“Kol is what we call Borderline. He was born on November 29th, that is on the cusp of a Scorpio and Serpentarian so he has powers of both. Not everyone who was born on the cusp gains powers from both signs, but Kol did. He’s a water user, but he’s also an ether user.”
“Holy shit.” I breathe.
“Kol compelled you to forget the night we shared, at my request. And now I see he chose to remove his compulsion of his own accord. I know you must think I should have done this a lot sooner, but with everything going on and your pregnancy I didn’t want to overwhelm you.”
“Well consider me overwhelmed.” I say sarcastically and to my eternal surprise, Theon has the good sense to look disarmed. Speechless even.
“I—I didn’t know you were pregnant until much later Kara. Not until I found you that night in the woods with Amara’s brother, when you were trying to rescue her from Kol.”
“So it wasn’t intentional?”
“It wasn’t, no.”
The look in his eye makes me believe him. He was as surprised as I was after the ball to find out I was pregnant. “But something tells me it has to do with what happened after.”
“I’m sorry?”
“After we met we spent quite some time on that beach talking. It was then that you had your very first and only run in with the Hunters.”
“The Zodiac Hunters?” I say in alarm. “That’s who those guys were.”
“Yes. And if I hadn’t been there you and your friends would all be dead.”
“I thought they only go after Serpentarians.”
“Their focus are Serpentarians, but they will kill any Zodiac they can get their hands on. Their hate for our kind, it’s universal.”
“Why do you keep doing this to me? Why do you keep revealing all of your plans, your secrets, one at a time?”
“Because you only need to know what I want you to know.” he says sternly.
“You threatened your own children to get me to do what you wanted.” I challenge him.
“And you lied about losing your powers.” he fires back. This I have no response for. “Yes. Do you think there is anything that goes on here that I don’t know about? I know Clea’s soul is back. I know Amara is at the Vakrovian palace, no thanks to you.”
“How was that not the first place you looked when you started looking for her anyway?” I say just to distract him.
“I did. I have someone on the inside and he said she was not there. Obviously he lied.”
“Who do you have on the inside?”
“One of my men. Daxon Sutters. And when I get my hands on him, rest assured he will be punished.”
—CHAPTER FIFTEEN—
AARIC
BLEEDER
Malia is incredible.
We watch as she singlehandedly turns every Zodiac Hunter on our tail into a bag of bones, all by herself. And she does it with such grace and stealth that I just can’t look away.
“Where are you guys headed?” she asks once she’s finished, swiping her bloody sword against the jacket of one of the dead bodies.
“Uh, we—we uh…”
“We’re looking for something. We have to go after it before it gets too far away.” Bay answers for me and Felix eyes me questionably. I only shake my head and try to find my voice.
“It?” Malia questions with a smile.
“Who.” Niykee offers, but it isn’t believable. Not even for us.
“Right. Well, wherever you’re headed, it’d be best you not be on the road at night. Hunters will find you and kill you. Lucky for you I have a place you can stay for the night.”
“We’re not going anywhere with a complete stranger who just happens to know my friend’s name.” Felix objects. I glance at him, but he doesn’t acknowledge the fact that he called me his friend, despite his current hatred for me.
“I know his name because I met his sister and her friend a few days before you all got your magic back.”
“Wait, you knew my sister?”
“Well, we met once. She and her friend Kara came to see me while I was working at the Winter Solstice festival in Taar.”
“Why?”
“I was working as a Seer there. She wanted to talk about her mother and when I touched her, I knew right away what she was. I told her to talk to her parents about it. Obviously she did.”
“We discovered our magic on our own.” Niykee says.
“Oh. Well, clearly she got it back. Look, you don’t have to trust me, but you do need to find a place to stay tonight. You can’t be on the road. You’ll be dead before the sun comes up.”
“We need to talk to Roman.” Niykee makes a good point. If anyone can tell if Malia is lying to us it’s Roman. He’s trained for this type of thing.
