Eclipsed by Midnight (20 page)

“Maurizio, do you know where you are right now?” I ask, trying to get a feel for his condition. I have no idea if any of that shit I think I just did worked.

“Hell,” he croaks and backs up against the bloody wall, resting his head on the cool, hard surface as he massages his temples. “What the fuck did you do to me?” he asks as he closes his eyes.

“She tightened yer broken head, me friend.” Niall laughs in relief as he jumps down, happy to see his comrade now up.

“That shit wasn’t broken in the first place,” he grumbles and licks his lips, pauses and licks them again, pondering what he finds there. “Whose fucking blood is this?” He groans in pleasure, causing Etienne to hiss. “Fuck, I can guess. My Lord, sorry.” Maurizio’s subtle accent deepens in shameful regret. “Why’d you feel the need to mess with my head again?” He quickly changes the subject as his feet kick out in the sand and he attempts to sit up straighter.

“Cause I accidentally broke it.” Shame fills me. Hurting them has always been one of my biggest fears.

“She knocked your ass flat out with one kick.” Erik’s stress seeps from his words as he runs a hand through his perfect blond hair.

“Come on then.” Niall puts out his hand, and Maurizio grasps forearms with him as Niall pulls him up. After straightening up, Maurizio lets go of Niall.

“Alright, I feel fine. Great, actually. No more of this pussy shit.” Maurizio bats us all away.

“Fuck man, she almost killed you. How do you feel great exactly?” Erik asks incredulously, not believing any of it.

“Dunno.” He raises his arms in a yawn and stretch.

“She healed him after she almost killed him,” Inessa reminds Erik as she walks up to study me closely.

“What?” I ask uncomfortably under the pressure of her scrutiny.

“You are glowing,” she states as an observance, although it sounds like an accusation with her thick Russian accent.

Holding up a hand, I see the subtle illumination seeping from my skin that she speaks of. My eyes quickly bounce around to everyone and realize they are locked in on me. Great.

“Yeah, that happens sometimes,” I mumble and brush it off as if it’s an everyday occurrence.

Inessa begins to mumble under her breath as she paces. What I am assuming to be curse words begin to slip out in the onslaught as well.

“Boss, she can’t meet your parents like this.” Erik addresses the elephant in the room.

“I’m not diseased. It’s only when my powers come out these days,” I attempt to refute, Lord knows why. I should take the out and run like the zombie apocalypse is upon me.

“I know.” Etienne rich vocals sound from behind me, his cedar and sweet tobacco essence invading my nose like a drug. My body is instantly drawn to him, and I step backward until I meet his chest. Feeling immediately centered, my skin returns to normal. Interesting. Last time it went away on its own.

“Why don’t you all go stalk the shadows and bag a few bad guys or whatever it is you do? I will stay here and play around. I can get a handle on it.” I inform the worried lot.

Niall, Etienne, Erik, Maurizio, and Inessa launch into a deep discussion in the old language. I can only manage to pick up a word here and there. Reading all the old text has taught me a few things, but I tell you what, that language is a bitch to learn.

My uneasy eyes find my boys. Fear licks me as I search them. Do they think me a freak? Will they now fear me? It has taken us a minute to get comfortable around one another and rebuild trust as it is. As if sensing me, Aiden and Ethan proudly smile my way before turning back to Inessa’s nieces to resume whatever it is they are talking about.

It is then that it hits me. Koray, the sneaky old wise man, this was his plan, wasn’t it? He crafted this arrangement. From the moment he sent me running after the damn cup, he was also positioning his chess pieces. Inessa’s nieces really were intended to help my sons’ transitions. It had come up, but I didn’t realize the manifestation was in front of us. Shivering from the realization, my head shakes back and forth as all the details of what that is going to mean from now on rush forth. Etienne’s hands automatically come up to rub my arms.

“Everything okay?” he asks, and I shrug him off.

“Yeah, so, what’s the plan?” There are too many ears for me to divulge to him now.

“It is time for the witch to come down from the mountain.”

“She doesn’t normally?” That’s odd.

“No.”

