Entwined, page 25
Nathen jumped into the fray and grabbed hold of the scythe appendage, now about to land on August’s back. He wrenched it down and braced a foot against the joint, cracking it in two and pulling it free. The figure howled in pain.
A loud crack above him alerted Nathen to a darkened, bulging ceiling. Out of pure instinct, he tackled August around the waist and hoisted him, before diving out the window with lightning-fast speed as the inferno came crashing down to engulf the room behind them.
“Paige!” August protested.
Nathen embraced him. “I’m so sorry” was all he could manage, acutely aware of August’s anguish.
August collapsed in Nathen’s embrace, shuddering as he cried, though no tears fell. “She’s gone,” he whispered to Nathen, shaking his head in disbelief. “I…felt it.”
After a time, Nathen tugged him toward the SUV. August stumbled after him, his attention still on the house as flames swallowed it and the roof collapsed sending sparks into the sky. In the distance he could hear sirens.
“We need to go,” he managed to say, urging August toward the SUV’s driver’s seat.
“What happened?” Syn asked, having secured people in the SUV. “We’re missing Paige…”
Nathen shook his head and braced himself for another outpouring of emotion, surprised when Syn gave a curt nod. “Come on. I’ve got Maria’s keys.”
Nathen noticed that everyone else filled the SUV: Serge and Maria unconscious in the back seat with Cameron still in shock and holding his mother. Julia sat in the passenger seat and Alfonso was in the very back, leaning over and whispering to Serge.
Nathen remained quiet on the ride back as he and Syn followed in Maria’s car behind the SUV. He focused on the link between August and Cameron. Their grief and shock were his own, but he realized he could remove himself from it, or delve into it as much as he wanted. It was an interesting feeling to be able to understand his men’s emotions. To understand exactly what they were going through. That area had always been a mystery to him. He struggled to understand what people were thinking or feeling or how to react to it. His brother Jake had told him that he was a jerk sometimes when they were kids when he hadn’t responded when Jake or their mom were upset about something. But he never understood. He focused on a memory where Jake had started yelling at him when he hadn’t called to tell their mom he was playing video games with his neighbor friend. He hadn’t answered his phone when his mother had called and his mother was prone to thinking the worst. But from Nathen’s perspective, where else would he have been? He always played with his friend, so it wasn’t logical to get upset and think that he was dead just because he didn’t answer his phone. And he couldn’t understand why his brother had been so angry about his mother being upset. None of that made sense. But now he could understand it all. He could feel August’s anguish. Paige had been like his mother, and August had had some kind of magical link to her—now severed as if it were a limb, an almost physical pain.
Cameron had shown Nathen the night when he thought his mother had died the first time. It had been an image that had come unbidden to Cameron’s mind many times and had plagued him for almost a decade. And he had just seen it happen again. Cameron’s thoughts were dulled, as if he were sitting in a white plane of fog and would have to slog through to make meaning of things said to him.
Nathen didn’t like to be in the position of caretaker. He had always had someone take care of him. But he knew that he had to care for his men. And for everyone else in the vehicle in front of them. And Syn too. Using his phone, he booked more rooms at the hotel that HR had set up for them. Once they got there, Nathen gave Syn a key card for her room and then used his vampiric speed to get Serge to his and Alfonso’s room. He returned and together he and August got Maria and Cameron up to the presidential suite where Julia joined them a few minutes later. They arranged Maria on one of the double beds and Nathen watched as Cameron curled up next to his mother. He imagined what Cameron must have looked like as a child and a pang of sadness tugged at his chest.
Julia fell onto the second bed and Nathen and August quietly left for the other bedroom.
Once they were in the main bedroom, August stepped to the window, his head bowed onto it as he stared out at the night. “I can’t believe she’s gone,” he whispered.
Nathen stood next to him, looking out the window. “I am sorry for your loss. I can feel you through the connection.” He wrapped his arms around him. “Cameron is hurting too. I am not sure why his mother won’t wake up. I thought maybe my blood would help her.”
August leaned back into Nathen’s embrace. He didn’t speak for a long time, and when he did, he said, “Paige was my creator, my captor, my lover, my mentor, and my friend. Our relationship had run its course, and I should have moved on decades ago. We get comfortable with contentment, and it is sometimes very hard to strike out and find a new way. It’s easy to get stuck in self-blame, but the fact is that we all are responsible for our own choices, even if it’s just choosing how we are going to think about something. I will miss her wisdom and guidance, and there’s a lot that I will not miss.”
He turned in Nathen’s embrace so he could run his hands up Nathen’s sides. His long chestnut curls fell to the side as he tilted his head. “I feel Cameron’s shock, his fears. But he seems to be a man who has been ruled by fear. That is a mortal’s peril. I don’t know what’s going on with his mother. Perhaps a night’s sleep will help. I need to step out though. I need to let the rest of the coven know if they haven’t already felt it. We need to make arrangements for the library and artifacts. Perhaps there’s something in there that will help Maria. You should stay here and watch over them.”
Nathen bobbed his head and slowly released August. “Yes, I think that’s a good idea. I’ll watch over Cameron.”
