The Chilling Change Of Air (Elemental Awakening, Book 3)

by Nicola Claire

  My knees suddenly gave out and I only just made it a chair in the corner of the room before collapsing. Theo remained where he stood, watching impassively from beside Mark's silent form. There'd be no brotherly intervention to protect me from Theo's rage this time.

  I hadn't realised how normal that had felt. Mark and me against the world, like it had been growing up.

  "It almost killed him," I said through trembling lips. "A Stoicheio he'd used before turned against him." I couldn't get my head around it.

  "Do you realise now why I didn't want you doing this?" Theo asked quietly.

  I nodded, unable to voice a reply.

  Theo sighed but still didn't approach. "Cassandra, I understand your desire to reconnect, we all feel it. But the consequences are too grave."

  "I know that now," I mumbled.

  "But it had to take your brother being harmed for that to happen. You couldn't see what had transpired with Isadora and leave it there. You had to keep pushing."

  "I get it," I offered, numbly.

  "You're an intelligent woman," Theo went on, and I realised he might be on a rant himself. I leaned back in the chair and closed my eyes, but I could only see Mark drowning behind my lids. "I can't comprehend why you insist on being so stubborn. Any other sane person would have taken one look at Isadora and realised the futility of what you and Mark just did."

  "I realise it now," I murmured, feeling lost and alone and impotent.

  "You insist on doing things your own way," Theo continued, ignoring my utter capitulation in this. "You forget we have far more experience, have lived far longer, and therefore, more often than not, have seen it all before. Yet you refuse to take our direction."

  "Have you seen this?" I asked. He wasn't listening.

  "I have a right mind to tie you to our bed," - and he wasn't talking in a kinky way here - "keep you safe and away from danger, but you'd probably try to set the binds on fire or get a tree root to bust you out of prison."

  I groaned. He ignored that too.

  "But you know what really upsets me?" he said, voice whisper quiet all of a sudden.

  My eyes opened to see where he was, the volume had made it difficult to tell if he had moved closer or not. He hadn't, he was looking down at my still out of it brother, a contemplative and resigned look on his face.

  "I actually admire your spirit," he added. "I feel drawn to your resolve. I am inexplicably curious to see what you'll do next. You make me feel so very young again. And it's an addiction I know I have already succumbed to. But at the same time I have never been so frightened in all my vast years to be attracted to a woman before. This need, it is beyond normal, it is definitely not what I would call healthy. I can't explain it, I just know that I would die if you did. And I would lay down my life to save yours."

  His eyes finally came up to hold my gaze, intense hazel stared back at me. The look one I would have normally expected to see in gold. His hunger as potent as when he could reach Fire.

  "I may not remember our past," he whispered in an emotion-laden rough voice. "I may not remember making you my Thisavros. But there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that you are. What I feel is so foreign, yet so right. And it is a part of me, deep down, that even memory loss cannot erase. You are mine, Casey Eden. Before Pyrkagia. During Pyrkagia. And now after Pyrkagia, you still remain mine."

  I saw the truth, right there, on his stoic face, in his pleading eyes, resounding in every rasped word he spoke. Just as our Stoicheio were still there, but somehow cut off to us, our Thisavros connection was still there as well. Just cut off to us. I didn't have an answer on how to reach either, I just knew that we hadn't lost them. They hadn't been stolen or given away. They still existed.

  Isadora's efforts were proof of that.

  We just had to believe we'd reach them and we would.

  "Do you have nothing to say?" Theo asked, his entire frame held rigid.

  I looked from his tense waiting face to my brother's relaxed unconscious one, and knew no matter what, I'd be trying again. Maybe not quite so recklessly, I'd have to think of something to soften the throwback of attempting to reach a Stoicheio, but I would do it again.

  Theo had got one thing very, very right. I was resolved to fix this.

  But he'd also hit the nail on the head of another valid point. No matter what had happened, or would happen, we were Thisavros, even when we weren't.

