Malachi sat against the wall next to where Ailech stood with Nevaeh. The mage watched him with a curious look on his face before he slid down the wall to sit and mutter something to him. Malachi didn't answer, keeping his eyes on James instead. I glanced between my Pair and brother, just as confused as Ailech as to what was going on between them. Then I remembered I didn't have to be. I snaked my Gift out toward Malachi.
His ever present anger met me first, his armor and shield against the world and life he had lived. It tasted metallic, but I moved past it, delving deeper. There was his fear, thick and cold like a heavy stone, suspicion mixed with smug vindication, disgust, and then, deeper still, buried low, was sadness, the aching loss of grief. It hurt, making my chest lock tightly with something monstrous pressing in on it. I snatched my Gift back.
My eyes fell on James next, wondering if I could feel what he felt still. But before my power even neared him, his eyes snapped to mine.
"I wouldn't," he warned, sensing me somehow.
"Trust takes time and evidence - only one of which we have right now."
Trust is a choice, time and evidence just make people feel better about their choosing.
He answered silently, reminding me yet again that we were connected, that whether his emotions were true or not, whether he was truthful or not, he was my Pair. And we needed each other. He continued.
There is more in here than you know, and little of it is good, but you need to trust me. Please, I'm trying. This is still new to me.
I paused, thinking. His words had always calmed me, reassured me, and I felt that same feeling unfurl again, or try to. Trust was a choice, and if I was going to help him, I had to choose it. I nodded.
"I guess my evidence will be your actions then."
He smiled soft, thanking me.
"Then let's play. You and Malachi and Ailech versus a Fallen - a little closer practice than we've been able to do before." He turned his attention back to where Malachi and Ailech sat. "A friendly game of Master? What's it been, fourteen years, batnae?"
Malachi scowled at the name.
"I don't know, I think I might have hurt my fist a little when it hit your face so hard." He flexed his hand in front of him, testing it before giving a faked grimace.
"I'd hate to aggravate and old injury of yours. I know how delicate you can be."
Malachi didn't return James' smirk.
"Bragging because you're better now from no effort of your own is a bit backward, no? You were gifted the upper-hand, whereas before you came back, I seem to remember beating you easily. And that was by training, by skill and effort, not lucky parentage."
"Hm, I never thought of being my father's son as lucky. Interesting viewpoint. Missing him that badly?"
"Fuck yo-"
"James, enough!"
Malachi and Ailech were both on their feet as I stepped between them and my Pair. Kael and Nevaeh looked openly shocked in the background. James just rolled his neck, pushing his shoulders down to loosen his tensed muscles. Then I felt the telltale cold stream down my body. I glared at him, though his eyes were closed as he waited for the collar's reminder to pass, his fists clenched down by his side. He blew out a slow, uneven breath when he opened his eyes again.
"What the hell was that?" Malachi said into the silence. "Wait - you didn't - you collared yourself?" His voice rose with disbelief. "Again?"
"Yeah, well, going from Ambriel's puppet to fully my own didn't come without it's difficulties. I'm doing the best I can." James sounded unapologetic despite his words, like he hadn't noticed how all the malice in Malachi's voice had drained.
My brother didn't reply, just watched James, his animal eyes curious, his head slightly cocked, and his signature clicking coming from his piercings hitting his teeth. Then he shrugged and smiled, though it was all wolf.
"Then let's play - sounds fun to have some competition around here again."
Ailech stared up at the rafters, somewhere between an eye roll and begging the heavens to smite him so he could be rid of him. But for whatever reason, Malachi had changed his attitude toward James and I wasn't about to question it - even if it meant the two of them would be insufferable together. I gave Ailech a sorry shrug, which he didn't see as his eyes were on Malachi again. Their eyes locked and it seemed familiar, something I had seen before.
Then I knew. They were talking, communicating silently like James and I could.
Now.
As soon as Malachi's voice rang through my mind from lowering whatever mental blocks he used to keep me from his mind usually, he and Ailech sprang into action. I wasn't far behind.
Ailech flickered out of existence, appearing behind James as he began to pull his strength, then he flickered away again, before reappearing further back and pulling more. James didn't have the time to track or predict Ailech's movements though, not with Malachi using every ounce of his speed to throw a flurry of attacks. I used my Air until I was closer, slowing James' movements, trying to hold his feet, pull from his lungs, place shields between his blows and Malachi's body, anything and everything to overwhelm him. But it wasn't sustainable, and I knew he was waiting us out, waiting for a moment, because that's all it would take for him to turn the tides. One mistake.
And then he had it.
