by Eve, Jaymin
I couldn’t focus on that. I had to concentrate on my spell. I had to stop Louis before he changed the fundamentals of our world.
The line thrummed strongly beneath my feet; Stratford had one of the strongest in America. I felt the presence of the hundreds of supes with me, all of our energies mingling together. Louis’s power was further away, and I had a sudden thought that maybe we could fight him in the actual ley lines. He would not be able to power this spell without it, so if I could eject him and block him for a short period, we might be able to detain him.
My center burned then as the light of my magic started to rise from my body. Louis was probably more powerful than he’d ever been, because dark magic seemed to have no limit, but there was a universal truth: light always beat the dark. That’s why almost all magic users were able to contain the darker side of their power, because light triumphed. It was only in rare circumstances, like Louis’s, when something diminished the light so much that it couldn’t burn bright enough, that the darkness won.
I just had to figure out how to reignite that illumination inside Louis.
Gathering as much energy as I could from those around me, I sent a powerful force along the line toward Louis, hoping to take him by surprise. We failed spectacularly at that, and instead of blasting him out, we ended up receiving a pulse back that was so strong it made my teeth ache.
I dug deeper and tried something different, whispering a simple spell to freeze his power, locking him into one section of ley line. That would stop him from having access to most of the energy here, and for a split second he’d be frozen in his physical form.
Then I could put the second part of my plan into action.
Taking more power from those around me, I repeated my spell, and this time it went exactly to plan. He’d clearly been expecting a different sort of attack, something more aggressive than my simple little spell. Reinforcing the box that was holding him immobile, I brought most of my focus out of the ley line and started to run.
Louis’s body was frozen, but already I could see his eyes moving as he broke free from my power. How in the hell was he strong enough to take on hundreds of magic users? It was impossible, and yet he continued to do the impossible. Over and over. His mouth opened, and I knew a spell was about to emerge, but I was on the dais now, moving into him. I shot the book away with magic before launching myself at him.
My power wrapped around us both as I bound his body to mine, keeping his magic immobilized in the only way I knew how. He was too strong for me to take down one-on-one, but in this moment of weakness I could bind his energy and tie it to mine so he wouldn’t be able to do any magic without my agreement. I wouldn’t be able to do any without his either, but that was a risk I was willing to take until I could turn him back to the light.
With a final click, the spell locked us into place, and I slowly released him, backing away. His eyes resembled amethysts, the purple almost crystalline as they glittered at me.
“You’re going to regret that,” he said, his low voice bringing goose bumps to my skin. “Especially because you’re too late.”
“What do you mean?” I whispered.
He smiled, which turned his face into a flawless work of art. “The spell was complete. You were too late, Elizabeth. Just like always.”
The room erupted then, shouts and crying filling the air.
“Take it back,” I said, my focus locked on Louis. “You can reverse it now before the damage is done. Before you condemn us all to a war with the humans. You know better than almost anyone here”—except for me—“that war means our people will die. You cannot let that happen.”
He shrugged. “I don’t think they will. And if they do, it will only be the weak, and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. We should step into this new era the strongest we can be. So … it’s a sacrifice that I believe is best for the majority.”
I blinked at him. “Do you even hear the words that are coming out of your mouth? How can you say something like that? How can you talk so casually about ending lives? Who the hell are you?”
He opened his mouth again, but an eerie whistle drew his attention. I turned as well, my blood going cold when I realized it was the whooshing of wings as dragons filled the area just outside the building. Through the open doors, I could see them. And it looked like there were dozens of them. Wild dragons. I felt their energy, and as the huge gold beast in the center pushed her massive head through the door, I knew this was Jessa’s dragon: Josephina.
Her energy vibrated through the hall, and I heard a low grunt then as Maximus dropped to his knees. “Everyone out of the way,” Braxton growled. “He’s going to shift. He can’t control the first shift.”
The wild dragons had brought Maximus’s dragon. The mating bond was complete.
Supes scattered as the Compasses hauled their brother outside. I heard more shouts, and then there was the distinct sound of bones breaking before a dragon roar filled the air. I caught only a glimpse of Maximus’s beast as it flew past, the scales a deep, rich brown color, like newly turned dirt.
Tilting my head back, I was surprised to find Louis casually leaning against a nearby pillar, amusement spiking across his face. “I don’t think the dragons are here for me,” I told him, spitting the words because I was so angry. “You should be a little more worried.”
He shrugged, those broad shoulders shifting under his robes. “They’re only making my job that much easier. Right now, the supernatural world is being broadcast into the human world. Our energy will draw them in now instead of repelling them, and it’s only a matter of time before they show up on our doorstep. Having the dragons here will make it that much easier for me to instill fear and respect in those ants.”
“You think the humans will submit to us?” I asked. “That if you expose the darker side, the prisons, the dragons and vampires, that humans will freak out and beg for protection…?”
Louis straightened; he towered over me, and I had to swallow hard. He was so much of everything. And it was very disconcerting.
“I would prefer that the humans feared us,” he admitted slowly. “It would make the transition easier.”
