Enticed (38 page)

Everyone was fighting. It was déjà vu – just like that night at Hades – only this time, I wasn"t strong enough to do anything. I was instantly at the worst point of the injury. I had a few minutes at best. He had planned it perfectly.

Lincoln was fighting two, maybe three, of them. He was so focused, landing blow after blow as he positioned himself between the oncoming exiles and me. Protector to the end.

The exiles attacked him from all sides. Overcoming them seemed an impossible feat and yet he was magnificent, superior in speed and strength, it was as if he could anticipate their every move. I couldn"t help but be frightened for him when I saw a series of strikes to his face, but he didn"t slow. He would not fall.

He took out the exile to his right. When his dagger plunged into his heart – it was the stoic exile, who had spoken earlier – it cleared his view to me. Our eyes locked just long enough for me to see the terror register in his as he realised what was happening and for him to scream at me, „Hold on!" before he was fending off a frontal attack.

My entire body burned with pain. Organs fighting for survival but on the brink of letting go.

I saw random out-spills of power that meant exiles were being returned. I saw the flash of a large weapon flying through the air – it could only have been Azeem"s machete. Sounds of flesh hitting and slamming into flesh filled the room, screams of pain and vengeance equally shrill.

When I saw Gressil approach, and the look in his eyes, I found I could still tense.

He"l kill me easily, quickly.

But phoenix had other ideas. Just as Gressil came near enough to strike, Phoenix took a step closer to me and released an indisputable growl. I was his. Much to his chagrin Gressil backed away, just in time to collide with Azeem.

I looked up at Phoenix. I think he loved me once.

Is this all that comes to love? Is this because I couldn"t love him back?

He was concentrating intently on the battle. He was trying to look relaxed, as if everything was going to plan, but he was paying with the cuff of his shirt. He did that when he was worried. His eyes darted up and fixed on mine and in that instant I could see his regret and I realised the worry was for me.

„You don"t have to do this, you know," I whispered.

He looked around the room and then back at me. A hint of alarm breaking through his otherwise calm exterior. The battle was taking longer than he"d planned. Just then, the strangest thing happened. he gave me his emotion. For just the blink of an eye - a blink of mercy - I
felt
his need. My scream fil ed the room with a sound of pain I didn"t believe possible. I looked to him again, and somehow knew we shared this reality of terrible choice, vengeful motivation and of all things lose, most of all friendship and love.

The rest happened so quickly.

I saw Magda behind him, she was lunging away from the exile she had just returned, dagger in hand, determination plastered al over her face. Phoenix didn"t turn from me, but his eyes grew wide as if instinctively he knew.

The wounds within me started to close.

I gasped as I saw her leap into the air, dagger raised and pointed towards Phoenix"s heart. In a blur from the left, something collided with Magda"s dagger.

Lincoln.

He"d leapt in front of her, taking the impact in his shoulder. He fell hard to the ground.

No!

Screams sounded from the other side of the room. There was an explosion of rainbow mist, from more than one direction, then cracking sound reverberated followed by what could only be described as white light.

„Out!" Phoenix yelled. His remaining exiles disappeared with super speed and he followed, leaving a trail of lightly falling desert dust in his wake.

Lincoln was crawling to my side. „Violet, Violet."

He dropped beside me, Magda"s dagger stil embedded in his right shoulder. He pulled it out and dropped it, cringing with pain. His blood mingled with mine in the pool I was lying in.

I was already healing now that Phoenix had gone. In fact, I was almost certain I"d started healing before he"d even left. Lincoln heaved himself onto his elbow and leaned over me. I could tell he was hurting but also knew he would be okay. He reefed my top up to reveal the final stage of wound healing. A small sound, a cry of relief, fell from his mouth. When we took in the sight of each other, we both exhaled.

„Thank God," he said, putting a hand on me, which I grabbed tightly. I didn"t tell him that despite everyone"s hails I was pretty sure God wasn"t in this room with us.

I pushed myself up to sit and that was when the impact of what had just happened hit me.

Lincoln was beside me, Magda standing nearby - in shock or something. Zoe and Salvatore were kneeling over something - someone. In the other corner of the room, Griffin was barely restraining Nyla while Azeem knelt over …

Oh no!

