Blood Stained Tranquility

by N. Isabelle Blanco

  Eve was tempted to notify her friend of just how crazy she sounded. Then, an image of herself jumping onto a bed next to Ismini while begging Nylicia to give her superpowers flashed through her mind. Better to keep her mouth shut on that one.

  “We. You keep saying we.”

  Soleria’s cheeks pinked, and she made a point of getting good and busy wiping down the counter. “Ianthen has been put on guard duty. So I told him the least he could do is make his ass useful.”

  “And Nylicia? Have you asked her about all this? Especially that back there.” Eve pointed discretely at Izabella.

  “Nylicia keeps us all on a ‘need-to-know-when-we-need-to-know’ basis. Yes, I asked her. No, I haven’t gotten any answers. ‘All will be known when it needs to be known and you should not worry yourself over it’.” Soleria paused, looking up at Eve with a dry expression. “And she was floating, meditation-style when she said this, mind you. Unfortunately, that demon pixie isn’t solid, so I couldn’t choke the answers outta her. But my gut flared the moment I laid eyes on Izabella, and my gut’s never wronged. She’s seventeen and she desperately needs a job, too. I think she’s caring for her sick mom. It’s one of the reasons I hired her right away.”

  Eve’s insides melted, and she was tempted to lift her friend into a hug. Eve had been sixteen and all alone when Soleria had hired her two years earlier. Ismini had been seventeen and in the same situation a year ago when Sol had offered her a job as well.

  Soleria had grown up with her mom, and had had a pretty stable home, if you ignored the whole witchcraft running in the family thing. Which now made sense, too. But even though she’d never known the hardship of being on her own as a kid, Sol still couldn’t turn down anyone who needed help.

  The door leading to the kitchen opened, and Ianthen walked out, holding a busboy tray.

  “What’s up, Evesse? Where’s Zen? I thought you’d be with him.”

  Eve glared at him. “I know Dyletri called you. You know he’s not with me.”

  Ianthen walked up to them and placed the tray on the counter.

  Soleria turned away from him, and began wiping down the gleaming register.

  Ian’s eyes—his disguised, light gray eyes—traveled over Sol’s back, lingering a second too long on her ass, before focusing on Eve. He leaned forward, speaking low so they wouldn’t be heard.

  “I already looked for him. I can’t find him. My powers aren’t . . . at full capacity right now.” He glared at her when she opened her mouth. “No. Don’t ask. Not going there with you. Do you have any idea where Zen would have gone off to?”

  “I don’t know,” Eve said. “I commanded him to merge with Mavrak, and then he just disappeared.”

  “What do you mean ‘commanded’?” Soleria asked over her shoulder, still playing wax-on-wax-off with the cash register.

  “Nylicia gave me the powers of Justice.”

  Soleria spun around, mouth wide open.

  Ianthen cursed under his breath.

  “I knew I recognized what’s coming off you.” He ran a hand down his face, exhaling roughly. “Makes sense. Between your powers and the mating . . . well, if anyone would be able to control Mavrak, it’s you. Vedlyl told me about what happened in Zen’s room. How you ordered Zen to stop before he killed Ved, and that he listened.”

  Eve pounced on that, desperate for some answers. Any answers. “What is inside of Vedlyl? Ianthen, what I saw—”

  “I can’t tell you.” Ianthen looked over his shoulder as Izabella walked into the kitchen with a tray. Eve’s gaze tracked his, and she couldn’t tear her eyes away, even when the girl was no longer in sight.

  Ianthen turned back around. “I really can’t tell you. We were all forced to vow to keep it to ourselves millennia ago. It’s not about wanting to keep the secret from you. I have no choice. Only Ved can tell you what he is.”

  Sol shook her head, nostrils flaring slightly on an exhale. “I really can’t believe you have the powers of Justice. You dude? I mean, you can be a self-righteous prick when it comes to your vibrator and the right to use it, but I’m not sure that constitutes as—”

  Evesse scowled at Soleria. “Fuck you. You’re no better. You threatened to burn down Walgreens when they ran out of the special batteries your vibrating butt plug uses.”

