The Reaping (The Moondreamer Chronicles Book 2)

by Tamara Mataya

  Her expression is blank.

  A strange clicking to my right draws my attention as I lower Kaya to the ground. Nakayla falls gently to her knees in unison with her brother, twins even in death, and from this position I can see Trina. She’s standing with a handgun pointed at Nakayla, hand violently shaking as she continues pulling the trigger, but the chamber is empty, except for in her mind. Tears stream down her face and her human eyes are fiercer than any Fae’s I've ever seen, as she fires more phantom bullets into Nakayla.

  For all I'd like to pretend I'm tactical and able to rattle off the exact kind of gun she's holding, I have no idea other than it's a black handgun, and I don't know how many bullets it held. I heard eight or nine shots, maybe. I’ve no idea when she got it from the armoury, but looking at Nakayla—Trina's picked up how to shoot at some point.

  She didn't miss once, but neither did Nakayla. Kaya's in bad shape, has already slid beneath the surface, unconscious.

  Trina falls to her knees beside him, crying.

  Protect my friends here. I reinforce my shield then focus on Kaya’s injuries. The nick in his heart is the most pressing, but I don't have the strength to heal him, prevent shock, and deal with the Fae soldiers all at once. My hands are slick with his blood and he’s not improving. I need to get him somewhere safe so I can fix this properly. Shit. “I can't teleport. We need to get him home. I can't get him there fast enough, even with flight.”

  “No. But I can.” A deep, heavily accented voice pulls my gaze from Kaya's pallid face. Strong, handsome features, olive-gold skin, and a neatly trimmed beard—a face I’ve seen before at The Sowing. Brown-black eyes normally sparkling with wickedness, are serious and eager to help.

  Guess we know who team four was. Caius, Verica's Djinn mate. And Verica’s at his side.

  Caius moves like the wind.

  I shake my head. “It needs to be gentle. He can't be thrown around too much.”

  “The way we travel only looks violent, I assure you.”

  Verica nods. “It doesn't even mess my hair.”

  “I can take you both; the rest can meet us back at the safe house.”

  I barely trust Verica. Okay, I don't trust Verica even though she saved my life. Caius is a stranger, but I can't afford to hold a grudge while Kaya's life is in danger.

  I tighten my hold on Kaya's limp body. “Misty, you deal with the soldiers. Tell everyone what happened.” I nod at Caius. “Do it.” He embraces us both and the world explodes around us.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  The world swirls around us, but we're in a warm cocoon of syrupy heat. Before I can blink twice, the safe house comes into view, and I will us past the barrier. Caius's movement blows the door in.

  “Up the stairs,” I say from the eye of the storm. “Third door on the left.”

  The Djinn deposits us right inside the indicated threshold, takes Kaya from me and sets him on the bed.

  “Cover him with as many blankets as you can find.” I place a hand on Kaya's chest, and slide the other to his back. I've never healed wounds this bad, except for Tipper’s—and I failed him.

  Worst wounds first. His tissues and veins knit back together the way they should as though the sword never touched him.

  His heart is good now, but his pulse is thready and weak. He's lost so much blood, but I have to focus on his brain first so he doesn’t go into shock.

  Caius flies in and covers Kaya with blankets. “I'll turn the heat up.”

  The door bangs loudly against the wall as Trina enters the room.

  She must have hijacked a car or another Fae to have gotten back so quickly.

  “What can I do?” she asks urgently.

  “Heat. We need to stop him from going into shock.”

  She tears her sweater off. “He needs heat, he can have mine.” She climbs under the blanket and wraps herself around him, careful to stay out of my way.

  I focus on his nervous system. What if I fuck it up and heal him wrong? This isn’t like a cut—what if I do something wrong and erase his memory?

  Trina’s eyes are wide. “He's so cold, Syxx.”

  I feel what his body is doing, and tell her. “His brain is rerouting all the blood to his vital organs. He's in shock, but it's still okay, we've got a chance.” I hope.

