The Days Fly (The Firsts Book 11)

by C. L. Quinn

  “Here. Tamesine said that we must channel your power through the living planet and the universe. Here, as near to the earth and as close to the sky as we can get. Here is where we make our stand and try to undo this deed.”

  Squatting, Sarah unzipped the backpack and pulled out four candles, placed them in a large square and lit them. She looked up at Mies.

  “Sit, please, in the center of the grid.”

  He did so, and she joined him, facing him, the moon over his shoulder.

  “The candles represent the four quarters of the earth, and should help bind your magic within so that we can channel it and get the results we seek.” Sarah paused.

  “Mies, I need you to clearly declare your intentions and desires.”

  “I will. But first, Sarah, Nikolai would like to speak with you. He speaks for both of us, my love.”

  My love? Sarah kept her teeth clinched. She couldn’t respond. My love? Oh, God, nothing in this life would ever hurt more than this night. She nodded.

  Mies did too, closed his eyes, and a moment later, Nikolai was there.

  “Sarah, my friend,” Nikolai said, and leaned in to give her a hug.

  “Nik, I’m sorry that we kept you gone last night.”

  “I understand. I had already had my night with Naji, and you two needed to take yours. I assume that you did.”

  Nikolai thought that Sarah’s smile was the saddest he’d ever seen.

  “Yes, we did.”

  “Da. That is what I wished for you both. We do not know how this will go tonight.”

  “No idea. You know that Mies is intending to sacrifice himself so that you can have your life back. He’s very noble.”

  “I know this. I also know that the universe sent him here and it was willing to sacrifice me to get bring him back. I have no doubt that it will try to protect its choice. I am human, powerless and disposable, there is just as high a chance that, when this is finished, I will be gone. Sarah, this is what Mies and I wish you to know. Whatever the outcome, no matter who remains or who goes, none of this is your fault. You must carry no guilt or sense of responsibility for this. We asked for your help and we are both okay with whoever stays. You understand this, da?”

  She didn’t answer Nikolai because Sarah knew that she would carry this heavy burden until she left this world.

  “Sarah?”

  Unaware that she was shaking her head, Sarah finally answered. “Sure, sure I do.”

  “Sarah, I wish I could let you know how much we both honor and love you for helping us. We know it is a terrible thing to ask. But you must promise, remember these words, my angel. You are not to take on any guilt for this act. If you try, the one of us who remains has decided to kick your ass.” He tilted his head. “Although, if it is Mies, he will more likely kiss your ass.”

  “I will try, that is all that I can promise.”

  “All right. The only thing I have left to say is, when you are with Naji, at some time, whatever moment seems right, will you just let her know that she touched me more than any other woman I have ever been with?”

  That started the tears, sliding down her cheeks, Sarah’s voice still unwavering. She wasn’t crying openly, but her eyes wouldn’t stay dry, and she suspected that this was just the beginning of a month long crying jag.

  “I will, Nik, I promise. She’s okay, Mies took care of her, but I still think she’s going to miss you.”

  “Good. As it should be. She will be my legacy then.”

  Nikolai suddenly looked at the bright moon, then back to Sarah. “It is time.”

  “Yes. The moon is here to channel the power of the amulet. It is a link between earth and sky.”

  “Okay, then. Mies is coming back. If I never get to speak to you again, I just want to say that you have been a great pleasure to know, Sarah the brilliant.”

  “And you as well, Nikolai, earth protector.”

  He smiled. “Earth protector. I like that. Good-bye, Sarah.” Nikolai closed his eyes.

  Now, Mies opened the dark eyes and looked at Sarah.

  “How do we proceed?”

  “Okay. We are here for you to tap into the power of the earth and sky. Tamesine says that you can touch the magic of the planet and the universe and channel it through your spirit amulet to achieve the power that you will need to do just about anything. I can feel it running through you right now, Mies. While I am fully human, with no skills beyond that, I have always been intuitive. For some reason, I can feel that you have the ability to connect to the source of first blood power, and here, with the earth, the sky, and the moon, you have all that you need. Take my hands, Mies. I am going to try to help keep you focused on what you must do.”