  I let a long breath of air out and pushed up from my chair, relieved my legs held my weight. Theo kept his eyes on mine as I slowly approached, looking a little like a man about to be punched in the stomach. I could tell he was holding himself taut, muscles flexed but tightly controlled, breaths all but disappeared. I think he might have even started sweating, but I was too busy drowning in the hazel that should have been gold.

  I stopped just before him, head tipped back so I could look him in the face, my chest rising and falling steadily, even though it felt like I was sucking in desperate gulps of air.

  "I have loved you since the moment you walked into my store," I said softly, my voice only slightly warbling. "I loved you still when you threatened to take my head." His lips twitched. "I loved you when your father held a knife to my throat and you risked your life in more ways than one to fight him for me." The lips turned down in a frown. "I loved you," I had to take a breath then, before I could go on, "when I thought you'd died trying to keep me from the Gi."

  Pain flared in his eyes, mirroring mine.

  "I continued to love you when you were thought dead," I pushed on. "It was all that got me through the Gi torture. I kept loving you when we were on the run from the Basilissa. I loved you more when we faced the Aeras shaman and found out just what might be in store. I loved you, completely, utterly, when we faced your father and thought Aktor had betrayed us, and you stayed so strong. I loved you throughout my time on that table in the Rigas' lab."

  "Casey," he whispered, voice broken.

  "I loved you then. I love you still. And even when you couldn't remember me, you no longer loved me, I loved you enough for both of us."

  "Oraia," he breathed, swaying slightly as though he longed to reach out. But Theo was leaving this entirely up to me. My move. My decision. He stood tall and waited for me to reach for him.

  "I can't stop loving you," I whispered, tears filling my eyes. "But I also can't stop trying to fix what is wrong in this world." His eyelids closed and his head tipped back, face to the ceiling, his chest rising and falling abruptly. "I'm not sure if this is just the person I am, or if it is some sort of compulsion tied in to being Aether. But this is who I am now."

  His head tipped down and there was such pain and heartache and fear in his eyes it almost made me take the words back, reach out and soothe him, tell him I'd tie myself to the bed, just to stop seeing that haunted look on his face.

  "I'm telling you," I croaked, "that I love you, no matter what. From the beginning. Through any hell we have to traverse. Until the end of time."

  His lips parted as a panted breath of air escaped. I reached up and held a finger to them, before he said whatever he was preparing to say.

  "I'm asking you to do the same for me," I whispered, the words barely audible now, my throat constricted with emotion to such a degree, I could barely talk. "No matter what hell we have to traverse until the end of time."

  That was it. I was done. A hitched and painful sound left my lips as my body shook and the tears fell down my face. I couldn't do this alone. And I'd realised I couldn't do this without him. But I had to do it. If he asked me to pick him over this battle stretching out indefinitely before us, I'm not entirely sure what my answer would be.

  I just prayed it wasn't a question he asked of me. I just prayed he loved me no matter what.

  "My sweet, sweet little Gi," he rasped, husky and sexy even if it was from the type of emotion that did not lead to those illicit thoughts. "Don't you realise," he added. "I have loved you even when I couldn't remember you. I've loved through my own type of
hell. And I will love you for eternity."

  "Even if I do monumentally stupid and dangerous things against all reasonable Athanatos advice?"

  He started chuckling, a rumble emerging from his chest.

  "Especially then."

  "Really?"

  "Really."

  "Does that mean you'll help me?" I needed him. There was no denying it now. I needed him with me if I was going to do this.

  "Aetheros," he breathed. "You drive me crazy. You make me feel emotions I haven't felt before. Good, bad, frightful, alarming. You never stop pushing for more and I will never stop giving it to you."

  "Ah, was that a yes?"

  "Yes, it's a yes," he growled, finally reaching across that last distance between us and hauling me into his arms. His lips smashed down onto mine, his hand fisted in my hair tipping my head at exactly the right angle, his tongue delved in and took control, directing me, feeding me, lighting me on fire.

