We ended up down in the basement so Aldwin could pick out a few weapons for our planned activities later that night. I immediately put space between us and began cleaning off my blades while Aldwin started perusing the walls lined with all manner of weapons.
“So, what did you need to talk about?” I asked, not taking my eyes off my task.
“First, I wanted to tell you that I translated an entire chapter of the book last night while you were tracking down Absalom. The chapter concluded that in order for the evil to be overcome in the end, a chosen warper would become the most powerful of the three, joining powers somehow and becoming a hybrid warper of sorts.”
“How did it say their powers would join? Just by working together or something?” I asked, my mind working through all kinds of different scenarios.
“I don’t think so. The passage made it sound more like some sort of sacrifice had to be made and the three would become one,” he said.
“Okay. Well, that’s pretty vague and disturbing.” It seemed like most prophecies were vague and full of hidden meanings. I wasn’t even sure where this third warper would come from, so I figured the prophecy becoming fulfilled would wait a little longer while we rescued warper number two. “What was the second thing you needed to talk about?” I asked after a moment.
“Milena told me she had a little chat with you last night while everyone else was sleeping,” he said. I shrugged. Yeah, so what? “She said she told you about how I got my scar…how I became blinded and shunned by the light fae.” His jaw hardened. His eyes focused on me as he spoke.
“It’s something you should have told me a long time ago.” I sighed. I had nothing against Aldwin…nothing really even against Milena. I knew deep down my problem was with Aldwin and Milena together and that shouldn’t have been since I was with Soren. “I just want you to be happy, Aldwin, and if Milena makes you happy, then, I’m glad you two are together.” I breathed in deeply, allowing his scent to tease my senses, and praying the words I’d uttered were a hundred percent true.
“I don’t want you to be happy for me, Sage.” His voice was rougher and closer than when he’d spoken before. I kept my eyes on my hands as they continued on their relentless cleaning. “I want you to need me like you did before. I want you burning up on the inside from desire. I want you to kiss me like you did that day on the beach, without a care, without reservation, and without anyone else claiming any of your affections. I want you to burn like I do.” His words shot through all my defenses and began crumbling even the most well-built walls I’d erected around my heart.
“How can you say that to me when you have Milena on your arm? How can you want me to feel the way I did before when Soren has been by my side and you haven’t?” I accused, my task immediately forgotten. He grasped my arm and pulled me to my feet in front of him.
“I can ask that of you because I have only ever loved you. No one before you came close and no one ever will, Sage. Ta mo chroi istigh ionat,” he answered fiercely, quoting the engraving on the dagger he’d given to me over a hundred years ago. Ta mo chroi istigh ionat...my heart is in you. He grasped my right arm in his, and I felt something cold slide onto my arm. My eyes flew wide as I recognized the butterfly cuff bracelet I had lost back in 1904, the one he had given me. He slid a small knife into my palm, and I gasped when I found the smaller, matching dagger of the one strapped to my thigh sitting in my open palm. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to grasp onto the thin sliver of restraint I had left. Aldwin leaned into me and his hand cupped my neck in a possessive gesture. His mouth grazed my earlobe as he spoke softly into my hair.
“I am the same man you loved, the same man you gave yourself to. I have remained faithful to you for over a hundred years, and I have longed to hold you in my arms. I only ask that you give me the benefit of the doubt. There are things I can’t tell you, but you are smart enough to figure out a few things on your own if you want to.” His whisper sent a thrill through my body.
“I don’t understand. Why can’t you just tell me what’s going on, Aldwin?” I whispered.
“All I can tell you is that things aren’t what they seem, and I have made some promises that I have to keep in order to keep someone safe.” He caressed my neck and ran his thumb over the tattoo behind my ear. “You have no idea how much it kills me to see you with Soren. I want to rip his head off every time he touches you.” His voice shook, and I flinched. I’d never heard such menace coming from him, and I had an inkling that I’d never want to see his fury fully unleashed and unrestrained.