James smiled pointed teeth as his eyes turned to shadowed craters in a preternatural face. His power swept through the room and I felt my entire body tighten with anticipation, with his draw and the way my Shift craved his, worshipped it. His image seemed to shiver before me, or maybe that was just the speed in which he moved, but suddenly one forearm was raised toward me. He pulsed it out, and though he didn't touch me I was thrown back by an invisible force - air, my own Sign used against me. Before I even landed, his hand was around Malachi's throat, and my brother went rigid, his muscles tensed like they were made of stone.
My brother's legs gave out, but the grip at his neck kept him upright, just barely dragging his feet across the floor as James turned to face Ailech.
"Say master," he growled low, but not to Malachi, whose eyes were rolled back. Instead, he spoke to Ailech and me, his black gaze and its power, its weight, bearing down on us both.
"Say it." He enunciated each word slowly with a curl of his lips.
Malachi whimpered and Ailech flinched like the sound burned him, his eyes wide. But just as I opened my mouth to surrender, the mage disappeared. I looked around the room for his return, but he didn't appear and a million thoughts flew through my mind - did he flee? Was Malachi dead and it made Ailech die too? If Malachi was unconscious could that make Ailech disappear? Could James chase away his spirit somehow?
I waved off most of the explanations as soon as they flitted through my mind, knowing they weren't possible. Malachi couldn't possibly be dead, and Ailech didn't need my brother's consciousness for him to exist, just his life. But then where was he?
It had been barely a second, but it felt like a never ending lull after how quickly everything had moved.
Then the mage materialized behind James, a dagger in his hand, which he pressed to his back where his heart was.
"Let him go. Say master," the mage spit. His voice shook with rage, even though he was no longer pulling from James, the anger all his own.
A slow stretching smile spread across James' face, showing too many razored teeth like the monster that lurked in your closet. But I still couldn't look away, it was like the sun, or a barreling explosion as it neared, inevitable and ending, but beautiful, so you might as well watch and enjoy.
Malachi fell to the floor as James released him before raising his hands and relaxing his stance. Then he spun so quickly I wondered if he was like his father, if he had gained another Gift and could simply fold the world to move from one place to another. If even the rules of the Earth and physics couldn't contain him anymore.
He didn't stop Ailech, didn't take the knife or attack, not that he needed to, his movement already showed that none of us or our tricks could stop him. Ailech's blade now touched the right side of James' chest, slightly off center, and my Pair moved it casually, just a lazy finger guiding it an inch to lay directly over his heart.
"Don't threaten acts you aren't willing to do, mage."
He purred the words and I realized I was holding my breath, though I didn't know why, James couldn't hurt Ailech, I thought, or wouldn't. And Ailech wouldn't actually try to kill James. Probably. But then he did, he took a measured step forward, pushing the knife in evenly, their eyes locked. I saw red run and had to fight down the surge in my stomach, swallow back the saliva that filled my mouth, trying to wet it like I was about to be sick.
"I know exactly what I'm willing to do, do you? Because right now I am a millimeter from your heart. Don't be an idiot, say master - actually, the intake of your breath just might make me knick something vital, better to stay silent."
Ailech stepped back, letting the knife slip away with him. The bright red on the blade looked wrong, unreal. I swallowed back my stomach again and dragged my eyes up to James' face. He was smiling.
"I think I will like you. And the loyalty you have for Malachi, that is something my father never gained, even from those he owned for decades."
His head cocked, brow furrowed as he turned to Malachi, who was on all fours, pulling in shuddering breaths as he still tried to even them.
"How did you do that?" James seemed genuinely curious, like friendship was a foreign concept to him.
"I'm not a dick," Malachi replied with some bite as he stood on shaking legs, his pale eyes angry.
"Oh, really?" Ailech chimed from behind James' back, one eyebrow raised incredulously.
"I'm not usually a dick?" Malachi said hopefully, his attitude changing from deadly to playful as he looked at his companion.
"Ehh." Ailech wavered his flat hand back and forth.
"I'm not always a dick."
"There you go. You got it," he teased, giving a rare wink to Malachi.
James watched them both like he was studying something interesting, his head turned slightly like a dog watching a screen.
"We all had that for you once." Kael spoke up, his voice calm, though his eyes held a sliver of pain behind his dark liner and lashes.
"Because I wasn't always a dick?" James gave a crooked smile.
"Because you were someone who deserved loyalty. You were too good not to follow, strong and controlled and self-sacrificing. You could have ruled over all of us, but instead you put yourself below us, put us first. It's hard not to admire that in a leader, to follow that anywhere."
"But you left me," James said the words like he was just remembering it now, like the pain was fresh again. Cold washed down me and I saw his shoulders tense as he closed his eyes.
