Boxi stepped forward and carefully worked the spell as she was taught. One by one, the locks on the plate across Tyrellis’ chest disengaged; the last one released with a sigh before the piece vanished. As soon as the binding was removed, they all sighed, but their relief was short lived.
“That can’t be good.” Bruto pointed to the bottom of the vampire’s leg, which turned grey and then to ash that disappeared in the air. The spell that was killing Tyrellis sped up the moment they interfered with the magic that kept Nitara locked away.
“We have to hurry,” Ardyn urged, and got a look of disdain from Jinn for daring to speak.
“Jinn, it’s time,” Briar barked. “You go now, or you don’t go at all!”
“Yeah, okay, what do I do?”
“You just … jump in.” She shrugged.
“Jump in?” He rolled his eyes. “She couldn’t give any more instruction than that?”
“I guess you would do whatever it is you did with any other vessel.” Briar looked at Bruto who laughed. “I thought you would know how this works, considering you’re a djinn and all.”
“Yeah, right.” The problem was, he never voluntarily entered a vessel. No djinn ever did. It was something that was forced on them. “Well, here goes nothing.” He dissolved into blue smoke that hovered above Tyrellis’ body before it was absorbed into his chest.
Jinn’s body materialized in a way that made him feel less than himself. On some level he felt whole, but not entirely. He hadn’t missed the feeling of being trapped inside of something with no control of getting out. How many years had he spent waiting for someone to rub that stupid pot and set him free? He could still feel the string wrapped around his wrist, tying him to the outside world, and it was the only thing that kept him from freaking out entirely. As he moved through the dark void, he called out Nitara’s name.
“Nitara, please answer me.” His voice echoed back to him, but the sound was distorted, as if the death was enough to take the life out of even a reflection of his voice.
This was different from the vase. It was weird being inside of something that was alive and yet not. He could feel the death as it crept through Tyrellis’ body and it was moving fast. He had to find Nitara and get her out. Opening himself to her, he searched for the feeling of the one who held his heart. She was there, fading just as her captor was.
“Nitara!” he called out, and the essence of her life perked up and sent a small spark to his heart. That was all he needed to continue. “I’m here, I need you to answer me! Let me know where you are, Nitty, please!” Finally, after saying her name three more times, he finally heard a small voice respond to him.
“Jinn?” Nitara sat in a corner, darkened by the decay around her. It was starting to take hold. Her skin was grayed, and her usual aura the shone with the colors of love and peace had become darkened by its touch.
“We have to get you out of here.” Falling to her side, he tried to lift her up, but her body was weighed down, trapped by the floor that grew around her.
“I can’t go. He doesn’t want me to.” She struggled to speak the words.
“He is dying, he can’t tell you what to do anymore.” He stepped back. “I’ll be damned if a dead man is going to take you away from me.” With a risky move, Jinn concentrated his own magic into a thin blade. He used the sharp blue form to cut her free and pull her away from the darkness. He lifted her into his arms, but her body felt like it weighed a thousand times more than he remembered.
“No, you don’t understand. My life is bound to his. I can’t leave.” She reached up and touched his face softly. No matter how much he wished for it, it wouldn’t change the circumstances.
“Yes, you can. Daegal is gone. Tyrellis is dying, and you are not going with him.”
“If he doesn’t wish me to be free, I can never be.” She shed a tear. “You have to get out of here. I can’t let you risk everything for me, not again.”
“There is no way I’m leaving you. Hell, I came this far, just for you.” Holding her tightly, he looked around. “There has to be a way to get you out of here.” He tried to use the connection to Ardyn to pull him back, but as long as he held on to her, he couldn’t return.
“If you stay, you will die just like I will.” Nitara’s eyes began to water and tears started to flow. “It’s bad enough if I’m gone, but I can’t be the reason that you lose your life as well.”
“Nitara, I need you to try. I need you not to give up. I can feel what this place is doing to you and I need you to be stronger than this. There are so many people counting on you to keep going.”