“I can’t deal with this right now, Aldwin. We need to focus on freeing Colleen and figuring out what that book means.” I looked up into the face of the man I never thought I’d see again and saw his look of determination and gulped.
“Just know that I don’t plan on giving up on us, Sage. I’m asking you to believe in me...to believe in us. I have only ever loved you, and a love like that never dies. I’ll love you with my dying breath.” He placed a gentle kiss on my forehead before stepping away from me. My heart gave a little skip at the loss of his proximity. “After this other warper is rescued, I don’t plan on sitting by while Soren takes you to his bed every night. We belong together, and I plan on making you see that.” He left me standing there with an antique bracelet on my arm, a dagger in my hand, and a feeling of equal parts dread and relief spreading in the pit of my stomach.
When I joined everyone in the living room, they were all huddled around the coffee table, looking at a sketch of the property where Colleen was being held. Trina and Matt were having a heated discussion off to one side of the room, and everyone else looked grim and serious.
“So, what’s up?” I asked.
“Your friends are just realizing what they will be up against when they go after the warper, doll.” Absalom smiled at me from across the coffee table. For a split second I imagined unsheathing my dagger and making his left ear match the one missing half its lobe. A smile slithered across my lips. Absalom’s smile faltered and then the grin vanished from his face completely. If he knew the plans I had for him, he wouldn’t ever even look in my direction, much less, dare to speak to me. Every time I looked at him, I could hear my mother’s final raspy breaths before her neck was broken by the vampire sitting in front of me. I must have made a movement because Absalom flinched and Soren was by my side, holding my arm in a flash. I took a deep, steadying breath before I was able to reign in my fury. Oh yeah, Abe was living on very borrowed time.
“What’s the plan?” I asked the group. Soren was the first to speak up.
“It’s going to be difficult. They are keeping Colleen in a very well-guarded home.”
“The outer perimeter has probably a dozen or more trained vampires and shifters guarding the grounds. There is a tall, brick, privacy fence enclosing the entire building. The house is comprised of two stories and a best guess is that there could be more than a dozen guards on the inside of the building as well,” Aldwin remarked.
“And let’s not forget that they are going to all this trouble to keep anyone from getting to the warper for a reason. Even if you do get through the guards outside and inside, surely there will be something even worse waiting for you,” Absalom added.
“Sounds like they are preparing for something pretty serious,” I said thoughtfully. “So who’s going to be going on our little field trip?” I asked.
“Everyone but Matt,” Trina chimed in immediately. Matt began arguing that he wasn’t going to be left behind like a child. I knew how he felt, but I also knew Matt was one hundred percent human, and thus, a liability. Plus, I couldn’t take it if he were hurt in a preternatural skirmish.
“I agree with Trina on this, Matt,” I said. He shot daggers in my direction, clearly having expected me to take his side on the matter. I held a hand up in defense. “The only reason Trina is even going is that she has her witchy-mojo going for her, and she has to help us with Colleen. I don’t want to risk anyone here, but you’ll be the most vulnerab
le in the group. We won’t be going in with guns blazing. Hell, guns won’t work on the creatures we’ll be up against. I just can’t take you without worrying about you, and that would make me a liability,” I said gently. “Trina, you can take him back to the club, and we’ll meet him back there after we extract Colleen.” Trina nodded once and took Matt’s hand gently in hers, her eyes begging him to understand. He sighed and even though he wasn’t happy about it, he let Trina lead him from the house to head back to Club Strange.
“Let’s get ready to storm the castle,” I said with a smile. Everyone left to dress, choose weapons, meditate, or whatever they normally did at times like these. I stepped into the master bedroom and laid all my swords out on the bed just as Soren walked in and closed the door behind him. His arm reached around from behind me and he twirled the bracelet I’d already forgotten about on my arm.
“This is the same bracelet you wore when we first met,” he said quietly. I nodded my head, unsure what to say. “Aldwin gave it to you?” I nodded again.
