Forgotten

Chapter 36

Ciaran barely opened his mouth when Sorin descended, leaping off the gate from above me smashing into him. They violently crashed to the ground. Sorin was kneeling on top of the fae; he thrust his hand forward, full force, onto Ciaran's chest and the fae howled in pain.

  "NO!" I screamed. "They've got Josh!" I ran to Sorin's side to pull him off of Ciaran. Sorin reached out his other hand to stop me. He glanced at me for only a second, just long enough for me to see his eyes.

  They were completely black like moving oil with bloody red rims. 

  I stepped back, stunned, dropping the sword at my feet. Sorin threw his head back and let out a feral growl so loud I had to cover my ears. I stumbled backward and fell to the ground. He no longer appeared human in anyway.

  There was a scuffle in my peripheral, thinking it was Josh I went to help him. I was stunned to find Rage engaging the two Lamia. I helped Josh to his feet and took him to the gate. The second I let go of him he collapsed, clutching at a large collar around his neck. Somehow Ciaran had bound himself to Josh's life force. If he died so did my very best friend.

  "Stop him!" someone yelled.

  I turned to see Lera running to the gate.

  "You have to stop him!" she screamed to me.

  "What? What do you mean?" I ran to her.

  "Sorin has never fed like that before." She grabbed a hold of my cloak through the gate and shook me. "Stop him! The power will kill him!"

  Overcoming my panic at the idea of losing the two men in my life, I ran to Sorin's side and tried to grab him off but I couldn't. His entire body was covered in an electric current. When I touched him it burned my hand, there was too much power flowing through him. Light was pouring out from Ciaran's chest between Sorin's wide spread fingers.

  "Stop! Please stop!" I called desperately to him. He just stared down at Ciaran with sheer vengeance. 

  Ciaran was changing, his glamour slipping, no longer an illusion of human beauty, the vile beast beneath surfacing, with his grey skin and his disproportionate body. He looked up at me with such shock and fear in his eyes I almost felt sorry for him, but instead I glared at him. He deserved what he got.

  "Sorin you have to stop, it will kill you!" I wasn't getting through. I had no choice but to try to touch him again, I took a deep breath and I pulled his face to look at me. I couldn't absorb the power fast enough; it was starting to burn again. I raised my other hand and expelled the excess towards the sky and it lit up like an electrical storm. I looked right into his black oil eyes "I need you." I kissed his lips and I put my hand on his hand. "Enough," I said quietly.

  His eyes flickered as the oil slowly receded. He blinked and just stared at me. I peeled his fingers off Ciaran and lifted his hand. I placed his hand on my cheek and my hand on his. "Come back to me." I said. The electric current slowed to sporadic bursts coursing over his body, until finally they stopped all together.

  He wrapped his arms around me and held me tight. 

  As we stood I saw Ciaran flinch. 

  "Kill me and your human dies with me." He croaked.

  "I would gladly sacrifice myself to ensure her safety," Josh replied to him, then drove the sword into Ciaran and fell to his knees.

  "Josh no!" I let go of Sorin and scrambled to Josh's side. Blood began to pour out of Josh's chest through a hole that had been made in Ciaran's chest. It wasn't humanly possible but Josh was going to bleed to death from a wound he hadn't himself received! I took off my cape and applied pressure to his chest. "Damn you and your hero complex. What have you done?"