by Brenda Huber
“Gideon,” Niklas snapped, finally gaining his attention. “I’ve never asked anything of you before, never anything personal. But I’m asking you this now. I’m begging. Please, Gideon. Take her from here and keep her safe. Watch over her. For me.”
“Gideon, you can’t agree to this.” Carly’s voice broke on a sob. “Niklas is your friend. You can’t turn your back on him.”
The muscle running along Gideon’s jaw jumped. Niklas had put him in a truly difficult position, and he regretted that. The weight of this decision had fallen on Gideon’s shoulders. Not only was he going to have to choose between one life and the other, but he was also going to have to choose which heart to shatter, in essence destroying them both.
“Touching, touching,” Gusion drawled. “I’d clap, but, as you can see, my hands are a little busy. Now, let’s get on with the show. This blade grows heavy and I’d hate to slip.”
Gideon’s attention drifted back to Carly. His eyes were sad. So, so sad. And Niklas wondered if this would be the tipping point, the final straw that pushed the Demon of Temptation over the edge.
“I’m sorry, darlin’.” Gideon turned to Gusion and his expression hardened. “Agreed.”
“No!” Carly screamed, struggling in earnest now. Tears streamed down her face. Gusion merely slammed her back against the granite hard enough to make her head bounce. She fell silent for a moment, and Niklas feared Gusion had knocked her unconscious. But then she gasped, and dragged in a shuddering breath.
“And now the great Slayer,” Gusion smiled. The bastard knew he’d already won. He was just rubbing salt in the wound now.
Xander was silent for a long moment. Though he didn’t take his eyes from Gusion, he addressed Niklas. “You really want it to go down like this?”
“You’d do it for Kyanna. It’s like that for me.” He paused, searching for the right words to make them all understand. To make Xander understand. God, please let him understand. “I want her safe, whatever the cost. Just like when you protected Gideon at the nest. I want you to leave me behind.”
Tilting his head, Xander gave a tiny shiver, and then finally—grudgingly—replied, “Agreed.”
Gusion took hold of her upper arm and dragged her off the slab, unmindful of her injuries. She paled further as she wrapped one arm around her ribs. The other arm hung uselessly in Gusion’s grip, her wrist bruised and swollen grotesquely. Niklas had no idea how she was still conscious.
She tried to stumble to him, but Gusion denied him that final contact as he jerked her back. “I don’t think so,” he murmured. “No sense testing honor.”
“Niklas,” she pleaded, her voice hoarse with pain. Tears poured down her cheeks unchecked. “Please don’t give up. Fight. Fight for us. We do belong together. We do,” she cried as Gusion shoved her into Xander’s arms. “I love you, Niklas. Don’t leave me like this.”
His head came up like a shot. Now the woman was going to admit that she loved him? Now she was going to admit that they belonged together?
Now?
They were seriously going to have to work on her timing.
“Mikhail,” Niklas barked. “You have to heal her as soon as you get her back to the farm.”
Mikhail nodded once.
“Xander.” Niklas turned to the grim-faced demon. “You know what you have to do. Get her out of here.”
“No!” She fought against Xander, and Niklas could see she was only hurting herself further.
“Carly,” he snapped, his focus finally landing on her. If this didn’t work, he needed her to know what she meant to him. “Tá’hiri, I’m sorry, but it has to be this way. Forgive Gideon, this isn’t his fault. It isn’t any of their faults.” She stubbornly shook her head and continued to fight Xander’s hold. “Carly,” Niklas growled, “Listen to me, damn it.” She stilled, finally, and faced him. But she couldn’t contain the sobs. “I told you before that I existed to right the wrongs I’ve done. And that may have been true. Before. But then I met you. Now, I know the truth.” He dropped to his knees in front of Gusion. His steady gaze held hers. “I exist only for you.”
A fresh wave of tears poured down her face.
Niklas met Xander’s hard stare and nodded. Sebastian, Mikhail and Gideon reached out and laid their hands on Xander’s shoulders as he wrapped his arms more firmly around a struggling Carly. Drawing a deep breath, Niklas clasped his hands behind his back and lowered his head.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“No!” Carly screamed.
