A Tangle of Hearts

Beautiful, but damn straight deadly.

  Serena

  [Hazel and Tejus’s daughter]

  I swapped Field’s shirt for a fresh towel dipped in water and applied pressure to Phoenix’s head wound. My hands trembled, and my breath was ragged. A thousand thoughts raced through my mind as I watched the scene unfold before my eyes.

  Vita followed Draven’s instructions and retrieved a bundle of endemic herbs from a cabinet behind us. I was surprised by his calm demeanor and his accurate memory. Even blind, he still knew where everything was and what was needed to treat Phoenix’s wound.

  Across the room, Aida cleaned Field’s cuts. Her face was flushed, her hair tousled, and her gestures rushed. Given her feelings for Field and the little faith that she had in herself when it came to him, I figured she was very uncomfortable being so close to him.

  On the other side, Bijarki and Jovi looked after the wounded succubus. She looked our way occasionally, as if scanning us. I guessed she was trying to ascertain whether we were friends or foes. I was tempted to mind-meld with her to find out what her true intentions were and what she was doing near the house in the first place, but I had to save what little energy I had left to syphon pain from Phoenix.

  I looked down at him. A slight frown drew his eyebrows closer. Bruises bloomed across his jaw in soft reds and violets, and his lower lip had cracked. I couldn’t stand the sight of him hurt. It cut me to the core.

  “Blend the red sage dust with water and let it sit for a minute,” Draven instructed Vita.

  I watched her obey him, her fingers shaking on the wooden bowl. She had never endured this much stress over the course of just a few days—none of us had. Since we weren’t official GASP members yet, in The Shade, our biggest problems were fitting into dresses and picking out colleges to apply to. Our life back home seemed like a different lifetime now.

  “Crush the roots and black seeds in another bowl and pour the red sage mixture over them,” Draven continued almost mechanically. He leaned against the bedside for support.

  Vita obeyed, and I watched as she mixed everything into a thick, dark red paste.

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “A proprietary blend we apply to open wounds. It’s extremely effective.” Draven softened his tone when speaking to me. I couldn’t help but wonder whether it was out of pity or something else. I took a deep breath and heard my pulse drumming in my ears.

  “What next?” Vita asked in a hushed, quivering voice. Draven’s hand rested on her shoulder. She looked up at him and pursed her lips.

  “First take a few deep breaths and relax your hands. I can hear how unsteady they are from the sound of you handling the bowl,” Draven replied calmly.

  Vita nodded and followed his advice. Draven’s hand left her shoulder, passing through his ruffled hair before it settled on the side of the bed.

  “Now you can apply that paste on his head wound,” he continued. “Do it gently, and spread it around the wound as well. Once it dries up, it will stay there for a couple of days before it falls off by itself.”

  I removed my hands from the back of my brother’s head, leaving room for Vita to work. I looked at her and felt an indescribable amount of affection and gratitude. Tears stung my eyes.

  “Thank you, Vita. You’re doing an incredible job. You’ve got this,” I said, trying to reassure her. She smiled, nodded, and started applying the herbal mixture to Phoenix’s head wound.

  “I can’t bear the thought of him in pain,” I said almost to myself and placed my palms on his chest. I closed my eyes and syphoned whatever I could off my brother. I went deep into the darkness, searching for the colors of whatever he was feeling.

  I looked for the familiar red of physical pain, but there was nothing there, just a disturbing pitch black. The silence worried me more than his wound.

  I opened my eyes and inhaled, trying hard not to break down.

  “I can’t do anything,” I said, breathing heavily. “There’s nothing, just pitch black, like he’s not feeling anything. Like he’s dead.”

  “The blow to the head was most likely severe. I don’t think his state has to do with pain but rather with unconsciousness. All we can do is wait for him to recover on his own,” Draven replied.

  His hand moved along the side of the bed until he found Phoenix’s, and his fingers searched for his wrist. A few moments passed as Draven felt my brother’s pulse.