"That was a mistake. We were...hurt that you lied to us. We all made mistakes in that situation."
"Hm," James grunted with a short nod, the icy feeling finally leaving. "Am I still your leader?" He said after a pause.
"I- we don't know. We haven't decided," Kael replied after glancing to Nevaeh.
"I don't want it. I shouldn't be. Follow Jordan if you need someone, but not me, not as I am now."
His words made my chest squeeze. It was the answer my old James would have given, the kind of response that showed he wasn't looking for power or control, just the right path.
"Who is your leader?" Malachi rejoined the conversation, his unnatural eyes hard as amber on James. "Fallen don't follow very well, from my deep well of experience."
"I'm my leader. I won't be under anyone, ever again, but I don't want to rule a Clan either. I'm my own. I'm Irin," he said the end with finality, like that was the only explanation needed.
"Your father took that title to mean he was above anyone, everyone, like he owned the world."
"I know. And I feel that too, the draw, that hunger. But I'm not going to act on it."
Malachi nodded slow, rhythmic metallic clicks coming from him in the stretching silence.
"Shall we go again?" James said casually, though the knife wound in his chest was now soaked all the way down the front of his jeans.
"Are you going to give me a seizure again?" Malachi grumbled.
"Probably, yeah," he smiled, "unless you can stop me."
"How can we defend against it?" I asked, realizing we finally had someone who could give some answers, some insight, an edge against Baraqiel because James could do the same.
"I've only had it for a handful of days. I know hardly more than you."
I hated the disappointment I felt. I was used to James knowing everything, having all the answers, and I didn't like the inverse. He saw it on my face.
"But, we could practice it together? I have your Air, and you my Fire. Maybe we can add this as well, then we can practice defending against it, pulling it in when it's used against us instead of falling under it?"
"Well that won't bloody help me - but two of three...wait, can you zap Ailech?"
Five pairs of eyes fell on him. He studiously watched the ceiling, floor, anywhere but our attention.
"Let's just assume that he can."
"Aw, scared?" Malachi smirked.
"I don't see you volunteering to feel it again," he snapped back.
"I can try to lessen it? A shock instead of-"
"Fucking lightning? Pure energy? Chaos?" Malachi cut James off. "I don't even know how you or your father can have that Sign, it isn't a Sign. And I've never heard of that Gift elsewhere either - ever. You know how your father likes to collect uniqueness, so if I was never sent out to hunt it down, it means there probably aren't any others who have it. Just him, and now you."
"Not the worst of my inheritance." James shrugged.
"Yeah, the worst are those looks. You're my fucking nightmare." Malachi shuddered dramatically, though I knew he was only partially joking. "You look just like him."
"Do I?" James looked around the room.
No one answered, but that was all the confirmation he needed. His eyebrows furrowed for a second before he ran both hands back through his hair slowly, but where the dark strands slipped between his fingers, they came away a golden blonde, exactly how it used to be, how he used to look before the cemetery and Juda and everything since.
"Better?"
"Hm, I don't know, maybe fucsia?" Malachi teased.
"You really want a guy with pink hair to beat your ass?" James joked back easily, like old friends, like all of this was natural for him. I had to remind myself that he told me this was how it would be, what he would do, how he would act, and that it would be convincing. I couldn't tell if I hated or loved what a good actor he was.
"I mean, kinda, yeah." Malachi batted his long eyelashes. "But no more electroshock shit - not if you want me to enjoy it."
James pulled a displeased face for the fraction of a second before blinking it away and speaking to Ailech.
"How do you put up with him?"
"It's a full-time job."
"Hm," he pondered, "shall we go again, but without the lightning then? At least, until Jordan and I have a chance to train in it a bit. Tonight, perhaps?"
He turned to me at the end, and something about his tone, or maybe the look in his eyes, how he lowered his head to look at me through his lashes seductively, his lips curling into a dark smirk, made it seem like he was asking something very different than a simple evening training. It made my chest tighten and prickle pleasantly, a little thrill moving through me, not unlike the current we used to share, the excited energy that used to run the length of my skin when he was near. Suddenly, I was hyper aware of the air hitting my sweat, my breath and heart hammering, from more than just our sparring a minute ago.
I finally nodded, surprised by his blatant flirtation. But he kept his eyes locked on mine, and I held his too, letting myself enjoy the feeling even if I was focusing very hard to seem casual. Luckily, Malachi and Ailech wasted no time using our prolonged eye contact to their advantage.
James deflected Malachi's first hit, still watching me. Then he smiled, the last thing I saw before he became a blur.