by SGD Singh
“That’s because she’s crazy.” Ursala threw his empty packet into the water, and they watched it float along the current until it began to dissolve. “The real question isn’t why she brought you here, Jax. The real question you need to ask yourself is why you let her.” His voice was unexpectedly serious.
Jax watched the water flow over her feet.
Why am I here? Is it for Lucas? To prevent anything like what happened to him happening to anyone else? Jax shook her head. That was an impossible dream.
“I don’t know…” Jax said.
Ursala closed his eyes and touched his temples. “All things will become clear in time.” He grinned. “Or not.”
“Thanks. That’s extremely helpful.”
“Hey,” Ursala got up, wading back into the water. “Helping out civilians is what we do.”
Chapter 29
Asha had never experienced such silence.
The holy water flowed along the gouge in the dark earth without a sound, as if it knew it didn’t belong, and the world was still as death as she removed her clothes and waded into the river. The water danced along her skin, enveloping her in warmth as if its connection to her realm held its own heat, and Asha sighed as the cold began to leave her muscles.
It was past time for Kelakha to take watch, but Asha didn’t see the point in waking him. She knew there was no life around for miles. She put the Manananggal out of her mind, assuring herself the seven of them would be long gone before the Vampires’ transformation was complete.
Asha gripped the jagged edge of a boulder, and let herself float against the current. There were no stars in the sky. No insect songs, no wind laughing through leaves. Asha wondered how far the sound would carry if she had her harp with her.
Aquila would hear it in his tent, at least. Maybe it would bring him in search of her…
The water caressed her skin, its current luxurious, and Asha felt such a powerful surge of longing to be in Aquila’s arms that she was sure he felt it too. She couldn’t bring herself to care. After spending the better part of a year struggling to keep her thoughts of being with him, truly being with him, out of her mind—out of his mind—today the very thought of the effort it took exhausted her.
In this dark and broken realm of rotten souls drowning their pain in gratification, Asha’s emotions gnawed away at every preconceived idea of acceptable behavior, and she just didn’t care anymore.
If Aquila wants to suffer, fine. Let him suffer.
Asha smiled as she realized she was humming one of his favorite tunes.
Eventually warmth sank into all of her limbs, and Asha waded back to the river’s edge. The scarlet sun had set, plunging the scorched earth back into sickly, purple-tinged darkness, and Asha didn’t notice him until she lifted her arms to tie her hair back.
Aquila. Watching her from the top of a rounded boulder, he sat with his arms draped over his knees, silent and still as a statue.
You’re so… quiet.
Seeing you… like this… has driven the ability to think from my mind.
Asha let her hair fall and walked slowly from the water, her eyes on his, and Aquila tensed, his desire nearly making her knees buckle. She stopped just out of his reach and stood perfectly still, her smile broadening at Aquila’s iron determination to keep his gaze on hers.
He closed his eyes and bowed his head as if in defeat. “Asha,” his voice was a groan of pain. “I, you can’t ask me to—I can’t. I can’t touch you and not touch all of you. Not here. Not anymore…”
Asha stepped forward and reached out to rake a hand through his hair, soft as silk between her fingers, and Aquila started as if her touch were electric, but didn’t open his eyes.
“So touch all of me,” she whispered.
Aquila began to tremble, still refusing to look at her. “The wedding… I, we were—”
Asha cupped his jaw and lifted Aquila’s face to hers. She touched her lips to his softly, once, twice as her nerves sang with desire that was nearly unbearable.
His eyes opened to met hers, pleading, all trace of their usual teasing humor gone as his desire destroyed thousands of years of ingrained culture.
As far as I’m concerned, we’ve been married since the moment I first saw you standing under a tree, smiling as if you knew my soul. Because you did. Because you are my soul.
Aquila’s trembling hands left his knees and found Asha’s hips, his touch gentle. Then, with a ragged sigh, a rush of sweet resignation that sent her heart soaring, Aquila’s arms wrapped around her, crushing her to him with such urgency it took her breath away.
Are you sure… ?
Asha laughed against his lips. You’re kidding, right?