“Jinn.” She tried to keep her voice strong, to hide her fear, but she failed. She took solace in the idea that she would be able to spend her last moments with the man that she loved.
“Look, I have gone to hell and back for you, and I will continue to do so, because I love you. So you have to fight, you have to want to be here just as much as I want you to. Just as much as all of those people who are out there waiting for you do.”
“You loved me more than I could ever hope for,” she sobbed. “I never thought it possible, but I always felt your love even when you weren’t there, I could feel it reaching out to me.”
“Until the moon leaves the sky for the last time, I will love you, and even when the darkness takes over, my love will still shine for you, Nitty.” He kissed her.
“Oh my god.” Nitara sighed beneath his lips.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s Tyrellis.” The world began to tremble, and the space around them crumbled. Nitara wrapped her arms around Jinn’s neck.
“What is it?” Despite the chaos around them, Jinn held on to his wife. The sound of the vampire’s death was agonizing, but he wouldn’t leave her. If they were going, they would do it together. Finally, together.
On the outside looking in, Ardyn and the others watched as the body of the vampire quickly decayed. Moments became minutes, turning to far too long, and as they all said internal prayers, they watched as the rest of his body collapsed on itself and left everyone there staring at a pile of ash. A second later there was nothing. Tyrellis was gone, and so were the two who were trapped inside of him.
“They didn’t make it,” Briar gasped. “Oh my god.”
Ardyn fell to his knees. “I … I felt them. They were okay, and then they were just gone.”
“No, fix this!” Bruto yelled. “You said this would work!”
“There is nothing we can do. He had to get her out before …” Briar couldn’t say it. They had gone through so much just for them to turn up empty handed, and not only did they lose Nitara, but they lost Jinn with her.
“Nothing you can do? Your seer saw this working, right? Ask her! Tell her to fix this!” Bessie was the one who yelled, and Bruto held her back.
“Look, we did all we could!” Boxi stood in front of Briar. She would protect her queen if things got out of hand.
“We all did.” Briar placed her hand on the empty bed. “Jinn could have gotten out of there at any time. But he chose to stay in there with her, he did all that he could to bring her back. It just wasn’t enough.”
The room fell silent of every noise except the soft sobs of those who stared at the empty bed, mourning their friends. No one ever considered losing. No one ever thought that Jinn wouldn’t succeed. He always came through in the end. Rosie knelt in the space where Tyrellis’ body once lay and mourned the loss of her family.
“You guys really need to cheer up.” Jinn’s voice boomed from behind them. They all turned around to find Jinn holding an unconscious Nitara in his arms. “I mean, I’m the one who had to climb inside a vampire!”
“What the hell?” Ardyn stood slowly as he looked at the man holding his friend in his arms. He thought she was gone forever, the closest thing he had to family, and yet there she was again.
“How did you get out of there?” Bruto stepped forward and peered down at Nitara who still held a grey tint to her skin.
&n
bsp; “It was the vampire.” Jinn gazed down at his love.
“What?” Briar pushed everyone out of the way and ushered Jinn to the bed where he could lay Nitara’s body.
“He wished her free.” He shook his head as he watched the woman closely. Even outside of his arms, he could still feel the chill that held on to her. “It was just before everything went dark, or darker.”
“He did?” Ardyn asked as he stepped closer to the bed but paused as Jinn’s angry glare found him.
“Yes, Sarah’s betrayal, it broke him.” Nitara’s eyes parted and she stared up at the man who had yet again saved her life. “It was Jinn’s love for me, somehow, it touched the cold heart of Tyrellis. His last thought before he was gone from my mind was his wish that I be free to experience a love that he never had.” She watched him for a moment longer before her eyes slid shut again.
“That’s beautiful,” Bessie sighed.