And then Niklas was gone. Or rather, she was. Xander shimmered them back to the farm. He released her the moment they solidified. Mikhail moved forward, catching her in surprisingly gentle arms.
“No, take me back. We have to go back. You can’t just leave him there!” She flailed, fighting Mikhail until the pain became too much for her and she collapsed in his arms, sobbing. “Please, please, go back. Take me back. Please!” Her pleading gaze met Gideon’s tortured stare. He reached for her, only to let his hands drop uselessly to his sides.
“They’re already gone, Carly.” Mikhail smoothed his hand along her shoulder. Comforting. Gentle. “This is the way Niklas wanted it. He wanted you safe. Away from the fight. Protected. Xander and Sebastian have already gone back.”
Carly glanced around. Xander and Sebastian were gone.
Oh God, please don’t let them be too late.
Her vision swam, and she swayed on her feet. Gideon moved closer, his expression concerned, as Mikhail scooped her up and laid her carefully on the sofa.
“Niklas wouldn’t fight with you there. He wouldn’t risk getting you hurt, not even by accident.” Mikhail eased her hair off her brow. His cool-eyed, methodical stare searched her features, probing for injuries. The earlier, momentary lapse in his tough-guy persona was gone as if it had never happened.
“You have to go back.” She grasped Mikhail’s arm, desperate. She looked between Mikhail and Gideon. “You have to help them.”
“We can’t,” Gideon said. The lines around his mouth were grim, his eyes bright with worry.
“I-I don’t understand.” She hiccupped, blinking up at Gideon in confusion as he dropped to his knees beside her. Once more, he reached for her. The cold pass of his hand through hers brought a tormented expression to his face, and he drew back again.
“You don’t realize where you were, do you?” Gideon asked. He glanced to Mikhail, watched him carefully smooth his hands along her scalp, down her neck and over her shoulders, healing her from the inside out. Her flesh warmed, tingled. Mended. “You were in Hell, Carly. Gusion took you into Hell.”
And Gideon and Mikhail couldn’t shimmer between planes like Xander and Niklas could.
“Why didn’t they take you with them?” she asked, frantic. “Why didn’t they take you to fight?”
“This is the way Niklas wanted it,” Gideon reminded her. “Mikhail had to stay here to heal you. And Niklas wanted me to stay here, for you.”
He didn’t say it out loud, but she could see it in his eyes. They were there for another reason. If Sebastian and Xander failed and Gusion killed Niklas, if Gusion double-crossed them, then Mikhail and Gideon would be there to guard her. A last line of defense.
“But they went back for him? They’ll get there in time? They’ll save him?”
“We would never abandon one of our own.” Mikhail scowled at her as if she’d offended him on some sacred level. But his hands were cautious as he lifted the wrist Gusion had taken such glee in breaking.
“But—”
“Shhh,” Mikhail hissed. He closed his eyes and held his palm over her injured arm. A deep furrow formed between his brows. His lips compressed and bleached of color, as did the rest of his face. Warmth surged. Building to heat. Nearly unbearable. And then the pain in her arm was no more. But she didn’t care. The only thing that mattered was Niklas. That he was saf
e. That he was alive. That he stay that way. Mikhail moved on to her ribs. Perspiration had broken out across his forehead. She struggled to sit up. She had to do something. She just couldn’t lie there, waiting.
“Lie back,” Mikhail ordered, his voice a harsh rasp now. His breath was labored. He eased her shoulders to the cushions and replaced his hands on her ribs. Once more heat built, but she was numb to it, too filled with dread. To busy struggling with her fear for Niklas to notice the miracle Mikhail was accomplishing with his bare hands.
At last, Mikhail sat back on his heels. His expression was strained, stoic. She pushed up to a sitting position, nearly out of her mind with helpless fear. Niklas wasn’t there. He wasn’t safe yet.
The air in the corner of the room distorted. Mikhail and Gideon both tensed and shot to their feet, ready for battle. A moment later, Xander and Sebastian staggered into solidity, supporting Niklas between them. All three were bloodied and singed. Wounded. Their clothing blackened in places. But Niklas was in far worse shape.
