn’t been alone. I couldn’t have done it without Virgo, Rosalinda, my team, and Ten’s team. The realization of how close we had come to losing was a sobering one.
I grabbed the cane someone had returned to my bedside. I wondered how mad Carrigan had been when she found out I had abandoned it. I was also touched by the fact that it had been brought back. I wondered who had thought to grab it from the base of the ladder where I had dropped it before climbing up.
All other thoughts fell away as I followed Fray’s scent down the hall. I passed several closed doors with the same beeping monitors inside. Most of the scents were unfamiliar except for Sutter’s. I hoped the human was recovering from his injuries. Kai’s updates had been promising and I felt a pang of responsibility for his condition, but seeing Sutter wasn’t what kept me on my feet.
I limped on down the hallway to the door at the very end. I put a hand to the latch and paused. Would she even be glad to see me?
Her words spiraled through my mind.
“I’m falling in love with you.”
Had the bites from the shades made her delusional? Clay had mentioned hallucinations as part of the result. Maybe her words had been meant for another. Could I handle finding out the truth in my current condition?
My need to phase had eased, telling me that we were at least a night or two past the full moon. I didn’t know how long I had slept, and there was no one to ask, at least no one I wanted to seek out at that moment.
Everything had collided up to that point. Even the beeping of the monitor beyond the door sounded faint as though it was caught in the moment like my heart.
I could turn away. I didn’t have to open the door. It would be easier not to know. I could leave; that had been part of the Captain’s promise if I stopped Clay. The werewolves were safe; I had protected my team and kept my word. Nothing kept me at the Division now. Nothing except…
I pushed the latch down. The door swung silently inward. The scents of antiseptic and lemon met my nose. I took a step inside.
I hadn’t made a sound; I was sure of it. Yet Fray’s head turned and her eyes opened. A weak smile touched her lips and my heart sang.
“Hi,” she whispered weakly.
“Hi,” I replied, my voice raspy and dry.
I didn’t know what to do or say. I stood there stupidly staring at her, my mind racing without a destination. I felt as blank as a piece of paper sitting on a table awaiting a masterpiece, but only crayons were present.
Fray gave a little laugh. “Come sit down before you fall over.”
Her voice freed me. I limped gingerly to the chair by her side and lowered into it.
“I look that bad, huh?” I asked with a wry smile.
She tried to sit up, winced, and lowered herself back down. “As bad as I feel.”
Her face was pale and her brows pulled together with the pain. Her arms had been wrapped. I could smell the ointment they had put on the demon bites. A sheen of sweat showed on her skin and her breath came in tight gasps. I didn’t know what a dhampir’s regular heartbeat should sound like, but it seemed to me that the monitor’s beeps were slower than they were supposed to be.
Clay’s words echoed in my mind. “It’s a war she’ll lose, Zev, because there is no cure for a dhampir bitten by a shade.”
“Are you alright?” I asked. It was a dumb question, but I couldn’t think of anything else to say.
She nodded, but then her head shook. “I don’t think so,” she admitted. “I don’t feel right.”
“They’re doing everything they can,” I reassured her. “I’m sure you’ll be feeling fantastic in no time.”
Silence fell between us. I wanted to ask her about what she had said, but the right words wouldn’t come to me; so I listened to the slow beeping
and wished I was better at making small talk.
“I’ve never seen anything like that.”
I glanced back at Fray. Her gaze was on me, but it was clear she was thinking about something besides the present. I was just happy to hear her talk, so I asked, “Like what?”
“Like you,” she replied. “You commanded those shades to stop and they did. When they were attacking me, I couldn’t see through my tears; I couldn’t free myself. I thought I was going to be eaten alive.” She closed her eyes. “It was terrifying. I’ve never been so frightened in my life.”
She opened her eyes again and looked at me. “I heard you shout. I couldn’t see you, but I saw the shades pause and I recognized your voice. Then they parted and there you were.”
A slight hint of wry humor creased her brow.
“Broken,” I supplied.
A small chuckle escaped her and she winced. “Upright,” she replied. “A wreck, maybe, but a heroic one.” Her voice lowered to a whisper and she said, “When you carried me, I’ve never felt so safe surrounded by so much danger.”
“I would never let them hurt you,” I replied. “I’m so sorry you were bitten. I should have acted quicker.”
She shook her head. “I heard the warlock. You had to choose, and you made the right choice.”
My head hung. “Why are the choices always so hard?” I looked back at her. “You shouldn’t have to pay for his actions or mine.”
“I doubted you,” she said.
A single tear slid down her cheek.
My hand moved of its own accord. I watched my thumb gently caress her skin as I wiped the tear away.
“I deserved it,” I told her. “You were protecting the team.”
She shook her head and lowered her gaze. “I was protecting my heart.”
I couldn’t help staring. “Your heart?”
She closed her eyes tiredly. “There’s something in you that completes me, Zev. My life is full of holes. I’m a monster, a bloodsucker with no family and a demon-slaying team for friends. And here you come, a damaged werewolf whose loneliness shines through your eyes.” Her voice was so quiet I had to lean forward to hear it. “Something in your soul draws mine like a magnet. I tried to fight it. I tried to pretend you were the enemy so I wouldn’t lose myself to something that wasn’t real.” She paused and I thought she had fallen asleep until she said, “Love isn’t real.”
