Dominion 4 - Ascendance

by Lissa Kasey

  Feeling somewhat uncomfortable in the room with the tunnel in it, I dressed, then headed down the hall to Jamie’s room. He wasn’t there. Had he gone out? Why hadn’t he said anything to me? Gabe hadn’t followed me out of the tunnel. Was he really going to read when we were still fighting?

  Argh! This was all such a mess.

  My phone beeped with a new text. Oddly enough, it was from Sam.

  Can we talk? I blinked at it a few times, feeling weirdly mixed about what to do. Maybe we could hash out whatever made me hate him. Or maybe we’d just yell at each other a bit. It had to be better than the silence.

  I sent back, Where?

  He sent me a link with a map to a park that was in

  walking distance. Was he staying nearby? I loaded up the journals into a backpack I’d found and headed through the night. The air felt a little cooler, but still so much better than the cold Minnesota weather I had left behind.

  Chapter 9

  THE park was a typical expanse of grass and trees, a playground to one end, benches on the other. It smelled unused, like earth, soil, and pollen, heaven to my nose. Sam sat on one of the benches farthest away from the road. His back to the trees, he gazed out at the street beyond. He looked a little more human than he had a few days ago, but still stared off in the distance with a blank expression.

  I crossed the park, feeling a little uncomfortable with such a secluded setting. He must have gone out of his way to pick something comfortable for me and remote enough for him. The smell of blood made him hungry no matter how much he ate. Gabe told me it was normal, and that Sam would grow used to it. It sounded dangerous to me.

  “Hey,” I whispered, afraid of startling him. He threw me a tight, forced smile. “Sorry, was just thinking. You look okay.”

  “Yeah. I’m okay. How are you doing?” And boy, wasn’t that a loaded question. I sat on the opposite side of the table from him.

  “Seiran, you don’t have to be nice to me. I know you don’t like me, and that’s fine. Unlike the rest of the world, I don’t need your divine opinion to exist. I just don’t like seeing Gabe so torn.”

  Ouch. Torn. What a word. Would Gabe pick Sam over me? Was that why he wasn’t talking to me? I swallowed hard, wondering if I’d survive him saying it was over. Probably not. My eyes betrayed me by tearing up, forcing me to look away from Sam and into the dark shadows of the tree line. “I don’t dislike you.” The words came out somewhat broken. What the hell did he mean, divine opinion? Since when did anyone value my opinion on anything?

  Sam touched my hand and the power of earth flared up within me, almost bringing on my change to lynx. I had to rip myself away from his touch. Shit, that had been unexpected, but he was nodding. The residue of his power remained on my hand, stinging a little, like an electrical shock.

  “This is my curse, Seiran. No one else can mentor me because I will fuck with their power. Gabe is all I have. If he abandons me, the TriMega will kill me. The Dominion already wants to. Who knows what the Ascendance wants. It’s National Fuck Up Sam Year. Didn’t you know?”

  “My year too.” Something else we had to share. The Ascendance would love Sam. He could probably make more powerful witches without killing anyone. It was a really bad idea for him to be around them. He’d made Kelly the Pillar of water and turned Jamie into a level-four witch, all without trying. I couldn’t imagine what he might do to my power.

  “Look. You know there’s nothing between Gabe and me, right?” His brown eyes looked me over. “I mean, even without the hair, you’re breathtaking. You’re short, pretty, but have a great body. You’re smarter than most guys I know and have crazy power. I’m just Sam. I get it. I don’t know why you don’t.”

  “But Gabe is spending all his time with you.” I probably sounded like a grade-schooler complaining, but Gabe had been hard won for me, even if battling my own emotions was the cause.

  “Not really. He’s always working, trying to make the bar more efficient so he can take more time off. He’s been trying to convince Mike to take a manager role for ages. Then he works when you’re working, just so he can watch you. And good God, he can’t keep his eyes off you. I’m surprised you don’t feel him fucking you with his eyes.” He waved his hand. “These super senses I have really suck. Telling me when people are turned on, angry, or whatever. I hate always knowing. It makes me afraid of how people are affected by me.”