  “Why aren't you healing him?” Trina shrieks.

  “I will, just shut up, you're not helping!” If his brain shuts down it doesn't matter what I did for his stab wound. I’ve fixed his internal bleeding, but there's still blood pooled where there shouldn't be. I fix that, and open my eyes.

  His lips are turning blue.

  Blue lips are heart or oxygen. Shit, which is it? I gather power and pump more air into his lungs.

  It isn't helping as much as it should. We’re running out of time.

  Reassessing, I feel his weak heartbeat. Of course!

  I slowly but steadily replenish the blood he lost. Some color returns to his face, but he's still not right.

  His brain. It's his brain. He's lost too much blood, and it's giving up. I feel synapses misfiring, jolts running through his nerves. Lights dying.

  “No! Damn it, you do not give up, Kaya!” What do I know about shock? Tears of frustration spring to my eyes, and the salty wetness runs down my cheeks and into my mouth.

  Wait.

  Saline. Don't they give IV's for shock?

  Saline’s just salt water—it will help hydrate, but it’s his blood itself that needs rebuilding! Sending a general ‘make this work’ power pass into his body, I sag with relief when I feel red blood cells being pulled from his bone marrow and bonding with the saline. It’s working.

  Now I need to soothe his brain. If I can trick the brain into thinking his body is okay, I can buy him more time to recover. His body is technically fine, but has his nervous system been through too much? I whisper energetic encouragement across over-stimulated nerves, spread calmness through every cell. Everything is fine. It wasn't, but it is now. It wasn't as bad as you thought. Relax. Accept the healing.

  I check his heart again. It's beating stronger than before, steadier. Almost normal, if a bit too fast.

  Trina mumbles something incoherent.

  “What?” I ask.

  Her eyes are huge. “I didn’t say anything. It was him.”

  I lean closer, barely breathing while his color returns, and place my hand against his cheek. He's warmed up a lot. I rescan his nervous system. If it had a voice it would say, 'Okaaaay. I should freak the fuck out, but there appears to be no real damage, so I guess everything is fine. But I'm a bit leery...'

  I smile at Trina. “He's going to be okay.”

  She sags against him, forehead pressed to his shoulder.

  “He's going to be hella tired though. He needs his rest.”

  “I'm not leaving him.”

  I smile. “I didn't think you would.”

  She smiles shyly at me.

  “Call me if you need anything, or when he wakes up.” I leave the room, and head to the bathroom to wash my best friend's boyfriend's blood off my hands.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  Draven's waiting for me when I come out of the bathroom.

  “Is everyone okay?”

  He nods then goes pale. “Are you all right?”

  I look down. I'm covered with blood. “Oh, it's not mine, it's Kaya's.” He follows me as I head into the bedroom. “What happened to you guys? We were alone on the field.” I grab a clean t-shirt and jeans from the closet.

  “We were jumped by the second group of Fae soldiers before we even got into position.”

  “What happened after Caius brought Kaya and me here?”

  He sits on the bed, takes a deep breath. “We really dodged a bullet. If Misty and Ibor hadn't been there... Nakayla's death reached us when the soldiers abandoned our fight to rush the field. We followed, saw the fallout. The Fae who were already there were on board with us, I don't know what Misty said to them, but it worked. Except for one of them,
who attacked Sakarias when he got there.”

  My heart sinks. “My spell was only protecting our members already there. I should have expanded it. What happened?”

  “Severine killed him, saving Sakarias.”

  “I'm sure he was happy about that.” I smile.

  “He took being rescued surprisingly well. The rest were about to kill her in retaliation, but the group of Fae Misty and Ibor knew stopped them, and convinced them we were the good guys.”

  “Geez.”

  “Yeah. We were outnumbered—it would have been a slaughter. As it stands, the only casualties are Nakayla, and Stan.”

  “We were lucky.” Especially since the intelligence we received was bad. We didn’t know she’d have more than a handful of soldiers with her. “Where are the soldiers now?”