Nathen returned to lie next to Cameron and rub his back wordlessly through their link, sending waves of adoration. Cameron didn’t respond, though Nathen felt silent assent.
Chapter Thirty-Four
CAMERON
He could feel her mind free-floating—dreaming. He tried his best to soothe her, to introject positive dreams and a sense of safety, slamming the wall down between them when despair threatened. Cameron tried everything he could think of to rouse her, but her consciousness floated too far away, even though right in front of him physically.
In this gray area of miserable defeat, Cameron turned over and buried his head in Nathen’s chest. “I can’t lose her again.” He hiccuped, the weight of his meaning telling Nathen so much more. Tears spread out across Nathen’s shirt as Cameron fisted the material, his body wracked with silent sobs.
Nathen sighed, tightening his hold on Cameron. “You won’t lose her. Maybe HR knows why she won’t wake up. Maybe it’s some kind of poison or venom?”
“Venom?” he asked. “But, were those things fae? I thought we wouldn’t be able to hurt them.”
“I don’t think they were all pure fae. One of them I was about to attack, but even in my blood lust simply couldn’t. He looked at me, as if to attack back, but then he ran off into the house. All of the others, though, I fought without an issue.” A thrill at the memory of the battle trickled through their link, summoning a momentary feral grin.
Cameron blinked, shaking his head and shunting Nathen’s obvious shift into a box in his mind to think on later. Focusing, he said, “You’re right! Now that I think about it, most had animalistic minds. They were foreign, but…not like the monsters in Sanctuary.”
Feelings of helplessness encompassed Cameron, dragging him into an abyss. His head throbbed, so he let the link that allowed them to silently communicate dissolve.
*
HE WASN’T SURE how long he had been asleep, but the first thing Cameron did on waking was to mentally check on his mother. No change. He sent a wave of gratitude to Nathen who had held him through the night. Exhaustion still weighed on him, but he reluctantly let Nathen tug him out of the room to let his mother and Julia continue resting. “We’re supposed to meet HR in an hour or so. Maybe we should get showered? Changed?”
Cameron numbly nodded, not even caring that he was still covered in dried gore. Catching hold of Nathen’s hand, he trudged behind him. In the common room, August had a steamer chest set in one corner and lounged on the couch, reading a book. The blackout curtains protected them from the sun that illuminated the edges.
“Take a hot shower, babe. I’ll check in with August and the rest.”
He closed the door behind him before peeling out of what he realized were ruined and stained clothing. He held the blood-covered material uncomprehendingly, trying to figure out when he had been injured, but he hadn’t. His mother hadn’t been bleeding… Cameron shook his head. Events of the night blurred through his mind. He stepped into the shower and sank down so that he sat with his legs drawn up against his chest: a pose he had taken many times in college, for months following the first time he thought his mother had died. Syn had been the only person who had kept him from acting on any one of the numerous suicide plans he had crafted. Well, Syn and then his first boyfriend. But after he had broken up, Syn had put him back together. Cameron admitted to himself that he wasn’t strong enough to do it again. He couldn’t let his mother die. Again. This time he wouldn’t be strong enough—with or without Syn.
Chapter Thirty-Five
NATHEN
Nathen returned to the larger room where Syn and August were sitting. “Cameron is taking a shower. He seems to be less in shock, though I worry for his mental well-being. We need to figure out why Maria and Serge won’t wake up. I think it might be the poison.”
Syn perked up.
August said, “We might be able to expunge the poison magically.”
Nathen thought for a few seconds. “Yeah, that might work, though we’re planning to talk to HR about it. Maybe the company has dealt with this before.”
“Wait a minute. You’re saying that they can control it. So, like turning Serge and Maria into zombies or some shit?” Syn asked, having moved to the edge of her seat.
August imparted, “Not quite. I spent the night going through some of the older tomes. We have blood-cleaning rituals that I can do for both of them. Do you think I should wait and talk to this HR fella of yours? Or is this something that you and Cameron should do on your own?”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to get more people involved with Impetus. I think Cameron and I will go to the meeting and see what they know about what’s going on with the political game the fae are playing.”
August nodded, though seemed disappointed.
Nathen added, “If you really want to come you can. Though I suspect your name will be added to a watch list, like Syn’s was. Let’s wait for Cameron to get out of the shower. He may have more input.”
Nathen paused to think. “For Maria and Serge, maybe we can try this cleansing ritual you have, and if that doesn’t work, we can pull a favor from HR. Though I suspect Cameron will feel the same way. He isn’t too fond of the company or HR.”
Syn chimed in, “Yeah for good reason. They’re very shady. If someone kidnapped me, killed me, turned me into an undead, and then gave me a job, I would be highly pissed.”
August chuckled, though didn’t say anything.
Nathen had a half smile. “Well, I mean my life will never be boring again. And unlike most people now searching for meaning and purpose, I had one handed to me. You could see it as divine intervention.”
Syn snorted. “Yeah, if you’re a masochist, maybe.”
Nathen retorted, “Not like I was doing anything with my life. Hacking and playing online games in my parents’ basement.”
She rolled her eyes and shook her head, smiling a bit.
