The Shifting Storm (Book 4)

by Jeff Hale

  Finally, he said, “She’s staying here though, right? At the Flame?”

  I nodded. There was only one ‘she’ he could be referring to.

  “She’s okay? Not hurt anymore?”

  “Lucien says she’s fine, physically at least. It’s just going to take longer for her to heal, mentally, but he thinks, given time, she’ll be okay that way too,” I told him.

  He took a couple more bites, swallowed. “She hates me, doesn’t she?” He didn’t ask so much as stated it.

  “No, why would she?” I asked him. “You didn’t do anything to her.”

  “I didn’t do anything for her either. Didn’t stop that bastard, didn’t get her away from him, hell I wasn’t even the one to save her, Val did that.” His voice had gone low, flat, his eyes glassy. “Why wouldn’t she hate me, it’s my fault.”

  “No, Rick, it’s not. It’s Travis’s fault, his and his friends, the Purity Movement,” I said, disgust in my voice.

  “And what would you know of the Purity Movement?” he asked sullenly.

  “Hello? I’m a shifter, that’s bad enough. But they almost took my best friend away a few months ago, they shot her, just because she’s human and associates with AEs. They’re the ones who you should be angry at, not yourself. It’s not like you just gave her to them.”

  “I might as well have.” His shoulders sagged. “They hurt her, Kat, they made me watch her suffer.”

  “So why didn’t you do anything about it?” I asked him, watching his reaction to my words carefully.

  “I couldn’t! I wanted to but I couldn’t!”

  “Couldn’t?” I put a bit of a sneer into my voice and hoped what I was doing wouldn’t backfire on me. “Big scary Sentinel couldn’t fend off a few weak humans? Maybe you’re right, maybe you did fail.”

  He stood, almost upending the coffee table. “What would you know? They pumped me full of fucking iron, Kat, pure iron! Do you know what happens when AEs get pure iron in them?” he shouted.

  I didn’t know what iron did to AEs, but I’d seen what silver could do, and that was bad enough. From the way Aerick was talking, iron was obviously worse. I shook my head.

  “But you know what? I managed to burn that off even! They had to get some device from who knows where that totally nullified all my powers just so they could keep me contained! Hell, they even had Malachai trapped with the damned thing!” His eyes were wide now, burning like blue flame as he towered over me.

  “So you could have saved her if they hadn’t used magical means to disable you?” I prompted.

  “You’re fucking right I would have!” he declared. “It’s not my fault they had...” He broke off, sucking in air and slowly sitting back down, head dropping down as he rested his forehead against his hands. “It doesn’t matter, I should have been able to do something! I still failed her, I fail everyone.”

  I moved to sit next to him, wrapping my hands around his. “No, Rick, no you don’t. You didn’t fail me, when those vampires were trying to kill me, you didn’t fail me. And you didn’t fail Serena either.”

  He leaned into me, crying silently, only the movement of his shoulders telling me. I just held him, only realizing about fifteen minutes later that he had fallen asleep again. I carefully moved away so as not to wake him, lowered him so that he was lying against the couch cushions. I looked at the time, saw that it was still only midafternoon, but decided sleep would be a good thing for me too. I curled up in my bed in my Tinkerbell pajamas and was soon fast asleep.

  __________________________________

  “Why are you here? Why are you doing this?” a voice demanded in an almost unrecognizable whisper.

  I blinked my eyes open, letting them adjust to the dim light in the room. Aerick was crouched next to my bed, head cocked to one side, confused curiosity in his eyes… eyes that were bright with yellow-orange flame, sending a chill through me.

  I moved my head on the pillow, checked the clock on the nightstand, saw that it was a little after midnight. I’d been asleep for quite a while. I wondered how long Aerick had been next to my bed, if he had been watching me while I slept. I pushed the covers back and swung my legs over the edge of the bed. He didn’t move and I had to scoot down the mattress to stand.

  “You need someone to talk to you, to help you,” I murmured, rubbing my eyes. Caffeine, I need caffeine. There was soda still in the living room.

