I groaned as I slowly tried to open my eyes. Sunlight pierced my eyeballs and I closed them again, shielding against the harsh light.
I was leaned up against a tree and someone was in front of me, his hands on either side of my face. I didn't need to open my eyes to know it was- Talon. My tattoo tingled and I could feel our blood-bond, an invisible link joining us.
"Can you hear me, Leina?" Talon asked, his voice urgent.
"What happened?" I said, finally opening my eyes and letting them rest on the man in front of me. Talon looked spooked.
"You started screaming- I pulled you out of your circle, breaking the connection of the spell." Talon said, his eyes worried. He pulled me out of the circle?
It all came flashing back before my eyes. Morgan.
Morgan had been the one who kidnapped Aliénor. She had killed her.
I lurched forward in an attempt to grab Talon by the shoulder but cried out, stopping mid-way. My left shoulder stung and cried out angrily when I moved my arm. It felt wet under my denim jacket.
I carefully took off my jacket and winced as I pulled the denim away from the wound. There was a deep slash in my shoulder. Exactly where Morgan had cut me. Aliénor. Us.
"Ow," I exclaimed and turned to Talon to explain when I clocked his immediate shift. He was frozen, tense and eyes locked onto my shoulder where blood was starting to drip.
"Talon?" I whispered, a bad feeling settling in my stomach. He didn't respond. He let go of the breath he had been holding and breathed in.
I knew when the scent of my blood hit him because he inhaled sharply, his eyes turning their jet black. Not good. I thought, heart hammering. He should be fine, he had blood this morning which I'd thought would tide him over until tomorrow at the very least.
Who was I kidding? I knew nothing about a vampire's feeding habits or how Talon's blood-rage affected his!
"Talon?" I said again, this time louder, trying to snap him out of the trance that seemed to be holding him. I clutched my wounded shoulder, the wound wasn't gushing blood so I wasn't in danger of bleeding out, that was the least of my worries right now.
I slowly got to my feet, watching Talon who mirrored me, his eyes never leaving my shoulder.
"Talon. You have to snap out of it. If this is your blood sickness then we'll get through this..." I said coaxingly. Finally his eyes broke away from the blood and met my gaze. I sighed in relief. But what I saw chilled me to the bone.
There was no recognition in his eyes. His black eyes stared at me, like a bottomless pit.
I reached out with my left arm, ignoring the tugging pain in my shoulder, to place my hand on his chest. His eyes watched my movement like a hawk. My heart was thumping in my ears as this disconcertingly reminded me of the dream I'd had last night.
"Talon. It's me, Leina." I spoke softly, trying to reach the man I loved.
"I love you." I said, hoping this would stir some emotions in him, breaking him out of the blood-reverie. Something flashed in his eyes and he, lighting fast, grabbed my hand that was holding my shoulder and yanked it away, pinning me against the tree, my wrists beside my head.
I gasped in surprise but had no time to react. His mouth was on mine then, hot and passionate. My body responded immediately, kissing him back despite my mind shouting out in protest and alarm.
The blood that had pooled on my hand started to drip down my wrist then which made him break the kiss. I felt his tongue run along my wrist and palm, lapping up the blood.
Ok. Time to freak out now. He clearly was not in his right mind.
Talon grabbed my jaw and roughly pushed my head to the side to reveal more of my neck. I pushed against his iron-clad grip as he began to kiss my neck, but of course I was no match for his supernatural strength.
My whole being was having a meltdown. Half of me was screaming danger but the other half, didn't want to fight back, like it was enjoying it. I had let Talon drink my blood a bunch of times now after all. My body was beginning to get used to him doing so. The usual blind panic and resistance expected when a vampire attacked me was not here.
His grip on my jaw and wrist tightened then, making me gasp in pain. Thankfully, that broke me from my temporary insanity. I needed to stop him right now before he could no longer stop. He was not in control.
Talon growled against my neck and as I felt his fangs graze against my skin, I called out:
"Earth, I invoke thee!"
