‘They have done nothing for us!’ I wanted to shout. Anger and frustration coupled with how damn exhausted I was, just took over.
The surgeon looked at me apologetically and I rubbed my eyes, dropping back into the chair.
‘I can’t condone these pseudo medicines, but she is your niece, Elena, do what you must. Just don’t drag this young man down your dark path and give him false hope.’
My eyes found his, there was no doubt about how much he was against their suggestion, but something about the hope and belief in Elena and Michael’s eyes made me want to believe. Even if it was false hope.
She nodded her thanks and before I could form another thought, she pulled me to my feet and dragged me outside.
‘This can work,’ she whispered to me. ‘I know it can.’
Chapter Seventeen
Ace
First, the sound came back, and then the heat and, finally, the light as I cracked my eyes open.
I forced my gaze around the familiar, dreamlike state I knew all too well, it surrounded me as it came in like a thick, dense fog.
As panic shot through me, a monitor somewhere near me, out of view, came to life. I tried to look for it, but I couldn’t move. I tried to get up, but nothing worked. That’s when the proverbial shit hit the fan. I lost it. My insides churned, and I barely managed to suck in oxygen. Then came the full-blown panic attack.
My heart sped up until the machine beside me seemed to cease beeping and, instead, it became one long, continuous wail. I wanted to scream or kick and shout but nothing, nothing happened. I was sure my heart was going to explode.
I sucked in a deep breath and closed my eyes and when I opened them, a soft, gentle voice sounded beside me.
‘Try to stay calm.’
My eyes flicked up and found a pair of stunning, green eyes, much like my own and much like my mom’s.
‘Elena.’
She smiled, pulling up a chair beside me.
Her hands found my hair and gently she brushed my cheek, just like mom always did.
I blinked back the wetness in my eyes and swung my eyes back to hers again.
‘You look so much like your mother, Sweetheart.’
My heart swelled as dark brown hair fell past her shoulders framing her beautiful face. She was tall and elegant just like my mom had been. Somehow, I’d missed the height in the gene mix.
‘You’ve been so brave; you’ve been through so much.’
My face leaned in to her touch and she smiled a very sad smile.
‘I’m so scared,’ I whimpered, feeling like I was a kid again.
‘Oh, Ace, I know you are, Sweetheart.’
Closing my eyes, I felt the tears break through my lashes, wetting my cheeks as they fell.
‘It’s really bad, isn’t it? This isn’t just a dream.’
Before I even asked, I knew what the answer would be.
Elena stood up and pressed her hand to my cheek, wiping the tears that had fallen.
Her eyes were warm, they drew me in and within the deep, green pools, I saw hope and determination.
Before she answered, I looked away and squeezed my eyes shut, forcing the tears to stay put.
‘Please, don’t let Ila see me like this. I don’t want him to see me.’
Her hand stilled against my cheek.
When I opened my eyes again and found hers, she smiled and this time the smile wasn’t filled with sadness.
‘I promise. I won’t let him see you.’
I nodded against the pillow and then a question formed on my mind. How did I not think of this before? ‘How are you here? In my head?’
She moved across to the other side of my bed and sat by my side.
‘Only people with the same blood line are able to enter your mind when it’s sedated the way you are.’
‘Oh.’ I nodded.
She smiled understanding my reasoning.
My heart raced, and another question formed on my mind.
‘What is it, sweetheart?’
‘Why, why haven’t I gotten better?’
A soft hand fell to my cheek again.
‘I think you already know, don’t you?’
‘The Serum…’
‘Unfortunately, the traces in your system were still too high.’
A breath stuck in my throat.
‘Why are you here?’ I asked, my voice hoarse.
I was sure she didn’t come to tell me that I reminded her of her dead sister.
She actually laughed; it was a warm sound that filled my whole heart. A little of my world shattered when she pressed her hand to my cheek again.
God, I missed Mom.
‘Sweetheart.’ Her bright gaze caught my attention. ‘I came here to ask you something.’
A strange feeling spread through me, curiosity peaked as her lips spread into a beautiful smile.
‘There’s something we can try. I can’t promise that it will work.’
I inhaled sharply and my mind jumped to a million possibilities.
‘Anything is better than this… do it… whatever it is.’
‘Okay.’ Her voice was quiet as she leaned in and pressed a kiss to my forehead.
‘Close your eyes, Sweetheart. Don’t open them until you’re asked to.’
Taking a deep breath, I did as she said. My eyes drifted shut and, as soon as they did, the atmosphere shifted, and the surrounding energy moved. Elena had moved away and another person… no, it wasn’t a person it was something else entirely had joined us. I’d never felt anything like it. It was powerful, both heat and cold radiated from it as it moved around the room.
When it stopped, I felt the air around us thicken; it went completely silent save for the quiet breaths coming from whatever was beside me.
I really wanted to open my eyes; I wanted to see what it was.
Without warning, I felt it touch me.
A cold, smooth hand fell to my forehead, and another lifted my head and came to a stop at the nape of my neck.