“Then I think it is time for the boys to pack up and head home with Niall.” I purposely make sure my voice carries up and out of the pit toward them. Their synched groans of disapproval that travel back tell me my message was received. They both turn to argue, but I cut them off at the pass with a single look that forces them to snap their mouths shut and swallow hard. Aiden is struggling the most, his desire to stay paramount. Interesting.

“Anu, perhaps it would be good for them to stay?” Etienne’s lips whisper for my ears only.

I reach a hand up behind me, my fingers rejoicing as they trace up through the silky strands at his nape before gently lowering his towering frame so that his ear is a breadth away for my own private exchange.

“My son’s feelings for the witch are a bit too strong to have them in the same room at this time. Especially since your sensei has positioned a certain set of female twins to be here at a most convenient time.” Etienne’s body tenses as his mind works over the same facts that I had before he casually straightens back up and nods to Niall. Grandpa Dearest jumps up out of the pit and begins to hustle them out the door. Dear ol’ Dad wants to argue with me, but he jumps at my mates command and lets it go.

Etienne mumbles something to Inessa in the old tongue and soon, her nieces are packing up Maurizio to get him home to rest, much to his dismay. He knew better than to argue with Etienne’s order, but he wanted to, bad. The colors around him lit up with red and orange. Knowing the big loot, he wanted another round with me even after I almost killed him.

Erik snaps his phone shut and strolls back toward us just as Maurizio throws us another disgruntled look before exiting.

“That wasn’t an easy sell. Sasha, they will be tapping into your energy to transport here through their new little teleporting spell, so don’t freak when you feel something odd or so they say. Fuck, Dominic is a crude negotiator. Never would have expected that from that one.” Erik shakes his head as his cool blue eyes cut to Etienne.

“Fuck.” Etienne’s chest reverberates. “The answer is no.” Their ability to communicate on a damn near wordless level makes me question just who is bonded to who.

“We don’t have a choice. I spoke to Koray first. He agreed this was the best bet,” Erik counters.

He talked to all of those people in that short amount of time? Silence stretches out, making all left in the depot uncomfortable, yet no one dares breathe a word based on the dark energy now emanating out from my mate as he grapples with something. What on earth is going on?

“If you are not one of my strategi or advisors, get the fuck out now.” Etienne’s deep words cut the air like a blade. Despite the frigid temperature of his mood, his warm hands come up and brace my arms possessively as he waits for all to comply. Like rats scurrying, everyone but Inessa, Vlad, and Erik disappear.

“Etienne, what’s going on?”

“Dominic wants a steep price for bringing the witch down from her safe zone again. Apparently, they ran into a bit of trouble the last time on Halloween. She is most likely the only one to help teach you what you need by tomorrow.”

“And the price?”

“Blood.”

I shiver unknowingly as his words ring out. “Okay, if you aren’t going to kill him over it, I can drip a bit into a vial.”

“It’s not only yours he is after.”

My hackles rise. “No.” Instantly, I know where this was going.

“Nintuah, he isn’t going to do anything dark with it,” Erik chimes, trying to hurry the decision-making along before our guests arrive.

“He is not drinking from my sons.”

“It is for ceremony purposes only. Pre-transition virgin twins are a pure source that allows him to commune with the spirits on a level he can’t normally reach,” Erik reasons.

“Find another set.”

“It’s not that easy…”

“I don’t give a shit. I will figure this out on my own. Call him back and cancel.” I wasn’t going to allow this. It put their safety at risk, would blood link them to Dominic forever, and could impact their transition. He is nice and all, but fuck no. I don’t trust him or his witch enough for that.

“Here’s the thing… we kind of need him on our side for when they actually transition.”

“Why?” It better be a damn good reason.

“Because they can help during the process. They can help cast a spell to protect them during it. I know you’ve seen the darkness following them more and more every day. Whatever has been after you is also setting its sights on them.”

Damn it, Erik!

“No, no, no, no!” I fist my hair and fall to my knees, his truth fully registering. Yes, of course we’ve seen it. Etienne has even talked about it. But I didn’t know it was linked to me. Yet again, my simple existence has endangered those I love. My tattoo suddenly heats and pulses, an old ghost awakening to move and shift under my skin as an unexplained force pulls on it.