  “It’s slow but steady,” he concluded.

  “What does that mean?” I asked. Tears escaped down my cheeks.

  “It means he’s stable but in a deep unconscious state. He’ll need time to wake up.”

  “How much time?” I cried out, unable to control myself anymore. Vita looked up at me, concern darkening her turquoise eyes. She’d been holding everything in, and I realized that if I didn’t regain my composure, she might crack as well. I needed her calm and focused while treating my brother.

  I brushed away my tears hurriedly and tried to breathe in through my nose.

  Draven waited for me to regain composure before replying.

  “It could be a few hours or a few days,” he said. “It all depends on his strength, and he strikes me as a warrior. I reckon he’ll be back up and sprinting around in no time.”

  I had a feeling Draven said this more for my reassurance than as an actual fact, but I took it gladly. I didn’t want to think about the darker alternatives.

  I bent over to whisper in Phoenix’s ear. I wasn’t sure whether he could hear me, but I needed to speak to him. “Please stay strong. I need you now more than ever.”

  My chest constricted, and I swallowed another wave of tears. I straightened my back and took my brother’s hand. I couldn’t let go.

  “What do we do now?” I asked Draven as Vita finished applying the herb mixture.

  “As far as Phoenix is concerned, all we can do is wait,” he replied. “I need to speak to Bijarki and figure out what our next steps will be. We have a stranger among us now, and we don’t know what she wants. We can’t trust anyone outside this group.”

  At the sound of his name, Bijarki turned his head to face us. His discreet nod indicated that he was determined to keep us all safe from the wounded succubus, even if she was one of his own kind. I couldn’t help but find his nod reassuring.

  I held my brother’s limp hand. I couldn’t deny that Draven’s presence, so close to me, was also reassuring. To say that I genuinely admired him for his calm and steady demeanor in helping my brother—while I had been panicking and fumbling about—would have been an understatement.

  “Thank you, Draven,” I said quietly.

  He set his jaw and nodded almost imperceptibly.

  Jovi

  [Victoria & Bastien’s son]

  A few hours went by, with Anjani drifting in and out of consciousness. The herbs Bijarki had applied on her wounds began to show their effects. Druid healing was an impressive thing to watch, as their combinations of natural elements worked faster than any human medication. It basically looked like magic.

  I kept a close eye on the succubus, half of me unable to part from her while the other half stayed tense and wary. Her beauty was hypnotic, each line of her face seemingly designed to make a man fall to his knees and beg for her attention.

  Her breathing had relaxed, and her chest moved in an even rhythm, her silvery flesh pushing against the tight leather garments. My eyes wandered from her smooth jawline to her full breasts, her flat stomach, and her thighs. She could probably crush a man’s ribcage with those legs.

  Just as I was about to wonder what else she could do with her thighs, I felt my face burn. I looked to my right and found Anjani watching me. Once again, her expression said nothing, and that put me on my guard.

  Several moments passed before her lips moved.

  “Thank you,” she whispered, and I instinctively nodded.

  My fingers fumbled on the side of her bed, while I tried to think of something to say. I looked over at Phoenix, who was
still unconscious. Serena sat on a stool by his side, holding his hand and talking to him.

  “How are you feeling?” I asked Anjani. I was met with a shrug and figured I’d have to settle with just that.

  But then I saw tears glazing her eyes. She gazed at the ceiling, biting her lower lip. I bit mine in response but kept my mouth shut.

  “I’m better than my sisters for sure,” she said. I thought back to her fallen companions.

  “What happened in the jungle?” I asked.

  “Strange things are happening all over the jungle,” she replied. Her cryptic answer didn’t satisfy my curiosity, but I didn’t have the courage to drill for more information.

  What is wrong with me?

  I was supposed to be the strong one with Field and Phoenix down. I was responsible for protecting my sister and her friends. And yet I had little to no courage in front of this succubus. I mentally chastised myself for my weakness and pushed myself further.