  My brain moved like molasses to process all he said. Gabe watched me when I worked? Like a lover and not like a boss? And he wanted Mike to be manager? I’d wondered why the vampire had been picking up so many hours.

  His last words made me study him again. “But you still feel things, your own things, not just other people’s things?” “Uh, yeah. Like mad, sad, happy, whatever, yeah. Why?” ’Cause apparently that’s something vampires lose over

  time . Sam probably felt my jealousy and anger, but that didn’t stop him from pissing me off. “So you’re not attracted to Gabe?”

  He looked uncomfortable. Damn. The jealousy roared to life in me again, rising up like a monster of the deep. I wanted to break Sam’s nose, maybe a limb or two. Instead I gripped the table to keep from lunging at him.

  He sighed. “Let’s get this over with.”

  “Huh?”

  “You can create a protection bubble, right?” he asked.

  I snorted. “Of course.” That was a Spell Casting 101 basic. The protection bubble kept magic from leaking out and harming others while in heavy use, but couldn’t stop major damage like earthquakes or floods. They also couldn’t be used anyplace that water disrupted the flow. Thankfully this little park appeared to be dry.

  Sam motioned to the open area between the benches and the tree line. “Let’s do it, then.” It took me about half a second to realize he meant he was going to fight me. Of course, he said he felt my emotions, but he didn’t wait for me. Sam leapt, picking me up like a doll and tossing me away from the table. I used the training Kelly had been giving me and turned the fall into a roll, but it still knocked the wind out of me. Sam landed on me just as I was stopping. “Create the bubble and let’s play.” His knee dug into my back. “I’m tired of everyone thinking you’re better than me. I’m sick of feeling you’re always an inch away from attackingme. Now is your chance. Do it!”

  The lunge of his fangs toward my neck had me up and moving. I cast the spell with little thought, giving us enough space to move, while I kicked him in the back of the head with my heel. He paused but didn’t stop, so I awkwardly slammed the palm of my hand into one ear. He howled and rolled away.

  I jumped to my feet, letting myself flex and prepare for the fight. The few weeks sparring and training with Kelly had given me some defense knowledge, but I knew if it came down to hand-to-hand combat, I’d lose.

  Sam moved back until he hit the wall of the spell that trapped us in together and protected the rest of the world from our battle. “Good space,” he said. He launched himself at me again, speed blinding, but not as fast as Gabe.

  I dodged left, throwing myself out of the way. “What’s the point of this, Sam? I beat you up, you beat me up. Who really wins?” That had always been the reason I never started it. No matter how much I wanted to choke him sometimes, nothing would change. But the way he moved meant he took it seriously. Would he kill me? For some reason I didn’t think so, and I had no intention of killing him, but he could probably hurt me pretty bad.

  “Fight back, damn you!” He flew across the grass at me. I put my hands to the earth and in a half second a dirt wall flew up between us. He slammed into it but moved around it too fast for me to counter. His fist found my face before I could react, snapping my head back, and I toppled to the ground. The pain stung briefly. Since he was already coming at me again, I didn’t have time to be shocked. I pretended to be more hurt, lying in wait, and when he lunged at me, I kicked upward with both feet, smashing into his torso and making him fly backward. He landed with a grunt but didn’t stay down long.

&n
bsp; He moved like a ninja on an assassination mission to save his country, flipping back upright, shaking it off, and heading my way again.

  The ground could give me strength, but it couldn’t give me skill. Sam knew how to fight. I was just learning. I staggered to my feet, feeling the warm trickle of blood on my face. He circled me, waiting; for what, I didn’t know. I pulled strength from the earth, let it pour the power into me to make a shield of invisible magic. When Sam struck, the force rebounded him back, slashing through him like a lightning bolt. Before becoming Pillar, I would have never had this kind of control. Now it was as easy as breathing.

  This time it took him a little longer to shake it off, and he bled too. I released some of the power back to the earth and sought within the recesses of the soil for strong and willing roots. They moved for me, breaking free and snapping at him. The limbs were thick and grabbing, like some dark octopus rising from the ground. Several roots grabbed his legs. He took them in both hands and ripped them apart.

