by D. C. Gambel
“The Blade of Sin,” I breathed barely above a whisper. Tyler halted in his movements seeming surprised by my declaration, but he shook it off continuing to assess Cam’s wound. Leaning over in an attempt to help left me stunned by what I saw. Black tendrils were spreading out from the wound at a rapid pace, but the wound was quickly stitching itself back together. Glancing down at my own wound the blade gave me I noticed the cut was still open yet Cam, who was stabbed, was healing faster than normal.
“Poison?” Derek asked as he fell back to our side.
“Blade of Sin.” Ty corrected. Derek didn’t even attempt to hide the surprise on his face. “But I’ve never read it doing anything like this.” Pestilence shook his head. “The others?” When Derek didn’t respond Ty pressed again. “Derek?”
Famine shook himself out of the trance he seemed to be in. “Shane and Dom took off. I have no idea where Nyx is.”
“Charlie?” I wondered. I knew the rules. Two souls didn’t survive in the same body, but I knew there were also exceptions with upper level demons and I hoped that applied to goddesses.
“She has a pulse,” Derek declared.
“We have to get them both out of here,” Ty whispered almost as if he was afraid of his own words or what they meant.
Cam’s eyes shot open just before he gritted his teeth in agony. “What happened?”
“You’ve been hurt,” Ty explained. I was in too much shock to utter a word. Something wasn’t making sense, but I didn’t dare voice it.
“Cam?” Ty sighed when the Horseman of War’s thoughts seemed to wander. “You think you can walk? We need to get out of here before the demons show back up. They left in a hurry and frankly I don’t want to test our luck.”
Cam shifted abruptly only to groan and fall back to the ground.
“I’ll help him. You guys see to Charlie.”
I could see the other horsemen wanted to argue, but I narrowed my eyes at them. Cam was used to being stronger than everyone around him. I didn’t want him to feel self-conscious by showing weakness in front of the guys. If roles were reversed, he was strong enough to carry one of his fellow horsemen to the gate without breaking of sweat while the rest of us could attend to Charlie, but that wasn’t the situation we found ourselves in.
Reluctantly both Ty and Derek got up and headed to where Charlie laid.
“Evie?” Cam whispered. “What really happened? Ty’s not telling me everything.”
I shook my head. Lending support, I shifted my arm under his head. “Cam, we can talk about it when we get home.”
“No!” he growled making me jolt. Blinking several times I tried to clear my vision. For a brief moment I thought I saw his eyes turn dark. “I’m sorry,” he exhaled heavily letting me help him sit up. “I’ve been stabbed before, but this was different.”
Worrying my lip, I debated on what to say. I’d been upset with the horsemen for keeping me in the dark about the situation that concerned me. I couldn’t be hypocritical and do the same to Cam. With a sigh I explained. “Shane was coming after me with the Blade of Sin. You got in the way and received the sharp end of the blade.” When I saw his expression change, I quickly added. “But you’re going to be fine.”
“Evie,” he breathed like he didn’t believe me. “It was the Blade of Sin.”
“I don’t give a damn if it was Excalibur. You’re going to be fine and if you aren’t, I’ll make it right.”
This time he shook his head. “Something is happening,” he hissed through gritted teeth. I reached for him but before I even touched him he relaxed. “I’m fine. I think I can stand.” Without my help he stood with ease causing my brow to furrow with confusion, but I shook it off when he offered me a hand up. Forgetting my earlier damage, I gasped as I stood, but with Cam’s support I made it to my feet. It seemed ridiculous he was helping me when his injuries were more severe.
“You’re sure you’re okay?” I wondered wrapping my arm around his waist for support, but I wasn’t sure whom the support was for.
Smiling in a way that was meant to be reassuring, he replied, “Of course,” and placed a quick peck on the top of my head. Releasing me, he charged off to where the others stood helping Charlie to her feet. Slowly, I followed after him needing to know Charlie was okay while trying to ignore the fact that Cam seemed oblivious to my obvious injured state, which wasn’t like him.