  “Yes, but why you?” he asked from behind me, an odd note to his voice.

  I looked over my shoulder and smiled at him. “Because I love you, silly.”

  I didn’t even see him move, he was just right there, fingers gripping my jaw and digging painfully into my cheeks, forcing the soft flesh inside against my teeth as he slammed my head into the wall next to me. I could taste blood inside my mouth where my teeth cut in.

  “You really shouldn’t, you know,” he said quietly, a malevolent grin tugging at his lips.

  Something was wrong with him and I didn’t know what and it scared me. As I looked into his eyes, saw the yellow-orange flames flicker, it was almost as if Aerick wasn’t even there. In fact I was almost certain of it.

  “Who are you?” I asked in a hoarse whisper.

  He winked at me and made a small noise at the side of his mouth. “Now, now, that would be telling.”

  I wasn’t sure how to answer that, only that I knew Aerick was still there somewhere. He squeezed my jaw harder and I finally got out, “You’re hurting me.” Just because I healed fairly fast didn’t mean I didn’t feel pain. I tried not to let him see my fear.

  His head twitched and so did his grin and he let me go suddenly, taking a step back. I carefully moved past him, got maybe two steps when I felt his hands, one in the middle of my back, the other on the back of my head as he shoved me into the nearest post of the four poster bed.

  I actually heard the wood crack as the side of my face hit the post, or at least I thought it was the wood; it might have been my cheekbone. He pulled my head back by the hair and popped it back against the post. This time I was positive it was my cheekbone that cracked. A hiss of pain escaped me.

  He yanked my left arm up behind my back, pulling it high and eliciting another yelp of pain from me. He leaned in close, pressing his face against mine to hold me there, using his now free hand to caress my butt through my pajama bottoms before sinking his fingers into the flesh hard enough that they would leave bruises.

  A jolt of desire went through me at his touch, even as my brain went into high alarm. This was not Aerick, not the Aerick I knew, and what he was doing bore no good intentions.

  “Rick, what are you doing? Stop,” I protested. I could have pulled strength from my Aspect, pulled away… maybe. I didn’t know just how much he could augment his own strength with his magic. I could have shifted but he still would have overpowered me.

  Besides, I had told him I wouldn’t use any of that against him and I meant it. I had also promised him I wouldn’t ever let anyone hurt him again. That included me. He would come to his senses before he did much more.

  I hoped.

  “Now why would I do that?” he asked, licking my cheek before pulling away and throwing me one handed into the dresser.

  My back hit it and I fell to the floor, the piece of furniture rocking forward to land on me. I felt fingers in my hair again as Aerick pulled me forcibly out from under it, dragging me on my stomach across the sand-carpet towards the bathroom as I scrabbled to get my feet underneath me.

  “Let me go, Rick,” I pleaded, holding onto his arm and stumbling after him into the bathroom.

  I fell to the tile as he dropped me, barely getting my feet under me before his hand closed around my throat, lifting me and smashing me into the marble wall, cracking the marble behind me. Blood trickled down the back of my head.

  He held me there one handed, my feet a few inches off the floor, staring into my eyes as he choked me, his fingers digging into my neck. There was no sanity in his eyes, nothing that was Aerick, j
ust those flames. I struggled, kicking my feet, trying vainly to draw in breath, felt a slight breeze caress my skin, felt my hair whip around my face, heard air whistle through the room.

  He chuckled in surprise. “Oh, my dear Kat, you’ve been keeping secrets again.” He moved closer, pressed his lips to mine, grinding them with his own, with his teeth, until I tasted blood again, mine, his, both, I didn’t know. I didn’t care. The room was greying out around the edges.

  Then I was moving again, glass raining down around me as the shower door shattered with the impact of my body. I landed on the tile with a grunt, gulping in air noisily.

  He walked toward me, undoing the button on his jeans, and I scrambled to get away from him, uncaring of the small shards of glass that were cutting into my hands and knees as I crawled across the tile.

  “No!” I shrieked as I felt a hand close on my ankle, yanking me back. “Rick, stop!” My fingertips slid along the floor as I tried to dig them in.

