Chapter 130: Chapter Thirty-Six

Hope

My heart hurt for him.

It was like I could feel his pain, the rejection of his family, the way that he even sometimes felt rejected by the immortals because he was the last remaining siren, because he never truly understood what he was or how he fit in with everything.

Always alone.

Always.

Until Hope.

Somehow, when he’d fallen to his knees, and that giant flash nearly blinded everyone, it had been like he’d slammed every last memory he’d ever had into my brain and pressed play.

~Alone.

Always.

Until Hope. ~

I had to believe that he wouldn’t hurt me— that a part of him loved me still— and wanted to protect me.

And yet, at the same time, I berated myself for being that girl, the girl who convinced herself that she was a game changer, that she was different. When I was nothing at all, not really.

In the past, I had been elf royalty.

Which basically meant I once had been a complete and total shut-in— and hopeless with plants, much to my parents’ dismay, since elves were supposed to have a green thumb.

I had no special power to speak of.

But I did have really pretty blood—strong blood, or so I was told, blood that would help our race carry on through the centuries.

~Protect her at all costs.~ I could still hear my parents saying this phrase over and over again wherever I went.

And a part of me realized, the reason my mother sent me away that night when Alex was supposed to be protecting us, was because a part of her felt a shift with my friend Mary.

Mother had a gift for sensing darkness, and what she must have sensed scared her so terribly that she sent me, unguarded, to a hotel lobby to look for an archangel who didn’t even like us half the time, let alone anyone else.

Alex had ~loved~ me.

But he was afraid his love would destroy me— he was afraid that it wasn’t real, that he would wake up from the dream to find that I was just like everyone else in his life who had claimed to love him.

He thought my body wanted him— that I was confused and that one day I would get tired of him. One day I would walk away.

~They always do.~ His thoughts screamed.

~They want my body~.

Never my heart. ~

His heart would not survive it.

Maybe that was why he was so convinced that if we were apart for more than twenty-four hours either of us would die, maybe it was his subconscious reminding him of something.

Regardless, I needed to concentrate on the present, not the past.

Timber parked the car in downtown Seattle. The restaurant was dimly lit, like everything else I noticed that had demon all over it.

Before we got out of the car, he placed his hand over my wrist, blue fire danced along both of our arms.

“You have to show them who you are. They will sense you, but they will think Cassius is playing a trick on them.”

I nodded as the fire tickled and teased my skin.

Timber had fire on both of his wrists too, like bracelets surrounding his muscled forearms.

Ethan, Cassius, Stephanie, and Mason were all waiting for us. I tried to calm my out-of-control heart, but each of their eyes were locked on my wrist, on the fire.

I wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

“It’s been so long,” Mason whispered. “So, so long.”

“And yet,” Ethan said, putting an arm on Mason. “It feels just like yesterday when we were put on elf duty.”

“We’re really that defenseless, huh?” I grumbled.

“Your body may be weak,” Cassius was suddenly in front of me, tilting my chin toward him. “But your blood is strong… it sings.”

“Huh?”

“It’s true,” Ethan moved to my right and lifted my hand to his face. “You smell like life itself.”

“That’s…” I winced. “Great?”

“For a demon?” Timber chimed in. “It’s like an all-you-can-eat buffet.”

“That’s not helpful,” Ethan snapped.

“Sorry.” Timber gave me an apologetic look. “We’ll go through the restaurant first and into the back. With any luck, most of the demons will be too busy feeding to notice us, and if they do…” He swallowed. “Hope, that’s when you come in.” With strong hands, he gripped my arm and flipped it over so that the fire danced on my wrist. The small blue tattoo shuddered, and when Cassius pressed his hand over it, blood began to slowly trickle down my fingertips, blue blood, life blood.

“One drop.” Cassius nodded. “On their tongues. They must ingest it for the blood to knit what’s been broken. The change must always take place from the inside out.”

“Okay.” Yeah, I was freaking out. “I can do that.” Could I, though?

“You are stronger than you will ever know,” Cassius whispered in my head. “Lead the way, Timber.”