“Yeah, well …” Jinn cleared his throat, “she needs to get rest. Briar, will you make sure she is okay? Do whatever you have to do to make her skin turn back to normal. We need to be sure that she isn’t still being affected by whatever the hell they did to that vampire.”
“I’ll help,” Ardyn offered, and Jinn groaned, turned, and left the room.
“How did you get in there without being trapped.” Nitara turned her head on the pillow to look at Jinn. Once they’d gotten her stabilized, he returned to the room and refused to leave until she woke again.
“It’s a long story.” He shrugged.
“I have time.” She lifted her hand which trembled before it dropped back down to the bed beside her. “Doesn’t look like I’ll be going anywhere anytime soon.”
“I had to be anchored, to someone else.”
“Someone else?” She looked over his shoulder to the group that were huddled in the area outside of her transparent room.
“Yeah. Look, I need to get out there.” He followed her gaze to the others. They were gathering to plan the next part of their rescue mission. “We have to figure out how we’re going to get Mike back. We got you out but now he is trapped in there with the vampires and we don’t know how much longer they are going to keep him alive. You rest up. Okay?”
“Jinn?” she called.
He turned back to her. “Yes?”
“Are you okay?”
“Don’t worry about me.” Returning to her, he ran the tips of his fingers down her cheek. “Rest. Please.” When she smiled, he kissed her forehead and turned to leave the room.
Boxi entered shortly after. She checked Nitara’s vitals and smiled. “Soon, you’ll be back on your feet. It looks like the fae magic is just about gone. How do you feel?”
“A little shaky, but other than that, I’m okay.” Nitara kept her eyes on Jinn who joined the others outside of the room.
“That is to be expected.” Boxi propped up more pillows behind her head.
“Do you know what’s going on with him?” Nitara sat up with the fairy’s help. “There is something that he isn’t telling me, and I can’t seem to figure it out or get him to open up to me. I’m used to him getting into his brooding states, and I know with my leaving the way I did he would be upset, but there is something more to this, something deeper. Do you know what it is?”
“Well, yeah, I think so.” The woman considered if she should be the one to reveal the secret to Nitara. It really wasn’t her place, but she also knew that Nitara wouldn’t give up with her questioning.
“What is it?” Nitara turned to her. “You have to tell me. He won’t, and if he is going to go in there fighting vampires, we need to figure this out now. He needs to work through this, or his head will be clouded, and his judgement skewed.”
“Ardyn.” Boxi let the name fall from her lips almost as if it was unintentional.
“Ardyn? What about him?” Nitara scoffed. What could Jinn possibly be so upset about that concerned the hybrid? Did he wish he could turn into a wolf as well?
“The seer told us that there needed to be an anchor in place, something to hold Jinn here and create a bridge for you to cross on your way out. She told us that he had to be anchored by someone who holds your heart, someone that you love.” Boxi held Nitara’s gaze as she searched her eyes for the confirmation. Was there love there? Did Nitara truly feel what the seer said she did for Ardyn?
“Ardyn,” Nitara sighed with understanding.
“Yes.” The fairy nodded.
She shook her head. “Jinn thinks that means that I’m in love with Ardyn.”
“Well, yeah, we all do.” Boxi shrugged. “You did tell him that you were leaving for another man, we just assumed that this meant there was some truth to that.”
“Okay, I’ve rested enough. I need to go see him.” Nitara struggled to get to her feet. When she was upright, a wave of dizziness rushed her, and she fell back down.
“Maybe you should rest a bit longer? There will be plenty of time to clear things up.” Nitara watched as Boxi glanced at the man who was focused with the group. “Besides, right now really isn’t the time. This seems like a private discussion, one that shouldn’t be done in front of the entire group.”
“Perhaps you are right.” She didn’t want to embarrass anyone with her confession. It might make Jinn feel better, but it might also crush Ardyn if he, like everyone else, believed that she was in love with him.
