by Audra Hart
Kylor raises an eyebrow when he feels the power of his siblings rise up and encompass them all. He squeezes Aiden’s hand and says, “Now little brother.” Kylor feels Aiden join with him and reach out and collect the power from their siblings and channel it toward their mother and father. Aiden has taken the lead and is pushing forward, reaching out for their parents. Suddenly Kylor’s breath is nearly knocked from his body when he senses the pain their Father is experiencing. He feels his Mother’s frustration and her pain. “Oh God no! Mother has been injured… she’s been stabbed! No practically gutted! How?”
“FOCUS KYLOR!” Aiden’s voice echoes through Kylor’s mind. Kylor nods and tightens his focus onto his parents again. He strengthens his grip on the power from his siblings and wraps it around their parents and starts to drag them toward the Healer’s Hall.
Suddenly they all feel a hostile presence coming against them. A malicious entity focused on stopping their rescue, intent on destroying them all. Kylor feels Aideen break away from her siblings and face the entity. The hostile presence focuses on Aideen and the other siblings pull even harder on their parents. Relief washes over all of the siblings when Morna and Luca slam onto the floor of the Healer’s Hall. The icy cold blast from the other dimension fills the hall. Kylor feels the focus of his siblings breaking up, releasing their hold on their collective power.
“NO! Don’t relax yet, we have to bring Aideen back! She’s fending the attacker off. FOCUS!” Aiden orders his siblings. He feels their focus tighten, and twist together like a steel cable. Kylor and Aiden reach out searching for Aideen. “We found her!” Aiden says happily… but his happiness is short lived. She’s hurt badly. Her life force is quickly ebbing away.
Kylor feels the malevolent presence of the attacker, laughing evilly at her defeat. Kylor slips in unnoticed and feels like he picks up his sister in his arms and Aiden drags them both back to the Healer’s Hall. Kylor opens his eyes and looks down. Aideen is actually in his arms. She is unconscious and bleeding completely covered in blood. Her eyes are closed and she’s incredibly pale and Kylor cannot sense her heartbeat or life force. He turns and rushes to lie her on a gurney in the nearest exam room.
Brigid joins him in treating his sister. Kylor briefly wonders where she came from. He looks over his shoulder and calls to Aiden, “How’s Mother and Father?”
“Mordir is working on Mom. Surth and Valla are working on Dad.” Aiden says. “How’s Aideen?”
“I don’t know yet. She’s hurt bad little brother. PRAY!” Kylor says frantically. Maria is now standing at Aideen’s head, to the right of Brigid, with her hands splayed over Aideen’s face performing a healing rite of Anasazi origin. Brigid says, “Maria, I need to see what I am doing.” Maria moves over just a little to give Brigid an unobstructed view. Kylor hears George and Rodrigo singing similar chants, presumably over his parents. He can hear Aiden praying for all of their loved ones who have been injured. The magic in the room is palpable and Kylor feels a surge of hope for his family.
Valla squeezes in beside Kylor, “I am going to put her in stasis so that you can stabilize her. Kylor nods and scoots over just a little to give Valla room to work as he continues to visualize her wounds sealing and blood flow stopping. Valla reaches up and pats his shoulder, “They are all stable now Kylor. Let’s focus on healing their injuries.” Kylor nods and continues what he is doing.
Kylor has been focusing on repairing a shredded blood vessel when he hears; “Good work on the femoral artery! It’s perfect.” Kylor looks up and sees Micah smiling at him. “She won’t bleed out now. Now focus on repairing those tears in her gut. If she gets septic we might still lose her.” Kylor nods and moves to her gut. He’s shocked at all the damage there. It’s like some wild beast tried to rip her organs out with its teeth. He focuses on cleaning the blood, waste and gore out of his way so that he can see the worst damage.
“Here I can clear that out. You run the intestines and repair any damage you find.” Kylor looks up and Cirona. Kylor nods and does as she suggests. Micah is standing by Cirona, he too is repairing damage to Aideen’s internal organs. Kylor absently notes how neatly the liver is repaired and how efficiently Micah removes the gall bladder and appendix. “No point leaving them in there. They would just be two more sites that could get infected.” Micah says when Kylor looks questioningly at him.