“Evie?” she cried falling into my arms. I winced from the sting of pain but didn’t let her go.
“It’s okay, Char.” I held her much like a child as she sobbed. I didn’t quite know how to comfort her mainly because I didn’t know exactly what ailed her. Was it hell? Was it being kidnapped? Or perhaps it was being possessed? My guess was it was a combination. I’d experienced everything she had minus the possession, but I was born to live in this world while Charlie was meant to live in the world of clubbing and partying. “Let’s go home.”
Charlie didn’t want to be alone and I couldn’t bring myself to stay with her and away from my fellow horsemen after being apart for so long. So Charlie was bunkered down in my old room. I’d just left her when I headed to the room I shared with Cam. Entering, I noticed he’d fallen, face first, straight into bed, bloodied clothes and all.
With a sigh, I went about removing his boots. Once the task was complete, I ran my fingers under his shirt in an attempt to raise it making the removal easier. Shoving the blood crusted shirt up to his mid back my eyes narrowed on his wound site, which had all but vanished, although that wasn’t what drew my concern. It was the black lines that seemed to be treading extremely close to his heart. They weren’t traveling outward from his injury, but seemed to have a set trajectory.
My heart shot to my throat as my back hit the mattress. I gasped seeing Cam hovering above me.
“What are you doing, Evie?” he growled angrily.
“Cam,” my voice cracked. He wasn’t letting me go. Cam had been rough when I first met him but it was nothing compared to how he was behaving now.
“I asked you a question.”
Swallowing my heart back down, I whispered. “I was trying to help you undress.”
I watched as the rage faded in his eyes only to turn sultry. Releasing the grasp on my arms that he had pinned beside my head, he reached behind his neck. Gripping his shirt, he tugged it over his head tossing the tarnished material to the floor. His hand fell to my hip and without pause began drifting under my camisole.
“Cam?” I breathed, not in a breathy, heated way. I was confused by his pulsating emotions. He ignored me nipping his way across my neckline. When he palmed my breast, I snapped. “Cam!” I spat shoving him away.
“What the fuck, Evie!” he hissed his pupils dilating.
“I was going to ask you the same thing! What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Well right now I’m pissed because my girlfriend is blue balling me.” He grabbed the tent he was pitching in attempt to either adjust himself or elaborate his point.
“That’s not what I mean. You’ve been Jekyll and Hyding me since Hell. Talk to me.”
With a roll of his eyes, he groaned before shoving off of the bed.
“Cam!” I pleaded watching him grab a clean shirt from the drawer. I stared at his perfectly unmarked back as he slipped into a black tee. Where had the lines gone? Had I imagined them too?
Shoving the drawer shut with more force than required Cam spun to face me. I almost jolted back when I noticed his pupils had dilated to the point that I could see no blue. “Look Evie, are we going to fuck or not? After a life and death situation I like to be reminded what feeling alive is like.”
“Talk to me. Tell me what’s wrong,” I begged.
Huffing, he grabbed his boots off the floor. “I don’t want to talk, Evie. I thought I just explained that with the wanting to feel alive statement. So unless you’ve changed your mind about fucking?” he asked. I shook my head. He nodded curtly and disappeared out of the room faster than I’d ever seen him move.
Feeling hurt by his words I waited for almost an hour for Cam to return when I heard voices filtering in under my door. Opening the door, laughter assaulted me. I relaxed glad that the guys were having fun even though I was wallowing.
I tracked the noise down to the living room where Derek and Ty were each sprawled out on sofa with a drink in their hand.
“Hey,” Derek called out having seen me first since his sofa faced the entryway.
Ty bent his neck back to see me. “Did we disturb you?” he slurred.
“Yeah, sorry. We’d invited you but we figured you and Cam were—” Derek wiggled his eyebrows up and down.
“He’s not here?” I wondered.
Ty busted out laughing. “You know Cam would choose sex over hanging out with us.”