  Sarah watched his strong hands reach for hers, and when their fingertips touched, sparks crackled and lit the air around them.

  “I can feel it too. The power moves through me.”

  His eyes lifted to Sarah’s. “I love you, my mate. One day, I will find you again.”

  “Mies.” After she croaked his name, Sarah couldn’t speak. Knowing he knew how much she loved him, that words were not necessary, she held his hands tightly as she stood, pulling him upright too.

  Lifting all four of their arms high, hands still intertwined, she spoke out loud as the air began to swirl. Electricity still crackled from their hands and began to move around their bodies as well.

  “Feet and soul to earth, head and heart to sky, spirit amulet that guides this first blood soul, this man who seeks to undo an act of fate, Mother Earth, let your child in to seek your solace and return to his immortal rest above the sky and beyond the stars.”

  Mies felt the power enter his body, his spirit, all that he was, and all that he’d ever been, the magic as tangible as the ground he stood upon and as ethereal as the air that sailed above him. It weaved through him, exactly as Sarah had said it would, and it placed its magic in his hands. He could guide this, the power at his will, the chance to fix this, to give Nikolai his life, to return to where he should never have left.

  He hesitated, though, as his gaze went to the woman who still held on to him, her hair wild, her eyes locked on his, her lips parted. She would not know that he stopped just long enough to burn that final image into his mind before he left. He knew now, the control was his, he would be able to make sure that Nikolai was the one left behind, he had the unimpeachable power to choose.

  Mies felt Nikolai’s sorrow as he slipped from the body he’d enjoyed inhabiting and began to leave the new world he would have loved to have explored with his newfound mate at his side.

  “Make your life amazing,” he whispered to his new brother. “Thank you for sharing it with me for a little while.”

  With one last look at Sarah, he felt his lifeforce lift, the amulet too, and began to leave the plane of the living.

  “I unmake this unholy merge,” he said to the powers that drove the universe, and separated, left, as white light surrounded him and Mies saw nothing but brightness. He felt, long before he saw, that he was no longer among the living. An ache set up in his chest, and he knew now why that particular organ was said to be where love came from. His heart was not needed here, and it was a good thing. It was irreparably broken.

  When the brightness faded, he recognized the soupy existence he’d been immersed in for millennia that felt like moments lost in eternity. His lifeforce made up all that he was, the physical body a manifestation of life below, unnecessary in this realm. His mind active, though, he could access images, emotions, moments from the living realm. Touch, feelings, every detail about what he’d left behind. He’d adjusted to all the losses when he first died six thousand years ago, he would do so again.

  But not yet. And although time meant nothing here, he still knew that this pain would last. He released the final tether to the earth, her own magic easing back from whence it came, his gratitude sent with it.

  It was done. He wished a long and lovely life for Nikolai and Naji. For Sarah, he hoped, with all of his
shattered heart, that she would find love again.

  Nikolai lay on the hard ground, his eyes open, but he couldn’t move. Someone knelt at his side, he could tell that, but he couldn’t tell who it was or why they were there. Or why he was here. Eventually, a voice penetrated, feminine, soft, insistent.

  “Nikolai, I need to help you to sit up. Nikolai! Can you hear me?”

  Sarah. Why was Sarah here? God, he hurt. His head…like someone slammed a crane into him. His vision was blurry, like he’d been on a 24 hour bender.

  Sarah was persistent. “Nik?”

  “Da…” he groaned. “I hear ya. Where am I and why would ya let me do that to myself?”

  “Nik, I need you to sit up. I need to make sure that you are all right.”

  Why wouldn’t he be? Using her assistance, Nikolai gained an upright position and glanced around him. An epic landscape spread beneath them, valley after valley, mountaintop after mountaintop. A moon that seemed far too close hung suspended over their heads. Memories returned like rushing water and he knew, he remembered…Mies. Mies, gone now… They’d passed as Mies left and Nikolai took ownership of the body they had shared.