“Where is he?”
“In the transit.” Bay answers.
“You left him in the transit?” I shout, already making my way back to the road. We don’t know how many friends those Hunters had hanging around and Roman is weak. I race to the transit as fast as I can and when I get there I skid to a stop.
“How many?” Malia demands the moment she and the others race up behind me.
“Four at least. Where’s Roman?” I demand.
“There!” Niykee shouts, pointing to the back of the transport where Roman leans, cradling a bleeding wound in his lower abdomen, struggling to stay upright.
Niykee meets my eyes. “Go.” she orders me, knowing I’m the only one who can heal him.
I rush to Roman. The Hunters zero in, but Malia and the others are there to distract them while I help Roman.
“Hey buddy, how we doin’?” I say lightly, to distract myself as much as him from the blood staining his shirt.
“They got me with one of their scythes.”
“Scythes? Really? They carry scythes?”
“They thought it would be ironic. Reapers. You know.”
“Alright. Hold still.” I hover my hand over his wound, calling on my magic to heal him. It ripples through me, strong and familiar. The blood doesn’t disappear. It never does, but Roman looks instantly less on the verge of death. “How does that feel?”
“Better, but I…I’m still weak, from getting all of you out of that house.”
“What can I do to help?” I ask, sliding a glance toward the others. They’re fighting the Hunters off good enough for now, but I don’t know how long it’ll last. We need Roman.
Roman meets my eyes. “You can give me your hand and trust me.”
I don’t like that look in his eyes, but despite myself, I do trust him. He’s proven time and time again that he’d do anything to save my sister. So I give him my hand.
But what he does next I don’t expect. As soon as his hand touches mine I feel it, in the pit of my stomach. His power, leeching away at mine. It isn’t enough to weaken me the way he was weakened, but it’s enough for me to notice. He pulls back from me before he can do too much damage. When I look up at him he’s got his color back and that sickly look in his eyes is gone.
“What the hell Roman?”
“Later.” He jumps to his feet, ready to fight, and all I can do is do the same.
In the back of my mind, I wish for a water user.
We may not be able to strike these fuckers with magic, but like Roman said we can make it really difficult for them to fight by striking the things around us. And a raging thunder storm would do us well right about now.
But I’ve got two earth users, one air, one very strange nether-fire user, and whatever the hell Malia is. Luckily we’re in the woods, which is the best place for us to be for Bay and Felix.
They manipulate the earth around us, using trees and rooted branches to trip up the Hunters. Roman tries to suck the air from our enemy’s lungs, but that’s one of the things that doesn’t affect them. So instead he manipulates the air around them, using it to knock around branches, create storms with the fallen leaves.
But our magic will only last for so long before we either grow weak from
using it or they out-maneuver us and so I reach for the sword tucked into the holster at my side. If they want to play with blades, I’ll play.
A scythe collides with my sword and the Hunter’s hood falls back, revealing a man beneath, not a teenager like the other Hunters we saw back at the Manor. “You can fight all you want, serpent, but you are few and far compared to us.” he warns, cutting into my shoulder with his scythe. I wince at the pain, but strike out with my sword. The Hunter loses his footing and stumbles into his back.
Malia is there in seconds with her own sword, slicing it across the man’s neck. “Maybe, but you’re half human and I think we’ve demonstrated quite nicely how humans fair in the midst of gods.”
Suddenly there’s a blade at my throat, a Hunter looming behind me. “She’s going to die, ya know.” His breath is on my neck, hot and foul. “That pretty little harbinger of death. When we get our hands on her we’re going to gut her like a fish. Unfortunately you won’t be around to see it.”
Rage settles in my stomach like a poison or a rot, all-consuming, and it is that rage that gives me the strength I need to gain the upper hand. I stomp on the Hunter’s foot and spin on him. I ditch the sword and go straight for my blade, turning it on him. “I’m going to lay waste to all of you before you ever get the chance. Every last one.”
