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?"
"Looks... to me... like... I saved your ass. Yet again." He winked at me trying to smile, but he was in too much pain. Blood spurted out of his mouth as he coughed.
"You can't leave me! Why would you do this? Don't you know how much I love you?" I screamed at him in frustration.
"I know you love me Blaze, but not as much as you love him." His eyes flicked up to Sorin who was now standing over us. Josh choked on blood as it came out of his throat.
Someone grabbed my wrist and I turned to find Ciaran holding on to me. When I tried to pull away he pulled me closer. "I almost had it."
"What did you say?"
"With your power I would have been invincible."
"My power?" I asked stunned at his proclamation. "How did you know?" How was it possible for him to have known something I didn't even know? Not to mention the fact that I only very recently acquired the sixth gene. "How could you have possibly known?"
"Stupid human. There are no accidents." He breathed with a hint of a snicker and then gasped his last breath.
"Nic." Sorin called to me. "He's not doing well. I can't get this collar off." He pulled with all his might, but he was weakened from absorbing too much magic.
I held Josh in my arms and cried out. "Use the magic you have in you!" I yelled to Sorin as I watched Josh fading into death.
"He cannot remove it or he will have to wear it." I looked up right into the face of the last person I expected and instantly recognized the female's voice. It was the one who had rescued me from Ciaran and brought me to the forest in Armonia.
Candy stepped forward and when she touched the collar it faded away.
I stared at her in sheer disbelief. "You are fae?"
"It was never my intention to harm anyone. Ciaran told me your gifts would help our race. I hope you can understand I had to do what I thought was necessary for the fate of my people. By the time I discovered your mistreatment, it was too late to make amends. I did what little I could." She reached out and placed her hand over Josh's heart, "I would offer you this one last gift in hopes that someday you may forgive me." Her hand shimmered and a ripple of magic coursed over Josh's body erasing all traces of the wound. Josh gasped as he was instantly healed.
"All that I have is yours." She said as she kissed him.
The collar appeared around her neck and she fell to the ground beside Ciaran. Her glamour faded away and only her true form was left behind.
Josh slowly went to her side. He knelt down and picked up her hand. He seemed to not notice or care that her skin was grey and her form in no way resembled the person he thought he knew.
"Nic." Sorin leaned against me. "Take me to the center of the city. And bring the sword." His voice was strained as he spoke.
I looked back at Josh who was still with Candy. I pulled the sword from Ciaran's body and helped Sorin back through the gates and onto Modo's back.
When we reached the grassy area around the lake at the center of the city I helped Sorin down and did my best to keep him standing. He thrust both hands forward exposing two energy spheres. He raised his hands above his head and gently pushed the spheres together. A flash of light rippled from his hands as far away as I could see, cleansing everything and everyone of the destruction that had befallen them. Buildings whole again, loved ones alive again. Everything was back to the exact same as it had been, with the exception of the two dead fae.
He turned to face me and fell to the ground.
I tried to help him back up, but I wasn't strong enough. He pulled me towards him.
"I need you to do something for me." He whispered to me.
"Anything." I promised him.
"Stab me with that sword," he said weakly.
I just looked at him, tears streaming down my face. "What? No! I can't do that!" I insisted. "No! No! No I won't" I shook my head frantically.
He was so weak he could hardly speak to me now, "you must get this out of me." He kissed my lips and then spoke each word clearly, obviously straining to get them out. "Do it. Now. The Fae magic will kill me anyway. But with it, I will surely suffer." He dropped his head. "Please."
I was sobbing so hard I could hardly see, I stood up and unsheathed the sword. I looked down at the man I loved, closed my eyes and plunged the sword into his chest. The hilt lit up the entire sky with the magic it absorbed.
I dropped down beside him and held his head. He reached his hand up for me and touched my cheek. "I hope this brings you happiness" He whispered and closed his eyes.
Memories poured through my mind. There was no pain as there had been with Ciaran. The last gift Sorin wanted to give me was of our life together. The first time we met, our first kiss, moving in together, going to auctions, when he gave me Max, holidays with my family. It was all mixed up with false memories but they were fading rapidly. My memories were finally complete and I was alone.
I sat there in the street, hysterical, crying over the body of the only man I ever truly loved.