  I was terrified now, had no clue as to what he was capable of anymore, but I still didn’t fight back against him, couldn’t bring myself to.

  I loved him too much to hurt him.

  Fingers hooked into the waist band of my pajama bottoms, tearing them. Not this way, not this way! my mind shrieked in terror, and then Aerick made a sound that caused the hair on the nape of my neck to stand up, almost like a keen of fury, the fingers around my ankle biting hard into my flesh.

  “You will unhand my wife!” he commanded in that hollowish, resonant voice, the words echoing off the bathroom walls.

  I didn’t have a clue as to who he was talking to, or about, since we were the only ones present, but the hand around my ankle suddenly released me and I fell forward onto the floor. I scuttled as far away as I could, huddling against a wall as I turned to stare at Aerick fearfully.

  He was on his hands and knees on the tile, breathing hard, his eyes fixed on me. Unbridled fury roiled in their blue depths, but it wasn’t directed at me. If anything, I got the feeling it was directed at what had been happening to me.

  His head turned from side to side, searching the room for something, or someone, that he didn’t find, then he very cautiously rose to his feet. He walked to me, slowly and deliberately, his blue eyes focused on me again, the flames in them gone. His jeans were still unbuttoned, a reminder of what he had been trying to do, and he frowned when he saw me shrink back against the wall. He held a hand out to me that I didn’t take.

  “I won’t hurt you,” he promised in that voice that was his, yet wasn’t.

  A brief image went through my mind, of man that was and wasn’t Aerick, striking me across the face and knocking me to the floor. I wasn’t sure where it had come from and it vanished just as quickly, but it didn’t make me want to take that outstretched hand any more readily.

  He let out a patience filled sigh and wiggled his fingers. “Please?”

  The way he said the one word started a floodgate of new tears and I took the proffered hand. He gently pulled me to my feet. “Are you all right?”

  I shook my head no, not trusting my voice to answer.

  Pain shot through Aerick’s eyes and he pulled me against him, wrapping one arm around me to rock me against him, while the other came up to caress my hair. “Ssh, my love, you’re safe. I’ve driven the demon away, for now.”

  Demon?

  I lifted my head to ask him what he meant, but before I could say anything his mouth came down on mine again. This time the kiss was soft and loving, full of promise and warmth. The hand in my hair tightened, holding me to him, while his other hand found its way under my pajama top to gently knead my breasts.

  Pleasure and desire spiked through me, along with confusion. My emotions and senses, just so recently subjected to violence, weren’t sure how to mesh what was happening to me now with what else had happened. The leftover adrenaline from the near rape swirled in to combine with the endorphins from what he was doing to me now, leaving me feeling almost shamed that I was allowing him to kiss and touch me, yet still wanting desperately for him to do even more.

  His knee came up in between my thighs, pushing gently, and I let him carefully take me back down to the floor. When I went to touch him back, I winced at the glass still embedded in my hands, a stark reminder of only minutes ago.

  “It’s been so long, Guin,” he whispered against my jaw before running his lips up my neck.

  Guin?

  “Rick? Why do you keep calling me that name?” I asked breathlessly. His movements stilled and I felt him inhale raggedly against my neck. “Rick?”

  Slowly, he pulled back from me, until he was kneeling on the floor in front of me. He glanced around the bathroom, confusion and fear on his face, then his eyes came back to me, raking over me from head to toe. Wetness shimmered in his eyes, his mouth trembling, and I could see that he was back, that he was himself again. A sound of dismay came from him when he saw the glass in my hands and knees, then he very carefully began pulling the shards from my skin until he had freed me of them, watching as the cuts began to heal. Afterwards, he just stared at his fingers for several moments, at my blood on them.

  Finally, he lifted his eyes back to mine and asked sadly, “Now do you still love me?” Then he stood abruptly and fled the room.

  I curled up into a little ball on the tile, closed my eyes and cried, cried for Aerick, cried for myself. After a bit I felt something cold and wet touch my cheek and I shrieked, pulling away.

