Promises to Keep - By Amelia Atwater-Rhodes Page 0,37
He fought to craft a bubble of protective power around them, struggling as each new blow made his whole body ache.
Please, just make it stop.
Rage and flames. It took everything he had just to hold on to the shield he had built, and to Brina, as the magic punched and pulled at them, making the air thick and scalding. It became impossible to draw a breath. He shuddered as his vision blackened, and his skin seemed to char, and at last …
He was walking through the black woods again. The brambles were gone, replaced by ferns and graceful vines with deep purple flowers. Large felines of all colors—white, tan, russet, brown, and black, solid and spotted—stalked through the forest around him, their footfalls soundless on the rich brown soil.
A woman was standing before him. Her body was dark like a shadow in night itself, beyond even the ink-black skin of the Shantel witch, without the white markings.
“Mind-witch.” When she spoke, her voice was the rustling of the trees and the wind and the flowers. He needed no introduction to know he was standing before an avatar of the elemental that had once protected the Shantel.
“Are you the one attacking us now?” he asked.
“Attack you? Never. You freed my sakkri from her prison,” the elemental said. “And now you’ve called to me to ask for my protection. I am willing to grant it.”
“I called to you?”
“I felt your power. Do you wish me to protect you?”
“How would you protect me?” he asked.
“I will lend you my power. It will keep you safe when the fire withdraws.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Don’t you?” She looked up as if she heard something. “I am at battle, and I must return to it. Do you wish to live?”
“Of course I—”
“Then do you accept my aid? I can protect you, or I can end you now and spare your suffering.”
“What is going on?”
“Choose now, witch. Do you accept my aid?”
He drew an uncertain breath, then said, “I want to live. If your aid is the only way to do that, then yes, I accept.”
“Very well.”
CHAPTER 16
THE HEAT WITHDREW abruptly, leaving him shivering in Brina’s studio. The deep blackness of the moonless evening seemed infinitely colder than it had been before.
Beneath him, Brina gasped. Her body was nearly convulsing in its struggles to warm itself. Her breath came in ragged gasps, and her heart pounded.
Wait … that wasn’t right.
Vampires’ hearts didn’t beat. They didn’t need to breathe, much less gasp.
“Brina?” he whispered.
Her eyes opened wide, and they were a brilliant, clear blue, no longer the pure black of a vampire.
“What has happened?” she asked with a trembling voice. She rose to her feet, then promptly fainted in his arms.
Jay could feel her heart pounding so quickly that he was worried it was going to burst. Could it? He had no idea how much strain was suddenly on her body.
He barked orders to the other slaves on his way out of Brina’s studio, commanding them to take care of themselves until he returned. He didn’t dare take them to SingleEarth yet. He didn’t know how to save them, and didn’t want to endanger anyone else through yet another impulsive action.
Maybe Brina could help him help them, after she recovered. She had to know more about Midnight than anyone but a vampire could possibly know.
What is she now?
Why am I trying to save her?
Mine! the cat objected, when Jay carried Brina down the stairs. He prayed as he reached for the door, and was relieved when it opened without resistance, probably cued to Brina’s needs. The cat followed them both out into the snow, keeping up a litany of complaints about the snow, the cold, and why Brina and Jay were ignoring him. It was doubly offended when Jay wouldn’t let it into the car.
Jay settled Brina’s unconscious body into a calmer state before driving as quickly as he sanely could back to Haven #2.
She will wake up eventually. What are you going to do with her then?
What would have happened if he hadn’t interfered? Would Brina be dead now? How many others had this happened to? Brina hadn’t felt like the elemental’s primary focus. For all Jay knew, the trainers had just been wiped from the map.
Could ending Midnight be so simple?
Thoughts swirling, he pulled into the clinic’s parking lot at dawn and lifted Brina in his arms. Haven #2 was primarily a medical facility, so they didn’t have many vampires, but if Jay could get in touch with Xeke