A Touch of Death

by J. J. Dean

  As soon as I was inside her mind, watching all she had gone through, learned, and suffered, I sent projections to the others. I wasn't trying to invade her privacy, but once I saw everything for myself, and learned what I did, I thought the best thing for Novia was to inform the others so she didn't have to go through explaining it. It also helped that we knew and understood the situation when she came back, so we could take care of her. Knowing where she's at mentally, so we know what to give her and when to back away to let her breathe.

  Like now, for example. It's not to say I like it, and the others seem to agree with me, but it's what she needs. I find that I'll give her anything so long as it helps her.

  Nix walks to the couch and throws himself down with a heavy sigh. "Anyone else's heart completely shatter just now?"

  I nod and clench my jaw tight. I'll never be rid of the memory of those haunted mismatched eyes looking up at me. The lost look in her face that I wanted nothing more than to remove. Her cries still echo in my head, the feel of her tears sinking into my shirt still as fresh as if it happened a mere second ago. I've never wanted to remove a person's grief as badly as I did then. I've never wanted to take on another person's pain and carry the weight of their agony until Novia broke down in front of me.

  "Yeah, man. Think that just about crushed me," Spencer comments, roughly snatching his cap off his head and spearing his hand through his hair.

  Ezra keeps quiet, heading to sit at the kitchen island. Despite his silence, I know how much it affected him to see Novia in so much pain. I also know how much the bond is affecting him and where his thoughts always turn to any time our connections to Novia are mentioned. With all I learned from Novia's thoughts today, with her mother telling her we're all bonded to her just as much as she is to us, there has been a niggle in the back of my mind suggesting that perhaps I've been wrong about demons finding their perfect equal. Maybe it's something I should look into, especially if it will remove the dejected look on Ezra's face that he doesn't think I can see.

  "So... what do we do now?" Nix asks, stretching out on the couch.

  "We should probably learn what the fuck those bastards are up to in that facility, for starters. If they were ballsy enough to come after Novia again, then they obviously still need her. But why? What could they possibly want with her?" Spencer asks, moving to sit in the armchair.

  "They know her blood differs from any other fae they captured. They didn't know what made her different, though I'm sure seeing her phase has given them an inkling of an idea. They don't know the full extent, though. After five years of imprisonment, they were only able to deduce that Novia was different. She was able to endure more, stay conscious longer than others," I tell them, folding my arms over my chest while my mind runs a mile a minute. "I have no doubt they had plans to focus their efforts on Novia. To discover what she was capable of. Camelle mentioned a war, and I believe these humans are looking for weapons and power sources that will aid them in being successful at destroying all Naturals. Novia would make an excellent asset, more so now that they realise they had a fae who could disappear from one spot and appear in another."

  Spencer nods and says, "That would make sense. Of course, they'd still want her. It was only to experiment on before and they still chased her down, then imagine what they'd be willing to do to get to her now."

  A grim silence settles in the room at that declaration. The mage isn't wrong at all. They'll come after her harder than ever now that one of her secrets was revealed.

  "Back to these weapons and power sources. Those weren't ordinary bullets Spencer and Novia were shot with. What are they making them with? How are they making them? How the fuck did they successfully create something that knocked our girl unconscious for almost eight days straight?" Nix growls, fury seeping into his words the more he talks. His animals are agitated, needing to be closer to Novia and not understanding why they're down here instead. It's making Nix frustrated, and his anger only builds with his frustration.

  Do you need to run for a while? I can feel your animals pacing without having to invade your mind. It won't do any good to have you restless and unsettled.

  Nix sighs as soon as I finish projecting my thoughts, but he nods. Without further words, he lifts himself from the couch and shifts into a ridiculously large white tiger. He has grey stripes and a pink nose, but this animal is bigger than his wolf, and his wolf reaches my hip when he's on four legs.

  I walk towards the front door, opening it wide enough for the giant cat to slip past and vanish into the woods. I watch until he's out of sight, the flash of his tail the last thing I see before he vanishes.

  "The bond?" Spencer asks, watching the door close and then snapping his attention to where I move to sit on the couch opposite him.

  I nod, sparing a quick glance at Ezra and catching him tensing before settling again. "Yes. It's affecting him more since he contains so many animals. Seems they've all taken a strong liking to our little fae, and they're growing increasingly agitated the longer the bond goes ignored. They're restless now because they want to be where Novia is."

  Spencer bobs his head in understanding before shifting the conversation back to the issue at hand. "Nix has a point. How are they making these weapons?"

  "Naturals." The gravelly whispered word is easy to catch in the quiet of the room, but Ezra doesn't move or turn around to speak to us.

  I share a look with Spencer before asking, "What do you mean?"

  It's then Ezra turns on his seat. "Do you honestly believe Novia and the rest of her kind are the only Naturals that were captured? The only Naturals that reside unwillingly in that hellhole? Because I can assure you, if they have bullets that burnt Novia the way they did, then those sick fucks are harbouring more than one race of Natural. It took me some time to work it out, but the only Natural with the power to burn any living being with a single touch and make it feel as though their entire body was lit on fire are full-blooded demons. Only a rare group of full-blooded demons can burn you with a brush of a finger. They have a higher demon in their midst and are using their power to forge near-indestructible weaponry."

