by C. R. Jane
Beckham is still dabbing at Damon who's grumbling and trying to swat his hand away. Beckham stops and looks at me.
"Can you sense anything Mase? Is anything close by?"
It's tough to admit that I can't sense anything. My ability to sense and read energy has fallen by the wayside as well with my current state.
"My senses aren't working too great at the moment," I tell him reluctantly. Beckham's face grows really worried with that statement, but we're all distracted from my issues when all of a sudden a scream that sounds an awful lot like Liu sounds in the distance. We all look at each other.
"Let's move," orders Damon, releasing his powerful wings from his back so he can fly at any moment. He begins to jog through the mud, a little slower than his previous pace thanks to his knife wound.
Lexi's managed to clean up some of the blood, but there's still quite a bit on the ground. I can see the red pooling beneath Damon's bandage as well from the strain he's now putting his wound through. I can only pray that whatever happened to Liu resulted from a wild animal and not some kind of zombie-vampire creature.
Damon eventually has to stop jogging since the movement is preventing his wound from healing. He's been trying to keep a hand on the wound to hold in the blood, but there's so much of it that he's still left a trail of blood as we've walked.
I'm grateful for the break as Beckham tries to crudely stitch Damon's wound together so that he can stop bleeding until we can break for the night and his supernatural healing can take over. I feel a little bit like I'm the one who's been stabbed though. I'm wheezing from the strain of jogging for several hours with zero energy. I lean over, putting my hands on my knees to try and get my breathing back, when I see a dark blur out of the corner of my eye launch itself at Lexi. Lexi falls to the ground with the weight of the impact. She's screaming hysterically as some kind of creature dressed in rags jerks on top of her. Lexi's arms are straining as she struggles to hold the thing away from her. Looking closer at it, I can see that the creature's fanged mouth is literally snapping at her. I watch as a long, forked tongue extends from the snapping mouth and licks Lexi's face. I'm too far away to get to her right this second, but there's no reason she shouldn't be shocking the monster into oblivion with the same powers I saw her use to throw Damon into our apartment wall several times.
"You're a witch you idiot. Use your fucking powers," I scream at her as a few more creatures jump into the fray and start attacking Damon and Beckham. One of the creatures is literally licking the ground where Damon's blood has fallen. Ick.
Lexi finally comes to her senses and blasts the thing off of her. It's still for a moment before its limbs start moving again and it slowly stands up. I can now see just how grotesque the creature really is. It looks like it was once human, but it's now just a decaying corpse. It might even be a few corpses put together by the looks of the stitching on some of the limbs and its mismatched oozing eyes. I grimace when one of the said eyes falls out of the socket, landing with a splat on the ground.
Damon and Beckham are standing back to back fighting off the creatures that are attacking them. Beckham's using Liu's hunting knife that he pulled out of Beckham, and Damon seems to be using his bare hands, like the show off he is, to wrangle what I'm thinking are the Jiangshi Liu warned us about. At least if I were to picture what a vampire zombie hybrid would look like, these would certainly fit the bill.
I'm about to go assist when one of the said creatures leaps onto my back. I grab it by its neck, straining to keep it's snapping jaws from clamping down on my own neck. The effort to pull the creature off of me is far harder than it should be and it embarrassingly takes a blast from Lexi to get it all the way off. There's a knot in the pit of my stomach. I'm in trouble if there are many more.
No sooner do I have that thought when we're swarmed with what seems like a pack of them. The smell of their rotting flesh is absolutely nauseating, and I see Lexi spray vomit out of her mouth as she blasts three of them that are attacking her.
Unfortunately, the fact that there are so many means that there's no one available to assist me with the four that are advancing on me. I'm as weak as a human right now, and these walking sacks of rotting flesh happen to be much, much stronger than humans. My lucky day. I also don't have a weapon at the moment since my own knife and gun are tucked in my backpack which I set down a little ways away while I was trying to catch my breath after our jog. I scan the ground for things I can use as weapons and see a large rock that should work. I pick it up off the ground and crack it against one of the creature's skulls as it tries to jump on me. It's skull breaks open like a cracked egg, the exiting brain even resembling yolk. It's safe to say that eggs aren't going to be on my diet plan any time soon.
Before I can feel good at all about offing one of them in my weakened state, I'm again jumped from behind while the other two creatures come at me, passing their fallen comrade without a second glance. I pull and rip at their limbs. I even use my teeth to rip into their gummy skin, but nothing deters them. I'm soon overwhelmed, their fangs sinking into my skin several times. My last thought before the world goes black is that I wish I could see Eva's face one more time.
Chapter 13
Eva
My progress in my flying lessons is going much better than my progress in my magic lessons. Lexington didn't even have to make good on his threat to throw me out of the window because I voluntarily jumped. Now that I can call my wings at will, the rest feels like instinct, like I've done this a million times. And I guess I have since my old self obviously had wings as well.