Asha… His kiss, blind abandonment, was pure nectar. There is… there was only ever you for me. I would’ve waited an eternity…
Asha released the last of her mind’s restraint, finished once and for all with self-inflicted torture. Her heart pounded as if it would break her ribs, and she felt Aquila’s gasp against her lips when the last of his gentlemanly resolve vanished in one glorious instant.
One minute out of your arms is a thousand eternities to me. You know this.
Asha felt her feet leave the ground and kept her hands in Aquila’s hair, ensuring his lips never left hers as he carried her to her tent.
At the door, Aquila fell to his knees, and Asha pulled him along with her, refusing to give up his lips as they tumbled inside. His hands obeyed her every thought, igniting her with desire beyond imagining, making her dizzy with pleasure, and she pulled at Aquila’s clothes as his touch drove her delirious. It was as if she were dying of thirst and only Aquila’s skin against hers could quench it, as if her very soul craved—demanded—fulfillment.
With a violent shudder, Aquila backed away from her, and Asha made a sound she didn’t know she could make as her entire body protested his absence. The feeling was replaced by joy as she watched Aquila toss his clothes aside with his familiar grace, her heart leaping with hungry anticipation.
They looked at each other then, Aquila’s eyes pools of desire, his broad chest rising and falling in time with her own heartbeat, and Asha couldn’t breathe for his beauty, every inch of him flawless perfection.
She reached for him with greedy impatience, and Aquila enveloped Asha in his embrace, lowering her to the tent’s floor. Finally, with no barriers between them, his body lay against hers, its weight delicious. His skin was pure bliss, his touch life itself. His hands, his lips, his tongue obeying her thoughts even before they formed, and Asha would have happily drowned in limitless ecstasy as her senses merged with his until she could no longer tell where her consciousness ended and Aquila’s began.
And Asha knew with absolute certainty that her thirst for Aquila would never, ever be quenched.
Chapter 30
Asha wanted nothing more than to stay in Aquila’s arms until the end of time. To die in perfect contentment lying with her limbs entwined in his, listening to the steady rhythm of his heart. But even as her mind relaxed, drifting back into luxurious sleep, Asha knew she had to get dressed. The horrors of the Underworld, Ranya, the terrified cries of the innocent captured, must be faced.
Aquila barely stirred as she disengaged her body from his, resisting the urge to kiss his lips.
If we get out of this alive, victorious in their rescue, God damn it, I’m going to ask for a vacation. With at least a two year honeymoon.
† † †
The sound of someone screaming in unimaginable agony split the night, and Asha woke with a start. She shoved Aquila awake and scrambled out of her tent, glad that she’d put her clothes back on before she’d slept, springing toward the sound.
Avinash’s voice bellowed a moment later, guiding her through the darkness, and Asha splashed through the river, and stared in horror.
The Werewolf’s wife lay just beyond the river’s edge, the shining black rock beneath her roiling with… something alive. Asha squinted, and realized
that what looked like tiny bugs were eating Kairav’s skin.
Jax was already there, and Asha pulled her back as she lunged for Kairav. “Don’t touch her!”
“Do something!” Avinash bellowed at Asha over his wife’s screams.
Asha looked at Kairav and her stomach heaved. Something moved beneath her skin, squirming inside her eyelids, and Asha realized that it was too late. If she killed the creatures now, they would become trapped inside their prey’s skin, causing as much damage alive as dead.
“I can’t kill them—”
“Don’t you fucking give me that, Asha!” The Tvastar looked ready to tear her arms off.
“They’re inside her skin. She’ll die if I kill them.”
“She’ll die if you don’t do something!”
The Tvastar fell to his knees, reaching a hand out and almost touching his wife as she screamed louder than before. “Oh, God, please…”
“You have to bite her,” said Asha.
Aquila’s hand was on her shoulder and she felt him, with Ursala and Kelakha, behind her.
Avinash’s eyes widened in horror.
“It’s the only way to save her,” Asha pleaded. “It’s either that, or she dies right here.”
