Foresight, page 3
part #4 of Beginning's End Series
“You overestimate my resources.”
That was when the troll let out a roar.
Evander’s face paled several degrees, but he stood his ground. One hand reached out, not for Kiera, but for the immortal standing between them. “Step away from it, please.”
The troll’s eyes flew from one to the other, like a falcon jumping between mice.
While none of them said it directly, each was struck with the feeling that if ever that gaze was allowed to settle...that person would not survive.
“I need to get Kiera.”
Eden’s voice was soft as nightingales, and strangely calm.
Her heart leapt, then faltered at the same time—squeezing out each pulse like the guilt was crushing it alive. She should not have called him. She should not have called any of them. It was her choice to wander away from camp. These were the consequences.
The vampire seemed to agree. At any rate, he did not value them the same.
He moved forward ever so slightly, like he was considering taking the fae by force. But whether he was wary of setting off the beast, or merely certain of the fae’s inevitable reaction, he stayed where he was. Those fangs were glinting in the moonlight, pressing into his lip.
“What is the plan?” he asked softly, unable to hide the strain.
Eden was calm as ever, gazing up at the creature with the same eternal confidence as when he’d approached the frightened horse. “I’m going to change places, and throw her to you.”
The creature bellowed again, eyes flashing between them.
“Change places?” Kiera echoed faintly, unable to even imagine such a thing, much less endorse it. “Eden, you can’t—”
“No, that is a bad plan.”
But as it turned out, the fae wasn’t offering up his idea for discussion, so much as he was simply announcing it. He took a step forward, eyes on the troll, when Jesse burst through the trees.
Unlike the others, there was no delay in translation and no time lost to shock. The second he saw the beast, his mouth fell open and he reared back with a loud, “What the hell?!”
That was when several things happened.
The ground quaked below them. A flock of birds exploded from the trees. And a giant hand reached straight for Kiera, flying out of the darkness with an ungodly burst of speed.
But someone else reached her first.
“Take a breath.”
There was a chance the fae was unaware of the image behind him. The monster’s gaping jaw, the moonlight reflecting off its teeth. There was a chance he couldn’t sense the hand flying towards him, already blowing the strands of his hair. There was a chance, though it certainly wasn’t likely.
But it never showed on his face.
He caught her gaze for a suspended moment, radiating such irresistible calm, she found herself forgetting what was happening and thinking it might actually be okay. The night faded to a blur around them, the noise quieted to a hum, and his eyes twinkled with the very hint of a smile.
She took a breath.
He grabbed her a second later, catching her lightly around the waist and throwing her without hesitation towards Evander. The vampire caught her without looking, almost as an afterthought. His eyes were trained on Eden, wide and fixed with a look of silent dread.
She turned around just as the troll grabbed hold of him—those giant fingers closing into a fist where she’d been standing just moments before. There was a sudden exhale of breath, as all that weight clamped around his ribcage, then the fae vanished from sight.
He reappeared fifty feet in the air.
“EDEN!”
She and Jesse shouted at the same time, their voices blending together. There was suddenly a lot of shouting, but death didn’t come for the fae just yet. Instead of lifting Eden immediately to its mouth, the creature took a moment to savor its prize—whipping him back and forth as though he weighed no more than a doll. If he’d been mortal, his neck would have already snapped.
As things stood...he was getting close.
“A little help!” he gasped.
Kiera clapped a hand over her mouth, staring in horror. “What can we do?!”
Evander picked up the fae’s bow and fired two arrows, handling it with almost as much skill as the archer possessed himself. One of them glanced off the troll’s brow, while the other grazed its eye. There was a mighty howl, and the creature’s hand tightened around the fae’s ribs.
“Not that!” Eden cried, struggling against those crushing fingers. There was little point. They had wrapped around him from knees to chest. “Anything but that!”
The friends shared a stricken glance, watching from what felt like miles away.
Jesse was already taking off his cloak, probably remembering a similar situation wherein he was the one held aloft by some monstrous creature and Eden sprinted up its leg. But even if he were to make the transformation, the others didn’t see what good it would do. The odds of a single wolf making a difference against a cave troll were little better than if he happened to stay a man.
“Just think a moment,” Kiera stammered, grabbing his sleeve to halt the process, “you can’t tear him loose—we must get the creature to release him.”
But they were out of time. And the troll was out of patience.
Without a hint of warning, it swung Eden towards its mouth—already looking towards the others, debating who would come next. It was the only bit of luck the fae received, because it didn’t see when he ripped the silver clasp from his cloak and jammed it into the creature’s gums.
It let out another earsplitting yowl as it jerked back in pain—swinging its arms in violent windmills and scraping the fae on the trees. There was a muffled cry, followed by a softer whimper.
A shower of blood hit the ground by their feet.
...seven hells.
Evander took a step forward, those immortal eyes blazing with rage.
He took an instant to consider his options, then he grabbed the sword from Jesse’s belt and paced forward, burying it deep inside the beast’s leg. It vanished to the hilt, but instead of ripping it out, he pushed it in still deeper—skewering through bone until it came through the other side.