  “It’s just me, kitten, I’ve got you,” I heard Talon’s voice in my head. I opened my eyes to see his glowing blue ones staring at me sorrowfully. He curled up next to me on the floor and I buried my face in his fur.

  Maybe I wasn’t strong enough to do this after all.

  THIRTY-THREE

  KATELYN

  Something woke me. Talon had managed to get me into clean pjs and my bed sometime many hours after the incident, and as I sat up, listening for the sound again, I realized that he was gone. Then I heard it again, wailing and sobbing, a female voice that I recognized as Serena’s, along with male shouting.

  I got up and opened the connecting door to Aerick’s room, muttered a few obscenities when I saw that Aerick was not in his bed. I checked the bathroom, still no Aerick, then heard more wails and shouting from downstairs again.

  I took the steps down two and three at a time, got to the bottom and out into the dining hall just in time to see Val crumple to the floor not far from the short alcove that housed the stairs that led to the downstairs guest rooms.

  Lucien was standing on the other side of the room, the unconscious form of Malachai at his feet. Aerick was sitting on the floor just outside the alcove, rocking a wailing Serena in his arms. She was trying to get away from him, telling him to leave her alone, that she wasn’t okay, and I could see that it was his touch, his presence that was upsetting her so badly.

  I walked slowly to him, past Val, who despite what looked like new injuries, seemed awfully lively for as badly as she had been hurt the couple days before. It wasn’t that I didn’t care, but Lucien was moving towards her and Aerick needed me.

  I put a hand on Aerick’s back. “Aerick. Rick. You need to come with me. You’re hurting her,” I told him, keeping my voice soft.

  “No. I’m not. She needs me. Now more than she ever did,” he argued stubbornly.

  I looked at Serena, her face screwed up in a rictus of pain as she continued to scream. I didn’t even want to know what Travis had done to her that was so bad my friend was almost insane with fear.

  “No. Rick, she needs space. You’re breaking her. Come with me. We can talk,” I persuaded.

  “No. She needs me.”

  “Do you want her to hurt?”

  “No. I don’t. That’s why I have to stay here.”

  “That’s why you have to let her be. Like she asked. You’re hurting her more by being here, and even more just by touching her. She still hasn’t healed. She needs time. So do you. Come with me. Please? For me, a
nd if not for me, then for her?”

  He was going to be obstinate, I could tell, and much as I hated to manipulate him, I needed to get him away from Serena, for her sake if not his. I brought up the lust again with my last words, just for a moment, like I had a couple days ago, enough to refocus his attention.

  It worked. He gave me a numb nod and stood, letting Serena go. I led him back to his room again, noting that Lucien had disappeared with the other Sentinel. I got Aerick settled on his bed, where he sat with his knees draw up to his chest, chin resting on them, eyes on my every move.

  “I’m going to go change out of my pajamas, I’ll be right back,” I told him. He didn’t say anything, just kept watching me.

  When I came back into the room, dressed in black jeans and a pink t-shirt, he was still sitting on the bed, right where I had left him. His eyes whipped over to me, body tensing then relaxing when he saw that it was me. I wanted to sit next to him, to comfort him, but at the same time, I was afraid of what might happen if I got too close to him while we were alone again.

  Snap out of it, Kat. Remember what Lucien said. That’s why you’re here instead of someone else. He needs someone who will put him before anything else.

  Tentatively, I made my way to the bed and sat down, forcing the fear of him into the back of my mind. This was Aerick. Someone had broken him, that was the only reason he had done what he had, and I needed to put him back together again. I still had some questions though.

  “Why did you call me Guin?” I asked quietly, not looking at him.

  There was silence for several moments, then he answered, “Did I?”

  “Yeah. And you’re not the first. It’s just plain weird. That other Sentinel, Malachai? He called me Guin, too. And so did some woman in Germany. I think she might have been a Sentinel as well, or at least a sorcerer.

  He was quiet again, but I could feel him looking at me, feel his eyes hot on the side of my face. Then he asked, “And you don’t know why?”