  Soleria gasped.

  Ianthen bumped into his busboy tray, almost dropping it even though he wasn’t really moving. The plastic cracked right down the middle. It sounded like the counter beneath it did the same. His hands shook when he brought them up and rubbed his face. He pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes, a muffled groan rumbling behind his clenched lips.

  Sol threw her rag at Evesse, who ducked out of the way.

  “Whoa,” Soleria said suddenly, big eyes staring up at the ceiling. “One of my best friends is the Goddess of Flux. The other is now the Goddess of Justice. I’m a fucktastic breed never before heard of. I wonder which powers are coming to me?” She stared back at Eve, smiling wildly, any mention of arson, batteries, and butt plugs obviously forgotten. “We’re gonna be like the most badass Charlie’s Angels in history. You realize that?”

  Eve was sorely tempted to face palm herself.

  Ianthen’s smile spoke volumes. Soleria was too busy envisioning her future to catch it, but Eve did. The glow in his eyes was practically a neon sign, one that read ENDEARMENT loud and freaking clear.

  Evesse took a step back, ready to make her way out of the restaurant and leave those two to it. “I think I’m just going to head out and wait for Zen. You guys call me if you hear anything.”

  Ian dragged his eyes away from Soleria. “Eve, you’ll be the first person he’s going to come to. It won’t be us.”

  “Well, still. Like I said, I’m going to go and wait for him to hopefully reach out for me.”

  Ian placed his hand on the tray, willing it back to its previously unbroken condition. He sneaked a quick look at the kitchen doors, making sure no one was watching, then placed his hand on the counter beneath the tray and fixed that, too.

  “Good luck. Call me if you need me. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” Winking at Eve, he picked up his tray, hitting her with that big smile of his. “I promised someone around here I’d make my ass useful.” He headed toward one of the tables that still had plates on it and began loading them into the tray.

  Eve wiggled her eyebrows at Sol.

  Soleria rolled her eyes.

  “Oh, come on,” Eve said, motioning toward him. “He’s a god and he’s helping you clear the tables. Surely you realize how epic and adorable that is.”

  Soleria reached for another rag and threw that one at Eve’s face, too. “Shut up.” Scowling, she walked around the counter, obviously on her way to help Ianthen out.

  “You heard her.” Ianthen smiled down at Sol, wiggling his own eyebrows. “Epic and adorable.”

  “Stop flirting with me, jackass. It isn’t getting you anywhere.”

  Yeah, yeah, she could say that all she wanted, but it was obvious to anyone who knew her that Sol was flustered. Ianthen couldn’t stop staring at her either, and the hungry look in his eyes was borderline lewd.

  Eve felt kind of dirty just witnessing that look. It was like watching a porn. In person. It was one thing to watch it on a screen, but to see it in front of her was not something she was into.

  “Stop eye-fucking my friend in front of me. I feel wrong.”

  Ian looked up, giving Eve a proud smile behind Sol’s back before returning to his task.

  Eve started laughing, then hauled ass out of there before Soleria decided to really try to hurt her. She took a turn into the nearest alley, made sure it was all clear, and dematerialized herself into her studio.

  The inside of her place was still the same as she’d left it a week ago. Zen’s scent still lingered near her bed. Smelling it, she knew she’d made the right choice in going there. If she couldn’t be with him while he was going through whatever he was going through . . . ah, fuck, that o
ne hurt.

  Just what the hell was he going through?

  She fell onto her bed in a totally ungraceful heap and pulled out her Mobiado Grand Touch Executive smartphone.

  Zen’s phone had been out of reach for weeks before then. He’d disappeared shortly after he’d helped her come back to life and he’d apparently kept his phone off most of the time. She knew this because at one of her most pathetic moments, she’d made Dyletri give her Zen’s number.

  Staring at it now, she knew that nothing had changed. Wherever Zen was, she doubted he had his phone on. That didn’t stop her from trying.

  He didn’t have a voicemail message set up. When the generic, “You have reached the mailbox for . . .” started, Eve was tempted to hang up the phone right there.

  Last second, she decided not to, but it took her at least two seconds after the beep to actually figure out what to say.

