by Amy Sumida
“He was a phoenix?” The killer whispered. “That explains the burning thing.”
“Yeah. And the ashes,” Cerberus said pointedly.
“You're not so bright, are you?” I sighed deeply. “What did you do with the ashes? The Phoenix burned up and turned into ash, but there isn't any ash at the site. So, you must have taken it.”
“Yeah. Yeah.” He nodded with jerks of his head. “I was paid to kill the guy, wait for him to burn—which, honestly, I thought was a joke—and then collect his ashes. Fuck; he went up like a fucking Roman candle. Straight up; a funnel of flames! It was...” He saw our glares and cleared his throat. “I brushed the ashes into the canister they sent me and then mailed it off to a PO box.”
“You mailed the ashes?” I gaped at him.
“Yeah.” He shrugged as if mailing remains was an everyday occurrence for him. “Those were the instructions I received.”
“From who?” Darc moved forward.
The man blinked up at Darc and then around at the other men closing in. Yeah, my men can be scary, but he should have been worried about Shava; she was the biggest threat to his wellbeing.
“I don't know,” he stammered. “It's all done through a third party. I receive an email, I accept the job, I get a percentage wired to my account as a down payment, I do the job, and they wire the rest.”
“What address did you send the ashes to?” I asked.
“I don't fucking remember!” he shouted. “Fuck! I do a job and then I delete all evidence. That's SOP, lady.”
“Who is the third party who brokered the killing?” Cerberus snarled.
A wet spot appeared on the crotch of the man's jeans.
Cer wrinkled his nose and made a face. “Dude, get a hold of yourself; it's just a question.”
“It's an agency; all dark web shit,” he whispered. “I don't know who they are either; it's best not to know who you're dealing with in my line of work.”
“Where's your computer?” Cerberus demanded.
“There!” He pointed at the couch.
Cer walked over and scooped up the laptop. “Password,” he demanded.
“It's...” the man cleared his throat. “It's uh, SexyKiller; capital S, capital K.”
Cerberus looked the “sexy killer” up and down with an unimpressed grimace before he sighed and turned back to me. “I think this is all we're getting out of him. I can work on this.”
“Shava, I assume you're taking him to the Pyre?” I looked over at the Phoenix.
“My people will want to pass judgment.” She nodded and grabbed the guy. “I'll meet you back at Kyanite.”
“Wait!” the man cried.
Shava lifted a brow at him.
“Can I change my pants first?”
“No,” she snarled as she pulled out her feather, and they disappeared.
She really should have let him change his pants, RS said. He's going to start to reek.
If he makes it that long, Ky muttered.
“I'm going to take this to a guy I know who can work wonders with this shit.” Cer held up the laptop. “Hopefully, he can find this third party, and we can track the fucker who hired that asswipe.”
“Thanks, Cer,” I said as I inwardly cringed over another ass-word that would doubtless go into the RS' repertoire.
Cerberus winked at me, pulled out the traveling stone I'd given him, and disappeared.
“That's about all we can do for now.” I looked back at my men. “Home?”
They agreed immediately.
Chapter Twenty
Declan headed to Alexandrite since he still hadn't checked in with his court, but the rest of us went to Kyanite to spend some quality time together. I hadn't seen my guys in a week, and I missed them. I intended to show them just how much I'd missed them, possibly for hours, but as soon as we appeared in my bedroom, Darcraxis took a step forward and stumbled.
“Darc!” I rushed forward as Slate caught Darc's arm and helped him to the bed.
Darc let out a long breath. “I'm well.” He held up a hand. “It's the Darkness; it must be fading.”
“But I thought it was settling in?” I sat beside him and took his hand.
“I believe that was the piece of water magic you left inside me,” Darc mused. “The Darkness was borrowed from the orb and it appears that it's just as I expected; it will return to its source.”
“But the Water is still with you?”
He nodded. “As the ember I left inside you remains.”
“The ember of Light and Fire,” I murmured. “Did you intend to leave them both?”
“No.” He chuckled. “The Light must have snuck by me.”
“Then perhaps some Darkness made it past my scrutiny.”
“I don't think so, my fire,” Darc whispered sadly.
“Are you okay?” I smoothed the hair back from his face.
“I'm tired; it's draining, but that's all,” he assured me.
“Shit,” Banning cursed and shook his head.
“You're upset?” Darc asked in surprise. “I thought all of you would be pleased to see me return to a lesser status.”
“You're less annoying without the magic, sure,” Banning agreed. “But you're also less powerful and less power for you means less for us. We're all weakened by this.”
Chin up, Boys; you still got me, the RS piped up merrily.
“She's right,” I said to their grim expressions. “We're plenty powerful without the Darkness.”
“There is always someone stronger,” Slate muttered, his broad shoulders hunched with tension.