It feels freeing to glide through the air, the breeze caressing my cheeks. My wings feel like old friends and I can't believe I managed to live without them for so long in this life. Lexington flies next to me, his enormous bat-like wings stretched behind him. Sometimes he gives me pointers, but most often we just talk about random things. It's become an escape from the pressures I feel from Aiden about the progress of my magic, and our relationship. Aiden's becoming increasingly frustrated with both and I'm at a loss at what to do about either.
Lexington never wants to talk about anything serious with me. I still don't know anything about him after a few weeks of training, but I've come to accept that he's a private creature.
Today we are working on speed drills. Lexington has an old pocket watch in his hand and he's been barking at me for the past few hours while I try to fly three hundred yards faster than the time before. I'm dripping in sweat and getting a little tired if I'm being honest. I'm about a hundred yards from the finish line when I'm pelted with what feels like an arrow. I waver in the air, losing my balance from the pain and dropping a few feet before I recover. Not a second goes by that I feel something else hit me that sends pain shooting through my left wing. I again fall and this time I see that I'm being surrounded by what looks like a murder of crows. Since this is Fairie, of course the crows are five times the size of the ones that I'm used to seeing. Another one of the crows dives at me, and I narrowly miss getting stabbed by its sharp beak as I swerve to the side. My wings are throbbing where they've been hit twice now by what I assume were either the crows' sharp talons or their beaks. My wounds, combined with the fact that I'm exhausted from hours of training, is not a good combination and I'm just barely escaping the attacks that keep coming.
Lexington is yelling at me to get to the ground from the other side of the field, but that's easier said than done. They start to attack from all sides, tearing my skin and wings with their talons and beaks. I'm about twenty feet from the ground when my shredded wings finally give out and I start to freefall to the ground, droplets of blood streaming from my face and almost blinding me. The crows are still tearing at me and I can see Lexington racing towards me as fast as he can. He's not going to make it in time though.
Right before I crash to my death, or what I think would be my death seeing a
s how I'm unsure of the limits of my immortality, I'm held frozen in the air, just a foot off the ground. I can hear the crows splattering behind me against where some kind of barrier must have been erected.
My heart is practically beating out of my chest from the adrenaline rush of my fall, and my blood is still pouring down my face, but I'm alive. I stare at the ground for another long moment before I finally look up to find out the identity of my savior. Of course, it's Aiden. But it's an Aiden I haven't seen before.
Untold fury is written all over his face. His eyes are burning with rage as he walks towards me. He finally unfreezes me and I softly land on the ground, where I have the insane urge to kiss it from my happiness in being alive. My mind briefly flashes back to my dream last night, where I was again free falling, but this time because I was pushed, but the murderous rage that's still present on Aiden's face distracts me from deeper thinking on my sense of deja vu.
His hands are trembling as they grab me and and slam me against his hard body. I can feel his whole body shaking in either rage or relief, or maybe both. He keeps on stroking my hair and murmuring my name softly. Lexington has landed a few feet away from us finally and is watching the scene stoically. Bodies of the killer crows riddle the ground around us. There's at least a hundred of them.
"Let's get you inside," says Aiden finally, surveying the graveyard of birds around us with distaste. The two of us shake our way into the castle grounds. Aiden yells for Gwenny as we walk in, hurting my ears with how loud he is. It will still be a wonder if she can hear him with how big this place is though.
To my surprise she comes bustling around a corner where she stops in horror when she sees us. I'm sure I look like an extra in a horror flick since I'm covered in blood that is still oozing copiously from my many wounds. Now that the adrenaline has worn off, the pain from the combination of all of the damage inflicted by the crows is overwhelming, and it's all I can do to stay upright.
Aiden must sense my weakness because he scoops me up in his arms and carries me the rest of the way to my quarters.
"Draw a bath," he orders Gwenny, who jumps into action. I expect to be set down, so I can bathe, but Aiden surprises me by walking into my cavernous shower with me.
"What are you doing?" I ask exhaustedly.
"There's too much blood on you right now," he says, his anger still threaded throughout his voice. "We need to get you showered off before you can take a bath."
His explanation makes sense to my tired brain and I don't have the energy to object so I allow him to set me down against a wall and turn the shower on. After making sure it's the right temperature, he gently lifts my blouse, and slides it up my body, leaving me in just my bra. I'm sure it would feel seductive under a different scenario, but I'm in too much pain to feel anything at the moment. He slides my pants off of me next until I'm standing in front of him in just the sexy lingerie that are the only options I have available to me as far as underthings go.
I can see that he's trying to temper and hide his arousal, but he's not doing a very good job of it. I can see that he's straining against his pants and his eyes are practically wild with lust. Despite his obvious excitement at my semi-nude state, he's very careful to only touch the parts of my body he has to in order to get the blood washed off. I watch as rivulets of red get carried away down the drain. There's so much of it. As I'm watching it, there's something about the fact that I'm bleeding so freely that bothers me. But I can't seem to place my finger on it.