He was kneeling over Rudyard and if I hadn"t known instantly from the painful wash of the senses that leeched wickedly into my body - the aftermath of exile vengeance - the deathly wail that came from Nyla that moment could leave no doubt.

A scream that held more life and death, for it also held her soul, as everything she was departed this world with the one she was bonded to forever.

When one soul mirrors another … what would it do if it had nothing to reflect?

Silence followed her cry. It was the last sound that would be heard from her. She crumpled to the ground, nothing but living flesh held together only by Griffin"s arms. My eyes, running with tears, found Lincoln"s and they shared the very same sorrow and deep grief.

I knelt and put my hands on Lincoln"s shoulder.

Focus on what you can do, Vi.

I healed his wounds, knowing my power well enough now that I no longer needed to harness it through a kiss. Lincoln recovered quickly and ran to kneel beside Azeem, while I scrambled on my hands and knees, weak from so much blood-loss, to where Zoe and Salvatore were kneeling over who I knew had to be Spence.

Blood almost covered my entire body. By the time I reached Spence, the desert dust coated my arms and legs, while my wrist throbbed badly where the gash, altogether no longer bleeding, was still fresh.

„Jesus," said Zoe as she made room for me. „How the hel are you stil alive?"

It was a damn fine question. I ignored it.

Spence was unconscious and bleeding from the head.

„What happened?" My hands shook as they hovered over him, afraid to touch and make things worse.

„Too many, too vicious," Salvatore said. „He was Gladiator, but Rudyard fell to the Gressil, and so Nyla fell. This made too many."

Zoe was shaking her head in disbelief and shock. „We couldn"t get to him. I saw him being thrown against the wall. They were crowding to finish him off. Azeem took one and the Phoenix called them off. Guess he had what he wanted."

Spence was barely breathing. Magda came over and crouched beside him, crouched beside him. She silently moved her hands through his hair, but Salvatore grabbed her arm.

She spun to look at him, but he held her stare and her arm. „I need to check the wound,"

Magda said.

Salvatore glanced at me. I didn"t know what he was asking.

„Let her look, Sal," Zoe said calmly. It was the first time I"d heard her call him Sal. He nodded and removed his arm.

Magda felt behind Spence"s head and then checked his pulse.

She looked up at me, and then beyond, Lincoln had joined us. „How is he?" he said to me.

I shrugged.

„He"s dying," Magda said quietly. „He has a punctured lung and the head wounds are severe. I"d guess he"s bleeding internal y. If we move him, it"s won"t work and … we can"t get anyone in here to him."

This was my fault. I"d let him come along, hidden him in my room, let him get dragged in to all my dramas. He wouldn"t have even been there in the first place if I hadn"t refused to go to the Academy.

Zoe was crying. Actually, she was snotting up a storm.

I inched closer to Spence, then instinctively put hand on either side of his face. There had to be some good in all this power. I had to be able to do more than just kill.

„Not you. Not today," I told us both.

I closed my eyes and ignored whoever it was who tried to pull me back. I was super strong. If I wanted to stay here, I would stay. I found my centre and focused on Spence. On my friend who had paid me out, gotten me drunk and had no ulterior motive. I dug into my power and then beyond and forced my will upon him.

„Live, Spence," I whispered. My left wrist tingled with power and my right on burned with pain but I kept going, pushing my influence into him. Commanding it.

Little by little, it seeped through my hands and into his wounds. The healing began.

It wasn"t like healing Lincoln, it wasn"t as simple, or pleasant. I pushed through my hands and into his wounds, the healing began.

It wasn"t like healing Lincoln, it wasn"t as simple, or pleasant. I pushed through my own faded strength and demanded more of myself. Spence groaned.

Someone said, „It"s working."

I pushed harder. It almost felt as if my hands were inside his head pushing it back together. Spence"s eyes shot open, bloodshot and looking like they were bursting under pressure. He screamed, and screamed … and screamed. I opened my eyes and held his stare.