“And it seems as if the stronger we get, the more powerful our enemies become,” Torin added. “As if we become brighter; easier to spot.”
“Then maybe it's best to quench that light.” Darc groaned and fell back on the bed.
“Darc!” I crawled up beside him.
“I'm fine.” He gave another groan. “Truly. I just need to sleep.”
“Help me pull him up,” I said to the others.
We dragged Darc up the bed so he could lay his head on a pillow and then helped him out of his shoes as well as most of his clothes. Finally, I got him tucked in properly, and he promptly passed out. I laid beside him, stroking his face and studying him as if the nuances of his sleeping expression might convey what was happening to him internally. But Darcraxis slept on peacefully, his regal yet rugged face at ease and offering no comment.
With our reunion once more on hold, and me intent on waiting it out beside Darc, the other men left to check on their people; Torin to the Onyx Kingdom, Banning to his Gura in Kansas, and Slate to his underground Zone in Oregon. Gage stayed to keep me company, stretched out on the bed beside me while he read a book. I don't know why I was so anxious about Darc. I suppose it was because I had settled on an expectation; that his magic was here to stay. It was rough to have that proven false but it was even harder to watch my lover, this powerful god who was quickly becoming far less immortal, lay weak and vulnerable as his magic abandoned him.
I don't like this, Ellie-Girl, RS whispered. He doesn't feel right.
I agree; something is wrong, Ky added.
“Why don't you sing to him?” Gage suggested. “You brought me back from the edge of death once, El. Surely you can fix whatever this is. Or at least make it easier on him.”
I looked over at Gage in surprise. Why hadn't I thought of that?
Because you're so focused on Fire and Light lately that your true talent has faded in importance for you, Kyanite chided.
Hey, ease off, asswipe. She's had a rough day, RS defended me.
I laughed as I internally sighed. I knew she was going to use that word. RS loved Cerberus and picked up his sayings like a toddler imitating a parent.
Kyanite ignored RS and the haunting echo of a plaintive piano trembled to life around me. I smiled in gratitude at Gage for his suggestion and silently thanked Ky for his choice of song; perfect, as usual. Then I focused on Darc; my hand laid on his ches
t as I began to softly sing to him about our life. “Chosen” by Generdyn seemed to be written for us. It described our fall from divinity into a damaged existence; ripped apart by war and sucked dry by our own efforts to save ourselves and those we loved.
But we weren't done. Far from it. I made a vow to Darc through the song; I promised that the drop of Water, ember of Fire, and spark of Light left inside us would be enough. We had built worlds and birthed races. That greatness was still a part of us. We could bottle up our magic but that didn't change who we are, and we would rise again. The only thing holding us back was ourselves.
I pushed my strength into Darcraxis with my words; sent the magic I was born with in this life up my throat, past my lips, and into a god's heart. When I felt him stir, I bent over him and kissed him softly. His lips parted beneath mine, and I sang on; breathing the lyrics into him as he drank them down. Darcraxis expanded beneath me as the music rose powerfully around us; a symphonic explosion of skin-shivering sound. But that was all that remained outside of us; Kyanite's music. My magic funneled directly from me into Darc; not a single sip lost in the transfer.
Darcraxis began to shine softly, and I pushed deeper. I'm here with you, my darkness. Hold onto me and let my strength replenish yours. He gasped and opened his eyes; the blue of his irises flashing like a glowing ocean. His thick arms swept around me and pulled me over him. Bodies pressed tightly together, I ended my song as I had begun it; with a kiss.
The music fell away as I eased up on my elbows.
With a proud smile, Darcraxis swept my hair back and surveyed my entire face. “You just couldn't let me sleep it off, could you?”
“I had a bad feeling,” I whispered to him. “I'm not sure that you would have woken up as the same man, if you woke up at all.”
Darc frowned and considered this. “It did feel odd, now that I think about it. The magic should have gently faded away and returned to the orb, but its exodus was so sudden. It felt...”
“It felt like what?” I prompted urgently.
Darc shook his head and chuckled as he sat up, moving me off him. “It's impossible. I'm overreacting because of your concern. You've unsettled me, Elaria.”
I sat up and glanced at Gage, who had been quietly witnessing the whole thing, book forgotten on his lap. He set the book aside and turned to face Darc fully.
“These are strange times and you are a fallen god,” Gage said. “Tell us what you felt.”
Darc frowned, considering us both, and then relented. “It felt like theft. As if someone were reaching inside me and forcibly removing my magic.”
“Fuck,” Gage whispered.
“A theft.” My gaze went distant.
“El?” Gage shook my knee.
“It's just a hell of a coincidence, don't you think?” I asked him. “Someone stealing phoenix ashes and Darc's magic?”