My right hand trembled as I forced myself not to touch him. I couldn’t understand why I wanted to so badly, but there was something in Louis that had always called to me. “Why did you let her die?” he asked me then, and his subject change knocked the breath from me. “You knew someone was stalking her, and you never even told me.”
This wasn’t technically true. Regina had admitted that she was having an issue with a local witch, Taylor. This witch had envied my sister’s power, and most importantly, she had envied her having Louis. But Regina had asked me not to say anything. She wasn’t worried.
“She thought she could deal with it herself,” I said, sadness in my tone. “Neither of us realized how psycho Taylor actually was. If I had thought for one second that she was planning on hurting Reggie...”
Louis flinched as I used her nickname, his huge body tense as he sucked in a long breath. “I’ve blamed you for her death for a long time,” he told me. “But now I see that it was Regina’s fault. She was cocky and she didn’t trust me with her problems. My power has given me clarity, and I’m ready to move past the grief that immobilized me for so many years.”
Talking to him like this, he almost felt like the old Louis. If it wasn’t for the darkness swirling around his body, I wouldn’t have been able to tell at all. “You need to stop this spell,” I said again, this time taking a step closer. “There’s other ways to slowly bring us into the human world, ways that would not create mass hysteria. I think you should consider that maybe you’ve jumped in too hard and fast, and we should dial it back a little.”
“This is the best way—” he started to say, but was cut off as powerful sorcerers filled the room. My eyes landed on Braxton and Jessa, both of whom were back in the hall, watching Louis and me closely.
“Elders,” Louis spat. “One more thing I have to de
al with.”
Apparently the Compasses hadn’t quite been circumspect enough when they’d searched for answers, or word had gotten out some other way. There were hundreds of terrified supes here, and any one of them might have called for help.
Louis stepped forward, lifting his hands to cast magic at them. He must have forgotten that I had bound our powers, though. I felt the swell of energy as he reached for the ley line, and the tap on my power as well as it sought for me to release it and allow him access.
I refused, locking my energy down and reinforcing the block.
“Release me!” Louis growled.
I shook my head. “No!”
“Louis!” roared an older sorcerer. He was grizzled, nearing the end of his long life, but he was definitely powerful. “You need to stop this spell now. Already there are humans at the edge of Stratford.”
Louis ignored him, his focus on me. “Lizzie, I will not ask you again. Release my magic.”
I hated when he called me Lizzie. I hated when he called me Elizabeth. And the bastard knew that.
“You’re going to have to kill me,” I said slowly.
He moved toward me until he crowded right over me, using his size to intimidate me. If I hadn’t been short for my entire life, it might even have worked. But I was used to being the smallest, and it didn’t bother me anymore.
“You’re a part of my past that I would be happy to never revisit again,” he growled down at me, “but I don’t want to kill you.”
The unspoken “I will if I have to, though” remained between us.
“We will give you to the count of five, Louis, and then we attack.”
That threat was from more than one sorcerer; the room was slowly filling as more reinforcements entered.
I noticed Jessa had wiggled her way out from under Braxton; she was near the stage gesturing to me. “Lizzie, get out of there,” she hissed. “Psycho Louis is not to be trusted.”
It was true, but I couldn’t bring myself to move just yet.
“Five! … Four! … Three!”
Louis didn’t look worried. “You better release my power or we’re both about to die,” he said causally, sounding more relaxed than I’d heard him in a long time.
In that moment, I briefly considered releasing him, because survival instinct is always strongest when you’re closest to death. But I knew there was no way I could allow him to kill all of these sorcerers. Our elders and chiefs were too important. Their knowledge could not be lost yet.
I would protect them.
“Two! … Last chance, Louis.” Brief pause. “One!”
“Louis!” Jessa screamed as the final number rang out.
Power blasted in a single concentrated burst, heading straight for Louis. His eyes locked with mine. My breath caught, throat already burning with unshed tears, and I had no idea why I did it, but my legs were moving before my brain even caught up.
I threw myself in front of Louis, taking the full force of the killing blow. It hit me in the chest, burning through me. The pain was so intense that I was screaming before I fully registered what had happened. The force knocked me back into Louis, and as his arms wrapped around me, my dying soul reached out for anything to save it, to keep it here in this world.
It sounded like thunder in my ears as our souls smashed together, his dark and mine light, but in that moment they bonded in a way that only true mates could.
Louis is my true mate? I had that moment of knowledge before the pain became too much and my heartbeat stuttered a few more times, then everything went dark.
10
Louis
The moment Elizabeth locked our powers together, giving her the ability to control my spells, the darkness started pushing me to destroy her, to destroy the person who thought they could control us.
I couldn’t bring myself to do it, though. She was just too perfect and powerful, and I might need her at some point. That was the only reason. Nothing else.
When the sorcerers arrived, I expected her to release her control. These mages did not mess around, and she knew she could be killed in the crossfire. But the stubborn sorceress just locked her power down, and mine, and refused to budge.