Nathen enjoyed his level of comfort with Syn and August. He wasn’t sure if he was coming out of his shell because of being a vampire, or if the two of them now were family. As he reflected, he realized that he also felt…different. He had been warned about drinking exclusively from Cameron and had tried to incorporate as much regular human blood as he could. But now, he reveled in August, Cameron, and the blood of whatever he had slaughtered the night before. Power surged through him, and Nathen soaked up his new confidence.
While they waited, August pulled items from the steamer chest: an e-reader, mortar and pestle, and a few bags of pungent-smelling herbs. He described the ritual as he mixed various ingredients. “Before we went our separate ways, we gave each other some of our blood so we could perform rituals. Generally speaking, it takes three to make things work. So, if I could have a little of your blood, that’ll help.”
“Of course,” Nathen said, slicking a fang through his finger and watching intently as his blood dripped into the mixture.
Cameron emerged freshly washed, though unshaven, radiating emotional numbness.
“August is going to try a blood cleansing ritual on Maria and Serge,” Nathen explained.
Cameron dropped into a chair and grunted acknowledgment.
“We’ll know if it’s working in a few minutes,” August informed them. “Let’s go ahead and bring them both to the same room.”
Together, they moved a newly sponge-bathed Serge and Maria into the larger bedroom, laying them out into beds that had been stripped of the soiled bedding from the night before. Syn sat next to Maria, Alfonso next to Serge, on their respective beds. Cameron stood, not wanting to get too close.
August erected a small makeshift altar atop his steamer chest between the two beds and started the ritual. The brass bowl was set in the middle, flanked by a black candle and a golden candle, both of which he lit. As he spoke, a palatable shift occurred: the air became thick as though they were covered in an invisible fog. With each word spoken, the heaviness condensed, until it gave off a mild white glow. The cool misty fog coalesced and as though a great siphon had been created, was sucked, or pushed, into Maria and Serge. Silence hung around them, marked by a collective anticipatory holding of breath.
In unison, both Maria and Serge were lifted, their mouths opened in silent screams. Dark ichor trickled out of their mouths, down their cheeks, and dripped, disappearing before it hit the beds below them as malodorous black clouds of thick smoke billowed out of them, filling the room and coalescing near the ceiling. As the last of the fumes exited their mouths, they collapsed back onto the beds. Acrid smoke lingered for a few fleeting seconds before fading.
Cameron sprang toward his mother. “I can feel her near again,” he said joyfully as he gently shook her shoulder.
She stirred but didn’t wake. Cameron nodded and stepped back, sighing with relief. “She’s exhausted.”
“It seems like it worked,” August said. “My first time doing a ritual on my own, but it’s simple enough to clean the blood of foreign toxins. Best to let them rest and allow the natural healing to take over.”
He began removing the items used in the ritual, and Cameron captured him up in a huge hug. “Thank you.” He exhaled with emotion.
“She’ll be okay,” Syn said, reaching across to snag Cameron’s hand when he returned to Maria’s side.
“I know. We have to go finish this so she can stay safe. I think what might be best is for you to take her back to California. Julia can go with you. Nathen, August, and I have to go to New York.”
“And what? Come on, Cam. This isn’t your fight.”
“If we don’t end this, Mom’s just going to come back after them, and then we will have the fae after us too. They have all but said we need to help the land fae. Bring harmony back,” Cameron groused.
The chime of a doorbell had Cameron immediately on his feet.
“HR,” he explained, feeling the mind he’d only ever been able to scrape superficial knowledge from.
Nathen stole out into the living room and looked through the peephole, acknowledging with a nod.
A whoosh of air and sudden flurry of items in the room alerted Cameron to August’s cleaning before the door to the adjoining bedroom shut.
He shrugged to Nathen who opened the door.
“Sacred scions,” the wholly average balding man in the three-piece navy suit said as he stepped into the room.
Cameron exchanged a look with Nathen.
HR carried his briefcase to the dining table and set it down. “Will this be a meeting with just the two of you, or will Mr. Mac Craith be joining us?”
Cameron swallowed hard. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know,” Nathen responded.
“Can you tell us what you mean?” Cameron asked.
HR gave them an even look, then settled into the chair. “It would seem that the four of us have much to discuss. Will you continue the facade of hiding Mr. Mac Craith away? I do know he can hear me, and if you prefer to be the translator, Mr. Molina, that, of course, is your prerogative.”
“August,” Cameron said quietly, and August stepped out of the bedroom with a gentle click of the door behind him.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. Please,” HR gestured to the open chairs.
Nathen took a seat across from HR, next to Cameron. He planned to remain silent but noticed that Cameron was also at a loss for words. They had too many questions to ask and didn’t know where to start. August settled in as well.
With a slight smile on his face, HR waited for them to settle down. Nathen secretly appreciated never being rushed by HR, who acted as if he had all the time in the world.
The three of them silently surveyed the man, waiting for him to continue. HR took the cue to speak. “I have been permitted to answer any three questions you may have. If I were you, I would think long before asking anything, and to weigh their importance. You may talk amongst yourselves, in your way of communicating, I can wait.”