My confidence is what nearly gets me killed. I got for his neck with my blade, but he’s quicker than I am and he swipes out at me. I feel the scythe slice into my stomach. It doesn’t go deep, but it’s enough to sting and make me drop my blade.
I damn near fall back, but Malia is behind my suddenly, shoving me upright. I look at the Hunter and when I do he sees my rage, and I see his fear. He never should have mentioned my sister. I take out the dagger from my boot and strike out. I don’t care where. He threatened my sister. It’s all I can think about as I cut and slice.
I pull the dagger out and insert it again, and again and again. “Aaric,” someone calls out to me, but I can barely hear it. This time when I stab starlet blood spits up at me. “Aaric! Aaric, stop!” Niykee grabs hold of my stabbing arm, halting the dagger in midair, the blade dripping in Hunter blood. “Aaric, he’s dead.”
The blade tumbles from my hands, landing on the earth below. When I pull my hand back they’re both shaking.
“Aaric,” Niykee whispers from behind me.
“He…he threatened Amara.” When I look back at her I see everyone’s eyes are on me, scattered across the dirt path, bloody and staring.
“Aaric…” Niykee says softly. When I meet her eyes I see fear. I scared her. Niykee does not get scared so I can’t imagine what I must look like to her now.
“I’m sorry.” I whisper to her.
She pulls my bloody hands into hers and holds them tight until they stop shaking. “It’s okay. We’re gonna get her back, Aaric, I promise. We’re gonna get her back.”
All I can do is nod.
“We need to get out of here.” Malia speaks up.
“Show us the way.” Bay says. The rest of us turn to look at him. “She saved my brother’s life. For tonight that’s gonna have to be enough.”
“Come on. I’ll drive.” Roman says.
“No, you won’t.” I argue. “You’ve got some explaining to do. Felix will drive.”
When we climb back into the transit I go to the bathroom to clean off some of this blood. When I see myself in the mirror I don’t recognize my reflection. Angry blue eyes, blood splattered all over my face and arms. The way I killed that man, it was with all the rage I had in me. It wasn’t self-defense. It was vengeance, for something he did not do.
Everyone wants to hurt her. The king of Vakrov, Theon, the Hunters. Everyone is out to get her. A seventeen-year-old girl who’s only worry months ago was if she and Tristan were meant to be together. A child. Now she’s a pawn in a war started long before we were born. Now she’s the target because of a learned hatred by the humans.
I lurch forward and vomit into the sink, because of exhaustion, fear, or simply from being overwhelmed, I don’t know.
When the sick feeling passes I scrub at the blood to get it off me. I think I get most of it before I go and have a seat across from Roman. “Talk.” I say to him. “How the hell did you manage to leech power from me to restore your own?”
“What?” Bay looks up from picking at his bloody shirt. “You did what now?”
“He’s a Bleeder.” Malia says and shrugs like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
“A what?” Bay and I question.
“A Bleeder. You don’t know what a Bleeder is?” Malia almost scoffs. She definitely rolls her eyes. “What are they teaching you at that palace? A Bleeder is a very rare type of Zodiac who can regenerate their own magic by bleeding it out of someone else. They can also bleed magic into someone as well, but it’s much harder to do.”
“Type of Zodiac?” I snap. “There are different types now? Shit, are we ever going to know everything about this world we’re living in or are we doomed to learn something new every damn day?”
“Aaric, calm down.” Niykee says.
“I am not a ticking timebomb, Niyk. The guy threatened my sister. I lost my cool. That’s all there is.”
“Well in case you forgot, she’s my sister too.” Niykee snarls at me and walks back into the bathroom, slamming the door shut hard as she can.
I sit up, resting my elbows on my knees and dropping my face into my hands. “Oh, I’m an ass.”
“You’re an ass.” Bay replies.
I press my cheek against the glass of the transit, drowning myself in my own self-pity for a minute before Roman comes to sit with me. “Ooh,” he groans, inching away. “Your breath stinks.”