  “I . . . I don’t know where you are. And I’m worried sick. So sick. I’m so sorry that I did that. I . . . Zen, it felt like the right thing at the time. And I’m praying that it was.” She bit her lip as her eyes watered and her tone grew unsteady. “I love you. I’m really scared for you right now. Please, please, call me back as soon as you can. I need to know you’re all right. I can’t feel you or where you are.”

  There was more she wanted to say, yet the damned time limit on the message stopped her. She ended the call, staring down at her phone. Nothing would distract her. She knew that, so she didn’t even try. She willed off her clothes and climbed butt-naked under the covers, wrapping them around her so she could catch every last molecule of Zen’s scent that was left in them.

  The lights went next, and then she was in the dark, staring at her phone and praying, although she now knew for a fact that no god or gods would answer her prayers. It didn’t work that way. Didn’t matter. She wished on that fucker like it was a star instead of a phone, hitting the button on the side to keep the light on so she could look at the screen.

  She had no clue how long she stayed there, wishing. Immortals like her didn’t need sleep, unless overloaded. Emotionally she was done for, but without Zen around to exhaust her, or her powers acting out of whack, there just wasn’t a reason to sleep.

  Eve figured she could force herself to if she wanted.

  She didn’t. She stared at the phone all night, until daylight poured in through the window.

  That’s when her tears started up again. No call. No sign.

  She had no clue where the hell he was, but if she had to search every part of the planet, and every damned dimension for him, then that’s exactly what she was going to do.

  Eve threw her covers off, jumped off the bed, and dematerialized out of her studio.

  Chapter 32

  -Enzyria.

  The compound was being pounded by LMFAO when Evesse walked in. Sexy and I Know It vibrated through the walls. Abruptly, the song changed and Psy’s Gentleman took over.

  She didn’t even need to trace the origin of the music.

  At least she knew Cyake was home.

  On the second floor landing, she turned, intending to head to his room when a cough, a heave, and what sounded like a wet splat stopped her in her tracks. She paused, turning and cocking her head to the side.

  Another cough. More of that wet sound.

  Then Ianythi’s voice reached her. “Nylicia should be here soon. She said she’d have something to help you.”

  Ianthen groaned miserably. “I don’t—” He choked then gagged. “I don’t give a fuck. Just leave me like this.”

  Nythi sighed. “No, you moron. You’ll die without help. And just because you fucked up, that doesn’t mean you get to be suicidal. Live with the consequences.”

  Beyond curious, Eve popped into Ianthen’s room, bypassing the door leading in. She made her way through the sitting area—which resembled an odd combination of an arcade and a bar—and made her way into the bedroom. Once there, she traced the wet, choked sounds to the bathroom.

  Ian was throwing up.

  Nostrils flaring, she took a single step back as her brain registered the smell of blood. A hell of a lot of it.

  “I love you, brother. You know that right?” Nythi asked in a soft voice.

  Ianthen garbled out that he loved her too between his yakking.

  “But,” Ianythi continued, a smile in her voice, “considering your track record, and the way you’ve treated females since you hit sexual maturity, and your stupidity last night, this is what I would call divine justice. What I’m saying is that I feel bad for you, but I don’t. Make sense?”

  Nythi went momentarily quiet as her brother tried to curse her out while retching.

  “She was devastated Ianthen. She tried to hide it, but I saw it. She was furious and heartbroken.”

  “And you fucking took her to that asshole!”

  Nythi tsked. “One, she only kissed him. I was sure she was going to fuck him just to get back at you, but she couldn’t go through with it. Two, I had no idea at the time that you were mated and bonded to her. Obviously, you had just found this out yourself. I mean, come on, we found you with that nymph’s hand down your pants and her tongue in your mouth, dude.”

  What the fuck?

  In a blaze of rising fury, Eve flashed into the bathroom. She almost took the doorframe and wall with her when she grabbed onto it to stop herself from going further.

  Ian leaned over the sink. Blood covered every inch of white marble in front of him. A small puddle had accumulated on the floor. Even the mirror had been spattered with drops of red.