  “Downstairs raiding the kitchen, and upstairs settling in.”

  “Upstairs? We're on the top floor.”

  “We were.” He laughs. “It was a bit cramped down there. We've got one of the Witches working on the house to make more space. We've already added another two floors.”

  “Wow. It's, so, there's...wow.” Sometimes it’s still strange, wrapping my head around what magic can do.

  “I know.” He stands and hugs me.

  I lean against him. “Do I have to go make another big speech to win them over, like I had to before? Because I don't think I've got a speech in me right now. Not after Kaya—”

  “It's okay.” He rubs my back. “Ashria's here and took care of that already. One of the soldiers was particularly stubborn. They're trained with the conviction that they are superior—might makes right, so to speak. He was having trouble reconciling the fact that Ashria was able to swoop in and start giving orders and he was supposed to just toe the line. He wasn't fighting—it was just difficult for him, until Ashria explained it.”

  My adrenaline has long since burned off. I smile, but I'm crashing.

  “Kaya was really bad.” He states it, doesn’t ask, doesn't need to. He sees my blood-soaked shirt.

  I nod. “He almost died. I've never treated an injury that bad before. He's okay now, but I haven't shaken it off yet. I don't know how doctors do this every day.”

  “They do it because they are fabulous. Just like you.”

  “You are so biased.” I squeeze him.

  “I'm also right.”

  “I should go check on Kaya. Oh!” I flap my hand excitedly.

  “What?”

  “Trina and him. They're a them. I think they're a thing!”

  “They're a good fit. Kaya's a good guy.”

  “I think so too.” But if he hurts my best friend...then again, it’s hard to think violent thoughts toward someone I just fought to save.

  “Here, hand me those.” He gestures to my bloody clothes. “I'll see if I can get the stains out.”

  I could just use magic if mine wasn’t tapped. Maybe Draven needs something normal and human to do to ground him. I turn and bend to unlace my boots. “Awww look at you, going all domestic on me.”

  I straighten, but jump—he's moved right behind me, half a breath away. The look in his glowing eyes makes my knees weak.

  So maybe he's not that domesticated. I already knew that. “Maybe you should join me in the shower instead.”

  The heat in his smile curls my toes.

  “SYXX? YOU AWAKE?”

  I emerge from the languid place I was floating in. “Yes.”

  “Good. We should probably get up.”

  He’s right, but a thought comes to me and I grab his hand, keeping us in bed. “What happens after this?”

  “After we win?”

  I nod, feeling like it might not happen, but positive thinking can't hurt.

  “Are we being specific, or in general?” His fingers swirl across my shoulder, sending goosebumps over my skin.

  I swallow. “Specific.”

  His hand stills. “You mean with us?”

  “Yes.”

  “Vi Tiri kaj mi tenas.” He gazes solemnly into my eyes.

  “La fajra danco subtenas nin,” I warmly respond.

  “Do you feel that?”

  I nod, letting the energy of our bond wash over me. “Strength. Love. Completion.”

  “It's forever. You're my mate—not just through these bad times, but beyond them as well. You've been the best partner during this horror show we've lived through. I can't wait until we get to live in the world without the proverbial sword hanging above us. To be able to spend time with you and not have to run these missions. To spend every night with you in my arms, and wake up to you in the morning. Not having to worry about anyone trying to kill us. I just want to be with you, and begin our life.”

  My heart swells with love for this man, blocking my ability to form words. He said our life. Singular. And his life is mine. Mine is his. Our future. They’re one and the same.

  Forever.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  Draven walks up the street as I reach the sidewalk with my arms full of groceries.

  “Hey, baby.” He jogs toward me. “Let me take some of those for you.”

  “Thanks.” Passing them over, I flex my hand a few times to get the blood flowing again.

  He laughs. “You should have worked a spell to make them lighter.”

  I open my mouth then close it. “That’s actually a great idea I wish I’d thought of earlier.”

