by Lizzy Ford
“Darian!” Yully’s yell was panicked.
He withdrew, resting his forehead against Jenn’s while he wiped away the newest tears on her face.
“Good enough,” he whispered hoarsely.
“If we survive, I’ll teach you a thing or two when we get back,” she teased.
“Oh, we’ll survive,” he assured her. “I plan on collecting this time. No more games.”
“No more games.”
He kissed her forehead and stepped away, turning. Jenn ducked at the sight of purple lightning, stunned when he caught it midair and flung it back towards the Other.
“Yully, you ready?” Darian called.
“God, yes!”
Darian snatched Jenn’s hand and pulled her around to the other side of the obelisk. Yully floated several feet off the ground, radiating power.
“What’s going on?” Jenn asked.
“Destroying this place,” Charles answered.
Jenn’s throat grew tight at the words, and she thought of the family she’d lost. Her eyes went to Darian and Yully as she thought of the family she’d gained. Her past was about to become permanently gone.
Darian met her gaze, his features resolved yet tinged with the same sorrow she felt. She smiled tightly up at him, squeezing his hand. The air between them was as calm and peaceful as it was raging around them.
“One world, one future,” he said.
“Our future,” she corrected him.
He squeezed her hand back and released it. Darian approached the obelisk and wrapped his arms around it. The air grew more charged, humming with magic from god and obelisk. He appeared to be trying to lift the massive structure.
“Guardsmen!” Darian bellowed.
She yanked her weapons loose. Charles darted to the other side of the obelisk to protect Yully. Jenn whirled.
“Hit me, Yully!” Darian’s voice carried over the sounds of clashing metal.
Jenn didn’t risk looking back, but the surge of power knocked her and her opponents to their knees. She killed one before he could recover. The obelisk groaned, and the hum in the air became a whine almost too loud to bear. Darian shouted again, and another pulse of power made the earth rumble.
The guardsmen stared past her, and Jenn turned at last, horrified to see the obelisk teetering. Yully’s hands were on Darian’s back, and magic flowed from the world around them, through her, combining with his power before he shoved it into the obelisk. Jenn covered her ears against the high-pitched wail of magic. The obelisk tipped and then fell, tearing a hole in the ground that threw Darian and Yully into the shallows of the ocean. It slammed into the orchard, shaking the earth.
Sprawled on the ground, Jenn stared at the pillar of roaring magic that replaced the obelisk, as if a cork had been loosened from the core of the immortal world. It rose to the sky. Darian snatched Yully and pulled her forward.
Take them to the gateway! Darian directed into her mind. I’ll follow.
Jenn expected him to run around the power coursing upward. Instead, Darian released Yully and ran straight into the magic.
Jenn scrambled up, terrified when he didn’t emerge.
“Charles! Yully!” she shouted above the roar.
The vamp shook his head as he pushed himself up from the ground a few feet away. Jenn dashed forward and grabbed Yully’s arm, motioning for Charles to follow her. Magic fluctuated around her, sometimes pounding her and sometimes absent. Her own power felt scrambled, and Jenn fought to keep from becoming disoriented.
They struggled through the remains of the orchard as the earth rumbled and bucked. Jenn saw the tree at last and staggered to it. She gave Yully a shove, satisfied when the Magician disappeared. Charles tripped and fell through the portal.
Jenn turned to face the magic. Darian hadn’t followed. Her chest grew almost too tight to breathe at the thought of losing him so soon. She made her way back and circled the screaming pillar, shielding her eyes against its brightness. At its center, she thought she saw the dark shape of a man.
“Darian!” she shouted.
Leave.
“Come with me!”
Can’t control. It’s coming on again. Go! His words were choppy and faint.
Jenn drew back, unwilling to let her mate die in the immortal world. She balanced herself as much as she could with the rumbling ground and then ran straight into the magic. She leapt through it, half blinded, and tackled him. Fire and ice ripped through her, sucking the air from her lungs.
Her momentum carried them through to the other side. They burst out of the light, landing hard. Darian was unconscious, his body convulsing. Magic shot off him in bursts of black and white lightning. Jenn flinched as it went through her. She knelt and carefully lifted him over her shoulders in a fireman’s carry. She made it only a few steps before the shaking earth brought her to her knees.
She looked towards their destination then back at the pillar of magic, which had grown thicker and had begun eating away at the earth around it. The skies were covered in billowing clouds that pulsed with power. She rose only for Darian to seize again, sending her crashing onto her stomach. The trees were falling around them. She clambered forward to drag Darian out of the way of one, only to feel the crushing weight of another as it slammed across her legs.
Tears rose with the sharp, hot pain, and Jenn looked down. Her legs were crushed. She choked back a sob and wrapped her arms around Darian, pulling him as close as she could. The world crashed down around them. Jenn kissed Darian’s forehead and breathed in his scent again.
I love you, Darian, she whispered in her mind and closed her eyes.
“Funny things about Oracles.”
She opened her eyes.
“They’re purposely vague. If I leave you, does she fuck me over?” Xander said calmly. He squatted beside her, unaffected by the destruction around him.
