“I don’t want to hear it, Gwinn.”
He looked down when he felt her tremble at his side. Wide-eyed she was staring up at him. “I’m not here to speak, I’m here to listen.”
“To what,” he bit out.
Her eyes welled with tears. “What happened?”
“You think I know?”
“I know you do. I can feel it coming off you.”
“That fuck is pissed that he figured out he hasn’t been a carefree bachelor his whole life but a cheating slimebag. He was going for a coward’s death. I made him check himself.”
“That’s not Dagen.”
Shade furrowed his brow as he took another drag of his smoke. “Gwinn, you can not follow and respect people if you do not make room for their faults. It makes understanding the bullshit they pull a helluva lot easier when shit goes crazy.”
“I mean he would not have given up that easily. He was stripped of his power, Shade. He went from grace to a mortal, too weak to take Zosime’s essence.”
“That’s what you think happened?” he said with a cold smirk. “He’s a victim, eh? Not a sore loser.”
“Loser of what?”
Shade gritted his teeth. “You saw what I saw. Who the fuck knows what happened.”
“You think King has fallen, don’t you? You think something happened that destroyed him.”
Shade said nothing.
“Answer me,” she demanded.
“No.”
“No?”
“That’s what I said, fucking no.”
“You’re lying,” she accused.
“Fuck this,” he said tossing out his butt and turning to go back in. Shade had made it to the bar and found a bottle before she came back in. “He’s not a coward he would not fall like that. Something is wrong with King.”
“There isn’t shit wrong with King beyond his fucked up morals.”
“Denial? Is that all you know how to process?”
“Denial?” He snapped as he sat down. “If I’m right about anything it’s that. Where the hell has he been? Do you think he didn’t know Reveca’s high horse was bucking and rocking the foundation? You’re blind if you did. He was there when she demanded Scorpio’s head. Didn’t bat a fucking eye.”
“I don’t know where he was, but I have a damn good guess about where he is now.”
“Short a warrior or two. You want me to pity the fuck?”
“A warrior? Is that what you think Reveca and Dagen are to him? Do you not think their bonds are more than political?”
“For the last fucking time, there is nothing wrong with King.”
“I watched,” she paused as emotion still her. “I watched as Dagen fell. I felt his pain.”
“You feel pain for everyone. It makes you a good person, not King’s keeper.”
“You’re an asshole.”
Shade took a long swing of his bottle. “Been called worse.”
“Nothing, not a stitch of sympathy or remorse? You’re going to sit there and drink?”
“I brought the asshat back, didn’t I?”
“Is that what you are calling it?” she yelled.
“He was refusing her! I gave him a reason to stand up.”
“Or maybe he was too weak from the death of King and Reveca to make a stand.”
“King is fucking fine.”
“And Reveca? Oh, or are we not to speak of her because you know speaking of it might make it real and if we hide from it a bit longer maybe, just maybe, time will slip backward, and change and all this drama will fade into the fucking blue.”
Shade could not stop the grin that came to him. Fucking time travelers. Him the greatest. Fucking right. There was a lot of shit he would go back and fix if that were the case. Instead, what did he have? A bunch of people believing in shit that wasn’t real, so truly that they were getting into his head, making him think shit was how they said.
“Is that it?” Gwinn said reading his grin. “You’re not worried because you know how to fix it all.”
“Woman, you have lost your mind. Whatever you think I once was, he’s gone. This is what you get.”
“Why are you so certain then, why are you hiding from the obvious.”
“The obvious? You mean me? Wasn’t that what little wolf boy said?”
Gwinn lifted her chin, stubborn and sexy as hell. “This is your home. One you built for me, for us, for all that needed refuge. You can deny this truth all your days. I don’t give a fuck. It would behoove you to take what Bastion says as a gift. A chance for you to see the aces in the deck being dealt to you.”
“You think we’re holding a winning hand there, witchling?”
After a tense silence, she said, “Not anymore,” as the weight of the last hours sank into her.
Shade ticked his head for her to come to him, no one was more surprised than him when she came easily. Gwinn folded herself into his lap and rested her head on his shoulder. “He fell Shade, just as quickly and swiftly as he would’ve if Revelin had sent a thought of destruction to him.”
His arms tightened around her. “You are the last soul who should fear the unknown.”
“I know you felt the shift of change. You felt the power drain.”
Shade closed his eyes and forced himself to relive the moments after Zosime souls left for battle. Very few times had been as trying to him in his life, at least in the life he remembered. “I know what it feels like to need to cut ties that are your lifeline.”
Gwinn slowly looked up at him.
His thumb traced across her proud chin. “When you love something with all you are sometimes there is little choice but to let it go.”
“And sometimes letting go is done out of fear,” She said in a soft whisper remembering the tension between the pair of them, it was hard to forget when it arose every other moment.
“Which is what Dagen did.”
“He is not a coward,” Gwinn argued. “You are not accepting the fact that our family has met its end. We are here, and they are falling apart where they are.”
“My family will never fall, and if this impossible day were to come, it would not arrive easily much less swiftly.”