  Nythi stood behind her blood-drenched twin, a delicate hand rubbing the space between his massive shoulders.

  “What the hell did you do to Sol?” Eve locked her fingers, digging them further into the doorframe. She would not kill him. Not yet. He was going to fucking give her answers first!

  But no sooner than the question finished leaving her mouth, her powers of Justice surged just enough for her to see what had happened. She was assaulted by the image of Ianthen outside a house, a black-haired female practically climbing him. The female was almost cruel in the way that she kissed him, her head bobbing back and forth frantically.

  Her hand had been just as bad, jerking up and down inside his unbuttoned jeans.

  Ianthen had placed his hands on the female’s shoulders and pushed her back with a look of growing agony on his face a millisecond after Nythi had appeared, her hand on Soleria’s arm.

  God. Oh God. The look on Sol’s face.

  “I’m going to fucking kill you, you asshole!” Eve shook her head, willing the image to disappear out of her mind. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t hearing the screech, or that the voice of Justice hadn’t begun to demand its due, yet. Eve’s rage was more than making up for the lack. “Why? Why would you do that to her? I barely saw you guys eight hours ago, and you looked like you were dying for her. I thought you fucking cared for her!”

  “I do!” Ian willed the water on, rinsing a tremulous hand and running it across his mouth. When he met Eve’s accusing stare in the mirror, she saw the gray tone his skin had taken on, and the dark, purple bags under his eyes. “I love her.”

  She almost ripped his tongue out of his mouth. The wall cracked as she pulled on the doorframe.

  “You have one hell of a way of showing it. Why would you go off with another female?”

  Ianthen lowered his head, but not before Eve caught a flash of the misery playing out on his face.

  “After you left last night . . . we were hanging. Things got heated. I haven’t been with a female in over two months. Since I met her. I was out of control, and my bonded symptoms were starting to show. I knew. I fucking knew she was the one, but I didn’t want to admit it to myself. My body started calling for her and then she went crazy at the scent of my skin.” He paused, shuddering so hard his entire frame moved.

  Ianythi pulled her hand from her twin’s back and took a step away from him, her expression saying it all. There were som
e details best left unsaid.

  Ianthen cupped the back of his head and continued rambling, oblivious.

  “She went wild on me. How could I resist that? Fuck, she was delicious. Amazing . . . she was . . .”

  “Brother stop.”

  “Yes,” Eve agreed. “Stop.”

  He didn’t even seem to hear them. “I knew it wasn’t going to work out, you know? She’s still human. So fucking fragile.”

  “Did you hurt her?” Eve was ready to kill him all over again.

  “No. But it didn’t work out. She was so freaking tiny.” Ian bent down closer to the sink, groaning repeatedly, shaking in agony.

  Ah. Ah shit.

  Eve squeezed her eyes shut, praying that the powers of Justice wouldn’t show her that part.

  Her imagination stepped in where her powers failed though, and she found herself bombarded with the visual of Ianthen trying to shove his godly prick inside still-human Soleria’s hoo-hah.

  Oh, fuck.

  “This is so wrong,” Nythi groaned, scrubbing at her eyes with her hands.

  “I was freaking on the verge of going rabid after we stopped. And I was scared, okay? Cyake prophesied that the woman I would fall in love with would come to destroy me. I never wanted to fall in love. Or bond. Or fucking mate.” He stopped, almost falling into the sink as dry heaves wracked him.

  “Is there a difference between mating and bonding?” Eve asked Nythi, her stomach sick from the fury.

  “Yeah. Hyrens bond. Gods and other immortals mate. Different symptoms, but just as bad. And he did both in the span of one night, whilst allowing another female to touch him.” Nythi shrugged, her long, navy-blue hair falling over her shoulders. “Accelerated symptoms.”

  No wonder Eve’s powers weren’t demanding anything. Heck, it really was divine justice to see him like that, attacked by the raging symptoms of both a mating and bonding.

  “You fucking mor—”

  “Evesse.”

  For an instant, logic deserted Evesse. She froze, arms dropping to her sides. Her ears picked up on the sound of approaching footsteps, but her brain was too shocked and hopeful to respond.