Avinash gripped his head with an anguished cry as Kairav’s screams turned to horrible, choking gasps. She fought to stay conscious, the bugs filling her mouth, her tongue bloody. Asha saw bone exposed along one of her legs.
“There isn’t time for this,” Asha snapped. “Goddamn it, I said stay on the other side of the river, didn’t I? And I told you. I told you not to bring her.”
Avinash glared through tears, and Jax hissed, “Damn, Asha.”
Asha looked at the dark purple sky, the air thick with Kairav’s agony. “Do it, Avinash. Do it right now, or she’s dead.”
One of Kairav’s legs was nearly all bone, and she swatted at her face with weakening arms. Avinash looked at her and nodded, taking one of her hands. He grimaced, his teeth sharpening as he raised his wife’s wrist to his mouth and bit, blood welling up under his lips. The beetles crawled from her arm to his and fell dead with each taste of his venomous blood.
Asha raised her hands and killed the creatures that swarmed around them. The insect bodies fell with soft clacks against the black sand. Kairav’s eyes widened with pain as hundreds of clawing, feasting insects went still beneath her skin, and then she fainted as Avinash gathered her into his arms with a sob so horrible, Asha prayed she would never hear him make that sound again as long as she lived.
Jax staggered backward into the river, and the five of them watched the Tvastar’s massive shoulders shake with grief.
Asha. You know what they say about new Werewolves, right?
I know what they say, yeah.
“She can’t stay here,” Ursala said.
Asha nodded. “They have to go. We’ll send them home… I’ll send them home.”
Ursala rubbed his eyes. “Home being… where, exactly?”
“Miami,” Asha told him. “Where else?”
Aquila turned Asha toward him. She guessed by the way the four of them blinked at her, that her eyes were glowing with the insects’ life force. “You’ve never created a flash portal. The only time—”
“I know how it’s done. In theory.”
Kelakha and Ursala both crossed their arms. “In theory?”
“Yeah. In theory.” Asha felt her temper flare and hoped the gnawing hunger of the alien insects would wear off quickly. She waded into the center of the river, glancing at Kelakha and Ursala over her shoulder. “How hard can it be if a few Witches can do it, right? Have a little faith, my brothers.”
Avinash looked up, straightening as Asha raised her arms.
As the water began to swirl around her in a slow spiral, Asha felt the oneness of all realms as the rules of matter melted away, leaving the yawning abyss of the infinite universe stretching beyond her awareness, beckoning her outside herself. The holy water’s healing energy faded, funneled through her consciousness to transform into that familiar pure power. Asha’s eyes burned with light as she struggled to stay upright, keeping the most familiar room she knew locked in her mind.
Her Miami home’s training room.
The water fell from her waist to her ankles and Asha opened her eyes to see a glimmering circle of light just inches from her feet.
It was time.
She reached to pick up a stone and threw it to Avinash as he stepped forward, seeing in that instant that he would need it, but too exhausted to think about why.
He caught it easily, Kairav’s small frame carried in one arm.
Avinash looked at Asha, opening his mouth to speak, then changed his mind.
She gripped his shoulder. “It’s going to be okay. You’ll see. One day, hundreds of years from now, you’ll be glad Kairav is with you.”
The Tvastar only shook his head as he stepped into the portal and disappeared in a flash of light.
Chapter 31
“Wait. They’re here now?” Nidhan jumped up from the lounge chair, hopping to avoid stepping into the pool as he threw on a robe.
“Yep,” Lexi sipped her mango juice. “I told them we don’t know shit, but they insisted on coming all the way to Miami anyway.”
“Uma and Chakori. Are here now?”
“Yes, Nidhan. They’re here. Now. They’re meeting with the Upperworlders.” Lexi glanced over her shoulder into the penthouse’s living room. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen them so polite before. It’s a little creepy, actually. I keep expecting Uma to stab Satish every time he opens his big mouth.”
Ariella walked out onto the deck, a flower-covered silk kimono billowing behind her, revealing a shimmering bikini the color of her cat eyes. “Nidhan,” she called, winking. “They want you inside. Interrogation time, my brother.”