He wonders what Brigid is doing. He looks up at the head of the gurney and sees Brigid sigh in relief. “Okay, I have healed the damage to her brain and closed the skull. Can I help you on the gut Kylor?” Kylor nods and she moves in beside him and begins helping him. Cirona moves out of Micah’s way. She has cleared all of the gore and they can see to work. “I am out of my depth now. Let me clear out and you three can finish up.” Kylor hears someone else come into the room. He looks up and it’s Mordir. He’s got a bag of Morna’s antibodies. He’s putting it on the IV stand and connecting it to his sister. “Aideen may not want that.” Kylor says. “She may kill you for doing that, Mordir.”
“At least she will be alive to try to kill him. Go ahead Mordir, get those antibodies in her system.” Brigid says quietly. She looks up at Kylor and says, “She’s like my own child Kylor. I will make sure that we do everything we can to make sure she survives. If she has a problem with us for making her more like her mother, then she can take it up with me.”
Kylor nods and returns to his sister’s horribly decimated gut. He, Micah and Brigid have been working steadily for several minutes when he realizes there are other people in the room. He looks up and sees Mordir, Micah, Elias, Valla, Maria, Rodrigo, and George watching him. “What the hell is going on? Are my parents dead?” He demands.
“No! No, Kylor they are stable. We came to see if you need our assistance,” Mordir says calmly.
“Well then assist!” Kylor says frantically.
“Sorry Kylor.” Elias says, “We were just watching. You are doing an amazing job. You’re fast, you’re efficient and you don’t miss anything. Nice technique bro!”
Kylor almost sobs and says, “Would someone please take over for me? I am scared to death that I am killing my own sister!”
Elias comes up and puts his hands on Kylor’s shoulder. “Sorry bro. We should have realized that. We were just really impressed with your methods. We caught up watching… like when you watch a master perform a nearly impossible piece of music.”
Elias leads Kylor away and Mordir takes over. Rebecca and Nora come and wrap their arms around Kylor. “Ky, Aideen’s going to be fine. You saved her. You did great. Even now the antibodies are repairing what you haven’t gotten to yet. But you did the majority of it by yourself. She’s going to live, and be stronger than ever.” Nora says in her sweet little girl’s voice.
Kylor strokes his little sister’s face and smiles at her. “Thanks Pumpkin. How are Mother and Father?” Suddenly, Kylor feels another presence in the room. He looks up and sees his Mother. She’s covered in dried blood, obviously very bruised and battered. Her clothes are in tatters. Her belly and every other area of exposed skin shows signs of healing gashes, rips and tears. Something was trying to rip his mother to pieces. She’s incredibly pale and there are dark circles around her sunken eyes, she looks like she is on death’s door. Kylor and George rush to her and help her stay on her feet.
“How’s Ladybug?” Morna croaks weakly as they lead her to a chair.
“She’s stable Morna. We are almost finished with all the emergency work. Kylor did the bulk of it. He kept her alive, stopped all the major bleeding and finished the bulk of the reconstructive work. He did a damned fine job of it too. Aideen’s in stasis and not experiencing any pain.” Mordir informs his friend quietly as he continues to work on her daughter.
Morna sees the bag of antibodies hanging from the IV stand and says, “IS that what I think it is?” Mordir nods and Morna chuckles weakly. “She’s gonna kick your ass Mordir. Well, she’ll try. I promise I won’t let her.”
“I can protect myself Lady Mo
rna.” Mordir says stiffly.
“Not after my daughter is changed by those antibodies. She was incredibly powerful before… I can only imagine…” Her voice trails off. “Hell, I might not be able to defend you after all. She may kick my butt.” Morna says with a weak smile.
“Why are you out of stasis Madam?” Mordir says curtly. “We can’t heal you if you won’t submit to our treatments.”
“Rest easy Mordir. I’ll go submit to whatever treatment you and Surth deem necessary in a moment. I just had to see if my girl was okay. She really angered Nyx when she stopped The Primordial from ripping my guts out. She was trying to tear Madigan right out of my womb. That bitch was intent on devouring him. She turned her wrath on Aideen. I was trying to help her when my kids pulled me out of there.”
“Mother, how is that Nyx didn’t tear him out of your womb?” Kylor asks as he looks at the evidence visible on his mother’s belly. The baby obviously should have perished.