“What would one have to do with the other?” Darc asked.
“And if someone were strong enough to take Darcraxis' magic, why would they need to hire an assassin to kill phoenixes?” Gage added.
“Phoenixes,” I whispered. “Phoenixes.”
“Yes?” Darc asked with a frown.
“We assumed that the human had killed them all, but he only mentioned the one,” I said in revelation.
“There could be other killers,” Gage concluded.
“And other trails for us to follow to the ones who ordered the deaths.” I nodded.
“We need to get in touch with Shava.” Darc jumped out of bed and slipped into his clothes.
“She really revived you.” Gage got up more slowly as he watched Darc.
“Elaria strengthened my magic with hers. I believe it gave me the strength to push out the Darkness before it could latch onto my Water magic and drain me completely. Whether someone was stealing it or it was just aggressively returning to the orb, I'm not sure. But now that I've had time to process, I am sure that I was in danger.”
I gaped at him.
“So, she did save you?”
“She did,” Darc confirmed with a soft smile at me. “Again.”
“Gage was the one who suggested that I sing,” I pointed out.
Gage shrugged at Darc's lifted brow. “Ellie was worried. I trust her instincts. Plus, what was the worst that could have happened? Nothing. Better to be safe.”
“Indeed.” Darc strode over to Gage and shook his hand. “Thank you for encouraging her.”
We encouraged too, RS inserted. And Kyanite came up with the song.
Thank you, Ky said to her in surprise.
“We're in this together,” Gage said grimly, seemingly to all of us, including RS. “We need you strong, Darc.”
“Then we need to find out if I was just targeted,” Darc said decisively. “But first, we need to stop the Phoenixes from killing that human. At least until we find out how many phoenixes he killed.”
“Shava gave me her number.” I hurried to the bedside table and pulled out my cellphone. “But we'll have to go to Earth to make the call.”
“Your place, Banning's, or Slate's?” Gage asked.
“Let's go to Banning's,” I decided. “I don't get reception in the Zone.”
Destination agreed upon, we used our traveling stones to slip through the Veil.
Chapter Twenty-One
Darc and Gage explained the situation to Banning as I called Shava. I had to try several times before she answered.
“Elaria, I'm rather busy,” Shava said irritably.
“I know, but this is urgent. I need you to ask the assassin something before you kill him.”
“Ask him something? The Pyre leaders are meeting as we speak. I had to leave chambers to answer your call. Now, you want me to interrupt them to ask a question?”
“We didn't verify that he had killed all the Phoenixes,” I snapped. “Don't you think the Pyre might want to know for certain if there are other killers out there? And if there are others, shouldn't we be tracking them down too? Each lead is valuable.”
Shava cursed violently. “I'll call you back.”
The line went dead, and I grimaced at my phone.
“Did you reach her in time?” Darc asked.
“I think so.” I shrugged. “She hung up on me to interrupt the Phoenix leaders.”
“Good,” Darc said with relief.
“What about the theft of Darc's magic?” Banning asked. “What should we do about that?”
“We don't know for certain that the magic was stolen,” Darc said reasonably.
“So, go check the orb and see if it returned,” Gage suggested.
Darc slid a familiar expression my way; familiar because I had worn it myself recently. Irritation over missing the obvious. Gage has a knack for seeing things simply; he's usually the one to point out the stuff everyone else should have caught.
“Shall we?” Darc held a hand out to me.
After the incident with the Titans sensing our orbs in Tartarus, Darc and I had decided that we couldn't let someone else shoulder the responsibility of hiding our confined god magics. We had to protect them ourselves. We figured the best place for the orbs would be where Darc himself had been imprisoned; on the first planet we made together. No one except for us and some long-dead Shining Ones had ever been to Ildathach. No one other than those closest to us even knew it existed. It was the perfect place to hide the spheres of Light and Darkness.
“We'll contact the others and let them know what's happening,” Banning offered.
“Thanks, Bann,” I said as I took Darc's hand.
Darc and I traveled through the Veil together, coming out on a ledge before the cave that had once been Darc's prison. I stared across the bridge of land that swung down from the ledge to the jungle floor below. The narrow path bisected the branches of an enormous tree, forming a living tunnel of woven wood and rustling leaves. Through the corridor, I could see the stone sloping down and, beyond it, another rocky formation rose up like a spring on its side. The curl of earth sprouted th
ick plant life both atop its coil and beneath so that, from a distance, it appeared to be a fuzzy ribbon. I had made that. I had designed every land formation on every continent of this world, delighting in creating sculptures from the dark matter my husband had formed into the core of a planet. Darcraxis had made the foundation, and I blew fire over it and hardened the world into the shapes I desired. Then he made the oceans, and we filled them, and the rest of this planet, with life. Together.
