Dark Soul Rising

Ch.12 A New Rising

Wane POV

Fucking Zion.

I was expecting to arrive at Azrael's party any second, but the shadow in my study clearly had other plans. 

"We need to talk." He goes from doorway to beside me in seconds, hands wrap around my throat and a stiff knee sending me caroling into the desk. I strike out, the motions a blur of speed and strength I don't often tap into. Every move I make he counters, efficiently reminding me the reason he became king. He's stronger, quicker, there's no wasted movement until finally his fist makes contact. Piercing through skin and bone, he pauses satisfied now that he's inches from my heart. Instinctively, the reaper flame flares to counter only to be met by Zion's own. I feel my skin fade to white as he begins to absorb the tendrils of my soul.

"I don't know where the Amaterasu is," I grunt watching my blood flows down his arm. He didn't come here to kill me or I'd be dead already.

"Stay the fuck away from Emma," he growls. Confused, I say nothing until his hand digs deeper driving his point home.

"I haven't fucking seen her."

Zion lets out a cruel laugh moving his face inches from mine. "Do you think I don't know she's working for you? If you want the amulet use your men, don't dangle your fucking bonded as bait. The only reason you're alive now is she cares whether you live or die."

He's ... jealous. Seething with it. Without pieces of his memory, he still believes Emma harbors feelings for me. I could tell him she was never my blooded, but there's a cruel justice in watching him struggle. Let him see what it like is to know another has what you can't have. It's almost worth the inconvenience of bleeding out on the carpet.

"I'm not interested in Emma," I say instead. "You two might send demons back but someone has to focus on closing the tides."

Zion pulls back chuckling as he shakes his head. To my relief the reaper flame dies out and I breathe easier once my soul falls back into place. "I didn't expect you to believe in the ideals of the circle. Haven't you realized, there's no stopping what's waiting behind the gates?"

I stop struggling. Zion knows the secret our elders were hiding.

"They didn't warn you," he realizes tilting his head. "The elders protect a monster, one the fae wouldn't allow caged in their own land. I know you've felt its magic," he taunts. "How could you not recognize the one who births us?"

I had felt it, not magic but death. Draining everything I was just from being near it. The only kind of energy that could survive centuries in Nadaro was-

"The first reaper," I curse. A soul keeper who could send the entirely of this world under with just a thought. "They never killed him when he went mad, they couldn't." The stories had been a lie, the amulet had never worked. I could only imagine the chaos he would bring if he escaped. It wouldn't be a war, not when he could kill us in seconds. He wouldn't even have to move, his flame could do all the work for him. 

"He's the one creating holes in the tides. He wants out and no stone, no reaper no flame can hold him under. You're wasting your time, it's not like reapers will suffer when he escapes."

"No, just millions of humans and blooded," I growl. "He'll destroy everything, not to mention the demons that crawl out after him. How long until they come after your precious chosen?"

"Why else do you think I wanted the stone," he answers moving to stand. "Such a valuable bauble to trade with, and no one wants it as much as the witches. Conveniently, they also possess the means to turn Emma immortal."