  “What do you mean?” I persisted.

  Anjani took a deep breath before she replied. “The shape-shifters are much more brazen now. They used to only come out at night. Now, they roam the jungles in broad daylight, slashing at whatever crosses their path. And not just them. Other creatures have started coming out when they’re least expected. We don’t know why.”

  “What were you doing there, then?” Bijarki interjected, once again standing by the bed.

  Anjani scoffed and turned her head to face me, scowling. She was making no effort to even be civil with Bijarki, though, to be fair, if I’d been wounded and tied to a bed by him, I wouldn’t have liked him either.

  “The more open you are with us, the quicker we can move this along,” he said.

  Anjani rolled her eyes while her arms struggled against her restraints. “Why should I trust you?” she snapped.

  “Why shouldn’t we just throw you back out into the swamp and let the shape-shifters finish the job?”

  Anjani sighed. Resignation softened her demeanor. She relaxed again as she looked at me.

  “I’m a sister of the Red Tribe. I’ve told you already. We’re all succubi, but we barely mingle with our own kind. We stick to our little territory in the northern jungles, we hunt at night, and we keep our allegiance to ourselves,” she said, her tone firm.

  “What about Azazel? Has he not approached you?” Bijarki replied.

  “He’s sent out his Destroyers to meet with us, but we refused his terms and have kept them at bay ever since. We have no need for his filthy corruption.” Anjani continued looking at me as she answered, as if willfully ignoring Bijarki’s physical presence.

  “How have you been keeping them at bay?” Bijarki narrowed his eyes and kept his focus on her. She shifted on the bed, and my hand instinctively reached out and touched her forearm. The second I did, the touch of her skin sent heatwaves through my body.

  Anjani stilled and shot me a glare.

  I removed my hand.

  “We have our methods, incubus,” she continued tersely, her chin high. “Don’t worry. We’d rather die a thousand deaths before turning to his despicable side.”

  I wasn’t sure if it was just me, but she seemed genuine and quite proud. I couldn’t help but wonder what an entire tribe of warrior succubi like her could be like. Were they all as devastatingly gorgeous as she was?

  “What about your companions?” I asked, following my train of thought. She turned her head to the side, avoiding both Bijarki and me.

  “They were my sisters. We didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into,” she replied, her voice low and trembling.

  “What were you doing around here?” Bijarki was relentless.

  “I didn’t know I was here until you grabbed me and ran away from the shape-shifters.” Anjani frowned at me. I was embarrassed to admit it, but her continued, deliberate ignorance of Bijarki filled me with a sense of childish pride. “We had strayed too far south from our camp when the beasts ambushed us.”

  Five seconds of silence followed before Bijarki replied, “We’ll have to verify your claims.” He turned and left us.

  I watched him stride back to Draven, probably to update him on what Anjani had told us. The suspicion was reasonable, even in my skewed opinion.

  But she was on her own and had nearly died in that swamp. I didn’t think anyone would pick a fight with a pack of shape-shifters just to get our attention. Outsiders couldn’t see us or the mansion beneath the protective shield anyway.

  I figured the only reason why she’d been able to pass the protective spell in the first place was because I had been holding her at the time, while the shape-shifters had knocked themselves against it, unable to go beyond. Maybe there were exceptions to the shield’s rules, like we’d seen with Bijarki.

  She was weakened and drowsy and clearly suffering over the loss of her sisters. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She closed her eyes and surrendered to the pain she’d kept to herself for the past few hours.

  My hand moved toward her again and gently squeezed her arm in a humble attempt to comfort her.

  This time she didn’t object.

  Vita

  [Grace and Lawrence’s daughter]

  It took all the strength I had to not collapse after I finished applying the herb mixture to Phoenix’s head wound. I moved quietly, leaving Serena by her brother’s side with Draven, and sought out the farthest corner of the room.