When I scream out in frustration, smoke fills my nose as the earth bucks and sways under foot and a ring of fire forms around my fumbling figure, forcing Etienne, Erik, and Inessa to jump back. A flash of light appears out of the corner of my eye to reveal Dominic and Solana shifting through the opening to come into view. They quickly startle at the sight of me, hesitation making them appear flighty. Erik rushes to assure them before they jump back into the hole in which they just arrived.

I can’t hear anything but the pulsing of my own blood in my ears as my temper teeters on edge. Tingling travels down my arms, so I pull my hands from my hair and hold them out in front of me. Staring in amazement, slowly turning them over to view both sides of glowing wonder, the distraction proves quite helpful to my tantrum. It oddly reminds me of my trips upward to commune with our goddess, the blinding sparkle of the stars. Locked in on the glow, I allow myself to ponder it.

“Sasha,” Etienne calls to me over the wall of fire now between us.

Overlooking him, I continue to study myself as my mind swirls out of control. My poor babies, my innocent sons. And now, another life grows inside of me, quite possibly damned by me as well. Etienne calls my name once more. I look up in time to see him walk through the fire, unscathed, an ice-cold predator on his mission to get to me. What the hell?

Coming up to clutch my face between his big palms, he rests his forehead on mine and locks eyes with me. Vibrant, glowing blue meets green.

“Breathe, calm yourself, please,” he begs and drops his lips to mine in a soft kiss. I instantly get lost in his velvet lips, and the world stops spinning out of control. Gently pulling away, he grins in approval as his thumb traces my bottom lip. “Very good. Now, can my warrior princess come back and have a rational conversation?” The corner of my lip lifts briefly as I nod, my self-control sliding back into place. Taking a few more moments to collect myself, I slowly turn back to our startled guests.

“Let us get one thing straight, right here and right now.” I pin them with the same look that had my sons all but running. Dominic audibly gulps and takes another step backward. Solana simply observes me like I am the most fascinating thing she has ever seen, unaffected. “What you are asking is ridiculous and I honestly feel you are attempting to take advantage of my family during a tough time—a fact that does not sit well.”

“My lady, I sincerely apologize. If it wasn’t such a dire and rare coupling of circumstances, I never would have asked,” Dominic says, stumbling over his words.

“Dire, how?”

“What is on its way is darker than anything that we’ve ever dealt with personally. We need all the help we can manage.”

Closing my eyes, I hold up a hand and send my essence straight into Dominic, pinning him in place in a catatonic state. I search for any trace of ill will or said darkness that wants to battle. I will fucking kill him on the spot if any reside. My sense of humor is drastically lacking at the moment. After a few soul-sucking moments, I come up empty-handed and withdrawal my power just as quickly as I rendered him helpless, which drops his lanky figure to the ground in an air-hungry heap as dry heaves violently threaten him .

“Next time you need something so grand, you come to me directly and state your case. Do you understand?” He feebly nods as he collects himself and stands up on shaky legs. Enough of this back door shit with Erik and Etienne. “He is speaking the truth. Inessa, please have your nieces’ cloud and collect via vial. No one will be placing their goddess-forsaken fangs in my kids!” My voice booms on its own, swollen with the power I didn’t realize that I was still channeling. Inessa nods and whips out her phone. My lack of patience is clearly inspiring for everyone.

“My lady, if I may be so bold, I also need yours as well.”

Standing there, I make him suffer in silence as I observe him closely with a dissecting eye. Finding no reason to deny him, I motion him forward. He fumbles within his coat pocket, searching for a vial. Slowly approaching, he holds it open and out from his body as far as he can. Physically, he can’t bring himself to come any closer. Dismissing my guilt over shaking the poor guy up so bad, I quickly slice my palm with a fang and fill his metal container. Pulling back, I lick the wound closed and send him off. No one else reacts to my blood, having become used to it, thank goddess, because that helps keep my mate from getting all-uppity, which is the last thing I need. Once the vial is neatly tucked away, Dominic slithers to the background, nodding to Solana on his way.