“Thanks, buddy. What else would you like to pile on, huh? Lost my sister, failed Haven, let Kara get kidnapped, sent us on this doomed crusade to find a freaking magical object that may or may not exist, and now I’ve pissed off the only sister I still have. Where does it end?”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, Aaric. Bleeders, they sort of run in my family, but we’re not widely accepted due to our abilities to drain people dry and I should have told you, but I—it’s good to know that you trust me.”
I tilt my head up to face him. “Secrets are what got us into this mess. We can’t have any more of them.”
“Agreed.” Roman nods.
“Okay, we’re here.”
Malia’s brought us to a tavern in the capital called Legacies. As she brings us inside she tells us it’s where she met Kara and Amara all those months ago. She’s also very certain that this is the safest place for us.
The inside is dead, telling me just how late it is. Well after midnight I suspect. The only sign of life is a man behind the bar, stacking shelves with bottles from boxes.
“Auron, I’ve got company.” Malia announces as we all file in behind her.
The man eyes Malia in disapproval, discarding an empty box to the side. “Friend or foe?” he asks.
“Would I bring you a foe, Auron?” Malia smirks at the man, teasing.
“You have.” he grumbles. He appears to be in his forties, which tells me he’s probably much older than he looks. Since most Zodiacs’ aging slows in their late teens, early twenties it’s impossible to know anyone’s true age anymore.
“You might remember this one.” Malia points to Roman.
When Auron’s fades, dark eyes fall on the prince he stops, staring as if he’s seen a ghost. Judging by the look on Roman’s face he recognizes the man too.
“Auron Ashden.” Roman says softly.
“How do you two know each other?” I ask skeptically.
“He served my father for many years. He was the Commander of the King’s Guard.” Roman explains, eyes never leaving Auron. “My father was heartbroken to have to let him go.”
“Let him go?”
“Bum leg.” Auron explains. “Hard to get around, harder to fight. Had to take my leave. What trouble you got yourself into son?” h
e asks Roman.
“Friend of mine needs help. She’s special and she’s made a lot of enemies because of it.”
“Tell me you haven’t gone and fallen in love with that Serpentarian girl.”
“How did you know—”
“Word gets around, Your Highness. I know about the girl with the touch of death. We also know she ain’t tucked safely away in that palace a’ yours no more.”
“I’m trying to help her.” Roman says, looking embarrassed. Like we didn’t already know he’s in love with my sister.
“You outta crawl back to that palace where you’re safe.” Auron mutters. “Who are you runnin’ from?”
“Hunters.”
“Hunters?” He sounds doubtful, like he doesn’t believe us. “There aren’t any Hunters around here.”
“That why you’ve got wards up around this place?” Roman asks. Auron raises an eyebrow to him in surprise. “I can sense the Piscean magic.”
“That’s right. You’re a Bleeder.” Auron nods. “If Hunters are after you it’s because someone sent them. Hunters don’t enter big cities like these unless they got a mark. One of you is it. My money’s on blondie over here.” He nods toward me.
“Me? Why me?”
“An easier question might be why not you? You are the famous Serpentarian girl’s twin brother, aren’t ya?”
“I am.”
“Then it’s you. No doubt in my mind.” He moves out from behind the bar and I see he’s limping on his right side. “You all can stay the night. Just the one. I did my time fighting. I don’t do that anymore.”
“That’s all we need.” I assure him.
“Go on Malia. Show them where they can sleep for the night. Ya’ll are welcome to help yourself to a drink and some food once you’re settled. I’m going to bed.”
“Thanks Pop.” Malia says.
“Pop?” I question her, but she just smiles, leading us down the hall. “Well, you are just full of surprises, aren’t you?”
“You have no idea, Boudelaire.”
—CHAPTER SIXTEEN—
AARIC
ENGAGEMENT
Auron must spend a lot of late nights here at the tavern because there is a back room with two beds and a nightstand.
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