Alright....to comment or not to comment...that is the question :P Ignore me...I do :P lol. Okay then. Since I was feeling a little generous, heres another quick upload for you. Read, vote, comment...You know the drill. *Note*-No editing, so mind the errors :) Thanx guys for making me smile with your encouraging words. @time_lady @KiahErrol (YOU GET THE DEDICATION!!) Xxx
Damien:
If Locke would just leave him be, dying would be so much easier. Struggling to open his eyes, he failed miserably at the simple task. He didn’t even have the strength to breathe, but somehow small puffs of air found their way into his exhausted lungs and out again, the slow thump in his chest telling him his lonely heart still fought against its better judgment for every beat. He wished it wouldn’t. That it would just stop. Locke, the idiot, was calling someone to help. Medea, if he heard correctly. Her mother did this to him, so why would the daughter give a crap?
“Damien? Can you hear me?” Locke shook him lightly. He groaned in response, unable to formulate any coherent words even though his brain was yelling at him to leave him alone.
The man sighed worriedly. “She’s going to get Nik.” He patted him awkwardly on the thigh and let out a sigh.
Nik? He didn’t want him seeing him like this. He groaned again, this time inwardly. What good would it do to have him stand by and watch his life slowly leave his body? His only regret was that he would not get to apologize to his sons for being the coward that he became. He’d chosen this…this life...this existence…to hide…he deserved every bit of what he was going through. He’d cursed his offspring, cursed him to a life much like his own, and he hadn’t known that he was out there until he’d spoken to Nik.
It hadn’t mattered to him, the one heir rule, because he already had his heir. He was already a proud father, so when they passed a law among them not to procreate and extend the forbidden line, he was fine with it. What with those Witches casting spells so frequently, and their bloody double standards, he accepted the law and left. Little did he know that even after being deemed dangerous by himself; that he would still end up spawning another…a Forbidden like he was. All he knew was that his companion was sick for a long time. Neither of them knew that she was pregnant. She wasn’t his mate, just a good woman who he found consolation with. When he left to find help, he began to suffer from some sort of illness as well. First her, then him…he thought that the poison in his body had infected her and was finally going to claim him too. But it didn’t. He was wrong on both counts as he started craving more essence…His body weakened no matter how much he fed, but he hadn’t realized then, that he needed to feed from a certain source only. That his body no longer sought essence the way it used to and unconsciously finding places to live in which supplied his life force, he’d never noticed the change, never felt the need…The reason he had found his peace there, was because the land she lived in held his weakness…cinnabar…Then child was born while he was away, and he retuned to find the village barren, his companion and everything else vanished, as if they never were...And then fate had led him here, among the Shifters, where he would meet his son again.
Another presence on the room made him uncomfortable.
“Come, they’re meeting us at my place. Can you carry him?”
A female voice…Medea? He felt two arms come up under him and then pull back.
“They?” Locke paused from his task to ask.
“Yes, now hurry. You’ll see them in a little while.” She whispered loudly.
“Are you sure they’ll not say anything about Damien? I mean, with the beast loose and the Guardians on alert…”
“I’m certain, Locke. Bet my life on it they wouldn’t.” She said with conviction, and Damien could hear a hint of a smile in her voice.
Again, the arms slipped under him. ‘Leave me be!’ He wanted to scream, but even with his eyes closed, he felt darkness creep over him and knew he wasn’t going to be fighting for much longer…
Kai:
The first thing he scented as they appeared on solid ground was trouble. His arms tightened around Sofia as Nik released them and raced through the rooms, realizing long after he did, that they were still alone.
“Dante’s in the city.” He spat in disgust, arms tightening around Sofia and glaring accusingly at Nik.
“Easy, kid. This place is like Forte Knox.” Nik said, sitting down sullenly. “No way in or out, unless you’re invited or permitted to leave. Dante will never find us here.”
“I can smell him.” Kai wrinkled his nose and looked around the spacious apartment.