“She must have some kind of dirt on you,” Jenn murmured.
“I wouldn’t be here otherwise, Guardian.”
Xander’s red eyes went to the unconscious god. “Glad he finally stepped up to the plate.”
“You knew this would happen?”
“I’ve been counting on it. I can’t kill Others and Watchers. Makes my life on the mortal world much easier. Only the Guardians are in my way now.”
The words should’ve scared her, but the world was growing hazy, the pain fading as darkness crept into her vision. The weight from her legs lifted suddenly, and fresh pain jarred her back into the imploding world.
Xander bent and hefted Darian over his shoulder. He held out a hand to Jenn. She shook her head, indicating her legs.
“I can’t carry two,” he said.
“Take Darian. Tell Sofi I traded my life for his. Your debt to her is done.”
Xander didn’t hesitate. He turned and left. Jenn watched him go until he was out of sight. She gripped the necklace around her neck then rubbed her eyes. With a grimace, she dragged herself next to a tree stump and leaned against it, exhausted. The pillar of light was moving closer, enveloping everything in its path. Trees flew overhead and the sparkling clouds drifted down from the sky. What the fire didn’t incinerate, the electrified clouds would.
She was fading fast. She couldn’t feel anything, let alone her legs. Another form appeared before her. She squinted to see it, unable to make out anything but glowing green eyes.
You did well, the Watcher said into her mind. Both of you.
Jenn couldn’t respond.
I can’t carry you out of here. It would break too many rules.
She closed her eyes, ready to die, when a different kind of warmth flowed through her. It was gentle. It pulled her from the darkness and mended her body. The Watcher’s magic drifted out of her body.
Give my regards to the Grey God.
Jenn opened her eyes, disoriented. No one was with her, but her legs were healed. She tested them and wobbled to her feet. Instinct took over, urging her towards the gateway. Jenn stumbled forward and then ran,
jumping over fallen trees and ducking flying debris. Her body pulsed with the surge and retreat of magic. The fire wasn’t far behind her, while the clouds had reached the tops of what trees were still standing. They burst into white flames.
She ran harder up the hill. A log tripped her, and she rolled partway down the other side of the hill then bounded to her feet. Jenn focused on the sound of her breathing and the placement of her feet on the trembling ground. Her lungs were burning and her legs aching by the time she spotted the tree ringed by stones. Hope soaring, Jenn sprinted as hard as she could. The tree was on fire but still standing. She caught herself against it, squinting back the way she’d come.
Struck by the familiarity of the scene, she paused as the fire reached the top of the hill. The last time she’d seen the orchard, it’d been on fire. This time, it wouldn’t survive. Nothing would.
There would be one world, the one she shared with Darian.
Jenn balanced herself against the tree and worked her way around it. The ground dropped out from under her, and she landed in the desert on her belly. Gasping for air, she rolled onto her back. The hot midday sun was reminiscent of the immortal world, but the screaming was gone, replaced by silence.
The ground rumbled. She forced herself up and half stumbled, half ran away from the portal. When she felt she was a safe enough distance, she stopped and looked back. White fire spewed from the ground upward, towards the sky. It blazed before fading to a flicker. It died completely. She straightened. A shockwave exploded from the gateway and knocked her back. The magic swept through her outward.
Jenn waited for the ground to stop rumbling before she stepped forward uneasily, gaze on the area where the portal was. She picked up a rock and threw it into the center of the gateway. It didn’t fall through but remained where it landed.
Exhausted, she sank to her knees. Her thoughts went to the Watcher that had spoken to her and healed her. She looked around for any Others or guardsmen that might’ve escaped through the portal. There were none.
It didn’t seem possible that none of them had made it to the mortal world. It didn’t seem possible that a Watcher had saved her.
“You survived.”
Jenn nodded without turning. The Black God came into view, trailed by his storm clouds. Jonny’s dark eyes had taken on a new spark of intelligence, his air settled where it had been agitated before.
“You’re different,” she voiced.
“Yeah. A little less naïve. Far less forgiving, Jenn.”
“I understand, ikir.”
“That’s the first time you’ve called me that.”
“It’s about time, don’t you think?”
Jonny smiled faintly. “I wanted to thank you and warn you.”
Jenn looked up at him. As with Darian, she sensed this change was permanent. The boy-god had figured out something about who he was.
“The thank-you is for protecting me when no one else would. The warning is that, next time we meet, there will be no discussion. I will not spare my enemies, and you are my enemy.”
“Yes, ikir, I am,” she said softly.
The Black God held her gaze for a moment before turning away. Jenn struggled to her feet. Her body was streaked with blood, sweat, and dirt. Her magic was but a trickle, and her head pounded with fatigue.
“Jonny,” she called.
He froze.
“I still believe in you.”
“Farewell, Guardian.”
He disappeared, leaving her alone again in the desert. She expected to feel the turmoil she’d felt before at his transition. She didn’t. If anything, she couldn’t help feeling at peace knowing what she did now about salvation. It came in the form of letting go of her past and embracing her future, not trying to fix something that couldn’t be fixed. Whether or not Jonny would ever know that same sense of peace, there was always a chance he could. He could be salvaged, if he chose to be.