  I found a little stool next to a medicine cabinet and sat down. My legs were jello and my breathing erratic. My pulse thundered in my ears. I closed my eyes for a few moments and tried to regain composure.

  I looked over at Serena where she was sitting with her brother, then at Jovi and the succubus, and, before I could stop myself, over to Bijarki, who leaned against a spare bed, watching me. He was beautiful in all possible senses, like he’d been painstakingly drawn to achieve perfection. His broad shoulders were relaxed, his arms crossed over his chest. His military attire accentuated the sharp lines of his jaw.

  His frown mirrored an emotion I couldn’t really understand.

  I realized my face was probably bright red and blotchy from all the stress and panic I’d just been through. It probably looked like I’d been crying, too, since my eyes felt glassy—I’d certainly come close to it.

  The heat roasting the inside of my throat at the sight of the incubus was too much to handle in this moment. I hid my face in my palms and shut everything out. I focused on my breathing until it all seemed to go quiet around me.

  Unnaturally quiet. The thought that I might be slipping into another vision crossed my mind, and I quickly opened my eyes. I really wasn’t in the mood for another Oracle seizure right now.

  I found Bijarki standing in front of me, looking down with a wet towel in his hand. He offered it to me. His face lacked any expression, but his bluish-gray eyes seemed to see right through me, making me feel vulnerable.

  “You’ve got blood all over you,” he said and gently pushed the towel into my hands.

  I accepted it with a small nod and soon understood what he meant. Phoenix’s blood was smeared all over my arms, and the realization made me shudder as I wiped it off. I had to scrub hard where the blood had dried and didn’t come off easily.

  I sighed and kept at it, aware of Bijarki still near me. I looked up, and my gaze met his for a second. He nodded respectfully and walked away. His presence had felt comforting.

  He’d had a strange effect on me when we’d first met with my knees going weak all the time. I’d pushed all of that away, and I’d pushed him away as well, as he’d gotten too close too fast. I’d been closed off my whole life to guys. I didn’t know how to react to him.

  Even when I’d snapped at him, he’d been so respectful of my boundaries, almost leery of crossing paths again, yet he couldn’t leave me on my own when he’d seen me suffering. In the beginning I had been wary and reserved around Bijarki, but those feelings had shifted to a strange but much-welcome calm whenever he was near me.

&nbs
p; I wasn’t sure what was happening to me, but, ironic as it was, I wanted him to turn around and stay a while longer.

  Serena

  [Hazel and Tejus’s daughter]

  I lost track of time. I had dozed off on the stool next to Phoenix’s bed for a while, my head resting against his side. When I came to, Aida and Field were standing nearby, both looking down at Phoenix with frowns of concern.

  Aida gave me a pained smile. “How are you holding up?” she asked, her voice low.

  I looked at my brother and saw that nothing had changed over the last few hours. He was still unconscious, but his forehead was smooth and gave me the impression that he was in a deep sleep, which was somewhat reassuring.

  “I’m all right. Not sure about Phoenix.” I sighed and rubbed my eyes.

  Field was gently leaning against Aida, and she didn’t squirm like I’d seen her do before when he was too close to her. At the same time, the look she gave me made me think that something had changed in their non-relationship. There was a mixture of childish giddiness, awe, and reserve passing over her face, in rapid succession, like she wasn’t sure that it was all real. I guessed she was still processing how she felt about being in such close physical contact with him.

  I wasn’t sure whether he’d gotten closer or whether she’d gotten a bit more comfortable in his vicinity, but something was definitely different about them.

  On any other day, I would’ve eagerly pulled her aside and interrogated the daylight out of her, but with Phoenix lying unconscious before me, I couldn’t stay focused on Field and Aida.

  I caressed my brother’s face with the back of my hand, secretly hoping that he could feel me and wake up sooner. If he woke up at all.

  I flicked the grim thought away as fast as I could and found myself wondering about Draven. I looked around and found him at the far side of the basement room by the stairs. He leaned against a wall, talking to Bijarki.