“You can, I cannot.” Nik reminded him. “If I can’t scent him, he can’t scent me. I’ll ask Medea to block out our mental links just to be certain he doesn’t try to tap in.”
There was rustling in the next room, and Kai turned to Sofia.
She smiled through their bond encouragingly. ‘It’ll be okay babe.’
‘I hope so.’ He told her silently.
‘I’ll do my best, promise.’
‘I know you will, love.’ He kissed her slowly and sighed when he released her. Turning to find Nik already flying through the door, he pulled Sofia along behind him and followed. He wasn’t sure what he was headed for, but he mentally prepared himself for it. His senses perked quickly, picking up three distinctly different heartbeats, and three familiar scents. One was normal, human like, the scent powerful and alluring. Medea.
The other was rapid, the scent unwelcome, making the hair on his arm stand on end. Shifter.
The third heartbeat was sluggish, the shallow breathing uneven, but the scent, familiar. His father.
Fighting the drag in his steps as he entered the room, the Shifter started and swung around, his eyes wide. He slowly pulled Sofia behind him and paused, taking in the red headed vixen who held firmly onto Nik’s shoulders as he knelt beside the bed, the frail looking young man who seemed too small amidst the giant white pillows that surrounded his thin frame, and a visibly shaking shifter who seemed ready to pounce on him with the next move he made. He weighed his options in a nanosecond. He could take the shifter down in a moment, but he didn’t want to risk the Witch turning a spell on him. Nor did he want to bring more trouble to his brother. Brother….it felt strange to say the words even if they were in his head. Nik had practically raised him.
“Beast!” The Shifter bellowed, breaking through his musing.
“Silence, Locke!” Medea snapped her fingers, and instantly, the big man lost his voice. Slack jawed, he hissed around a sentence before glaring at Medea from behind. He lifted his hands up with a ‘what-the-hell’ motion.
“Keep that up, and you’ll make a lovely pet cat.” Medea warned. Locke immediately shut up and crossed his arms on his chest.
“Come.” Medea moved to the side and gestured for him to join them. His legs felt like rubber as he hesitantly made his way to the bed. Sofia murmured words of support, but his ears settled for something else. Thirty beats, six uneven breaths…the hairless figure laying unconscious on the bed still managed to claim all of his attention. He could pass for a brother, looking no older than himself, but the dark circles under his deeply sunken eyes told of his plight. His skin was taut, white against the violet throw he was laying atop. His faded blue T clung to him, outlining his bony frame. This man smelled familiar to him.
Kai stopped next to Nik, his hand slowly reaching for the sticklike arm that lay limply on the bed. The veins stood out prominently like a spider web, pulsating thickly with a flow of a heavy substance much like his own, but it was different as well. The essence it carried was weak. This man, his father, was starving…
Damien:
Voices faded in and out of his head. ‘Did someone yell beast? Were they talking about him?’ Sounded like Locke, but he couldn’t quite make out. With the next slow breath, he smelled…Nik? He hadn’t wanted to be seen like this, dying…but deep down he was pleased that he came, that he would at least have someone dear to him close by when he took his last breath. Further away there was the fresh scent of a youngling and with another painful inhalation, he picked up something familiar….but then he lost it. In his haze, he heard Medea angrily shutting someone up. Fighting to remain conscious, he felt a moment of confusion when a scent hit him full force. He moaned weakly. Inside his head he was shouting out loud. ‘Kai? Kai!’
It could only be him. The potency of the essence he carried engulfed him. He was healthy; his body was swimming with the substance he craved. His muscles contracted involuntarily when a warm hand closed over his. So close. He wanted to scream and beg him for forgiveness, but his body denied him. His mind cried out joyously, but he could not do it aloud. A lone silvery tear streaked down the side of his face. There was a scuffle, people flitting away from him. The sound of a door slamming shut, but still the hand held on.