Slowly, the cool touch warmed and an intense heat radiated through me. Through both points where it was touching me, pressure built, and before I could prepare for what happened, I was sucked back in time.
I was watching myself in Iraq, kissing a man I’d loved. I was ambushed and tortured and then I was at the Agency, meeting Illarion and, eventually, his home and Aurel’s and then the warehouse. I watched myself dying and waking up at the Taker’s house.
Tears slipped through my closed eyes as memories assaulted me, hammering the pain right back when I thought it was lost and finally, the time traveling me, was facing Illarion. It was only yesterday, when I told him I was numb, that I didn’t feel anything anymore. As though a plug was ripped from the bottom of the ocean, the emotions came flooding back, roaring and crashing into me in a flurry of motion. Illarion was gone and I doubled over, throwing up.
Everything I blocked from The Taker’s house came crashing into me, all the rage and fear, the helplessness and weakness. All the times I thought death would be better than a life there, and the shame. I wanted to scream, a scream so complete from the depths of my soul but I couldn’t. Whatever was in the room with me was so strong it stopped everything and blocked it from rising to the surface. And then, I was back in my body, lying in the bed, with its hands on me.
‘Open your eyes,’ I heard it speak.
The voice was far away, but it echoed clearly in my head and the familiarity struck me. It was the voice. The one I heard at the warehouse and again just before I blacked out.
When I did, I was startled by the bright, silver eyes staring back at me.
The face belonging to the metallic eyes was pale, translucent, and I swore that you could see the blood rushing through its veins.
Bringing my eyes back to the silver ones, I realized, from the fullness of its lips and the short, white hair falling over its eyes that it was a male.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Elena clutching my hand in hers. I still coul
dn’t feel it, but I could feel the heat spreading inside me. Whatever he did was bringing back all the other feelings and emotions I seemed to have lost.
He lowered his face close to mine and stopped an inch from me, his silver eyes deepened to a gunmetal grey as he narrowed his gaze. I suppressed a gasp as he rapidly moved closer still. I could see right through him.
His lips were moving in rapid succession murmuring something so low I couldn’t make out a single word.
Beside us, Elena moved. ‘Can you help her?’
The Being moved his head slightly yet his eyes never left mine.
‘She’s been through a great deal.’
My breath caught, his voice was so melodic and terrifying all at once.
‘I can see the Darkness coursing through her. Because of it, she is dangerous.’
I didn’t dare look away from him. My eyes widened as he drew his hands away from me and pressed them on either side of my face.
‘The pain is feeding the Darkness.’
His words rang true, somehow. The Darkness was growing inside me; I’d felt it for months, slowly building and simmering, threatening to take over at any point.
But I had controlled it, I was controlling it. Except for the near miss I had when I could have killed Illarion. The thought chilled me.
His eyes narrowed looking through me; I could feel him inside me, poking and prodding through all the deepest, darkest corners of my soul. All the things I hated about myself were dredged up, brought to the surface like all the years I worked on keeping them hidden were nothing at all. He found them, pulled them out, and tossed them aside without any effort at all.
My eyes brimmed with tears but something about him told me he didn’t really sympathise with crying.
‘She’s powerful,’ he said, again only this time he pulled back and broke his hold on me.
As soon as he did, I felt the compulsion break. God, he was strong. I’d never felt anything like it.
It was like the Serum only this was via thought, and not even in person, he was in my head. What was he?
My mind reeled until it stopped and Elena’s words came to the front of my mind.
“Only people with the same blood line are able to enter your mind when it’s sedated the way you are.”
And then, as though it was the only thing which made sense, I realized what he was. He was a Celestial Being.
Elena came to my side once again drawing me out of my thoughts.
‘Will you help her?’
He looked at me and nodded. ‘We will help the Divine Sensitive.’
‘Thank you, so much, Aaryon, your Divinity.’
He cast her a quick look before returning his gaze to me.
The breath I was holding escaped in a shaky whimper.
Elena pressed her hand to my cheek and smiled. ‘I’ll see you when you wake up, Sweetheart.’
When she was gone Aaryon, and I were left alone.
‘Why are you helping me?’
He stepped around to the other side of the bed and folded his arms across his chest. Now that he was in full view and I could see him from my limited range of motion, I saw that he was dressed much like anyone else. The dark jeans he had on, hung perfectly on his hips and the t-shirt he wore showed off every muscle on his body. If you could get past the translucent skin and the myriad of geometric tattoos lining his upper body, he looked quite normal.
‘There is a prophecy of which I’m sure you’re aware?’
‘Yes.’
‘It states that a Divine Sensitive will be born to battle the original if the balance is tipped,’ he paused, looking at me before continuing. ‘We weren’t sure you were the one, but we had to keep you safe until we were certain.’
My breath caught as he stood beside me, his hand resting on the pillow.
‘A young healer told us of you. She told us you were noble and on a quest to help those you love even when you foresaw your path leading you to Death’s door.’
My heart stammered.
‘I don’t understand.’
His lips broke into a smile and, in that moment, he was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. His body seemed to glow from within, illuminating the marks across his translucent skin.