That was good enough for her.
“Gods.” Her gaze turned to the desert. She didn’t have the magic to Travel, and this place was as barren as barren could be.
Jenn looked north and began walking. She needed to know what happened to Darian, if Xander followed through and delivered the Grey God home. Her walk turned into a trot as she pushed her weary body as fast as it would go.
Chapter Twelve
Four lives down.
Darian awoke feeling as if he’d just survived a hurricane. He’d had another of his episodes; his body hurt as it always did. One second, he’d been in the immortal world. The next …
“Jenn!” he breathed.
He threw off the covers, gaze sweeping the room. It was his room at Damian’s. Darian yanked open the door and strode into the hallway.
“Sofi!” He pounded on her door before opening it. Her room was empty. “Bianca! Yully!”
“I’m here, Darian,” Bianca’s voice came from down the hall. She appeared at the top of the stairwell.
“Bianca, where’s Jenn?” he demanded.
“Darian …”
He saw the answer on her face and stopped. “Where’s Sofi?”
“Resting. She had Adrian. Darian,” Bianca said quickly as he turned away, “we can’t find Damian, Dusty, or Jule.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, they’re still gone.”
“What does Sofi say?” Darian’s body rippled with power and emotion.
“She says they’re alive but she can’t find them.”
“I need to talk to her.”
“I’ll wake her up. She’s in the study.”
Darian retreated to his room and pulled on clothes. His hands shook as he fumbled to lace his boots. He wouldn’t think the worse, not unless Sofi confirmed it. He didn’t know how he left the immortal world, but if he made it, Jenn could. She was the strongest woman he’d ever met. She must survive; he wanted nothing to do with a world if she wasn’t in it.
He jogged down to the study, stopping at the sight of the bassinet beside Sofi’s favorite chair. A tiny form, with white-blond hair and swathed in a blanket, slept peacefully. The Oracle looked exhausted, worry on her features. Bianca was pacing.
The sight of the child hammered home his desire for a future with Jenn.
“Sofi, tell me she’s not dead,” he said. His heart pounded hard.
“I don’t know. I can’t See anything. It’s like my vision is being jammed. I can See other things, but nothing about any of us. Or Damian. The Watchers said they’d be safe. I thought when we got back, they’d be here.” The note of distress in her voice was echoed on Bianca’s face.
Darian was pensive. He stepped closer to the bassinet and peered at the sleeping child.
“I’ll find them, Sofi and Bianca, I swear it,” he said. “There are Others and Watchers on the planet. They must’ve escaped before the immortal world collapsed. No one could do this but them, especially to an Original like Jule. Where’s Yully?”
“Sleeping. She’s been up with me for over a day,” Sofi said. “Bianca knocked her out.”
“I think I know where to start,” he said, focusing on the sense that told him where the immortal intruders were. “Sofi, can you see Jenn?”
“I can’t see anything, Darian.”
“How did I get back?”
Bianca and Sofi shared a look before Sofi said grudgingly, “Xander brought you.”
“And where is he?”
“Gone. We think he went after Jule, but we don’t know. Something about how Originals stick together,” Bianca said.
“Even if he finds them, he won’t help us. I traded my trump cards,” Sofi added. “Darian, you have to find them.”
Darian nodded, hearing the strain in her voice. His gaze went to Damian’s son again.
“I’ll go now. What of the Guardians, were they brought back?”
“With their powers. Whatever you did down there, you reset the balance,” Bianca said. “Jonny … I don’t think he’ll wait for the truce to be up.” Her words w
ere hushed.
“It’s okay, Bianca. You know he loves you, but he has a duty to fulfill,” he said. “Sofi, did you recall Pierre from his vacation?”
“He’s on his way back.”
“If anything happens, contact me,” Darian ordered. “Anything, Sofi.”
She nodded.
Darian left them in the study, wired with energy. He located the nearest Watcher and Traveled, appearing in a small attic. The Watcher turned away from the window, surprise on its face. Darian snatched it by the neck and slammed it against the wall.
“Talk,” he snarled.
“They’re alive.”
“Who is alive?”
“Your brothers.”
“What did you do to them?”
“Saved them.”
“Bullshit!” Darian said and shook the small creature. “If you lie, I’ll snap your neck and move on to the next one.”
“Ikir, I am serious. The Others planned to snatch them all. If they couldn’t find them, they couldn’t take them.”
“Where could you hide them that no one can find them?”
“You were supposed to close the gateways,” the Watcher said with a note of sadness. “The immortal world is gone.”
“Because you brought your war here!”
“Because there was no other way.”
The Watcher Traveled, disappearing from Darian’s grip. He spun as the creature materialized on the other end of the attic.
“Now I can hunt you all down one by one. You can’t disappear into the immortal world. Fish in a barrel,” he said.
“Your kind is not exactly protected against us. You can’t stop us all.”
“I think sending a message or two of what happens if you fuck with my family will be enough.”