“Is this your biker code?” she chided quietly hurting and hating that she was doing so alone.
“It is our way.”
“It will hurt when you can no longer hold on to this lie.”
Shade grunted and stood with her in her arms before he plopped her right back down. “You call me stubborn. You call me close-minded. You think I’m downright primal. You don’t know shit. You are all of the above and then some.”
Gwinn steamed from her seat as she leered up at him.
“Oh is that the fuck off look?” Shade asked as he popped his brows up. “Don’t try and turn me on now, witchling. Because I will take you, and when I do I will put whatever fucking wine we had before to shame.”
Gwinn pressed her thighs together trying to hide her arousal, Shade lunged forward but then stopped short, bracing his hands on the arms of the chair. “You want me to take you. You want to escape this shit in the air. You want me to make you forget.”
Gwinn arched her neck up and boldly stared into his eyes. “Yes.”
“It’s not going to happen,” he said as he pushed himself away taking his bottle with him. When he reached the door and lit up, he heard her mutter “bastard.”
He tapered his stare on her as he drew in a deep hit from his smoke. “What do you want to forget, witchling?”
“I want to die happy,” she said remorsefully as her stare fell over him. There was lust there, but the longing and love outweighed it, so did the anger that there wasn’t more time between them.
“One day, maybe you will. But not tonight, or any night close enough to worry about.”
“Your denial has no boundaries.”
“I’m not in fucking denial, Gwinn.”
“Then what do you call it? Why can you not see the chain of effect? Reveca was slain. King perished, an
d now his Faction is falling.”
“First of all, all we know since we have been locked up his hearsay. Second of all,” his lavender stare took all of her in, “I may have my faults, but I know my instinct. Right now, not a single fiber of my soul is worried about you. Not one fear of your demise. King is fine.”
Gwinn’s mouth gapped. “It could take time.”
“Right. Whatever. I don’t know how it works just that it does. Yeah, Dagen lost power. I don’t know why. But I know he was cool with death until I gave him a reality check. Do I think we don’t have shit to worry about? Fuck no. But I know you sitting here and grieving for King is a waste of time.”
Gwinn slowly moved forward in her seat, for once believing and trusting the brute side of him. “What do we do then?”
“Figure out where the hell that snake girl went. Figure out this crap Bastion is spouting about the obvious and the seventh.”
Gwinn slowly rose then rushed to the door.
“Gwinn,” he said to stop her. When she looked back, he said, “I said understand it, do not act on anything,” he moved his body so he could see the smoke from his lips float into the night. “I’m not so sure how desperate our quest to leave should be.”
For all he knew, this place had saved them all. The reason he was sure Gwinn was safe because she was here, where not even the Gods could reach them. There could be no world out there to go back to. If that were the case, he’d deal with it. In his own time, in his own way.
Season Three: Volume Three
Episode Two
Chapter One
The first slash across Reveca’s body tore open her arm; it stood alone for seconds that felt like years. Sven, now the second most powerful being in the Helco Faction, was doubled over roaring in pain. King stood with wide rage-filled eyes as the reality he had refused to accept until now made itself known.
Reveca’s body began to tremble as sweat glistened over her flesh. The next strike barely nicked her cheekbone, the third her chest. All survivable.
Windsome, still reeling from King’s switcharoo from before was stretching her senses far and wide looking for the soul of Reveca. Dream imprisonments often lurk near, if not inside the Veil. Location, location, it’s all about location when it comes to power and what to do with the subject once it’s all over. The Veil was a place that created itself around the beings who were there. Much like a dream. Just as importantly it was the gateway to life, or death, depending on how you looked at it.
Windsome was furious not a single rumor or little birdy had told her Reveca was about. Until the first drop of blood, Windsome, like the others, assumed Reveca was knocked out. It would not be the first time she had overexerted herself to the point where her body shut down out of simple self-preservation.
Where else could she be?
The Realm?
The Realm was just as tricky as the Veil. It was the playground for Escorts. In the old days when dark gods were legit, mortals would dream, and as they did they would carry their woes with them. The angels would take the excess turmoil from them, and they would wake in peace, usually armed with a resolution they would give credit to finding in prophetic dreams.
These days, dark angels hunt there. Some say that is why mortals dream less, why they outrun sleep at every chance they get. Who knows for sure...
It was possible Reveca was there. If so, all this drama was about to come to a head, rather quickly and absolutely. There would be no way for King to hide his Queen. Revelin would know where he was the moment he came to her defense and in one swoop all would end. How will this play out with the others.., Windsome pondered.
Rather poorly, she assumed. Assuming Raven and Cashton could handle their emotion was a stretch, assuming they would have to handle the Exaltation side as well? Ha! Standing there Windsome could almost swear she heard Donalt’s victorious laugh. He only needed one of his fellow sovereigns to win to have a ray of hope, one strong enough to turn the tide of the ageless war.