The creature let out a hair-raising roar of fury. Its leg hobbled, bending slightly at the knee.
That was when he started climbing.
It was one of those moments that would remain lodged in Keira’s brain forever, a visual that was impossible to truly forget. There was no pause between one movement and another, no time for panic let alone fear. Hands passed over hand, swinging lightly away from the forest floor, before the path was even and Evander merely paced forward, walking straight vertical up the side of the troll.
The vampire’s logic was simple: if he couldn’t get Eden down, he’d join him instead.
But there was nothing simple about what happened next.
“Seven hells...” Kiera breathed, taking a faltering step back.
She’d said it aloud this time, though there had scarcely been a moment that she and Jesse hadn’t been thinking it. They were spectators now to games beyond what either could imagine, silent observers that could look but not touch, as the eternals above them passed into something more.
It didn’t take long for Evander to scale the length of the troll, and the fae glanced up sharply the second he arrived. There was a moment when he stared in disbelieving silence, blinking slowly as strands of blood-matted hair fell into his eyes. Then his face tightened in misplaced concern.
“Evander?” he asked only to reaffirm it to himself, still unable to reconcile the sight of the vampire standing upon the monster’s palm. “What are you—”
He choked into silence, coughing up a mouthful of blood.
The vampire was beside him in a moment, steadying the fae as best he could while discreetly testing the strength of those entrapping fingers at the same time. Whatever determination he made clearly wasn’t to his liking. But he’d committed himself already; he was there to stay.
“It’s a fine mess you’ve gotten yourself into,” he murmured, kicking savagely at the troll’s teeth as they were lifted again to its mouth. “Is this one of your habits? I’d like to be prepared.”
The fae’s eyes flashed with a trace of humor, followed by a thunderclap of pain. “Just go—”
“Right,” Evander interrupted with a wry smile, dislodging a tooth and hurling it vengefully into the creature’s eye. “I’m going to leave you up here alone. I think you know better than that.”
Their eyes met for a brief moment. Then Eden looked away.
“What is your plan?” he asked softly.
The vampire took a moment to assess, then lifted slowly to his feet. His dark eyes caught those first searing rays of sunlight, as the endless night finally gave way to a new dawn.
“I’m going to take off that finger...and ram it down the beast’s throat.”
Somehow, even so far beneath the action, the words seemed to carry. Jesse and Kiera shared a stricken glance before jumping up and down, waving their arms and shouting at the same time.
The fae seemed to share the sentiment.
“No, that’s...that’s a bad plan,” he stammered, echoing the vampire’s earlier words.
“Oh no, are you worried?” Evander quipped, tilting his head to consider the angles as he prepared for the assault. “Does it freeze your chest with panic? Are you unable to pull in a breath? It might be good for you to worry about someone else for a change. It will at least be fair.”
The fae stared in silence as he pushed to his feet—wedging the edge of his boot beneath the troll’s yellowed claw. There was a faint splintering as he leveraged his strength against it. The second it was high enough, he took it in his arms, forcefully prying it away from the fae’s body.
At that point, Kiera suddenly realized what was going to happen next.
“He’s going to drop him,” she gasped, reaching for Jesse. “Eden’s about to fall.”
No sooner had she said the words, than the troll’s finger snapped backward, releasing the fae in the same instant. He plummeted in a free-fall towards the ground as the vampire spiraled in a tight circle, keeping a taut grip on his intended weapon and wrenching bone from bone.
Jesse caught hold of Eden just as the troll let out a high-pitched wail above them, throwing back its head and raging like a wounded bull. The vampire charged in the same moment, wielding the severed finger like a javelin and driving it straight into the creature’s mouth.
“EVANDER!”
Eden’s voice rang loud in the sudden quiet—echoing from tree to tree, as the vampire momentarily disappeared from sight. The troll made a sudden gagging motion, grabbing at its neck before its eyes abruptly widened and it let out an almost comical hiccup.
It crashed to the ground a second later, blood seeping into the earth.
The impact was so strong and the sound was so loud, that for a fleeting moment, the friends were able to register nothing further. The fae had fought his way from the shifter’s arms, but the second his feet made contact with the ground, he toppled right back down, coughing in the dust.
It took a few seconds to settle. Then his eyes lifted to a pair of boots.
“Do you have any other fun ideas?” Evander asked crossly. “Or can we return to bed?”
Chapter 3
For the rest of the day, the fae wasn’t precisely mobile.
With the utmost caution, the others checked to make sure the troll was no longer breathing, then made their way back to camp, only to find that the tent had collapsed when the ground started shaking. Jesse rebuilt it quickly and helped Eden inside—patiently ignoring the half-hearted protests as he removed the fae’s shirt and wrapped a bandage carefully around his ribs. Most of them had been crushed in the monster’s vice-like grip. Even an immortal would need a day to recover.
...they hoped.
“How is he?” Kiera asked quietly, the second the shifter stepped outside. It was hard to tell from the slew of profanities and threats that had echoed from inside. “I mean, he’s clearly awake.”
