Fire-drops spat from the pores of my body, only to be torn away from my flesh by the rushing wind, as I soared through the clouds, ripping through the air like lightning lashing through the sky. But I could not will the wind to whip the worry from my mind. It would not leave me.
Through My Lady Moon's eyes I could only watched, while navigating through my own world, as her life spiraled out of control.
The Hylander was performing a ceremony that would bind her to him for as long as he so desired. She would need his presence, she would crave his presence, and she would become increasingly dependant upon his presence, until he became something like a drug to her. My Lady Moon would be rendered a hopeless addict of the Hylander.
And the Hylander would desire a lifetime with her.
If not longer.
Not only was the Hylander adequately inclined to make Luna his forever, the beast within him was a connoisseur.
I had this very power myself. Only, there was nothing I could do from afar.
I knew it was coming. I knew exactly where it was, Aradia's invisible ward that surrounded Sleepy Hallow, but I did not care. As irrational as it was, I was hopping that the power of my speed, combined with the power of my inner tumult, would be strong enough that I could slip through the barrier and be free to rescue My Lady Moon.
I stayed connected to Luna, as I soared down above the tree tops, preparing myself for the oncoming ward.
Luna's blood was everywhere, spilling from her wrists and ankles, soiling the carpet of grass beneath her, tempting the animal within the Hylander. But she wasn't struggling anymore. The Hylander saw to it that she put an end to that nonsense. With a simple touch of his hand he had rendered her languid.
The Hylander, now deeply engrossed in the magic he was stirring about him, knelt over Luna's limp body. Through the soupy darkness, she could see him. The look of anguish and despair in her eyes had the potential to kill certain things inside me, things I once thought to be immortal, as I am. And now, beyond a shadow of a doubt, I knew my father was wrong. A son of Lucifer could, indeed, have love in his heart.
I curled my wings tightly against my sides, closed my eyes and made contact with the ward. The solid band of energy did not give. I crashed in mid air, stopping instantaneously. My wings crumpled around me, splattering against the territorial border as I spilled against it. The product of my mass and the velocity at which I was flying made for such a powerful momentum that the impact of my body against the wall shocked my lungs and stunned me momentarily. I slid straight down, heaping into a pile on the ground.
All the while, Luna's life played out before my mind's eye like a picture show. The Hylander slipped his hand beneath Luna's neck and raised it upward. Her neck arched, granting him perfect access for what he was about to do next. Luna's eyes went wide with fear as a sliver of reality shot through the soupy darkness that enveloped her.
The Hylander sank his teeth into the vein in Luna's neck.
And he was not gentle. He knew not mercy and therefor had none to give.
The Hylander began to suckle from her. I could see the steady, rhythmic rise and fall of his Adam's Apple as he drank deeply. Greedily.
I rose to my feet like molten lava rising to the mouth of a mountain. I spun on my heels and pounded my fists into the barrier.
"No!" I roared, in a voice that felt as though it had risen from hell itself. Repeatedly, I hammered my fists against the solid, humming wall that separated me from My Moon, welcoming only the electrical jolts that shot into every cell of my body upon contact with the magically infused wall.
Luna closed her eyes. The fight had left her body. She was strong, but there was not anyone or anything strong enough to shield against the Hylander, whom my brother possessed.
Except for me. Pernicious me.
Only, I could not be there to stop him.
In a fit of rage, I clawed at the barrier with by bare hands, trying to rip myself free. I pounded it with my fists, shoved my shoulders against it, feeling bones buckle and wrinkle upon contact, only to find me as hopeless as My Lady Moon.
I slid to the ground, wings splayed out in the dirt, crumpled and ruffled.
The Hylander was going to pay for what he has done. I was going to rip my brother from that corpse of a man in which he resided, and I was going to make the both of them pay!
"You will pay for this, Rune! You will pay!"
****
Chapter Nine
Luna