  That stung. The earth admonished me with a pulse of pain before raising thicker brown limbs to the surface. Sam fought with them for a few minutes before putting his hands to the ground and forcing it to move beneath me. I struggled to keep my footing while the earth shook. Then another root popped free and wrapped around my waist, dragging me toward him. He was borrowing my power.

  Dammit! I touched the root, forcing it to curl away, and instead it writhed, shifted, and became a growing sapling. The others coming at me met the same fate, but Sam didn’t stop. He wove around the new trees like some sort of superhero in a comic book. When he got to my side we both moved in unison, fists flying—me thrusting the earth into my punch, and him with all his vampire strength.

  The bright lights and sudden overwhelming pain were unexpected. I think I lost consciousness for a few seconds, then blinked my way back to the surface of myself. The bubble of protection had burst. I hurt, but the earth power pulsing through me healed me just as fast, repairing busted veins. Something about being in California brought me closer to the earth, gave me more power, or maybe that was just Sam again.

  I struggled to sit up, finding it hard to breathe even as the pain began to recede. Sam lay about twenty yards away. He moved slowly, a hand to his chest, and shook his head from side to side. The sound of his wheezing and cursing reached me and made me laugh. Wow, we’d really beaten the shit out of each other. And what had we gained?

  I touched the blood that still trickled from my skull. He had blood in his lungs, I could smell it. It wouldn’t kill him, but it probably hurt pretty badly. I limped to his side. He flinched, but I put a hand to him and to the earth, pouring the healing into both of us. The shock on his face told me he hadn’t expected my help.

  “Are you done now?” I asked him. The power I’d been playing with had taken its toll, making me really tired. Even I could handle only so much of the earth at once.

  “You are both done,” a voice said from closer to the street. Gabe crouched beside a nearby tree. How long had he been there? He didn’t look angry, but he didn’t look happy either. He’d changed clothes since I saw him last, now wearing jeans and a T-shirt. When he approached us, I felt his nudge to our link and opened for him. His worry flooded me. “Were you trying to kill each other?”

  I flushed, feeling a bit foolish even though I hadn’t started the fight. Sam looked away from both of us. “Come on, let’s get you bandaged up.” Gabe pulled us with him, and then dragged us away from the park and toward their hotel, probably. Neither Sam nor I protested. We followed along quietly. I couldn’t look at either of them. Had I really used my Pillar power to try to mess up a vampire I was jealous of? How stupid was that? I could have hurt Sam just ’cause I was pissed off.

  Chapter 10

  THE hotel was pretty plain, but the windows had coverings specific for vampires. The place had two beds, one unmade, the other done up military style like Gabe always did. He shoved me to his bed and dropped Sam to the other before disappearing into the bathroom. The water ran for a moment, then he returned with a first aid kit and a couple of damp towels.

  “That was really stupid. What were you thinking?” He handed a towel to Sam, who wiped off his dirty face. He’d already healed and the blood had begun to dry. Gabe dabbed at the cut on my forehead; apparently it still bled, because it made him frown. It stung a little, but the embarrassment of the fact that we had been fighting over him mattered more.

  “Seriously?” Gabe asked. He glanced at Sam. “Fighting over me?” “Not just you,” Sam protested. “I’m just tired of everyone always thinking Seiran is better than me. Pillar, earth witch, whatever.”

  Did he think I wanted all this? To be Pillar, to be singled out? I sighed. Gabe pulled a bottle of some type of glue bandage out of the kit and squeezed the wound together while painting it on. I tried not to move, though it hurt. “Sei?”

  “He started it,” I protested. He’d come at me.

  “And you could have put him in a binding spell and ended it immediately. I know Jamie has been teaching you and Kelly defensive spells. Sam’s not a witch. He can’t counter your spells, even if he borrows your power. He’s shown no control over spells. All he can do is enhance and redirect ones others create.”

  True. I hadn’t even thought of it. I guess I really had wanted the fight. The sad thing was it hadn’t solved anything.

  “What is there to solve?” Gabe sounded exasperated. “You fly out here without telling anyone, slam the door in my face, and then decide you need to beat the crap out of Sam. Please tell me what this is doing for you?”