Kai:
Damien’s eyelashes flickered, his lips trembled, and a thin stream of silver ran down the side of his face. He used his hand to wipe it away while emotions like he never felt before threatened to engulf him. The others had rushed out immediately when they saw the dangerous liquid leave its trail; and they were now worriedly talking to them through the closed doors.
“You two going to be alright in there?” Nik asked.
“Yeah, stay where you are. Medea, can you use magic to keep the toxins inside?” He asked them, his voice husky, but controlled.
“I’ll see what I can do. Can you two help him?”
“We’ll know in a minute.” Kai answered, waiting for Sofia to use her talent.
She touched his icy cold forehead and grimaced, placing her palm flat while trying to adjust his temp as she did with Kai. Time passed slowly, but nothing happened. The dull thud in his chest reverberated through the silence, his scratchy breathing like sandpaper against wood. Kai kept hold of the icy fingers, listening intently for any signs of change, but there was none. More tears slipped past the dark lashes. Kai caught them with his thumb and felt it seep into his pores. There was no potency to the liquid, nothing to deem him dangerous. But he didn’t want to risk the others, no matter how small the exposure.
“I know you’re listening. Try to hold on a little bit longer. Please.” Kai whispered close to his ear. Sofia held back a sob as he gently made his request.
“I know the truth. Nik told me everything.” He paused, sighing. “All I ever wanted is right here in my hands…please don’t make me watch it slip though my fingers.”
Damien’s lips parted slowly and a hiss of air drifted out between his teeth. Kai looked up hopefully. “Come on…” He urged.
He could do no more than moan, fingers twitching under Kai’s.
“Why isn’t it working? He should be warmer right now. He’s still freezing.” He scraped back his hair in agitation.
“I don’t know, Kai. It doesn’t work. I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do.” She swiped at a stray tear and tried again. “He probably doesn’t turn the way you do.” She shook her head and looked up dejectedly. ‘I can’t help him. I can’t return what his body needs. He’s exactly like you.’
‘Exactly like me?’ Confusion laced his voice. Aloud he said, “I can call in essence from anywhere. He’s not doing it.” He stared long and hard at Damien. “Why are you not doing it?” He asked him angrily.
The heartbeat stuttered agonizingly before starting up again.
“It’s not working.” She called to the others when Kai dropped his head in his hands.
“What? No! Please Kai, do what you can.” Nik begged softly.
Torn between anger at Damien for putting Nik through this, and anger at Nik for putting him through this, he exhaled sharply and began to pace. He blocked them out of his mind as he thought hard. Sofia followed him silently until he paused. An idea wormed its way into his head and his eyes flashed silver as they found Sofia’s with a mixture of question and hope. ‘Exactly like me…’
She was shaking her head ‘no’ before he could ask aloud.
“Sofe, please do this for me.” He tightened his fingers around hers imploringly.
“I need your help to turn.”
“Why can’t you just help him without turning?”
“He needs what I have in my blood. There’s no other way to get it across.”
“But you passed it through to me just fine.” She argued.
“I know babe, but Damien is different. You’re my mate. He’s my father. He needs a whole lot more than what I gave to you.” He tired to reason.
“What’s going on in there?” Nik pounded on the door.
“Give us a minute!” He yelled, and turned back to Sofia. “Please, if I go at it alone, I may not be able to control the silver once it lets loose. Medea’s cast wont hold against it.”
“You can’t be serious.” She whispered back. “What if you kill him? You’d never live it down. What if I can’t get it right this time?”
“He’s dying, love. I have to try. You said it yourself…he’s exactly like me. He needs it to survive this. I trust you. You can.”
“Dammit, you better be right.” She pulled him into a hug and held on. He cupped her cheeks and kissed her softly.
“I am. Bring me back before it goes too far. It’s the only way I can think off to help him.”
They hadn’t done this since the first time it happened and even then, he hadn’t turned fully, but she’d try her best and hope it worked. Her mark tingled and burned.
“Is the cast on?” Sofia asked shakily.