  “Are you okay? Do you remember what happened?”

  Sarah wasn’t letting up. Nikolai nodded.

  “I do now. I was confused at first. I think I’d gotten out of the habit of thinking for myself. Mies and I had become one in spirit.” He fell silent, his eyes lifted to Sarah’s.

  “I felt him go,” she whispered, and accepted his arms around her as Nikolai gathered her near.

  “I wanted to have my mind and my body back, but now, Sarah, I feel…empty.”

  “I think we always will. His presence was pretty huge.”

  They sat on the cool grass, buffeted by increasing winds, and held each other, lost in their own thoughts, their own efforts to find a way to deal with this, to be okay with never being with this extraordinary man who came into their lives and transformed them.

  Nikolai glanced at the sky anxiously at one point, then smiled with a scoffing snicker as Sarah pulled back.

  “What?” she asked.

  “I looked at the sky to assess the nearness of daylight. I’m used to having to watch out for that, but that isn’t an issue anymore. I assume that this body is fully human again. I don’t know how to explain it, but I felt a change there too when Mies’s lifeforce left.”

  “I think you’re right. Your scent was never the same as Mies’s, but it’s different now, even from when Mies gave the body over to you. If you aren’t fully human yet, I believe you will be soon.”

  “Oh. In that case, I guess it is prudent to go inside.”

  Sarah stood and began to gather the candles and supplies as Nikolai found his balance.

  “It feels weird. Like I’m not sure how to walk anymore.”

  She turned to hold his forearms. “I’ve got you.”

  He nodded. “I know you do. Sarah, you’re going to be all right.”

  “I know. It will take a lot of time to stop missing him.”

  “Da.”

  “Nik, let’s get out of here.”

  Ten

  “I’ve found her. She’s here, she’s on this mountaintop,” Xavier announced, pleased to have provided Sarah’s exact location.

  “As I suspected. She’s accessing a spirit amulet. My God, what in the world could she be doing? Who would put her up to this?” Tamesine queried.

  All three women looked at Xavier, who finished off a tall glass of Scotch and shrugged. “Ladies, ya forget that I said goodbye to my little blood-bond months ago. I’ve had no contact with her since then, at her request. Vampires apparently tend to mess up human doin’s. So I can’t be of aid to ya. I truly have no idea.”

  “I’ve checked with anyone that I’ve known had contact with Sarah. Neither Dez or Olivia have spoken with her since they parted in France. Your lab manager seemed the most likely, Park, but he has had no correspondence either. The only other person she spent time with was Olivia’s friend in Russia and he’s human. I guess we’ll find out when we find her.”

  “The plane is on descent. There’s a small landing strip nearby and our pilot said that another private plane landed here last night. I hope we’re in time,” Eillia announced as she looked at an update from the pilot.

  “Good. I want to protect Sarah, but I’m also incredibly curious to know what she’s up to. Things have been so calm lately, and this is a fine mystery.”

  “Tamesine, oh, my dear, you’ve invited temptation, and chaos likes to answer. All we’ve wanted for years was a calm ordinary life,” Park tsked her friend.

  Laughing, Tamesine reached for a Chinese dumpling off a tray Eillia set on the little table between them. “I know. I still haven’t found my greatest enemy, Claude. When that happens, I guarantee, I won’t be bored.”

  “I do admit that I’m very curious too. Sarah is too smart to get involved in something dangerous or beyond her ability to control. I guess we’ll find out shortly.”

  Park looked out the window, the landscape lit by only the moon, no other lights visible, no homes, no businesses, no parking lots. “We’re going in.”

  Sarah watched the earth fall away beneath them as the little Cessna rose into the sky. She glanced at Nikolai and then the pilot, aware that, to the pilot, nothing had changed, and to her and Nikolai, everything had. It was odd the way the world worked, so many people so clueless as to its real nature. Most people had no idea that supernatural beings really existed, often living and working right alongside them.