Timber gave a jerky nod then opened the door to the restaurant; immediately I was hit with a sense of dread as dark eyes darted in my direction.

Cursing and a few bellows of “It can’t be,” filled the room.

And then a man stumbled in front of me. Blood leaked from his eyes. Was this why I cried blood?

“You mourn them the way they mourned you,” Timber whispered. “Open your mouth, brother, let her heal you.”

“My queen.” The demon fell to his knees, his scissor tongue slid out from beneath sharp fangs. One drop of blood landed in his mouth. His eyes rolled to the back of his head. When he opened them again, they were a pale blue. A sudden light burst forth from his mouth.

I stumbled back into Timber’s arms. “What was that?”

Timber trembled beneath me. “His soul.” I felt myself starting to cry again as the demon, once crazed, stood to his full height and smiled. It didn’t look pained like before. Instead, he looked whole as he whispered, “I feel everything.”

“Kinda sucks, doesn’t it?” Timber added, probably for my benefit since he was whispering still.

“Thank you.” The demon walked away, shoulders back, and so, that was how I slowly painfully made my way through the restaurant, soul after soul restored.

And almost every single demon, after tasting my blood, rose to his feet, and stood behind us, like a ready-made army.

Ready to die.

For me?

For a person they didn’t even know?

Or maybe for a greater purpose than they’d ever been a part of.

“It’s just in there,” Timber pointed to a large oak door. “His office, and behind his office, the ten are chained to the wall, their blood slowly draining from their bodies, though every so often the process is stopped so that they retain their power.”

I shivered as Timber opened the door to Bannik’s office.

It looked… normal. With leather chairs, a large desk, and dark velvet curtains.

Once I stepped over the threshold, I was hit with a surge of Alex’s scent, his power. I wanted him so badly.

But I wanted all of him.

His body was beautiful, yes—but it was nothing compared to the heart that it kept within.

“Poetic.” Bannik’s voice sounded, and then a wall turned, revealing a basement-like setting. Ten huge men were chained to a cement wall. They had black and red hair just like Bannik.

And they looked pissed.

Like so pissed I was afraid to look at any one of them since the sheer power of what they were was like getting hit over the head with a blunt object.

Each of them was in armor with a tree etched in the middle.

And each man had a sword at his side that was just out of reach.

“Let them go,” I heard myself saying.

One of the men, the middle one, smiled weakly at me and whispered in a language I didn’t understand; the rest of the men laughed loudly.

Bannik swore. “She is weak. Humans and elves alike—so weak compared to those who watch.”

Cassius stepped forward, his wings spread in vivid color, each feather standing at attention, ready to strike. “Bannik, stop this now.”

“I see my brother left a parting gift. I hope it doesn’t hurt too badly when Alex rips them from your body.”

“He won’t,” I said in a strong voice.

“Oh, my dear, but he will.” Bannik smiled. “Alex, come here, would you?”

A crack sounded as Alex dropped from the ceiling, literally fell from wherever he’d been perched, watching, waiting.

His eyes flashed between black and his normal blue, his hair was still on fire. It burned my eyes to look at him.

He was sheer beauty.

“They all want you.” Bannik sniffed the air. “Every being that has breath in its body—wants you.”

Alex took a step toward me.

I held out my hand.

He frowned while Bannik snorted in disgust.

“The Alex you knew is long gone.” Bannik’s low voice cut through the air like a sword. I hated that I didn’t recognize the look on Alex’s face, that the man I’d loved all those years ago was trapped behind whatever surge of power had overtaken him. “And once he’s finished killing all of you— he’ll give me his blood, blood that can shape shift into anything— and I’ll drain my brothers. Once and for all.”

“So dramatic,” Mason whispered.

Ethan let out a low chuckle.

Bannik whipped around, hand raised toward Mason.

“No!” I ran in front of my friend and held out my hands, fully aware that I wasn’t going to do anything to physically stop him, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to try.

Demons growled behind me as Bannik’s hand came into contact with my cheek, searing pain exploded from the side of my face as I stumbled against Mason’s chest.

And suddenly I was jerked away from Mason.

By Alex.