The next assault on Reveca was across her leg, then her gut. The sight of it nauseated Windsome. What good was an absolution clause if she could not use it? All this time, all the plotting and all the barters, not to mention the sacrifices would be for nothing. Absolutely fucking nothing—Donalt’s victory meant he would stay an addict; it meant he would choose to lurk among the living instead of the realms he belonged in.
Another gut wound, Windsome braced her own stomach as she watched the dark blood pool up like an evil well, flooding the white satin sheets. This death mattered to her now. Had it mattered before? How was she to know, it is not as if she assumed anything could slay the Queen of the Dead, seriously even the train of thought of such an action made zero sense. What is worse than dead?
A cold chill rushed down Windsome’s spine as the answer she had always known slammed into her awareness. Damnation, purgatory, hell, whatever you wanted to call it in whatever religion or language, it existed. It was the source of dark magic, stronger than any black hole, more powerful than any dark god. It was the darkness most thought they ruled and played well with, but in reality had never crossed, even at a distance.
What grants a soul such a horrid end is anyone’s guess. There is no rulebook, no promise, nothing beyond Creator given morals to guide a soul from such a damning end. Morals that have been ignored at every turn, for every wrong reason...
Reveca going there? It was never a place Windsome could have imagined her friend going. She couldn’t even imagine Donalt deserved such a place, as jaded as he may be today, he wasn’t always so, and wouldn’t always be.
The wounds had paused, but tears were streaming from Reveca’s closed eyes.
“Do something,” Windsome raged.
King was still lost in shock, in denial.
The next breath Reveca’s body convulsed as wound after wound assaulted her. The blood came like a river slashing across the walls, dripping from the sheets, landing on everyone, including Windsome and Monroe.
Never had Windsome been so acutely aware of how hot blood was, how rapidly it cooled...a chilling reminder of life lost.
Monroe, in her innocent calm way, stepped forward and raised her hand. A ray of light coated the room. Once it was gone, so was the blood. Reveca lay nude with only a sheet dangling from her body that hovered in thin air. The wounds were dry and defined as they outlined the path of death on her body.
Sven laid weak and breathless on the floor. King was lost in himself as he moved forward. Rage rippled off him in waves that shook the mountain kingdom they were within.
“Don’t,” Monroe said quietly as he reached for Reveca.
Windsome wasn’t quite sure if King halted his reach by choice or because Monroe’s power was holding him in place. Rather quickly Monroe made her way to King, on her way there she held her hand over Sven, a simple move that restored him, from the wave of power that slammed into the room as he stood, Windsome was betting he was stronger than before.
When Monroe reached King, she didn’t force him to look at her, she spoke soundly to the revered ruler. “Judgment comes in many forms. All forms are short.”
King broke his stare from Reveca’s body and landed them on Monroe’s dark orbs. Disbelief overtook his known calm gaze. “She’s not ready for this,” he argued.
“She asked for this to come,” Monroe stated serenely.
“No, she didn’t,” King raged facing Monroe full on.
Windsome didn’t recall making the choice, because she had none. Before King could yell another word, Windsome was between him and Monroe.
“You did this, didn’t you?” King accused.
“Me?” Windsome said pointing to her chest.
King’s expression morphed into a deadly one. “She told me you were plotting, had been. Playing us all.”
“And what does that have to do with this?” Windsome asked unabashedly.
King stepped forward but didn’t make it very far, both Monroe and Windsome were far too wise not have their defens
es up.
“I have news for you,” Windsome said. “No matter what plots I may or may not have, I was not the one who lost my shit and decided to destroy more lives than the plague.”
King sneered. “You can not justify or criticize her actions without walking her path.”
“Ah for fuck’s sake, you of all people are going to sling that tired line at me? You know nothing. You’re just as much of an emo as she ever was!”
King raged forward, the lights, the sun itself dimmed for a second or two.
Windsome’s grin was slow to come and sly as ever when it did arrive. It was never wise to claim a power that was not yours. However, squaring her petite shoulders and holding her chin high would do no harm. King could wonder all he wanted if it was Windsome in disagreement with him or Vade, the God of Anger defending Monroe. Either way, the fuck needed to chill out.
“We’ve all given up more than we were willing,” Windsome said through gritted teeth. “And each of us finds ways to justify our reactions as we judge others and theirs. I had no hand in Reveca’s madness. No hand in her stubbornness.”
“Where is she?” King said glaring down at Monroe.
The thing was, Monroe knew a lot, more than she knew she knew which made it hard for her to answer simple, straightforward questions. Windsome got that, the people who stood as her guardians now did. However, King was not in the state of mind to understand anything right now.
Windsome canted her head to the side. “I know where she isn’t and I know where you better hope she isn’t.”
King reached forward in rage ready to pick Windsome up like a rag doll and shake the answers he wanted out of her. He was blocked by Sven who vaulted between King and Windsome then preceded to crash King into the opposite wall.
“Pissing off a well-connected witch has never gotten us anywhere,” Sven whispered harshly as he pushed all his weight and power against King bracing for his defense. It never came. Instead, King stared helplessly at Reveca’s body dangling in the air.