The element answered my call and tree roots sprung from the ground and tangled themselves around Talon's body, pulling him off me and down to the ground. He hit the ground, snarling and hissing like a monster.
Free of his grasp, I stepped away hastily as he thrashed on the ground, fighting against my magic. I was frozen in horror.
What should I do? My frantic mind screamed. There was no sign of humanity in Talon, just a mindless blood-crazed beast. How could I reach him?
The tree roots I had spelled seemed to have taken on a mind of their own as they fought back to restrain the thrashing vampire. Talon snarled as he managed to break his arm free, trying to get up to come after me.
The element quickly acted, more roots growing. One snaked around his neck and yanked him back to the earth. His head hit the ground hard, making a sickening thud. At once, he went still.
The element, appeased that he was no longer a threat, receded back into the earth.
Talon didn't move. His eyes closed, he looked kind of dead.
I rushed over to him, dropping to my knees beside him, my heart racing. He couldn't be dead though. It took way more than that to kill a vampire, that's what Talon had said himself.
"Talon?" I asked, my voice shaky. I reached out with my un-bloody hand to touch his face. His eyes snapped open immediately, making me jump and pull my hand back, panicked. I got to my feet and retreated a couple feet away.
But when I met his eyes they were their beautiful piercing blue and his face was confused.
"Leina? Why am I on the ground? What happened?-" he started, his voice joking but stopped when he must have registered my stricken expression.
"What happened?" he repeated, on his feet and in front of me in an instant. Involuntarily, I stepped back. He saw this and his expression turned to concern and confusion.
Then the scent of my blood hit him and his eyes followed my hand where I was clutching my bleeding shoulder. His expression darkened, understanding hitting him.
Talon swore and ran his hands through his hair exasperated. He put some distance between us then, guessing what must have happened.
I needed to stop the bleeding and heal the wound before my blood triggered another blood-rage episode. I wasted no time. I closed my eyes, centering myself and cast Aliénor's elemental healing spell:
"Elements, I call upon you.
Water, fire, earth, air, spirit:
Your help I ask to heal my wounds,
So mote it be."
I felt the elements respond, they were still close by, and the wound under my hand began to heal; a prickling sensation as if the wound was being stitched back together.
When the sensation was gone, I sighed in relief and thanked the elements. They had literally saved my life more times than I could count.
If I had been a normal witch, I would be dead, I thought pleasantly.
I opened my eyes to see Talon had disappeared. At first I was worried he had been overtaken with the blood-craze again but I pushed the thought aside knowing he would have come after me if that was the case. I could feel him nearby.
I used the psychic bond between us to find him.
He was sitting on the ground next to the stream a little way up from where I had done the spell, his knees pulled up to his chest, staring out at the water.
As I approached, he tensed but didn't look my way. I dipped my hand in the stream and washed away the leftover blood from the now healed wound. I definitely shouldn't take any chances, I thought ruefully.
I then came to sit next to him. We sat in silence, watching the stream and surrounding forest for what felt like forever. Neither of us knew how to start after everything that had just happened.
He spoke first, his voice gravelly, like there was something in his throat;
"Last thing I remember was you screaming, me pulling you out of that spell, you came to and then it all went black-" he started, his voice cracking."I am so sorry Leina. I-"
"I'm fine. You didn't hurt me." I said, my voice soft but clear. His eyes met mine and I saw they looked haunted, guilt plain.
"But I attacked you, didn't I? I can't remember what I did but I know you must never forgive me. I said I would protect you and yet-" He said, his voice low and hopeless.
"Stop. Of course I forgive you. It wasn't your fault." I said, taking his face in my hands. His blue eyes were full of pain, despair and shame. He looked broken all over again.
I kissed him on the lips tenderly, letting him feel the depth of my love.
"We're in this together, remember? We knew it wouldn't be easy," I said, managing a smile as I brushed some of his hair out of his face. He chuckled darkly then.
"Easy? Everyone is trying to kill you, me included apparently." he said bitterly.
