Starlight

  If he was broken…don’t think like that Elena. Emanual is right. He was the Rubicon and he would find a way to get through this. I would help him where I could, like he’d helped me. Even if it meant giving him his space, like he’d given me mine. I’d give anything for him to get through this.

  Blake

  RUMBLE.

  It vibrated through my entire body. Then another rumble came, followed by a dull cracking sound.

  My eyes focused in and I could see the blur of a long line of lightning breaking into a thousand directions. Then it disappeared again. It was so dark.

  My sight, disorientated at first, started to focus in.

  Nothing, just darkness again, and then the flashes of the lightning lit everything up once more. The deafening sound of a rumble of thunder came a few seconds later. It was so bright.

  It finally woke me from my slumber.

  Elena.

  I flew straight for the lightning. I knew it made no sense but I just wanted to get out of the suffocating darkness.

  I closed my eyes and ground hard on my teeth, as I knew this was going to fucking hurt, and flew straight into the lightning.

  It was so bright I had to close my eyes and when the brightness faded, I found myself in a different type of darkness. One where I could hear thoughts again, but they weren’t Elena’s. This time it was everyone else’s, and from what it sounded like, it was everyone that owned a tainted soul.

  Their murderous, cunning, and evil thoughts about hurting, plotting, and executing the worst acts anyone could think of assaulted me. It was all seeping through me like a tidal wave.

  Murder, rape, and abuse of the worst kind. Animals getting slaughtered slowly, kids crying as they were beaten, woman screaming for help and the agonizing cries of men being tortured. My mind felt as if it wanted to explode. War, many war thoughts. Personal wars waging inside of them. I knew that type of war as I’d lived with it for so long.

  A scream left my mouth and a strong force pulled me out of this misery, back to the darkness I knew.

  Another strike of lightning hit and I flew as fast as I could into another swath of light.

  “Please wake up.” I heard a voice, an angelic voice and then it was quiet. Like I didn’t exist anymore. I didn’t breathe. I struggled and it was as if I was suffocating again, like my lungs had just stopped working. Strong lungs that refused to take another breath. Then everything was gone.

  Fire sprang up in front of me, engulfing me from within. It was green, burning my flesh, and turning my insides to messy black goo; it tasted like sulfur.

  I jolted up in bed, coughed again. The smell was gone, but nausea stuck in my gut. I was never going to get rid of this feeling.

  I felt a strong hand on my shoulder before I heard his voice as he pushed a bucket in my hands.

  I threw up. Black shit, gooey black shit.

  “You are going to be fine,” Emanual spoke. “Dammit Blake. Where the hell were you?”

  I coughed a couple more times. It sounded better than it had that night.

  I realized I was safe. I reached for Elena; her warmth had woken me up.

  “Where is Elena?” I croaked.

  “She is safe.” He sighed. “We were so worried about you. What happened?”

  I lay back into my pillow and closed my eyes. I took a few deep breaths trying to get the images of that lightning out of my head. I’d flown so many times into it, it hurt like hell every single time, and yet I didn’t even know if it was real or not.

  The flame was the worst. It was green, it belonged to the Saadedine.

  “I don’t know where the hell I was.” I opened my eyes and looked at Emanual. His entire body stiffened. I knew that look. Something was wrong. My eyes, they stung like hell.

  “How bad is it?”

  “It doesn’t matter, you are safe.”

  I sighed and closed them as I rested against the bed’s headboard. “All I can tell you is: never ever break an oath.”

  Elena.

  A KNOCK CAME from my door. I woke up immediately from the sound. Not that I’d been actually sleeping.

  I found Isabel in front of my door. She smiled. “He’s awake.”

  “He woke up!” I knew it! The minute I left, he would wake up and then it would seem like I didn’t care at all, which was so the opposite.

  I grabbed my robe and pulled my arms through, stepping into my slippers. It was still early, like six, maybe seven o’clock.

  “Elena,” she said as I closed my door. “There is something you need to know.”