Jesse rubbed his eyes, flicking a piece of bloodied gauze from his cloak. “He’s most definitely awake,” he agreed wearily, “but apart from that, I could not tell you for certain. This isn’t the first time he’s been broken in a way that would kill a regular man. I never know where that line is for his people. I never know what’s best for me to do.”
Visit the seven hells, according to the fae. But it was a point well made. When dealing with immortal problems, it was often best to seek immortal advice.
“Should we go to the river again?” she asked softly. “Take him to see the naiads?”
Jesse gazed thoughtfully through the forest, as if he could see the sparkling water just beyond. “Yes, perhaps. Though we mustn’t abuse such generosity. They might form a union.”
The conversation stopped as the vampire walked back into camp.
Or we could ask someone who’s seen this kind of injury before.
“Hello, Evander.” Kiera greeted him sweetly, watching as he flung the wood he’d collected towards the fire with such unearthly force as to dent the surrounding rocks. “Have a nice walk?”
The vampire had not responded well to the incident with the troll.
It had started with the fae.
“Are you all right?” he’d asked quietly.
His voice was steady, but his eyes were wild with concern. When Eden had nodded weakly, then doubled over in pain, he’d knelt swiftly to the ground—uncoiling his body with gentle hands.
“It’s all right,” he soothed, brushing the fae’s hair from his eyes, “the worst is over.”
He propped him up delicately, unlacing the top of his shirt with a single hand. A pattern of violent bruises were already clouding up the base of his stomach, as though he’d spilled a jar of ink.
“There isn’t much torn skin,” he murmured, peeling back the tunic. “I doubt you’ll need stitches. But some of these fractures might need to be set—”
He froze in surprise, as Eden pushed away his hand.
“It’s all right,” he panted, easing himself free. “Those are things I can do myself.”
It was casually done, yet the rejection was unmistakable. The only question was whether his problem was with the vampire touching his bare skin, or the copious amounts of blood. The others froze across the trampled clearing while Evander jerked back his arm like he’d been given a burn.
“We have asked so much of you already, there is no need to add to the burden,” Eden added quickly, though he kept his eyes safe on the ground. “Thank you, Evander. I am in your debt.”
The trouble had continued with the troll.
“It’s definitely dead,” Jesse said as confirmation, though after witnessing its final moments, no one had doubted the alternative. He nudged it with his shoe, then paused suddenly, looking the body up and down. A second later, his eyes lifted to the vampire. “Do you want to...maybe...?”
Evander glanced across the clearing, rigid as a stone. “What?”
The shifter blushed furiously, already regretting bringing it up. “There’s a lot of blood. Might last you for a while.”
Without knowing the exact reason, Kiera was suddenly certain this was a rather terrible thing to say. The vampire’s jaw tightened, and for a split second, that newfound patience waned.
“I would not drink such a thing, any more than you would eat it.” He glanced down at the fae before pacing abruptly in the opposite direction. “We are not the savages you might think.”
At that point, Jesse had wisely extracted Eden from the clearing.
It wasn’t until they were limping away that Kiera saw the grooves in the earth and realized how fast the vampire must have changed directions to reach him. It wasn’t until she saw the cracks in the stone that she realized it almost wasn’t fast enough. He almost hadn’t gotten there in time.
“We almost lost him.”
She said it quietly, almost to herself. But Evander froze dead still beside her. His lovely face tightened with a look that was impossible to describe before settling on something rather cold.
“It’s only a matter of time,” he replied shortly. “We should prepare for that now.”
From the looks of things, that sentiment had not improved.
“Would you like to see him?” she asked softly, gesturing with a tilt of her head.
Instead of standing guard at the entrance of the tent like she might have expected, Evander had kept a marked distance from the fae, as if he could no longer stand the sight. When she had casually inquired as to the reason, the vampire replied that he was giving the fae time to grow a brain.
“I think he’d like to see you,” she coaxed gently. “I think he’d like to say thanks.”
Evander spared her the barest of glances before turning away. “He said it already. There is no need to say it again.”
She stared a moment longer, then let out a quiet sigh. The immortals matched each other in every other regard. It should have come as no surprise that they also matched each other in pride.
“Alright, well—”
“I am going hunting,” he interrupted tersely. “I will be back before dawn.”
He was gone before the others had time to register the statement, before they could even see in which direction he’d gone. Jesse glanced around the empty trees, as if there might still be a chance to catch him, before letting out a tired sigh of his own.
“I guess I’ll be keeping watch then,” he muttered, settling by the fire. “All night...”
Kiera stood a moment longer, then slipped inside the tent.
Eden was propped up exactly where Jesse had left him, angled like a broken king atop all their earthly belongings in the vague hope that the bones in his chest would someone manage to set.
He glanced up immediately as she entered. Beautiful as ever, but white as a ghost. “Where is the vampire?”
She paused in the entryway, wondering if he realized how many times he’d asked that precise question since Evander had burst into their lives.