“Almost there.”
Medea’s chanting faded into the background as the room they were in tightened like a vacuum.
He squeezed his eyes tightly and pulled away from her, the itch in his gums making it difficult to control the rising mercury as she turned the full force of her efforts towards him.
Her link was taut, stretched to its limits like an elastic band, and she could feel him there, just beneath the surface. But another stronger, more dominant voice commanded her attention. ‘Keep me steady…’
His vision clouded, and then sharpened, the mirror like liquid separating itself from the each cell it clung to, immersing his body in its power. The double tap echoed loudly as it picked up pace. He clenched his fists, the beast inside allowing him access to its power, allowing him to keep control through Sofia’s ministration. His knees hit the ground; fingers unfurled, and then curled again as a low rumble reverberated from his chest. His lips pulled back to accommodate his growing fangs, the two deadly points ripping through his gums. Sofia’s eyes widened when two more sprang out from the bottom, the four curved teeth gnashed together locking his jaw while his body shimmered with a fine sheen of sweat. Throwing his head back, he let out a feral growl from deep within his chest, and she couldn’t help the small shudder that ran through her at the sheer force of his strength. He was a sight to behold, the most beautiful male specimen she had ever laid eyes upon. He was Kai, and at the same time, he was not. If death could look so magnificent, she’d die a hundred times. Awestruck, she watched him rip the T off his chest like tissue paper. Body burning like fire, his muscles tensed, bunched together like a ripple on a stream. Cut to perfection, he dropped his arms and flexed them, the cords on his back forming little mountains as he rolled his head, slowly raising it. A drip of perspiration teased its way down his solid chest, dancing between the defined abs and down towards his belly button. The low slung jeans hugged him enticingly as he leaned forward to help Damien…or end him entirely.
She couldn’t be certain, and her one moment of doubt stopped him. His head tilted in her direction, the silver eyes staring deeply into her soul with a question.
“Kai?” The name left her lips softly. Her pulse skittered wildly; the effort it took to control him was taking its toll.
She struggled to maintain his temp, only now realizing how difficult it would be, how difficult his beast could be.
He shook his head ever so slightly before he turned back to his task. Raising Damien’s wrist to his lips, he pierced the paper thin flesh with his razor sharp teeth from both ends and released his poison.
The blue green veins rose up like under his skin like streaks of lightening, carrying with it the essence he so desperately needed. Damien flinched, his body spasmed as the silver raced along his bloodstream, rejuvenating him, repairing the damage inside. After what seemed like forever, he slowly unclenched his jaw and waited until the punctures sealed. Then he covered the bloody wrist with his palm and smeared the remnants away. He did the same to his mouth, swiping it with the back of his hand and then stood up fluidly. His chest rose and fell before he turned and faced her fully, cocking his head when she took a cautious step back with shaky legs.
The deep voice that spoke to her had a slight edge to it. “Never doubt your mate. I would hurt you no more than he would. Trust me, as he does you.”
“You’re not Kai.” She whispered shocked.
“We are the same, though I am his beast. Whatever I did before, was done to protect him. Had I not, the Guardians wouldn’t have spared him.”
How is that even possible?”
“We were separated from the binding. Split in halves…but you bring us together. He’ll no longer have to fight against me.”
“Does he know this?”
“He does now. You’re tired. Let go. Damien heals as we speak.”
With a new surge of adrenaline, she felt his body heat plummet as the silver receded. Doubled over, hands on his knees, he lifted his head up to her, breathing hard.
“How is he?” He questioned worriedly as he slowly straightened. Startling aqua eyes sought hers for confirmation.
“It’s done. Now we wait.” Breathing hard herself, she closed the gap between them and held him tight. “You remember what happened just now, don’t you?” She whispered into his chest.
He nodded, slinging his arms around her and lifting her off the ground as he inhaled her scent. Together, they turned to the figure on the bed, and sighed in unison as a slight flush of colour crept up his cheeks.