  “It can wait.”

  “No, it can’t.” She had a concerned look on her face.

  “What is it, it’s bad, isn’t it?” I asked and this horrible feeling crept in the gut of my stomach as I realized what it was. It was payback time for the time I didn’t want to do anything with him. “He doesn’t want to see me, does he?”

  She shook her head.

  Tears welled up in my eyes. I knew it. Wherever he was had changed him for the worst. “I told him not to go, but he was so stubborn.”

  “Shhh.” She wrapped her arms around me. “He will snap out of it. I don’t think it’s really the reason he doesn’t want to see you though. He doesn’t want to see me either for that matter, or Sammy. None of the women in his life.”

  “He doesn’t want to see any of us?”

  “He yelled at me when I entered his room. Told me to get out. I hate seeing the old Blake.”

  “Let me guess, he cussed a lot?”

  She nodded.

  It was the old Blake. Wherever he was, that place had suppressed the new Blake, the one that had made me fall in love with him hard, and now he was gone, leaving us with the old Blake, the one nobody could help.

  I went back to my room. He hadn’t pushed when I’d wanted to be left alone, wanted nothing to do with him, and that was exactly what I would do, give him space until he was ready to see me.

  I needed to speak to Emanual. He would know more; he could tell me what state Blake was in when he woke up. He’d broken his promise; he’d told me that he would wake me up. Not Isabel. I should’ve never left his side, never. And now, it was biting me in the ass.

  I FOUND BECKY and Sammy at the table early the next day. Sammy hadn’t been herself either, always walking around with red-rimmed eyes, crying for her brother. Her tears sort of suffocated me. I couldn’t stand it.

  Dean phoned twice a day to find out if she was okay. I didn’t understand why he hadn’t come with; I could only imagine that Master Longwei had something to do with it.

  I grabbed a cup of coffee and tried to shake off this irritating feeling that came with the news of Blake not wanting to see any of the women in his life.

  I went to their table. “Let me guess, he didn’t want to see any of you either?”

  Sammy shook her head with a hanky in her hand. She brought it to her nose and wiped.

  “Why am I always crying about stupid shit? He is the Rubicon for crying out loud.”

  None of us answered her.

  “Have any of you seen Emanual?”

  “He came down earlier and took a plate of food to him,” Becky answered.

  “Where is George?”

  Becky gave me a sarcastic look.

  “Seriously?” I asked. It annoyed me even more. George was with him too. I should be there, not some stupid Moon-Bolt.

  “Elena,” Becky cleared her throat.

  I looked at her.

  “You know why George is there, he shared that experience with Blake.”

  “Not helping Becky, unless you can tell me where the hell my dragon was, none of this is helping. I know he was someplace dark, but I don’t know where. You know how that makes me feel.”

  “I know. I felt it that night.”

  “George wasn’t really there, Becky. It was something he saw.”

  “Still, he experienced it the same way. Kept talking about the darkness the entire next day.”

  I knew she
was right. I was just so freakin’ annoyed. “I told him not to do this.” I felt that I should’ve ordered him, even if it was against my beliefs, then he would’ve been mad, but he would’ve forgiven me eventually. It would’ve been better than this.

  “Plenty told him it was a bad idea and that he shouldn’t go.”

  Emanual walked into the hall and his eyes found mine immediately. I got up. “How is he? Why doesn’t he want to see me? You told him that I stayed with him, right?”

  “Elena, calm down okay. He knows. It’s not the reason he doesn’t want to see you.”

  “Then why does he blame me? Because I will march up there now and tell him I told him this was a bad idea from the start.”

  “It’s not that either. His first words when he woke up were about you, he wanted to know if you were okay.”

  I looked away. It didn’t make any sense. “Then why doesn’t he want to see me?”

  “He is scared, Elena.”

  “Of what?”

  “That he is going to scare you.”

  “What? It doesn’t make sense.”

  “He…” Emanual looked down.

