Son of Blood and Bone Ch. 02

Tina seemed to shake herself back to the present and looked at me. "Will you stay with me until my daddy gets here?"

"I- I can't stay that long," I was getting nervous; a few curious souls had drifted closer to examine me. She hefted a tiny sigh of disappointment imbued with such loneliness that my chest ached in answer. I knew that loneliness too well.

"I suppose I can stay a moment longer..."

"Cool," she beamed, her smile making my soul quiver in a peculiar enchantment that she would retain so much life after death, "And could you tell my daddy something for me?"

******

I returned from Wait quaking so violently from the cold that I fell from the bed and banged against the nightstand. Max caught me in his arms before I managed to touch the ground and were I in a state to appreciate the strength in them I would have flushed with heat. He looked at me with concern in his eyes before lifting the tips of his fingers to his mouth and whispering. With my enhanced sight I could see the white glow of magic in his fingertips as he touched them to the star-burst rune in the middle of my forehead. I sighed contently as I felt a familiar heat spread from that spot and my shaking calmed. I willed myself to cut my connection to the Wait, allowing my runes to stop their frantic swirling across my skin and my eyes to adjust to the living plane.

"Easy now, Mars," he said murmured. There was a flash of something in his eyes before that cold indifference settled back in and he pulled me to my feet as the alpha and Cassiel re-entered the room. "What did you learn? Did you find her," Wenton asked with desperation in his voice.

I hesitated.

"She loves you. V...very much," my voice cracked and I turned my back to leave the room as the alpha werewolf of New Parais, crushed under the weight of his grief, through back his head and howled in pain. Cassiel led the way back to the car as I walked behind a bit slower on unsteady legs. I felt Max come up close behind me, his sweet, warm breathe wafting against my skin as he whispered low enough for only me to hear, "Do you think that I did not see what you did back there?"

I kept my mouth tightly shut and stared straight ahead.

"I was contemplating letting you live because you are good at your job and I understood that being an abhorred was not your choosing, but I'm going to kill you for being a filthy, goddamned bone stealing thief," he hissed vehemently.

I sped up walking, shaking with shame and tightly clutching Tina's small, sharp tooth in my hand.

******

Instead of taking us back to the precinct, Cassiel drove us to Baylon's Haunt, a small bar near my home in Ville Aeren that was popular among supernaturals. It was dark by the time we walked in and grabbed seats at the bar. The bartender, Harp, was the last of the Atmoperia fairy, beings that had the ability to manipulate the weather, and the owner of Baylon's. He passed us beers silently and I glanced around nervously as conversation around us ceased and we were subjected to heavy stares ranging from awe for Max to fear and disgust for me. Harp's eyes narrowed and the other patrons went back to their conversations; his immense power and quick temper kept them from acting on their fears.

"Wenton informed me that four members of his pack went missin' last night," Cassiel said after taking a long gulp of his beer. Phari were not known to get drunk easily and I knew enough about Cassiel to guess this would not be his only drink tonight. "Three subs and his beta gone without a trace and we're no closer to catchin' the bastard who took 'em. Where do we even start lookin'? Wherever he leaves the bodies," he finished with a grimace. Before we could respond he tilted back the rest of his drink before standing and walking to the other side of the bar to a table with several other Phari.

"With that much wolf blood he'll be able to enslave hundreds of souls. What say you, abhorred, about your brother Xesil," Max quipped in a slightly taunting tone.

Uncertainty held my tongue for a brief moment. "I...met him once, many years ago before the war. I did not like him then either," I answered honestly as pale violet eyes rose up in my memory. The Magician shot me a surprised look, apparently not expecting my answer.

"The war lasted for twenty years and has been over for another ten, just how fucking old are you?"

"Two hundred and eighty two," I mumbled into my drink. They'd been quiet years, if not a bit lonely. Necromancers, being creatures that preferred the company of the dead over the living, were less than social. In all my time before the war I'd made the acquaintance of only two others.