Derek joined him until he noticed my somber expression. “Evie?”
I looked up at him, but I couldn’t stop the swell of tears from pooling in my eyes. Ty seemed to sober. Sitting up, he set his drink down and patted the spot next to him.
I sat there with my fellow horsemen, my roommates, my friends and explained what all had happened. I left out how vulgar Cam had become with me, but shared his anger and frustration.
“Even in the beginning when he was a complete ass he never spoke to me the way he did tonight.”
“Have you tried calling?” Derek wondered. He’d offered me a drink, but I’d declined. When Cam returned, I wanted to be sober. Alcohol wouldn’t help solve anything but only make the situation worse.
I shook my head.
“Maybe he just needs time to cool off,” Tyler suggested.
I nodded with a hint of a smile that I knew wasn’t fooling anyone.
I don’t remember falling asleep, but when I woke I was in my bed. I reached over finding the other side cold. Glancing around I saw no signs that the room had been disturbed. Normal Cam stripped down to his boxers before coming to bed leaving a pile of clothes on the floor.
Tossing back the covers, I decided to go look for him. Perhaps he’d headed downstairs already. Maybe he was too upset that he slept on the couch.
Reaching the base of the stairs I heard no sound from the bottom level. I struggled not to let my heart sink. It didn’t mean he wasn’t here. After a thorough search, I sagged into the sofa where Ty found me when he came down to start breakfast.
“You guys fight when he got home?” he asked noticing my state.
I shook my head biting my lip to stop it from quivering.
“You talk at all?”
Blinking up at him, he took in my tearstained face and was beside me in a moment.
“Evie?”
“He’s not here,” I cried. My shoulders convulsed with the gentle force of my sobs.
Tyler held me until I settled. When Derek came down not a word was utter yet some kind of silent communication passed between them. I felt Ty silently shake his head.
With a huff, Derek charged off. Tyler continued stroking his hand up and down my back when Derek’s voice cut through the silence.
“Who the fuck is this?” he demanded making me sit up. It took me a moment to realize he called Cam. My heart began breaking concluding that Cam wasn’t the one answering his phone. I tried not letting my mind go there. After all, I already felt guilty for thinking him capable of that before, only to find out he’d stayed true to me. But he’d been so angry last night. Had he really wanted sex that strongly that he’d thrown away everything we had?
When Derek entered the shock on his face only confirmed my belief. Attempting to hand me his phone, I pulled away. I didn’t want to speak to whatever skank he picked up. Understanding this, Ty grabbed the phone himself his expression transformed to mirror Derek’s before handing me the phone too.
Seeing them both stunned, I yanked the phone to my ear.
“What?” I demanded.
“Now is that anyway to speak to an old friend?”
My heart stopped before I remembered to breath. “Shane?”
“I prefer Cain. Shane was just the name I used so you and your horsemen didn’t put the pieces together before I was ready.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, who’s voice I was hearing. How did he have Cam’s phone?
“Where’s Cam?” I demanded having checked the number Derek had dialed.
Shane, or rather Cain, laughed. “Don’t get your panties in a bunch princess. He’s right here, but I don’t think he wants to talk to you. Something about blue balls—”
“Put him on the phone right now Cain or I swear to God I will hunt you down and—”
“Chill Evie. No need for threats.” There was some static as the phone was shuffled around.
“What Evie?”
The mounting tension I felt since Derek first made the call eased as I heard Cam’s voice.
“Cam are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” he replied curtly.
“What are you doing with Cain? Did he capture you?”
“Capture?” he snuffed before laughing. “I’m not as easy to kidnap as you. No, I sought Cain out on my own.”
For the second time in ten minutes my heart halted. “You what? Why?”
“Like you care.”
“Of course I care. I fucking love you.”
“You mean like you loved me last night? I’m still sporting the blue balls you gave me. I hope you’re proud.”
My mouth fell open feeling completely confused. “Cam,” I breathed putting my back to Derek and Ty who both were staring eagerly at me to determine what was going on. Ty had pulled out his laptop and was clicking away on it but wasn’t letting the task deter him from the conversation. “What’s going on? This isn’t you.”