“Yeah, they aren’t planning to move until tomorrow night. Please just take a few more hours to heal. After that you should be just fine.” Boxi smiled as she helped Nitara lay back onto the plush surface. “Don’t hesitate to call me if you need anything.” She placed a small cube in her hand. “Just whisper into this, and I will hear you.”
“Thank you, Boxi.” Nitara placed her free hand over the girls. She felt a connection with her, something inexplicable, yet comforting.
“It’s my pleasure.” She smiled and left Nitara to rest.
“Jinn?” the soft voice called from the doorway to his room and his heart stopped.
“Nitara?” He stood from the corner of the room where he’d set up for his meditation. “What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be resting.”
“I couldn’t rest, not after what I heard.”
“What was that?” He ushered her to the bed where she could sit comfortably.
“Boxi told me what’s wrong with you, why you’re acting so odd.” She melted into the mattress which was much more comfortable than the one they’d had her on. Finally, he stopped fussing over her and sat down beside her on the bed.
“I guess she has just as big of a mouth as her queen. Look, if you have feelings for Ardyn, that’s fine. What I said back there, when I was getting you out, it doesn’t matter. I didn’t say it to make you feel bad or to make you feel in anyway obligated to me. As long as you’re happy and not in danger, that is all that matters.”
“You really do love me way too much, you know that?” She smiled at him. “I swear I don’t deserve it.”
“Perhaps, but nothing is going to change the way I feel about you. I’m okay with that.” He pulled her hand into his own.
“Look, I don’t love Ardyn, at least not in that way.” She found his eyes and held them with her gaze. “Do you understand that?”
“You don’t?” His eyes lit up with the happiness her words brought to him.
“No, he is like a little brother or, in a way, a child. When I met him, he was so new to all of this. You know how Daegal does … he creates a new project, and if it doesn’t pan out the way he intended, he just tosses them to the side. That’s exactly how it happened this time. Ardyn was supposed to play a bigger part in everything that went down in the Cascades, and I think that is why nothing worked out the way Daegal had hoped. Besides, you coming in with the cavalry, Ardyn couldn’t be broken. He couldn’t control him, and he couldn’t place him in a vessel because of his wolf. So Daegal just cut his losses and dropped Ardyn on the side of the road.
“When I found Ardyn, he was here, and
it was after Daegal decided to attach me to Tyrellis. The man was getting all his intel about being a djinn from a vampire! Graham was the only one who knew about Ardyn, and lucky for him, Graham was a good guy and didn’t immediately turn him over. I had to step in, though. As much as Graham wanted to help, he knew very little and Ardyn was a danger to himself and everyone around. I taught him everything about surviving this life. Yes, I love him, but like I love family. Maybe a bit stronger because for the last few decades, he’s been the only other person I could confide in or be close to. But trust me when I say this …“ She lifted her hand, steady and true, to touch his face. “My heart belongs to no one but you.”
“Nitty.” He sighed and leaned into her touch. His heart warmed with the reassurance of her hand against his face. She was his, always and forever.
She grabbed the chain that held the moon carved by his hand, which hung around his neck. He removed it from his neck and put it back on hers. “Nitara, you will have my heart for as long as the sun rises to kiss the sky, and for an eternity after it fades.” Smiling, he pulled her into his arms. “You are my world.”
“Good, don’t ever let me go.”
“Never.” The two kissed, for the first time since they’d been torn apart and made djinn, as free lovers, with nothing stopping them from being together.
“Ouch,” Rosie whispered as she approached Ardyn. He’d been on his way to speak to Nitara when he overheard her talking to Jinn in his room. He told himself not to eavesdrop, to just walk away, but he couldn’t.
“So, you heard all that, huh?” He moved farther along down the hall to make sure he wasn’t heard by the couple inside of the room.
“Yeah, I couldn’t help it, with the door open.” She shrugged. “Not like they were trying to make it a secret, kind of like how you were, all perched outside of the doorway.”
“Yeah, well, I told you she didn’t feel that way about me.” He continued walking and Rosie followed him.
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