  “He what? Spit it out.”

  He looked at me again. “He has blood eyes, Elena.”

  Becky gasped.

  “What the hell is blood eyes?”

  Emanual sighed. “It’s when the part of your eyes that is usually white turns red and the iris is almost black. We don’t know when it’s going to go away. It scared the living crap out of me when I saw it and I guess it was my reaction that led to him to not wanting any of you to see him that way.”

  “What?” I was furious. “He was gone for almost a week, out for another five and that is his stupid reason?!” I yelled.

  “Calm down.”

  “Don’t tell me to calm down.” I was already marching in the direction of the stairs. He is so fucking stupid. Really. I don’t care what his eyes look like. I saw his face when he took Annie’s burn away, how bad can fucking red eyes be?

  “Elena, please, don’t do this.” Emanual reached me as I took the first step.

  “Don’t tell me what to do, Emanual!” I yelled at him, running up the stairs.

  He was faster and grabbed my arm lightly.

  “Just give him a few days.”

  “No.” I sounded deranged again. Some of the doors opened in the hallway. I knew they were staring as Emanual showed them with a hand gesture that all was good.

  “He was gone, Emanual. Gone. I don’t care what he looks like.” I spoke out loud and turned back around.

  If that is the only reason he doesn’t want to see me, well then he doesn’t know me that well.

  Sir Robert came out of Blake’s room. “Elena, please I beg of you.”

  “Step out of my way.” My voice broke again, I was so angry with him for doing this.

  “No, please,” Sir Robert begged.

  “Step out or I promise you, your son is going to experience a hell of a lot more pain.”

  “It’s okay, Dad. Let her in,” Blake’s spoke from inside the room. He sounded so tired.

  Sir Robert stepped out of the way, not happy that I’d disobeyed his son’s wishes.

  George sat with Blake and Blake was lying with his back to me.

  “You know how stupid this is, right? You have no idea what the hell you put me through.” I started to fight with him. “What you put your family through. You were missing for five days Blake, asleep for another five. Ten days. Ten fucking days and this is the reason why you don’t want to see me? I told you this was a fucking stupid idea but you never listen.”

  “Elena, enough!” Sir Robert intervened.

  “Don’t you dare tell me enough. He has to know how I felt, how his mother felt, his sister, and now he doesn’t want to see us because of blood eyes!” I yelled at Sir Robert.

  Blake turned around and stared at me.

  I gasped softly at the sight. He looked half demonic.

  “Not so beautiful anymore, am I?” He spoke in a sarcastic snarl and looked away.

  My nostrils flared at his words. “You are a fucking idiot,” I spoke. “I never cared about your looks. I cared about you.” My voice broke as I climbed onto his bed and just flung my arms around him. He flinched at my touch; he felt so cold and my heart wanted to break because of the flinch. So I let him go.

  “I’m sorry,” I spoke softly, not really sure what exactly I was apologizing for.

  He looked at me with squinted eyes and then he pulled me back into his chest.

  “Don’t be. I’ll be fine.” He sounded so relieved. “I’m the one that should be sorry.”

  I felt like crying again as my emotions took me on a rollercoaster ride from hell. “Where were you?” I whispered in his ear.

  I felt his hand at the back of my head, stroking my hair. “It doesn’t matter. I’m back now.”

  I took a huge breath and lifted up my head from his shoulder to look at him.

  His beautiful peacock blue eyes were gone; they’d been replaced with black obsidian. The whites of his eyes were red, like all the veins in his eyes had burst.

  “I don’t know if this is going to go away.” A frustrated curve tugged at the corners of his lips.

  “I don’t care,” I said way too fast.

  I found his lips and kissed him. I didn’t care if his father was there or George. “Don’t ever scare me like that again.” I hugged him, never wanting to let him go.

  “Okay. I’m sorry I was an idiot. I should’ve known better.”

  I smiled softly “Yes, you should. Now where were you?”