“Daddy maintained his spell protecting Madigan. It hasn’t wavered for a second.” Morna says with a smile. “Daddy is still in there, he’s still fighting and protecting his family.” Morna’s joy and pride are obvious on her swollen, bruised face. She looks up at Kylor and says, “Help me walk over to Aideen.” Kylor obeys and Morna does a quick healer’s read and nods her approval.
“Satisfied Morna?” Mordir snaps. When Morna nods he says gruffly, “Good then go lie your ass down and let your body heal. NOW!” Morna smiles and nods. Kylor smiles at the Asgardian healer and begins to lead his mother out of the room. “And Morna, get Damian to bite you.” When Morna starts to protest, the healer growls; “I know you got all this emotional crap tied up with bites in your mind, but the venom will help you heal. You’re not out of the woods yet. If your body gets any weaker you will reject the baby! So do as I say and let that boy bite you! He also needs to bite Luca a few times and milk some more venom to treat the burns, they are very deep and cover most of his body.”
“I can milk the venom Lucian will need, The boy can bite him, if it‘s necessary. Let the boy focus on Morna. He’s young, he may not produce enough venom to take care of both of them and I suspect the Lady Morna would be more comfortable with the boy biting her than me.” Octavius says from the doorway.
“Thank you old friend,” Mordir says with a nod as he continues to work on Aideen.
Once Morna is settled on the gurney next to Luca. Elias starts an IV. He hooks up some of her own antibodies. He then strokes her battered face and says, “I hope your sister is worth all of this.”
“She is. She hasn’t been in control, Nyx has. The Primordial is more powerful than I imagined. Soon we have to do some serious strategizing on how we can defeat her. We won’t be safe until she is neutralized.” Morna says quietly.
“STOP Mother!” Kylor says firmly. “Now is not the time to be thinking of rushing into another battle. Let’s try to make sure everyone survives this one.”
“That’s your job kiddo. Mine is being ready for the next one. But I will keep my thoughts to myself, for now, if they bother you.” Morna says firmly. “I’ve told you son, I am not the healer in the family. I am the killer, and I will kill Nyx.”
Kylor nods, his expression hard and says, “I am going to find Damian.”
“I’m here.” says a quiet voice from behind Kylor. Damian steps forward and gingerly strokes Morna’s much abused face, “You ready to let the ‘boy’ bite you?”
Morna takes a deep breath and says, “Not really, but let’s get it done.”
“Morna, I promise you that I will not feed on you.” Damian says with a choked voice and look of deepest hurt on his face.
Morna reaches up and pats his face. “I know that, brother. It’s just… well, only Luca should bite me. It’s hard to explain.”
“Oh okay. I think I understand. I saw your reaction when Luca drank from you earlier. It’s a thing between mates for you isn’t it?” When Morna nods. “Jeez, now I feel like I am violating you sexually or something.”
Morna laughs and says, “Not at all, brother. You are helping me heal more quickly. And I am sorry everyone was calling you ’boy’ earlier. But you have to realize you have only been alive for twenty years…”
“Twenty-one. I had a birthday the other day.” Damian says absently.
“How come you didn’t tell us?” Morna demands.
“It was the day your mother tried to kill you. It didn’t seem like a good day to talk about my birthday. Besides, I got the only gift I could have ever wanted that day, my mate survived.” He smiles as his thoughts travel to his mate Breena. He shakes his head and reaches out and strokes Morna’s face again. “Let’s get this done.”
Morna nods and closes her eyes. She tries to prepare herself for the pain she knows is coming. She tenses when she feels Damian pick up her arm and holds her breath when he bites. The God-awful burning, shredding pain begins ripping through her body. She can’t help it, she screams in agony before she blacks out.
“Bite her again.” Octavius says quietly.
Damian appears much shaken. “Oh God, is she okay? Did I kill her?”
“No boy. She passed out from the pain of the venom coursing through her body on top of all the other pain she is dealing with. I have no idea how she was up walking around before. She was already in utterly indescribable agony. Now bite her again and let’s get it over with.” When Damian continues to hesitate Octavius says, “I will do it if you don’t. She needs another dose of venom to help her heal.”