Carefully, they lowered him to the ground. Carly flew off the sofa and scrambled to his side. Mikhail and Gideon followed. Sebastian and Xander dropped to the floor. Panting. Wincing.
“Oh God, Niklas,” she cried, desperate to hold him but afraid to touch him. He was bleeding everywhere. Gashes. Burns. Blisters and blackened flesh. His chest was barely moving. “Open your eyes. Open your eyes for me. Please!”
He moaned. His head lolled to the side. Cupping his cheek, she pressed a soft kiss to his brow. “Please, Niklas. Please!”
She pleaded with Mikhail, “Do something. Fix him. Fix him like you fixed me.”
“I cannot,” he said quietly, never looking away from Niklas’s face. “I cannot heal others of my kind.”
“He needs a soul then, right? He needs to feed on a soul?” Desperate, clutching Niklas’s hand in hers, she glanced from Xander to Sebastian. Mikhail. Gideon. “A soul would heal him. You have to get him a soul.” In that dark moment, she didn’t care where they got that soul—just that they saved him.
“No time,” Xander rasped.
“Something’s wrong with him,” Sebastian quietly warned her. “He should have already begun healing. If nothing else, the more minor of his injuries should have already begun to mend, but they haven’t. He’s not healing.”
Sobbing, she bent over him and pressed a trembling kiss to his lips. Her tears fell upon his cheeks as she pressed the flat of his palm over her heart and pleaded with him. “Niklas, you have to feed. Now. Do you hear me? I won’t let you die like this, Niklas. Take whatever you need. Please.”
His fingers twitched. He turned his head. “Tá’hiri,” he whispered.
“I’m here.” She sniffled, quickly dragging the back of her forearm across her face, blinking away the sheen of tears. “I’m right here, Niklas. You have to feed now. Do you understand? You have to feed.”
He twitched again. But she didn’t feel him drawing her essence. Instead, he slid his shaking hand up the side of her neck, cupped her cheek. But he was too weak, and his arm fell back. Snatching his hand up, she pressed his palm to her chest once more.
“Please,” Carly begged, sobbing. Her lips continued to move, silently willing him to take what he needed, take all she had so that he would live. But tears and terror clogged her throat, preventing all but helpless sobs from escaping.
His lips moved. She leaned closer, until a faint wisp of breath slipped along her ear.
“I love you,” he whispered.
“Niklas? Niklas!” She leaned back, scanning his face. He wasn’t breathing.
He wasn’t breathing.
Shaking him, she screamed his name over and over. She wouldn’t let him go. Not like this. She beat on his chest. Swore. And then she dragged in a breath, struggling to calm herself.
Terrified, she glanced to Gideon, Xander. Then to Mikhail and Sebastian. Each, in turn, looked thunderstruck.
He’s not dying like this.
She wouldn’t allow it.
Carly started CPR. Over and over she followed the steps she’d learned in a class a long time ago. A-B-C. Airway. Breathing. Circulation. Check for pulse, check breath. Chest compressions. Two breaths. Compressions. No. That was wrong. Just compressions now, she remembered. Lots of compressions. Fast compressions. Frantic, she wouldn’t stop. Not until he came back.
Tears streamed down her face. Sobs erupted from deep in her chest, torn from the back of her throat. But still she pressed on. Until the motions were mechanical. Her mind locked on the process, refusing to recognize and accept reality. One, two, three, four…fifteen, sixteen, seventeen…twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty. At length, strong arms wrapped around her, dragging her off Niklas’s unresponsive body. Fighting like a she-wolf protecting her pups, she screamed, swore, scratched, struggling madly to get back. She had to keep his blood circulating. Had to keep oxygen pumping to his brain.
“Shhh, Carly.” Steely arms caged her, rocked her, as a rough voice rasped against her ear. “Shhh. He’s gone. Let him go.”
“He can’t be gone. He told me the only way for you guys to die was to lose your head. He’s still got his.” She sobbed hysterically. “He’s still got his! I don’t understand. He’s not gone. He’s not. He can’t be gone! I need him.”
“Darlin’, I’m not sure we understand either,” Gideon offered from nearby. Then his voice softened, as though he were speaking to someone else, someone closer to him. “Shouldn’t his body have ashed by now?”