"Well you know, I love a challenge," I said, shrugging and trying to make light of the heavy situation. Talon looked at me like I had three heads and laughed a real laugh then, shaking his head.
There was another period of silence before he spoke again.
"I don't know what to do. I thought I had it under control, but this...You should stay clear of me...but I don't want to be apart from you." Talon said, sounding defeated and very tired. I was feeling tired too. After Aliénor's revelation spell, invoking earth and then invoking all the elements to heal myself, I wanted to curl up into a ball and sleep for days.
"But I can't be selfish. If I have another episode..." he trailed off letting the implications hang heavily in the air.
"Maybe this was just a once off? You were caught by surprise. We both were." I said my heart clenching; hoping desperately.
"Maybe." Talon said but he looked unconvinced.
"We'll get through this, I'll be more careful and we'll be on our guard. We're better off together, remember?" I said, hugging him. He hugged me to his chest and I closed my eyes, pushing all thoughts away and just trying to enjoy the moment.
"You have to promise me something." Talon said then, echoing my words from last night.
"Anything." I said immediately. I would do anything for him.
"If this...sickness is back for real. You have to leave me and stay away. It's too dangerous." Talon said, pulling us out of the hug so he could watch my reaction. I'm sure horror at his request was plain on my face.
"No- I-" I began to object but he jumped in.
"If I hurt you, it would kill me." he said, looking utterly broken. He had me locked in his gaze showing he would not back down on this.
Elias' fear about Talon sharing the same fate as Devyn echoed in my mind. I won't be the reason for his death, I repeated internally.
My heart clenched painfully at the thought of leaving him but finally, seeing no other way, I nodded, giving in.
"I promise." I whispered, praying to the God and Goddess I would never have to act on this promise.
Satisfied with my response, Talon kissed me on the lips, tenderly.
"I love you." He said and I felt like he was throwing it out to the universe, trying to prove his love to higher powers and asking for the universe to intervene so we would never have to part.
"I love you too." I answered, my heart swelling.
Thunder cracked in the distance, making for a super ominous response.
"Well that's comforting." I said sarcastically and Talon chuckled but he too seemed to interpret the sign as being foreboding.
"Come on, we should head back before it starts to pour." he said grimacing. I nodded and he helped me to my feet.
"What happened with that spell anyway?" Talon said as if only just remembering what had caused this whole debacle.
"You started screaming, it did not look good."
"It was...confusing and overwhelming." I said, thinking back to the dizziness and disorientation and how the emotions had taken over me, drowning me.
"I could barely understand what I was seeing and then it was like I became Aliénor in the memory. The connection was so strong that whatever happened to her- us- in the vision was happening to me in real life-" I said thinking out loud. Talon's fingers brushed my shoulder where the slash wound had been.
"How did you break the circle?" I asked then, wondering how the hell he had managed to. I was incredibly lucky he had, if whatever happened to me in the vision happened in real life, I could have shared Aliénor's fate.
"The whole point of a sacred circle is that no one is meant to be able to break it, no one can cross it." I pointed out.
"I don't know." Talon started, shrugging.
"You started screaming and I could sense your fear and pain. I knew I had to get you out of there. I tried to grab you and at first I felt this resistance and a sharp blinding pain but I pushed through it and then it was like it just gave way. I pulled you out of the circle, you dropped the brooch then you passed out." he said, concerned.
"Hmm." was all I could manage. My mind was whirring- how was that possible? Did my magic sense Talon was trying to help me and let him or was there something wrong with my magic or circle casting?
"By your look, I take it that being able to cross the circle is worrying?" he said, half-smiling and half serious.
"I'm definitely grateful, you potentially saved my life, but yes, it is concerning." I said quickly, frowning.
"Well I'm glad you're ok. I don't think you should be doing that spell again." Talon said, running his hand through his hair and looking at the rain clouds that were coming our way.
"Agreed." I nodded, knowing it would be too dangerous to try the spell again. Aliénor's warning made all too much sense now.
"I haven't even told you the worst part yet," I said, grimacing.