  “I came here because I wanted to learn about my dad.” And to get away from the growing gap between us. “And you couldn’t have said, ‘Gabe, let’s go to California so I can learn about my dad?’ A relationship isn’t just about love and great sex, Sei. It’s about compromise, talking to the other person, and trust.”

  “Like you’re one to talk! You never tell me anything.” “I don’t tell you things that can hurt you, Seiran. You have enough trouble in your life—I know I don’t need to burden you with mine.”

  “You just said a relationship is about compromise and talking to each other. What do you think that means? I don’t want your crap any more than you want mine, but I’m here to help you deal with it, whether you like it or not. So stop being an ass and share already.”

  His shocked expression meant I probably got through. I totally expected him to throw me out or rage at me again, but he said nothing.

  “I was stupid for just up and coming here. I know that.” My cheeks felt hot. The moment that had driven me to go seemed unimportant now. It had been the pride Gabe felt toward Sam. I wanted him to be proud of me, love me, and not some ex-boyfriend cast-off. “You were proud of him. I felt it through the bond. I was jealous, and so I made a bad decision. We all fuck up, even you, Gabe.”

  Gabe burst into movement again, blotting away the rest of the blood. He spoke quietly. “I am proud of him. He’s learning fast, working hard to hold back the hunger and only take what he needs. The first few months are horrible for a new vampire. More than half have to be put down because they can’t handle it.” He put away the kit and glared at both of us, who were covered in dirt. “The faster he learns, the faster he can live without constant supervision. I’m not doing this for me, Sei.” He sat back on the bed next to me and swept his fingers through his hair. “Yes. I fuck up too. I will try to share more. It’s just hard. Been alone a long time.”

  I stared at him, feeling foolish and tired, but no way could I sleep alone tonight. Whatever stupid things we did to each other, I still loved him, and he loved me. I felt it through the bond. He needed me more than anything, and I needed him too. “All things worth fighting for take work, right? I’m willing to work on this, on us, if you are.”

  He nodded, palmed the back of my head, and pulled me in for a kiss. His lips on mine felt so sweet, water after a drought to my parched earth. “I’m sorry,” he whispered between little k
isses and flicks of his tongue.

  Sam cleared his throat, got up, and threw his dirty towel into the bathroom. “Do I have to be here for this?” The comment made me want to punch him again. Gabe kissed my forehead and the emotion suddenly vanished into a calm sea of peace inside my mind. I felt very tired when all the adrenaline from the fight rushed out of me.

  The hotel looked iffy, but if Gabe stayed here, I’d have to try. The shake began in my hands, warning me of a pending panic attack. The nausea in my gut swirled like it hadn’t in weeks. Had I taken my pills? Yes. Religiously. Jamie had been good at drilling that into me. Exhaustion could bring on the attacks despite the medication, and I’d pushed myself pretty hard. Still, I had no reason to feel this shaken up.

  “Do you have your phone on you?” Gabe asked. “Yeah.” If it hadn’t been broken in the fight. I pulled it out of my pocket. The gorilla glass I’d paid extra for was still intact. The thing seemed to be working okay.

  “Call your brother, please.” I frowned at him. Was something wrong with Jamie? I’d just talked to him a few hours ago. After hitting the speed dial, the phone rang in my ear. Hopefully he wasn’t asleep yet.

  Jamie picked up on the third ring. “Sei?” “Yeah, what’s up?” At three o’clock in the morning. I glanced at my watch.

  “You’re okay? Kelly said he got a text, but I’ve been so busy with Hanna….”

  Huh? “What’s wrong with Hanna?” Is that why he’d disappeared from the house?

  “She was bleeding.” My weary brain took another minute or so to process that. Then it clicked that she was girl bleeding, and probably shouldn’t be since she was pregnant with our babies. Now the panic was really eating at me. “Are the babies okay? Is Hanna okay?”

  “They’re all fine. Resting. Hanna is on bed rest for now. It happens sometimes, but we’re keeping an eye on her.” My stomach flipped over. “Where are you?” “At home right now. I left Hanna’s after midnight once she was tucked in. Ally said she’d call me if anything went wrong. Kelly’s got his phone on too, just in case.”