It's only after I've soaked in the tub, and reluctantly downed the sleeping potion that Gwenny offers me that I realize that I have a very clear memory of my vile foster parents being very careful to not make me bleed when they beat me. Thinking of the fact that nothing magically spectacular happened to me today, and I bled quite a bit, it seems odd to me that my bleeding was ever such a big deal. I'm still puzzling over those facts as the sleeping potion takes effect and I drift off into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Chapter 14
Damon
It's been a long few weeks of being lost in this hellhole, and we have nothing to show for it. I only caught a glimpse of Mason being dragged away by those undead assholes. There must have been some kind of magic at play, because there was no sign of them when I went after them. It's as if they disappeared into thin air. Tensions are running high between the three of us. Beckham and I feel supremely guilty about leaving Mason unprotected knowing that he was so low in energy. We hadn't understood the full extent of what happens to an incubus when it has stopped feeding, but seeing how easily he was overtaken by those freaks has given us a pretty good idea of just how terrible Mason has been doing on this trip.
Lexi for her part continues to ensure that I will hate redheads forever. I guess I should give her some slack because she's working so hard to try and get Eva out of whatever unconscious state she's currently operating under thanks to "Him." However, the fact that she's working to "kill" Eva, is difficult to be okay about in any circumstance. I also hate the fact that she can't put a name to Eva's crazy ex-husband. I've decided that He's definitely an ex because there's no way He's getting my girl. Still I would like to have a name and a face to go with the guy that I'm hunting rather than simply "Him."
Without Liu we are operating somewhat blind. The clouds and fog are still too thick for my wings to be truly useful in this terrain. We've tried to stick close to the area where we were attacked though since I believe that the vamps must have something to do with the fortress. I've learned over the eons of time I've spent on this earth that there's always a little bit of truth to a legend. Certainly, the existence of the Jiangshi pretty much confirms there's more than a "little" bit of truth to the legend that surrounds this place.
We're sitting around a small fire. Lexi's magically put a shield around the flames so that they don't get put out by the continuous rainfall. The one good thing about the cloud cover is it allows us to have a fire without fearing what we will attract.
The air feels thick from the humidity. It reminds me of all of the times I would have to wait in less than ideal conditions for a Fallen to make an appearance. It would have made all those experiences a lot more palatable if I knew that Eva was waiting for me at the end.
Lexi's once again muttering to herself, looking to see if she can try bringing Eva back to reality from wherever she's gone. Suddenly she starts rocking back and forth, yelling so loud that I'm thinking the cloud cover isn't going to be enough to keep us hidden from the predators of the area. Her voice reaches a crescendo and then she falls to the ground, spasming violently for a moment before falling deathly still.
Beckham is by Lexi's side in a flash. I haven't healed as fast as normal from the wound inflicted by Liu's knife for some reason, and I can't quite move as fast as usual. Beckham helps Lexi back to her seat. She looks exhausted and there's a thin trail of blood coming out of her nose. Beckham glances at me and quickly grabs a rag to start blotting up the blood. We'll burn the rag after we're finished and hope that the Jiangshi's sensitivities aren't so sensitive that they would be attracted to that small of an amount of blood.
I once read that sharks can detect a drop of blood from a mile away. I'm not sure if that's true or not, but I hope it's not true in this case with these vampires. Getting up close and personal with them made me long for the vampires back home. Those at least are actually attractive to look at and can usually control themselves. They also don't usually smell like the dead corpses that they really are.
Beckham finishes cleaning Lexi up and throws the rag in the fire. She starts quietly crying. Beckham crouches down next to her anxiously.
"Lexi, is something wrong with Eva?" he asks, a note of panic in his voice.
"I failed again," she says quietly. "I was so close and he stopped me right before she would have died."
We're all solemn after that, thinking about Eva, thinking about
Mason, hoping they're both alright. Mason and I have had such a strained relationship lately. I feel tremendous guilt about how I've been treating him. He's had to go through much more than I have to show his devotion to Eva. Starving himself to death, that's not something I've had to experience. Knowing that Mason has probably never gone a day in his life without feeding by partaking in some sort of sexual experience, the fact that he's managed to abstain is a true testament to how gone he is over her. Not that the normal being shouldn't be able to control themselves and stay faithful to their partner, but for an incubus that usually isn't possible with how much they need to feed. I haven't admitted it to Mason, but I have a lot of respect for him. I can only hope that I'll get to tell him someday. Having him alive and having to share Eva with him seems like a much better option than him being dead.
We spend the rest of the night alternating between talking tactics and taking turns getting some sleep. We never talk about the fact that we could be wrong about the Jiangshi having some kind of ties to "Him." The alternatives are that Mason's either been eaten alive or that he's become one of them (if that's possible for an incubus), both scenarios I'm unwilling to accept.
At the first break of dawn, or at least when the dark isn't so stifling (it's a little hard to see the sun under the current conditions), we set off. After a few hours of hiking I frustratingly notice that we've passed the same tree that's been struck by lightning multiple times. It's caught my attention because it's been burnt to a scorched black unlike the greenery around it. We've somehow been going in circles.
Although this might seem like something bad, it's actually the first sign we've had that we're getting close to something magical since the attack of the Jiangshi. Fun fact about angels, we have an innate sense of direction, we don't get lost. So, the fact that we've been going in circles means that there's some type of magic involved that's making us do that.