  I stare at the incubus with my mouth parted in shock. Of course. That would make so much sense. How did we not realise this sooner? If they have a higher demon, then that would mean... they have more captured Naturals in that facility.

  Spencer comes to the same conclusion at the same time I do. "The fae aren't the only ones who've been captured. You have to be right about that. But the fae were the only ones who were captured as a whole. Not a single fae was left behind. Why?"

  "I'm beginning to think these humans know more than we've been led to believe. They clearly know of the existence of higher demons despite their rarity." I pause before speaking the thought that comes to me next. "What's to say the humans haven't heard rumours of the prophecy? It would make sense to capture every fae they could to find the one the prophecy spoke of."

  Ezra nods, his lips thinning as his eyes flick to the hallway and back again. "They didn't know what they were looking for, but then they realised Novia's blood was different. I'd bet my life on them figuring out she could be the one that would take them down. That would make sense as to why they want her so desperately. I mean, they sent eight lackeys with that scarred fuck just to retrieve one fae. And they'll go after her more now that they realise even that wasn't enough to catch her."

  "Fuck," Spencer says. His face has paled significantly, and concern is palpable in the air. My worry contributes to that, too. "So, what do we do? How do we keep Novia safe and take down that facility?"

  Ezra doesn't seem to have an answer, so Spencer swings his gaze to me. I ignore his stare and think about how we can protect Novia while we finally rid the world of this facility. "We'll have to take extreme caution with destroying the facility. One wrong move could have an unknown number of Naturals killed. We need to remember there are more Naturals at risk than Novia. She's our main priority, but we need to tread carefully if we want to
save the others and take down these humans."

  I look at Spencer and see him nodding his head in agreement. When my eyes move to Ezra, it's to find him looking distracted. He's rubbing at his chest with furrowed eyebrows, lost in thought.

  "Ezra, are you alright?" I ask.

  I don't receive an answer. Instead, his head tilts to the side, and the hand rubbing at his chest grows more vigorous. Spencer's head suddenly snaps up, and before I can dive into his or Ezra's mind, the front door slams open, and a furious looking Nix storms into the room. His muscles are taut with tension and his breathing is barely controlled.

  "Where the fuck is she?" he growls, sounding more animal than man.

  My eyes widen when I realise I can feel a tugging in my chest. It suddenly dawns on me that Ezra must have been focusing on the same feeling. But if there's a tugging in my chest, that would mean...

  I'm bolting towards Novia's room without answering Nix. My vampire speed has me standing in her room in a matter of seconds, Nix directly behind me, followed by the mage and incubus.

  I look around the room but find it empty. Where we'd left Novia on the bed is nothing but a creased duvet. Nix barges past me and walks straight to the closet, swinging the door so hard it almost breaks off the hinges. "She isn't here. Where is she?!"

  Nix barges out of Novia's closet and stops in his tracks when he sees the open french doors. We all walk closer to the open doors, no doubt making an uncanny resemblance of the Sanderson Sisters, and peer outside as though that will suddenly make Novia appear.

  I look around her room once more, and then focus on the tugging in my chest. The sensation is slowly growing in strength, which tells me that our fae is moving further away from the house. I finally allow a spark of panic to flare up inside my chest.

  "Spencer, how strong are the runes? Will you feel it if Novia leaves the perimeter?" I ask, unable to disguise my worry now that it's all I can feel with the knowledge of Novia being vulnerable to Davis without us and away from the protection of the runes.

  The mage faces me with dread-ridden eyes and mutters, "Yeah. I should be able to feel it the moment she crosses over the-"

  His sentence cuts off, but I don't need him to finish what he was about to say. I feel it, too. The moment she steps over the rune’s border, my chest feels like it constricts in on itself. Everything screams at me to chase after Novia, to bring her back where she'll be safe.

  One look at the others proves she and the bond have had the same effect on them, though Nix looks a little worse for wear. He crashes to the floor, breathing heavily and clutching his arms to his stomach while he curls in on himself. A growl permeates the air, one that’s filled with as much pain as it is anger.

  As soon as I'm able to breathe properly again without my chest feeling as though it's seconds away from caving in on itself, I speak. "Nix?"

  He doesn't move from the floor for the longest minute. Another growl escapes him, and this one sounds predominantly more animal than the last. Doing the only thing I can think of, I slip into Nix's mind and find his normal thoughts missing. What's in their place is something I've never witnessed before. All thoughts are focused on Novia. A deep, instinctual layer surrounds his thoughts, and I quickly realise rational Nix is no longer in charge.

  His animals have taken over. And we need to back away from him. Now.

  Whispering into Spencer and Ezra's minds, I tell them to back away from Nix as slowly as they can manage while making as little noise as possible. They do as they’re told, slipping past him without incident. Coming to stand beside me, we create an unintentional barrier between Nix and the only way out of this room.