  “Do you think you bought enough?”

  Since his hands are full, I let us inside the barrier. “We are feeding an army now.” Kena and Ibor got word to a few of their old friends and successfully brought them back. “I’m glad our numbers are increasing, but it’s making me a little nervous having all these strangers around again—especially after Skortia.” We recovered Maly’s body and gave her a proper Sprite burial, returning her to the earth inside a burial pod made from the roots of a tree. “I thought you were staying at home today to bond with the new soldiers?”

  “I was.” He stops and sets the groceries down. “But I couldn't get you out of my mind. I've wanted you so bad all day.” He presses against me, grabbing my ass and kissing my neck.

  It’s not like him to maul me in the street. “Um, can we wait until we're inside?”

  His face falls. “I'm sorry. I just can't help it. You're so hot and I want you so much.” He grinds against me a bit, pupils so dilated they make his eyes almost completely black with desire.

  Having him around for the past few days has been amazing. “I know, but we'll be inside in a minute. Maybe less if we hurry.” I wink.

  He gives me a quick kiss and picks up the groceries again.

  Something teases my mind as I unlock the door and push it open a crack.

  Something’s off.

  Draven kissed me and...

  His eyes.

  His eyes were almost black.

  They didn't glow at all.

  Incubus eyes glow when they're feeling into you. Draven can’t kiss me without them flaring—Trina’s started teasing us about it when we think we’re being sneaky about flirting.

  Impossibly beautiful, and impossible to fake.

  Through the small gap in the door, the sliver of a spell signature shimmers in the air.

  A Moondreamer spell signature just like mine with the same strange translucent filigree, only in burnt orange rather than my purple.

  Mom's spell signature is deep indigo, so it’s not her either.

  Fuck.

  I don’t know who the person behind me is, but it’s definitely not—“Draven.” I force my voice to stay level. “Say our phrase for me.”

  “Why?”

  I swallow hard, trying not to tense up. “I need to hear our words.”

  Behind me, the grocery bags slam to the ground as he takes a couple steps closer, and I hear a sound like a stack of papers being shuffled.

  I spin and take in the unfamiliar Moondreamer who's just penetrated the safe house's shields because I let her in.

  Black hair
, black lipstick, heavy kohl liner, black clothes. It's like she read 'Villains for Dummies' and ran with it.

  “You wanted some words?” She smiles and takes a step towards me. “Bibbity. Bobbity. Boo. Bitch.”

  Her bad taste leaves me offended on her behalf. Seriously. She's making us look bad.

  The only other Moondreamer I've seen is my mom. All Fae within their kinds resemble each other, but Moondreamers are more of a mutation than a race, strictly speaking. While we’re not as similar as two Sprites or two Succubi, this person looks like she could be my cousin underneath all the black shit on her face. “Could you be a bigger stereotype?” Also, ew. She totally kissed me and grabbed my ass and that’s—

  She blows me backwards through the open door with her powers.

  I land on a tangle of legs, which is preferable to the hard floor except for the fact I'm lying on a pile of people including a bunch of the Fae soldiers—and Misty and Ibor. There are no visible injuries, so I feel with my hand, and then my powers, trying to find pulses, reassured when I do. “What did you do to them?”

  She steps across the threshold of the door with a happy sigh. “Oh, it's naptime at the oasis. Has been since you left.”

  “How did you get in?” Is there another traitor in our midst?

  “All I had to do was assume your form, and wait for some sap to let me in.”

  “So why wait for me as Draven?”

  She shrugs. “It was fun. I'm basically tap dancing across your shields at this point. Do you like it?” She splays her fingers at the limp bodies of my friends that litter the floor. “I made it myself.”

  This bitch is crazy.

  “I tried to have some fun with your Draven, but he saw through me right away, unlike you. Shame.”

  His name on her lips makes me shudder with rage. I don’t see Draven on the floor, but legs and torsos spill into the hallway from other rooms and I can’t see everyone’s faces from here. “Where is he?”