‘Faith told us that you helped her. Faith told us you are the one we’ve been waiting for.’
Tears pricked my eyes. The little girl from St Augustine’s.
‘Thank you.’
He nodded and stepped closer.
‘Don’t thank us yet, Divine Sensitive, this won’t be easy for you. Mere Sensitive’s are not built to withstand such pain which will find you, but with the essence of the moon that runs though you, you should be able to.’
Should be. That was comforting. I bit down on my lip and found his eyes; they shifted from dark to light to completely white. Without a word, he reached down for my arms and folded them across my chest.
I watched as one hand snaked behind my back and his other landed on the nape of my neck.
‘Close your eyes.’
Quickly, I obeyed. I had no idea what to expect.
As much as I tried to prepare myself, nothing would have readied me for what came next.
‘Take a deep breath.’
Before I could register what he’d just said he began to murmur, fast and low, too quick and too quiet to hear. Then the pain exploded behind my eyes piercing my skull, reaching right into the parts of me I’d kept safe and close.
My breath was stolen from me as I screamed, feeling the heat tear through me, ripping me apart from the inside as each nerve ending fired at once.
I felt the tears before I knew they were falling and before I could scream again, I was silenced.
White light exploded behind my eyes and then the darkness came.
My name was called, but it was so far away.
The pain and horror mounted and grew until I couldn’t feel anything but the chaos inside me.
As my body began to fall, drifting off into nothingness, I heard my name again. I felt the pain of loss, of fear. Then I felt nothing at all.
Chapter Eighteen
Illarion
Elena was with Ace for more than an hour; I kept glancing down at my watch impatiently and then back at Michael who, too, looked restless.
He was married to Elena for more than thirty years and knew Ace since she was born. It hurt me to think how upset I would have been if someone told me I couldn’t see my own nephew or niece.
Ace’s parents had done the right thing to protect their daughter, but the fact remained, Elena and Michael had missed Ace.
They missed out on seeing her grow up and go to school and learn to play sports and get in trouble in class. They missed out on seeing her rebellious years which made me smile, knowing that she had, in fact, had many rebellious years. Most importantly, they just missed out on having her in their lives.
My heart swelled as her name became imprinted under my skin. I was so damn lucky to have her in my life, to have had the opportunity to watch over her all those years. Her heart beat with mine, she pulsed in my veins. She had crawled under my skin and found a home in the darkest, most private parts of my soul. The parts no one would ever know about or see, but she knew them all. She played with my demons; she tamed them.
Michael moved to my left, drawing my attention, and I noticed he was looking toward the room where Elena emerged. I got up and strode over to her. I looked over her eyes trying to get a read on anything, anything that could tell me what transpired in there.
Had the Beings agreed to help? Would they be able to?
Her eyes found her husbands and then mine. She smiled weakly and nodded.
‘They agreed to help her.’
Letting out the breath I was holding, I allowed myself to finally smile.
Elena stepped closer to me and gently brought her hands to mine and pulled me against her and, in that small gesture, I felt the weight of the world shift from my shoulders.
‘She’s goi
ng to need you when she wakes up.’
I nodded, pulling back.
‘This will be hard on her. Aaryon spared me from the details.’
A lump formed in my throat when I thought about all that she’d been through. God, she had been through too much, much more than anyone deserved to see and experience.
‘I’m sure Aurel would like to be updated.’ Michael wrapped an arm around my shoulder and smiled.
My heart sunk - Aurel. I let myself forget, or maybe I forced myself to forget. But Michael was right, it wasn’t fair on him. It wasn’t his fault and it was something I had to talk to him about, in person.
‘Where’s Daniel?’ Another person I forced myself to forget.
When Ace was involved, my mind refused to entertain anything else. There was no room, no capacity for other thoughts. She occupied me in every sense of the word.
‘Aurel had Elsa come and pick him up.’ Michael led me toward the exit where Elena was already waiting.
Before they pushed me out, I stopped, in the middle of the hallway.
‘I want to be here when she wakes.’
‘And you will be,’ Elena spoke, softly; her hand found my elbow, and she gently nudged me and forced me to start walking again.
‘These things take time, Illarion, they’re fusing her spine. They’re trying to reverse the damage.’ Michael’s voice was rough. He was always a man who showed composure and calm on the surface but I could see the exhaustion taking its toll.
Elena cupped my cheek and turned my head to face her.
‘Go and make things right between you and Aurel.’
She gave me no more opportunities to talk, as was her extremely persuasive way.
Before I could argue, I was shoved into her car and she dropped the keys into my hand. She closed the door and leaned in to the window.
‘Come back when you’re done, no sooner.’
I ground my teeth and nodded. In our world, where life and death were merely states of being, friends and family were more important than anything else.
I shifted the BMW into gear and took it out onto the main road, heading for home.
Only now, as I drove, and the adrenaline had died down, did I feel the bruise along my jaw. Aurel had landed several good blows to my face, and I was afraid to think what damage I had done to him in my fit of rage.
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