“And the smaller dagger I’d lost before the battle with Elaine in the arena,” I confessed. I didn’t know if I should have felt bad for wanting them. I didn’t know how I felt at all right then, except that I didn’t want to hurt anyone, and I didn’t want anyone fighting over me. I had loved Aldwin once, and I was sure no matter what, a part of me always would love him, but I couldn’t deny that I had fallen hard and fast for Soren when he had showed back up in my life recently. If I was absolutely honest with myself, I would’ve acknowledged that even back when I was falling in love with Aldwin, there had always been something between Soren and me…something a little wild and a lot frightening. I shook my head. It was all just too much to deal with right then, but I knew I’d have to deal with it very soon. “Should I have refused to take them?” I asked as I turned to search Soren’s face.
“No,” he said so softly I barely heard him. “No, they were meant for you, and you should have them. I just can’t bear the thought of losing you a second time.” His hand cupped my face, and I closed my eyes and buried my face into his palm. I didn’t deserve Soren, not even one little bit.
We all met out in front of the house, and I had to do a double take at our group surrounding the two SUVs in the front yard. It seemed that black was the theme for the night, even though each person carried it off in their own style. Soren wore a black V-neck shirt and black cargo pants. Aldwin wore a black tee shirt and dark blue jeans. Milena wore a long, flowing black silk top and leggings. Her nails were painted a very appropriate, blood red. Trina wore a black lace, long-sleeved shirt over her dark gray Bob Marley shirt, paired with black skinny jeans and tennis shoes. I’d chosen my black leather pants and stretchy black cap-sleeved top. The blades Soren had given me were strapped to my back. My sgian dubh was strapped to my right thigh, and its miniature was stashed inside my boot.
“Where’s Absalom?” I asked when I didn’t notice him anywhere.
“He’s gone on ahead,” Soren answered.
“Are you serious?” My voice would have woken the dead. Soren didn’t flinch at my outburst. He’d been expecting it.
“There is something or someone he wants from that house. He won’t betray us—not until after he’s gotten what he’s after,” he said with a frown. “We can worry about that after we get on the inside.” I nodded my head. He was right. Absalom did have something up his sleeve. I was sure he intended to betray us, but I hoped he’d cooperate until we’d accomplished what we were setting out to do.
When we were half a mile away from our destination, Soren pulled the Combat off to the side of the road so we could all continue on foot to keep our presence, hopefully, a surprise. I wondered idly if we were walking into a trap, if Absalom had already betrayed us, knowing that trusting him was our only option if we wanted to get Colleen safely out of captivity. I guess we were all about to find out. For a group of five people, we made almost no noise as we walked briskly through the forest on the outskirts of the property we were headed to. We would be coming up on the south side of the house, and from what Soren and Aldwin had told me, the north side sat almost directly on a beach.
I could smell the ocean and hear waves crashing onto the beach when we finally stopped just inside of the tree line that ran parallel to a large brick wall surrounding the house several yards away. A spotlight flashed in our direction, and we all dropped quickly into a crouch.
“We will all split up and try to take out all the guards surrounding the building. The idea is to do it as quickly as possible without alerting everyone inside,” Soren said quietly. “I’ll take the far west side of the perimeter. Milena, you take the north beach side. Aldwin, you need to stay with Sage and Trina.”
“Why can’t I go with you?” I asked. It came out way more clingy than I had intended.
“I’ll be faster than everyone else and able to do a lot more damage if I’m alone. Aldwin will be able to protect you and Trina if you have problems with your powers once we get closer to the other warper.” I nodded. I guess that made sense.
“What about me?” I swung around, my powers already whipping out to freeze an opponent. Absalom stood there next to a large tree, completely frozen with wide eyes. I snorted. What an idiot to sneak up on our group like that.
“Wow,” Trina breathed out as she walked over to our frozen vampire buddy. She waved a hand in front of his face and poked his cheek. “That is freaky,” she whispered. Soren cleared his throat behind me. I sighed and reluctantly freed Absalom from my hold. He blinked his eyes once before narrowing them at me.
“Did you just...?”