Ashed? As in turned to ashes? The very idea struck terror into the very heart of her, and she fought with renewed strength.
But he hadn’t yet. Did that mean they still had time? Still had a chance to change this?
Oh please, God! Please! Anything you ask, I’ll do it. Just please, please…
She glanced around the room, at Gideon and Sebastian, at Mikhail. Twisting in his arms, clutching the front of Xander’s shirt in her white-knuckled fists, she pleaded, “Can’t you do something? Bring him back somehow? He had scrolls, Lucifer’s scrolls. Dark magic. Something in there has to bring him back!”
They stared at Niklas. As if they’d never seen him before. As if they couldn’t figure out what to do next. Grief, she realized, slowly going numb. They stared at Niklas as she’d stared at the caskets of her mother and father. Her uncle’s. They were trying to process his death. Through their grief, her own finally engaged. Sobbing, she collapsed against Xander. Strong arms banded around her as Xander’s chin dropped onto the top of her head.
A warm, gentle light bathed Niklas. The soothing sense of peace washing through him was so pure, so true he could little fathom it. And he knew he was not alone.
Oh, I know this place.
Tears of joy pricked his eyes, even as fear and longing tightened his chest.
“Father?”
I am here. And I am pleased.
A sob caught in his throat. Though he knew he would see nothing beyond the light, he continued to search the warm glow. A hundred questions darted through his mind, too swiftly for him to pin one down. A hundred things he wanted to confess. A hundred things he needed to give thanks for. He opened his mouth but, overwhelmed, he could only make inarticulate sounds.
Be at peace, Niklas. I know all that is in your heart.
He calmed without conscious effort.
And the knowing filled him. That certainty that only He was capable of giving. He had, at last, achieved forgiveness.
You have earned the choice I give few others.
The answer filled his heart before it could form upon his lips. “Carly! I choose Carly. I ask only to be bound to her, my life force be linked to hers. I would age as she does. I would die with—”
Soothing calm swept through him once more. Though He didn’t speak, Niklas could feel He was pleased.
You shall be as Xander is. You are my o
wn warrior once more.
Another wave of peace washed over him, love in its truest form, and then the light receded.
His battered body jolted, surging and shaking as if struck by lightning. Touched by the very hand of God Himself. Niklas convulsed and then gasped, dragging in a huge rasping breath.
He opened his eyes. And he wondered if he hadn’t gotten sent to some wrong dimension by accident. There sat Xander of all people, holding Carly, rocking her, gently patting her back…comforting her…while she sobbed as though her very heart had been torn from her body. The sight of her grief, raw and unfiltered, robbed him of speech for a moment.
“Carly?” he managed to croak.
A wave of murmurs, both shocked and relieved, swept the room, but her reaction was the only thing he truly registered. Her head whipped around and she gasped. Her shoulders shook and jerked in time with the great sobbing breaths that heaved through her. Her eyes were puffy, nearly swollen shut. Her face was soaked from the tears that continued to roll down her cheeks. Her nose was red, and her face was splotchy.
She looked like the sun and the moon and the stars all rolled into one. She looked like Heaven.
“Niklas?” she whispered, as if afraid she was hallucinating. Then louder, “Niklas!”
Before he could speak, before he could even sit up, Carly wrenched free of Xander’s arms and threw herself on top of Niklas. Her body heaved as she sobbed his name and peppered his face with wet, salty kisses. Her hands frantically patted at him, all over, as if to make sure he was real.
“I love you! I love you! So much. I do! I’ll tell you every day. So often you’ll get sick of hearing it, I swear!” she gushed between kisses. “I’ll tell you whatever you want to hear, just please, please don’t leave me again. I love you a thousand times.”
He smiled beneath the onslaught, and even tried to capture her lips with his, but she was just too fast, too overcome with relief and happiness, and her haphazard kisses connected with eyelid and nose and chin. Distantly, Niklas felt the press of stronger hands on his shoulder, his wrist, his ankle and heard words of thanks and reassurance murmured and he was doubly grateful for his blessings. His family. His band of brothers.