  I take a steady step forward, making to speak to Nix, when suddenly his head snaps up. I'm quickly moving back a step when I see his eyes have changed from their usual deep blue. Instead, a set of yellow wolf-like irises stare back at me with an intensity that has the hairs on my arms standing on end. Long, piercing canines have dropped from his gums and poke his bottom lip, nicking his skin and drawing a drop of blood.

  I lift my hands in a placating gesture, but it only agitates him further. His lips pull back in a vicious snarl, and in a heartbeat, Nix is standing. His large frame seems impossibly larger, tight with tension and restrained muscle. He looks more imposing than he ever has in all of the time I've known him.

  Just as I think he's going to brace himself for an attack, his head tilts upwards, and he inhales deeply. A bestial growl leaves him this time, and when his head snaps back down, it's in the direction of the window.

  With no warning at all, Nix bolts for the doors and, in a blink, is throwing himself over the balcony and shifting into his large white wolf form before he even hits the ground. My damn heart somersaults under my ribs as I watch him soar through the sky and land with a loud thump as his paws hit the soft grass below.

  My heart thunders even more when I take a look into his mind and realise he's going after one thing and one thing only.

  Novia.

  Chapter 24

  Nix

  I try to fight it, but my animals are too strong. They’re all clawing at me at once, sending pain rushing through my body. Pain like I’ve never felt before. They want out, but I won’t give up that easily. I’ve held on this long, even when realisation hit me that Novia had disappeared. They fought me then, and I won.

  I fight it just as much as they fight me. I clutch my stomach, doing anything to keep my animals locked down inside of me, trying to keep them at bay. I need to think rationally, but my animals won’t let me. Instinct won’t let me.

  I need Novia. And so do my animals.

  I put up a good fight, but in the end, I lose.

  My wolf takes over, crashing to the forefront of my mind, stronger than I’ve ever felt. The other animals are still pacing around restlessly, but it’s suddenly as though nothing in the world matters other than one person. All of his thoughts zero in on Novia. The fae.

  My mate.

  Mate.

  Where is she? Where is my mate? Why is she running? Who is she running from? I have to find her. I need to bring her home. I need to protect her.

  Make her mine.

  Mine.

  MINE.

  Chapter 25

  Novia

  After finding the tracker in my arm, I went to tell the others. I could hear them talking when I reached the top of the stairs, so I stayed where I was as not to interrupt. Sitting on the top step, I heard their entire conversation. Heard them talk about weapons, Naturals, the bonds between us. I heard them when they theorised that the humans knew more than we ever thought they would. But most of all, I heard Ezra ask the question that had my heart stilling in my chest.

  Do you honestly believe Novia and the rest of her kind are the only Naturals that were captured?

  Honestly, it hadn't occurred to me that others would be taken. Now that the question has been asked, and the guys have discussed the possibility that the facility has more Naturals imprisoned within its walls, the more naïve I feel for not thinking of it sooner. Of course, they would capture more Naturals. Those who have varying abilities that would aid them in the war they're brewing. We're pawns for them to use in this war, pawns with the power to make them indestructible.

  And I have a tracker inside my arm that will lead them to four of the strongest Naturals I know.

  Although Spencer has runes placed around the house to create a shielding barrier, I don't trust that it will be enough to keep us all hidden. Spencer has only just started using more power after going years without using it to its full extent. These humans had been experimenting on and observing Naturals for who knows how long before my people were taken. If they do know more than we've credited them with, then there's a possibility that they could find us in spite of the runes.

  I can't be the reason the men I care for are caught. I won't sit here waiting for us to be found, putting the guys in more danger. And I certainly won't sit here while who knows how many Naturals are still living in c
aptivity and are being used for those sick bastards; plans.

  First, I have to remove this tracker.

  I form a half-baked plan in my head, one that will leave me far enough away to remove the tracker to keep my guys safe. After that, I'll work out what to do about the facility.

  Just as Ezra is saying something about my blood being different, I rush to my closet on silent feet. I find a duffel bag and snatch some clothes from hangers and drawers, stuffing them into the bag before zipping it tightly and leaving the room.

  Standing in the middle of my new room, I look around, feeling my heart sink. I'd just found a home with people who mean so much to me. And now I'm going to have to leave it all behind to keep them safe.

  I sigh, and a lone tear escapes my eye. Batting it away, I move to the beautifully-carved french doors, opening them slowly so they don't make a noise. I step onto the balcony, and, with one last look behind me, I phase to the tree line at the back of the house.

  I look back at the house, but when I hear the furious roar that sounds awfully similar to a tiger, I phase again. I land further into the woods, and I keep phasing. When the house fades from view, and I'm sure I'm far enough away, I start running to save my energy.

  As soon as I reach the perimeter where the runes are carved into the ground, I take a deep breath and step over the barrier. The growing tugging in my chest explodes, and I'm left to curl in on myself while I wait to catch my breath.

  The moment my eyes focus again, and I can take a breath without my chest hurting, I check my arm. The light that had previously been orange has turned green. It wouldn't take a genius to know the tracker has been activated. Deciding now is a good a time as any, I begin to phase through the woods, disappearing and reappearing further and further away from the house, leaving a huge chunk of my heart in the process.