“You shouldn’t have been sneaking around like that!” Milena snapped. I blinked and even Aldwin and Soren looked a little surprised by her answer. “What?” she looked around at everyone staring at her.
“You can take the east side of the property, Absalom, while Aldwin, Sage, and Trina take the south wall.” Soren spoke quickly. This was it. I unsheathed my blades and everyone else followed suit. Milena’s nails elongated, much to Trina’s shock. Aldwin unsheathed a long, thin blade, and Trina began chanting softly under her breath. I brought my gaze up to meet Soren’s. He didn’t have to say a single word. I could understand so much in that single look. Be careful; don’t do anything stupid; I love you. I blinked in surprise…I was such an idiot for not having seen it sooner. He loved me. He always had. I opened my mouth to say something, but just then, Trina grabbed my hand and spoke a few words softly with her eyes closed and my entire body tingled instantly, aware that she had done some witchy-mojo on me.
“What was that?” I asked once her eyes opened.
“Just a little binding spell to hopefully help you hold onto your powers as long a possible,” she explained nonchalantly. I hugged her quickly as a thank you. Her surprise only lasted a second before she returned my hug. I walked over to stand near Aldwin as our group began to split up. I had a second of panic seize me, wondering if we’d all make it out okay, if I was making some huge mistake, but I stashed all of that out of my mind and followed Aldwin to the edge of the woods to give everyone else time to get in their places. No matter what, we had to get to Colleen. I shuddered to think what would come to pass if that part of the prophecy wasn’t fulfilled—the book spoke of three warpers and Colleen was the only one I knew of that was alive in my same time. She was a key part in our future, and I had to protect her come hell or high water.
We stayed as low to the ground as possible and dodged the spotlight passing over us several times before we reached the outer brick wall. The real trick was going to be getting over the wall before someone spotted us and let the whole house know they were under attack.
“So, how are we going to get over this?” Trina whispered as she looked up at the ten foot brick wall. I had actually been wondering the same thing.
“Give me your foot, and I’ll boost each of you over,” Aldwin said.
“Even if you give us a boost, we won’t be able to reach the top.” I flung a ha
nd in the direction of the top of the wall to make my point.
“I didn’t say I’d help you reach the top. I said I’ll boost you over the wall,” Aldwin said through gritted teeth. I looked up at the top of the wall, so far off the ground, and back at Aldwin again, unconvinced. Aldwin muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like a curse. “Just trust me, Sage.” His eyes bore into mine. I nodded once and walked over to stand in front of him. “Just hold onto my shoulders to keep your balance and then put your foot in my hand. When you’re ready, push off, and I’ll launch you over the wall. Landing will be up to you,” he said with a smirk. I smiled as I yanked my smaller dagger out of my boot and held it between my teeth. I placed my hands on each of Aldwin’s shoulders when he crouched down slightly in front of me.
“Be careful. As soon as you land, I’ll send Trina over,” he said quickly. He looked as if he wanted to say more, but his mouth steeled into a hard line as I placed my foot in his grasp. “Ready?” he asked softly. One quick shake of my head and I pushed off just as he made an effortlessly swift movement with his arms, and I was sailing through the air and clearing the top off the wall with room to spare. I landed with a soft thud on my rear end. So much for a graceful landing, I thought. I had managed not to cut my face to ribbons with the dagger I’d clenched between my teeth, though. Score one for home! I was in a crouch in a flash and at the ready for any signs of trouble.
I heard a stifled squee right before Trina came bounding over the wall to land shakily on her feet close by me. Not fair at all. Next came Aldwin, clearing the wall and landing with such grace and ease I wondered briefly if he had some invisible fae wings I didn’t know about. The unbidden picture of Aldwin flying around with glittery sparkles floating behind him was so sudden and ridiculous that I nearly busted out in a very inconvenient bout of hysterical laughter. A muffled shout and then a thud close by wiped all merriment right off of my face.
Relativity (A Sage Hannigan Time Warper Novel #2) Page 14