  “You sure you want to know?” he asked with a croaky voice.

  “Believe me, my mind is coming up with scenarios that are probably worse than it actually was.”

  He shook his head.

  “Were you in…hell?”

  He squinted and then he sighed. “No.”

  “See, not as bad. Now tell me please.”

  He pulled his fingers through his hair.

  “What happened, Blake? They said that you saw Billy and what...”

  He nodded. “I wanted to kill him so badly Elena.”

  “I told you…”

  “I know. I would’ve blown this entire mission if I had. But nothing at that moment was going to stop me. Knowing that he was one of the bastards that did that to you.” He touched my hand and our fingers entwined with one another. “But I remembered my promise. It would blow the cover immediately and the minute I didn’t act on it…I broke an oath.”

  I nodded. “We figured that much.” I wiped off a stray tear.

  “I had no idea what the hell that place was.”

  “You spoke about darkness and lightning. What does the lightning have to do with it?”

  “I don’t know. All I knew was it was better than the darkness, so I flew straight into it only to find myself in a worse kind of darkness. Please, I don’t want to talk about this, okay?”

  “Okay,” I said. Realizing that none was symbolic, it was a real place. He would tell me when he was ready. I rested my head on his chest.

  “The next time you disappear, just take me with you, please,” I whispered again.

  He smiled and his lips brushed the top of my head.

  “Then how in the world do you think we are going to come back, because it was you that brought me back?”

  My face pulled again. “Don’t say that. I didn’t do shit, Blake.”

  “That is not what Emanual told me.”

  “Okay fine, but I wasn’t myself. I thought you were never going to come back.”

  He smiled. “You had it for ten days. I had it for four months.”

  I just stared at him. “Well, I’m the princess, we don’t do well with waiting.”

  He chuckled. “Finally.”

  I STAYED WITH Blake the entire day. He finally let his mom and sister see him too. Sammy was just as mad as me, and started to cry again.

  His mother just cupped his face in her hand
s and ordered him to open his eyes. He did and she didn’t even flinch or gasp. She just stared at him. “I don’t care what you look like, you could even be deformed. You are my son, my love for you will never die. And if you speak to me like that again, Blake Samuel Leaf, I will give you a beating like you’ve never experienced before. You hear?”

  “Samuel?” I said and everyone laughed.

  “Sorry. It was stupid.” He hugged her and then he told us about the mission to get Max, and Nicky.

  He trusted his tracking ability again, which was really good, and had found Leana first.

  It was the easiest one. Still he’d felt sorry for Tom. I did too.

  Next was Nicky and then through Nicky they located Maxine.

  Getting DNA from their masters wasn’t as easy as they had anticipated, and getting them to safety had been even harder, but it all somehow worked out to plan. It was everything Tom and August told us.

  At lunch time I went down to grab him some food. He needed his strength. I just wanted him out of that bed as fast as possible.

  I knew he had a thing about his looks, but still, he’d taken Annie’s burn away without thinking twice about it.

  I really didn’t care what he looked like. Not one bit. I would deal with any of the forms he ended up with, just like Isabel. With that realization I knew, I wasn’t just in love with his dragon anymore. A part of me already loved Blake.

  Maybe it was deeper. Like a part of me had always loved him, even the time I didn’t know it, ever since that first day I saw him sitting at that table, before I even knew his name. I remembered the rabbit hole feeling that I’d felt back then. Could it have been the Dent, letting me know he was my dragon? Like he knew…it made me wonder.

  I STAYED UNTIL Sir Robert begged us all to have a private word with Blake. I gave him a smile as I left with Isabel, Sammy and George.

  Becky didn’t want to see him, she said there would be plenty of time to see him and that now was the time for close family members, and of course George as he’d seen something that was linked to where Blake had been.

  I guess George would be seeing more and more of the future now, but what was strange was that he’d picked up Blake, when not even Irene could. What did that mean? His first glimpse of the future and it’d been my dragon’s?