  Then against my mouth, when he had me at his complete and utter mercy, he whispered, "But, you will promise me you will do these monumentally stupid and dangerous things only with me at your side."

  He pulled back and looked down into my eyes, daring me to argue.

  Silly man. That's exactly what I'd been after all along.

  "I promise," I whispered in reply.

  "Why is it I think you had this all planned?" he muttered.

  "Maybe because you're a very astute Athanatos who has, more often than not, seen it all before."

  "Oraia," he drawled. "You took me completely by surprise and continue to do so every single day."

  "And don't you forget it," I shot back. "I wouldn't want you to get bored in your old age."

  "Oh, my old age, is it? Well, in that case allow me to demonstrate my youthful prowess." His face fell into the curve of my neck and shoulder, his lips tickling me enough to make me laugh. Then he walked me back towards the wall beside the fireplace and penned me in with his hands up beside my head and his body pressed against me and his lips and tongue sending me into another dimension and making me forget completely where we were.

  "Mmm," he purred against me. "Convinced yet?"

  "No," I breathed as his lips dipped lower and my t-shirt collar stretched as he moved his attention to the upper curve of my breast.

  "Yet?" he breathed, licking a trail up my cleavage.

  "Ah," I managed as his hips rocked against my centre and I melted against the wall.

  "How about now?"

  "Um." My leg somehow found its way around his hip, my centre seeking more delicious friction as I arched my back and rubbed when he thrust, making more unintelligible sounds emerge from my lips.

  "Casey," Theo pleaded.

  Yes. Yes, it was time. I needed this. We needed this. Despite everything we'd been through, despite everyone who had come against us, despite a world on the brink of annihilation, I was still his and he was still mine. And I wanted what was mine now.

  "Yes," I breathed. "Please," I begged.

  Theo made a sexy growling sound as his hands finally moved from their position beside my head, flat against the wall, and shifted to my rear, lifting me up and wrapping both legs around his waist, as he rocked forward, his teeth nibbling at my nipple through my t-shirt, making me throw my head back, my body quake, and my breaths to come in little pants.

  "Theo," I begged.

  "Yes," he agreed, sounding as on edge as me. "I've got you. I'll take care of you. Oh, Oraia, I need this."

  We both did. It was time.

  "Now," I demanded as his hand went to the buttons on my jeans and he deftly undid them and pulled the zip down.

  "Aetheros," he breathed against my lips, kissing me passionately, putting everything into the moment to show me how much he wanted me, how much he was going to give me, how good it was going to be.

  He pulled back only long enough to kiss my cheeks, my jaw, my throat and begin to pull my jeans and underwear down.

  I could feel him straining in his trousers, feel the hot, hard ridge of his erection just there. Feel the heat flow off his body, feel the trembling in his fingers. I could scent his arousal. I could hear his harsh gasps for air. I could see his determination and the lust and love that showed in his eyes.

  It consumed me. Filled me. And he hadn't even entered me yet. But I knew if he didn't I would surely die.

  "Mine," he rasped against my shoulder while unfastening his trousers.

  "Mine," I breathed back making him growl in satisfaction.

  A part of me hoped that this would do it. This would bring our Thisavros connection back. A part of me I didn't want to assess too deeply. Didn't want to trust too deeply. But couldn't help feeling in any case.

  I felt him free himself, my hand darting down immediately and wrapping around his hard silken length, as though called there, unable to stop myself, needing that tactile connection, when the spiritual one may let me down.

  "Casey," Theo groaned rocking his hips. "Now," he begged, still rocking.

  "Yeah, now would be a good time to find your own room," my brother drawled from over on the mattress. "That's my sister you're about to..."

  "Don't finish that sentence if you wish to survive," Theo barked out, his entire body statue still, shielding me from view, but I still felt way too exposed just then.

  I closed my eyes, removed my hand from a certain part of Theo's naked anatomy, my body shaking, my heart pounding, my face flushed bright red.

  "And if you don't mind," Theo added. "I think we will."