„Hold on," I told us both. But the pain was immense and he grabbed for my hands, pul ing them, crushing them. I felt my fingers, maybe three or four, snap and break. Lincoln was on top of Spence in an instant, holding him down as he screamed, restraining his hands while I kept going with my healing

Eventually, the screaming stopped. He was wounded still, a gash on the side of his head, but it was closed. Internal y, he"d been righted. I began to sink down and Lincoln leapt off Spence in time to catch me. He held me from behind. His arms wrapped around me, his hands closing over mine, healing the breaks. I felt his mouth on the top of my head, buried in my hair. It hurt more than anything had ever hurt before.

It"s over. It"s all over.

„Thanks, Eden," said Spence, as Zoe helped him sit up against the wall. „I owe you one."

I gave a small smile, happy he was alive, but all too aware that on the other side of the room was a problem that I couldn"t fix.

„Lincoln," Magda said, coming up beside us as we stood. „Are you … okay?"

„What were you thinking, Magda?" he snapped. „Everyone knew Phoenix was off-limits - if you kil ed him, you would"ve kil ed Violet!"

„I … he was already kil ing her. She was almost dead, Linc. You were fighting, everything happened so fast. I knew you"d want me try to save her. I … I thought it was the only way. I thought if I took him down, they"d all leave and we could try and save her." Tears fell from her eyes.

Before Lincoln could respond, Azeem stood and a hollow silence fell over all of us.

Carrying Rudyard in his large hands, he walked back through the caves. Griffin followed, cradling Nyla, who was alive yet, at the same time, just as dead. I swallowed hard.

We all walked behind, Zoe and Salvatore helping Spence, who was still a little shaky.

„What happened to the Scriptures?" Spence asked, as if any of us real y cared just then.

„Jude took off with one early in the piece," Lincoln said. „That was the last I saw."

„Phoenix snatched the other one on his way out," Zoe said.

„Great. So it was all for nothing," I said, feeling sour as we followed the overs out like a bloody funeral procession. We left the box in the middle of the room. Somehow we either weren"t wil ing to take it - given the price that had been paid - or we figured it wasn"t meant for us. I just didn"t care.

„Not for Phoenix. He got what he came fore," Spence said.

„Not everything he came for," Lincoln said, looking at me.

„
Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the
hour of separation."

Khalil Gibran

I sat in one of the military vehicles, inside the plane
we had arrived on. Spence was beside me in the driver"s seat, Zoe and Salvatore were in the back. Zoe had cried herself to sleep.

This time when we had boarded the plane, the army guys were different. There were a number of them on-board but they left us alone, not interested in getting us to take our designated seats. Buckle up. We had casualties. I guess camaraderie comes from death.

Lincoln and Magda were pacing around the front of the plane. None of us were willing to go down the back end – where Rudyard"s body was closed up in a military transport coffin.

And going upstairs wasn"t an option.

Long stretches of silence made it worse. Even the noise of the engine didn"t cut through it. I think we were all hoping to hear her scream or something, but there was never a sound.

Griffin had been up there with her for hours, but Nyla was catatonic. Completely and utterly broken.

Lincoln couldn"t even look at me. Not that I knew for sure – I couldn"t look at him either.

It"s all such a foggy haze now. After getting down from the mountain, Azeem had called in reinforcements. Four of his Grigori had been badly injured but, surprisingly, all were still alive. A clean-up crew arrived and set about covering everything up so come morning the tourists wouldn"t know.

My eyes stung with tears again. I blinked them back and concentrated on chipping away at the already cracked plastic panelling with my bloodied and dirty fingernails. My fingers still hurt where Spence had crushed them. I pressed harder and focused on the relief of physical pain.

Spence was staring out the front windshield, deep in thought. Almost dying tends to humble a person.

We saw feet coming down the stairs and all sat up a little, the sounds of fabric shifting and the car creaking seemed amplified. Lincoln went over to meet Griffin. I noticed Magda didn"t join him. She was lost in thought. Perhaps it was grief – she"d known Nyla and Rudyard for as long as Griffin.

The windows were wound down so we could hear. When we saw Griffin"s face, we all slumped. He looked … how someone does when they know there is no hope. He glanced at us, sitting in the stupid truck. Useless.