Lexi looked at his expression and rolled her eyes. “Okay, fine. I’m coming.”
Uma’s voice drifted from the open doors. “… and you guys just fucking sit here sipping margaritas, vacationing while our Seer could be dead, or worse!”
Lexi elbowed Nidhan. “Guess she ran out of polite.”
BapuJi sat with the Upperworlders, looking as if he were trying not to laugh. “I don’t think that’s fair, Uma. Asha can handle herself. She’ll get our Seer back.”
Lexi nodded at Zaiden as his eyes found hers. He looked a little shell-shocked.
She’s always like this, don’t worry.
She said out loud, “Why don’t you tell us what your solution is, and we’ll all just do that.”
“Lexi. Nice to see you looking so tanned and rested.” Uma glared, throwing her long, white braid over her shoulder. “As a matter of fact, I would love it if we could all get off our asses and proceed to assist Asha in her rescue mission. Since you asked.” Rising with her usual restless energy, Uma paced behind the couch, glaring at the pool beyond the glass as if something so frivolous was a personal insult.
“All due respect,” Zaiden said, “but we don’t know where your Jodha are, or even what realm…” he trailed off when Chakori raised her orange eyes, fixing them on the Upperworlders. Lexi tried not to laugh as the three golden boys straightened under the force of the Jodha’s glare.
Then Chakori smiled, which was even more chilling. “Asha and our sons have been gone more than a week. We know you have the capability to move between realms. All we’re asking is—”
“Holy donkey fuck whistle!” Uma shouted, sprinting toward the training room, and Chakori stared after her, adding, “… and a Tijuana hooker.”
Lexi ignored Zaiden’s surprise at her teachers crude language and spun to see the center of the training room floor shimmering like liquid for an instant, before it flashed with blinding light.
The light faded, and they all took a collective step back.
Avinash lay on the floor with Kairav in his arms. And Kairav looked dead.
Chapter 32
Jax watched as Asha collapsed into Aquila�
�s arms. The unnatural light faded in her eyes, and he brushed her hair out of her face, his warrior’s hands gentle. Then Aquila leaned to kiss Asha, whispering softly, and Jax turned away.
“Now what?” Ursala demanded. “Didn’t we need a Werewolf for this mission, such as it is?”
Aquila helped Asha sit up and began braiding her hair while she drank giant gulps of water.
“It’s not ideal, for sure,” Asha said, glancing at her compass-watch. “But we only have four hours until the banquet and we can’t assume help is coming. I mean, what would that require? There’s no one else in The Guard who can create a flash portal, so unless someone manages to talk a bunch of Witches into it, we’re on our own. Uma, Chakori, and Lexi together could maybe pull that off, but it’s doubtful, even if they were together.” Asha jumped to her feet, kissing Aquila once with a dramatic smack. “So pack up and move out.”
“Wow,” said Ursala. “That was the shittiest motivational speech I’ve ever heard. Thanks for that, Asha. Really inspiring.”
Asha grinned at him. “Hey, if rescuing the savior of the world before Ranya kills him isn’t motivation enough, I don’t know what is.”
“Touché, my creepy-eyed sister,” Ursala said, giving Asha a mock-salute.
Jax followed Ursala and Kelakha up the muddy riverbed to the tents, where she packed her bag, and strapped everything securely on her back again.
Once they were gathered together, Asha faced the group. “Okay. Here’s how we move. I’ll take the lead, seeing the way. Aquila, Kelakha, and Ursala, follow in single file. I want your senses on full alert. It will cause nausea, but it’s better to feel like you’re about to puke your guts out than to be dead. Jax, stay behind Kelakha and put your feet only where his feet have been, understood?”
Jax nodded. The mere thought of living quicksand was enough to make her agree to anything.
“Any questions?”
Ursala raised his hand. “I thought you said this Seer thing isn’t an exact science.”
“It’s not. But at this point it’s our only option.” Asha slapped his shoulder and turned to the shore. “C’mon, cheer up. It’ll be fun. Think of the stories you can tell Ariella.”