They started to count, and I watched Elizabeth. Her bravery intrigued me; why the hell had I always been so fascinated by this woman? No matter what I did, I couldn’t shake her from my life. From my mind.
She kept looking between the elders and me, her brow so furrowed that it was almost comical. I braced myself when they reached their final countdown, knowing I would have to try and counter their spell somehow. One last time I urged Elizabeth to release us, but she refused. Going down with the ship apparently. Always so noble.
The spell blasted at me with force. I wondered if I would be strong enough to take it. I had time to move, because I was anticipating it, but before I could make the decision about which way to go, Elizabeth shocked the hell out of me. A roar left me as she jumped and intercepted the spell that was meant for me.
In slow motion, I reached for her, but it was too late. The blast hit her in the chest, knocking her back into me. She felt so small as I cradled her, keeping us both from hitting the ground. Her screams filled my ears, and my heart beat at a frantic pace. That had been a blow designed to take down a powerful sorcerer, and while Elizabeth was strong, she was not quite at my level.
As I was pulling her tighter, trying to spin her around so I could assess the damage, I felt a thud in my chest that was followed by the sort of warmth I had never experienced before. Warmth and light split through the darkness that had been part of me since the demon world.
A true mate bond?
Tee was my true mate.
My oldest friend in the world, someone I had cut out of my life in grief and fear and pain… She was my mate, and her light had chased the darkness from my soul. Hers was the only light that could, because it shone so brightly.
I mentally reached for her, feeling her life slipping away through our newly formed bond.
Her screams died off; her head lolled to the side, and her heartbeat, under my hand, started to slow, each beat getting more erratic as life left her body.
“No!” I roared, power shooting from me in long waves. That’s when I knew this was bad, because only death, or near death, could have broken the spell she’d placed on us.
“Tee,” I said hoarsely, my hands sliding up from where they rested against the ragged laceration in her chest. An urge to smash those magic users into dust came over me, and if the darkness had still held me in its grip, I would not have hesitated. But Tee had given me the strength to come back to the light.
And I knew the truth. This was not the magic users’ fault.
It was mine.
Again, I was about to be the cause of my mate’s death.
“Tee, please, I need you to hold on for me while I heal you,” I whispered as I lowered her to the ground, all of her glorious hair spilling across us.
My hands went to her chest and I tried desperately to calm my frazzled nerves as I filled her with healing energy. If she hadn’t been so powerful—and the newly formed bond with me was helping as well—she’d already be dead.
I poured everything I had into the healing, because despite all of the history between us, Elizabeth had always been important to me. And she had sacrificed herself to save me.
True mate.
If I lost a second mate, I would not be in this world any longer. I could not do it. My emotions already ran so deeply, and my need to bring her back to me was stronger than anything I’d ever felt before. A sliver of darkness tried to rise from the depths I’d locked it in, teasing me with its power, power that might be able to save my mate, but I did not consider it for a second. She’d brought me back to the light, had fought for me and saved my life. I would not let her down by embracing the darkness again.
I would not touch darkness ever again.
But what if she dies?
That thought stole my breath, and I poured more
healing into her. Thankfully, her wound sealed, and the last of the attacking spell left her body. A sigh of relief rushed from me when her heartbeat picked up, resuming a normal pace. Once I was done healing her as best as I could, I gathered her into my arms, only noticing then that I was surrounded on all sides. Strong emotions, which had been dulled by the darkness, swelled within me when I saw Jessa close by.
“Jess,” I said softly. “I’m so sorry.”
She shook her head, her eyes filling with tears as she swallowed hard. “No,” she choked out. “It’s not your fault. This is because you went to the demon land. You did that for us, and you suffered so much because of it.”
She launched herself at me then, and Braxton didn’t even try and stop her. “I’m so glad you’re back,” she cried into my chest. I managed to hold her and Tee, both women so very precious to me.
“She’s okay, right?” Jessa said as she pulled back slightly. Her eyes locked on Tee’s face, which was right by hers.
I nodded, watching Tee closely, happy to see color back in her cheeks. “I healed most of the damage, and now her body is in a recuperative sleep. She will probably be unconscious for a few days.”
A throat cleared nearby, and I met the ancient eyes of Rufus, a sorcerer who I’d had a very good relationship with. Well, until today.
“You came back from the darkness,” he said slowly, eyeing me with some suspicion.
“Tee … Elizabeth is my true mate,” I told him truthfully. “Our souls bonded … in her dying moments. That was the catalyst we needed. Her light chased away the darkness.”
More of the tension in the crowd around me faded, and I gently dropped Jessa to her feet. Tee remained cradled in my arms. “I know that you’re all going to want an explanation from me,” I said, looking between the familiar faces. “And I plan on doing everything I can to rectify the situation I have created here, but right now I need to ensure my mate continues to heal. She keeps the darkness at bay for me, and if she dies….” I trailed off, because everyone already knew what would happen. They knew that Tee was the only thing stopping me from destroying the world. If the darkness came back, I would be a mindless monster. Much worse than before. I would take the world down with me, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop me.