“Isn’t me?” he sniped. “You don’t even know me. You think the sweet gentle guy that cared about you was me? I’m War, Evie. It’s not in me to care about anyone but myself.”
“You’re full of it. Is Shane making you say these things? Where are you? The guys and I will be there as quickly as we can.” I glanced back at Ty who circled his index finger through the air gesturing for me to keep talking.
“Cain isn’t making me say anything. This is me. The real me. I am sorry that I played you Evie, but this thing between us is over. Oh and tell Tyler nice try,” he stated before the phone disconnected.
“Cam? Cam!” I called into the phone but he was already gone. I turned back eagerly to Tyler hoping that he’d found him. When he answered with a grin I felt my heart soar.
It took twenty minutes from the time the call ended to get to where Ty had tracked the signal. Derek drove while Ty and I armed ourselves on the ride over. Incase we needed to make a fast retreat; all three of us wouldn’t enter. With both Derek and I having to touch to use our gifts, it made sense for Ty to be one of the ones to enter the building and I refused to sit back incase Cam was inside, so Derek had graciously accepted his role as getaway driver. He’d armed himself once we arrived and if we needed him he’d respond, but I refused to wait. I worried that they’d hear us arrive and move Cam. I didn’t believe for a second that Cam was there on his own accord. Shane had to have done something. Threatened him in some way to get him to say what he did. Cam had said what he said to protect us, to protect me.
I barely waited for the car to go into park before I yanked open the passenger’s door and pulled the seat forward for Ty. I didn’t see if he followed. I knew it was reckless, but feeling like I was losing Cam put me on edge.
I grasped the semi automatic at my hip pulling it from its confines. Checking the safety I looked behind me to see Ty was there with a sword drawn. He nodded to me and I opened the door.
It was heavy and cried loud enough that anyone present knew we where there. Tyler and I rushed in prepared for an assault but we were met with silence. We both stood still listening for the sound of approach steps, but all that reached my ears was the hum of the air conditioner.
I took a step forward. The click of my heel against the concert floor echoed off the exposed
rafters.
“No one’s here,” Tyler stated and I believed him. His gift would have allowed him to feel anyone present.
Clicking the safety back on, I placed the gun back in my holster. Tyler and I separated silently looking for some sign as to where Cam was.
“Evie?” Ty called out. Quickly, I rushed to his side. I inhaled sharply when I discovered Cam’s leather jacket. Lying on top of it was a note. I recognized the hand writing as Cam’s.
Nice Try.
-C
“He knew I tracked them,” Tyler spat shaking his head.
With a heavy exhale, I bent down to grab the jacket.
“Wait!” Ty demanded. “It could be a trap.”
Nodding, I let him take the reins. After several minutes, Ty slowly lifted the jacket up only to discover nothing.
“Better safe than sorry,” he muttered rubbing the back of his neck. I smiled taking the jacket from him. Bringing it to my face, I inhaled Cam’s scent that clung to the leather. “We’ll find him, Evie.” I nodded, but Ty was distracted with the sheet of paper that had fallen off of the jacket. It laid face down on the floor revealing a list on the other side. I cocked my head studying it. The handwriting on the backside wasn’t Cam’s and I couldn’t help but wonder if his choice in paper had been coincidence or if there had been some other reason.
Ty seemed to be wondering the same. He grabbed the note before ushering me to the door.
Later that night as I laid in bed snuggling with Cam’s jacket a gentle knock rapped at the door.
“Evie?” Charlie called out when I didn’t respond. She still didn’t feel safe to go back to her apartment and I selfishly wanted my best friend near even if I wasn’t ready to talk.
Feigning sleep, Charlie eventually went away. It was some time later when the door creaked open. The mattress shifted under the new weight.
“Evie?”
Having expected Charlie, I rolled over at the sound of the masculine voice. “Ty?”