  And then he lifted me off the wall, making sure I was suitably covered, and stormed out of Mark's bedroom and down the hall to the one we'd been sharing. Thunder and lightning in his intent gaze, a palpable feeling of pending explosion rolling off his body. His intention very, very clear.

  I held my breath and waited for him to kick the door closed behind us and lower me to the bed before I spoke.

  "Now the whole house will know what we're doing," I whispered as he hovered over me, frustration and longing on his face.

  "Bloody fucking hell," he muttered and then collapsed down the side of me and covered his face with the back of his forearm. "I don't suppose you can pretend we're on a desert island and it's just the two of us, could you?" he asked, hopefully.

  I let out my own frustrated breath of air, and said, "Want to go for a drive?"

  His head turned towards me and he slowly smiled.

  "No reason to stay here," he murmured. "Your brother is clearly recovered. The others are resting near their Stoicheio. It would be wise to see what's happening in the city, from a purely strategic and overall safety point of view."

  "Absolutely," I agreed, wholeheartedly.

  He jumped up off the bed displaying his youthful prowess beautifully and announced, "I'll bring the car around the front, you bring the blanket."

  And then practically ran out of the room, that same thunder and lightning in his focused gaze, but now mixed with a little hope and excitement.

  I just prayed it wasn't Genesis' turn to cock-block us this time. Mark had managed to do an excellent job, I'm not sure we'd survive the interruption of the End of Days as well.

  My brother was bad enough.

  Chapter 18

  And In The End None Of It Mattered

  The tension in the SUV was thick and electric. I was momentarily relieved not to have our Stoicheio able to join in the fun right now. Had Pyrkagia been available to draw on, I was sure the temperature inside the vehicle would have surpassed the hot of right now and exploded into blistering.

  To take my mind off the impending and much wanted upcoming activities, and the logistics of actually finding a safe place to carry them out, I focused on the roadways and buildings and people we passed. In the short amount of time since the earthquake, the humans had rallied. An organisation of sorts was noticeable on the streets.

  Big blue porta-loos dotted the cracked pavement, large piles of rubble were being added to with wheelbarrow loads from nearby properties
. A truck stood at the intersection of the roads at the end of our street, on it large clear flagons of water being handed out along with plastic wrapped care-parcels full of foodstuffs and survival essentials.

  The earthquake in Christchurch a few years back had certainly put a rocket up the Civil Defence's backsides, their rapid response to this disaster was commendable. But they didn't know this wasn't the end. And there was no point warning them.

  Of course the doomsday preacher on the end of another street, standing on an upturned wooden box and yelling at the top of his lungs about God's fury and the penance of mankind was a foreshadowing. Just the wrong god and wrong crimes to be paid for. I'm sure the balance of the Elements had nothing to do with greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, gluttony or wrath.

  We made our way through the upheaval and evidence of humanity's desire to survive, and wended up the curved road of Mount Victoria, coming to rest in a thankfully abandoned carpark. The clean-up of the city's streets having not made it this far, some off-roading had to be undertaken just to reach the summit.

  The cooling tick of the engine filled the space as we looked out across Wellington and its harbour. From here we had a panoramic view of the entire city, covered in a haze of smoke from open fires, mired in a pall of broken civilisation and cloaked in an elevated level of fear. They may not have known more was to come, but the humans knew this was a disaster on a scale never witnessed globally before. It wasn't natural, even though it appeared to have taken form in a natural way. Earthquakes, the earth's unspoken temper tantrums.

  "Come on," Theo encouraged, opening his side of the car and pulling the blanket out after him, and a little soft sided chilli-bin I hadn't noticed he'd had stored on the back seat until then. I followed to where he took his time laying the woollen rug out, in a spot of still intact grass just beyond the tarseal of the carpark.

  It was too open for my liking, but no one was around to see. Too busy picking up the remnants of their lives down in the shattered city beneath us. And there was something about this place. If God had always appeared to live in a heaven in the sky, Aetheros existed around us. On the highest available peak in our newly adopted town.