“No, no I’ll do it. Morna wouldn’t want a stranger doing it. It’s hard enough for her that I am doing it.” Damian takes a deep breath and bites his friend/mother/sister-in-law again. “No, she’s my sister now.” Damian realizes. “We are forever bound by yet another bond after this.” He lowers his mouth to her arm and bites another site. He holds his mouth in place and pumps as much venom into her body as he can. He feels her thrash in her unconscious state and pulls back before she rips her arm from his razor sharp teeth and causes more damage.
He backs away wiping the blood from his mouth. He rushes to a sink and rinses his mouth out. He continues to lean over the sink afterwards, breathing hard, trying to collect himself. Some of Morna’s blood had filled his mouth and he had reflexively swallowed. Shame fills his mind and heart. Her blood was so very, very sweet. So satisfying. He desperately wanted to drain her body and gorge on her delicious, life sustaining blood. Damian has never experienced anything even remotely like that in his life. “How does Luca stop himself when he drinks from her? I know Morna has been having him drink regularly from her vein.” Damian wonders to himself. His already high opinion of Luca grows even more.
Damian straightens up and looks at Morna. She is still unconscious, but her hand is reaching toward Luca. Damian looks over and sees that Luca’s hand is reaching for Morna. Damian smiles and moves their gurney’s closer to each other. The lover’s hands find each other and clasp together lovingly.
“That is some bond, huh?” Elias says from behind Damian.
“Yeah, it sure is.” Damian agrees. He smiles when Breena wraps her arms around his waist from behind. He can feel her gently swelling belly pressing against his buttocks. Heat spreads quickly through his body at her contact.
“You okay Kid?” Elias asks looking at Damian’s face.
Damian turns toward Breena and scoops her up into his arms and says, “I am now.”
“Damian, go rest. Spend some time with your mate. But stay close. The Lady Morna may need you again.” Damian nods at the ancient vampire and turns to walk out of the room with Breena cradled in his arms. “Damian, I will never call you ‘boy’ again. You are a man among men… of any race. I know what you just endured. I am empathic. Your mate knows too.”
Damian nods again. His hand flies up to catch the bag of blood that the ancient tosses at him. He tosses it back to the ancient one, “No thanks. I only feed on animals. I can hunt when everyone wakes up.” Elias and Octavius watch them go. Oc
tavius is overwhelmed by what he just witnessed.
Morna chuckles from the gurney and says, “I told you Octavius, Damian Summers is an exceptional young man.”
Octavius’ draws his eyes to Morna and is surprised that she still has her eyes closed. Her respirations and heart rate indicate that she is still out cold. He raises an eyebrow and wonders if he had been hearing things.
Elias chuckles at the vampire’s confusion. “My godmother talks in her sleep.”
“What?” Octavius asks, feeling even more confused.
“Morna, she can talk when she is asleep, unconscious, even in a coma. She can carry on conversations even. It’s a mystery.” Elias says with a shrug.
“Not completely a mystery. Apparently she can exist on two planes at once. Maybe more than that. She had a whole other family in the Neophasic dimension since her limbo between her last two incarnations.” Kylor says quietly.
Octavius and Elias turn to look at him. They had both forgot he was even in the room. “I tried to enter Mother’s mind to help walk her through the injuries, but they are together. Mother has led Father to the Neophasic dimension. They are together there right now. Caring for each other, nursing their wounds, healing their souls, loving with their bodies. I feel like I have trespassed on something so perfect, so right… I was only trying to help, but I was an interloper, violating the solace they find in each other.” Kylor had mumbled that last bit and Elias wasn’t able to hear most of it, but Octavius did.
Kylor looks up at his parents again and smiles. “They will be fine. They will come back when they are ready. I am going to go get my siblings. The little ones need food and bed. Elias, Octavius… thank you for helping to save their lives.” Kylor turns and goes to check on Robert and Aideen.
He knows he should check on Valgullveig, but he really couldn’t care less how the woman is doing. Because of that woman he lost centuries with his parents. That’s time he can never get back. He could have been helping his Father search for and protect his mother as she lived through the cycles of her various life times. He could have had parents… A mother and father who would have loved him, treasured him and showed him how to be a man, a Spell Weaver. He could have… “Oh to hell with it. Mother and Father both would be angry with me for wallowing in ‘could haves’.”