  To this kind older man who had been flying these mountains for decades, Sarah was returning from a night on the mountain with her beau. In reality, she’d rescued an unexpected hero and sent away the man she would likely love for the rest of her life, all in that one night.

  “Life’s funny,” she whispered to herself, and if either of the men in the lightweight aircraft heard her, they didn’t say a word.

  Hours later, Nikolai followed Sarah from the airport terminal. Neither had spoken for most of that time, both too consumed by dialogues in their own minds about what had happened on Mount Mitchell.

  Waiting on the curb for a taxi to take them back into the city, Sarah caught one of Nikolai’s frequent glances at her.

  “Come home with me. I don’t want to be alone tonight and I don’t think you do either. We’ll get a buffet of junk food and just take care of each other. Tomorrow, we’ll deal with the rest of our lives.”

  Nikolai nodded. “I am grateful. The idea of returning to our hotel room…” He stopped suddenly, his eyes filling with moisture. “Our. I wonder how long it will take before I don’t automatically use that word. Sarah, I wanted my life back, my mind, my body, and I am grateful to have it so. But this silence inside my head is unnerving. It feels wrong.”

  “I know. That’s what I mean. We need to be with each other and help each other through this. No one else on earth has any idea what we’ve been through. We need each other, Niko.”

  Niko. That had been Mies’s word. Sarah vowed she would never use it again. Just hearing the word hurt.

  On the way through downtown, Sarah did exactly what she’d said she would do. After stopping at three different cafes, they carried pizza, subs, cakes, and cookies up to the third floor apartment.

  Opening the door felt like shelter from the world, and when she and Nikolai stepped through, she closed it firmly and placed the safety chain on to keep out tomorrow. Tonight, they would support each other, eat, discuss, complain, cry, and get some rest. When she opened the door tomorrow, then they would get on with the process of living.

  ON MOUNT MITCHELL

  “I don’t know why I’m surprised.” Tamesine waited for the rest of her party to get back into the small private prop-engine plane they’d compelled.

  “She’s on the move, I cannot be responsible for that, ladies.” Xavier took his seat and lifted a bottle of whisky from where he’d stashed it earlier. “Are we safe here?”

&n
bsp; “We are. We’ll be back in Boston just before daybreak and seek shelter. Then, tonight, we will find our little globetrotter, see what happened on this mountain tonight, and get home to France.”

  Tamesine leaned back to Park and Eillia. “Did you notice?”

  Eillia nodded. “Yes. Powerful magic was drawn here tonight.”

  “We’ll find her and know why. Any more wine?”

  “Oh, yes. I brought half a dozen bottles from Koen’s jet. I half expected to have a nice reunion with Sarah, hoped there was nothing serious or nefarious occurring, and get home to our children and mates. This has just been kind of nuts. Here, a nice pinot noir, perfect for this situation.”

  “How are you feeling, Nikolai? I mean, how does your singly occupied body feel without the first blood infusion? Is all of it gone?”

  Nikolai had to finish chewing a slice of buffalo chicken pizza. Wiping his mouth, he cleared his throat. “It’s changing. There may be small amounts of residual first blood magics, but they are already waning. I don’t think it will be very long before I am fully human again.”

  “I know how that feels. I didn’t know if it would be the same. My body was never vampire, and yours was.”

  “I ache, which is the first thing that I noticed when I woke after realizing that you were calling me. Being vampire, it was incredible. I will miss that along with Mies’s absence. I can’t believe that this happened. And as much as that, I can’t believe now that it is finally over. We will be able to move on, da?”

  “We will, because we’re both strong to have even survived the pain of this event. And we have each other. I know that you will return to your home, but what we’ve shared has changed us forever. I hope we can be there for each other whenever the need arises, even if it is just to reach out to say hello?”

  “Always. Thank you for coming to our rescue, Sarah. I don’t know that I can ever say that enough.”