"Well...you look much younger," the Magician said after some time and I felt his assessing eyes rake my body like a physical touch. I was suddenly very aware of my shirt, soaked with the melted frost from Wait, clinging to my body. My hair was plastered in wet tendrils against the nape of my neck and my cock suddenly was painfully hard in my damp pants.

Embarrassed beyond belief I jumped from my seat and made a beeline for the restroom. I studied myself briefly in the mirror noting that my runes had changed colors again before grabbing a handful of paper towels and attempting to blot my hair dry. After giving the same treatment to my pants and wringing out my shirt I left the restroom only to stop suddenly by a devastating sight.

A tall, curvy female with long dark hair and amber colored eyes leaned against Max. She whispered something in his ear and leaned back to give him a bold smile. His beautiful lips curled in a wolfish smile and he responded in such a way that her cheeks blushed rose-red.

It was disgusting, all that life in her. I'd never been attracted to females but I found her directness especially unbecoming. But I felt my heart ache as I watched Max.

If only he would look and smile at me that way. If only he could see that I'm not a monster.

I shook the ridiculous thought from my head and left Baylon's. As I walked down the dark street towards my home I berated myself that I would think the little kindness he had shown me these last few days meant that one day he would return my affections. I was a fool to love someone who'd based his very existence on ending mine. I stared pessimistically down the dark street, accented by the by the dull glow of shop and porch lights.

A long, low growl sounded from behind me and stopped me in my tracks. I turned slowly. Three wolves stood on their hind legs with their muzzles pulled back in terrifying snarls to reveal jagged yellow teeth. Dirty patches of fur clung to their rotting skin and empty, black eyes stared at me with sheer aggression.

Fear shot through me and my instincts kicked in making my runes cool to an icy temperature before they slithered with nervous energy. With my altered sight I saw sickly gray auras around the wolves and a luminous, lavender hand print on each head.

These wolves were Wenton's missing pack members and Xesil was controlling them.

They continued to growl and snarl at me, lunging forward only to be stopped short as if blocked by some invisible barrier. Though fear raced through my being I stood stark still, I only had to get one finger on each of them to unbind the souls and send them back to Wait. But even in their deceased and rotting states I knew that they'd rip me apart before I got the chance.

Ultimately, the barrier disappeared and the wolves tore down the road toward me all strength, anger, and blind hatred. I felt calmness settle over me that I'd never experienced before and with sudden clarity I realized, knew down to the core of my being, that I would not die tonight. My runes flared and danced across my skin in excitement and time seemed to slow down. The ground shook at the large wolves charged closer, snapping loudly, and then I made my move.

With only several feet between us I stepped forward and through the bodies of the wolves. For a short moment in time we shared a single form, me and those poor trapped souls. I stretched my arms and grabbed a hold of the souls and pulled us all into Wait. I thrust them there into the frigid, unrelenting mist, and caught a brief glimpse of three pairs of confused amber colored eyes before I stepped back into the living world.

Two steps were all it had taken. I dimly heard the dull thuds of heavy bodies smacking against the asphalt behind me as an incandescent aura held me captivated. I focused on Max standing several feet down the road, staring at me levelly as he stood casually with his hands in his pockets. His attention shifted to over my shoulder as a roar sounded from that direction. I turned in time to see a massive wolf swipe a large paw tipped with long claws at my torso, tearing through my skin with ease.

"Fulmen validissimum est in meum iussum!"

The swipe whipped me around in time to see Max's aura become streaked with bright blue as he finished the incantation. A large bolt of lightning zigzagged from the sky to strike the wolf with a thunderous crash. I was blown backwards by the force of the strike and banged my head against the ground. My vision swam as a high pitched whine rang in my ears and my runes burned so hotly on my skin that I felt my blood begin to boil. I lifted my head to peer through thick white smoke at the charred remains of the wolf at my feet and was met with a pale lavender stare. Brother, I heard Xesil's voice whisper from the wolf's broken maw before the eyes went dark for the last time.

Through the smoke I saw Tina flanked by four very large wolves. She smiled sadly as I struggled unto my hands and knees, the ground littered with broken burning pieces of cement. Leaning down she cupped my face and tilted it towards hers and in her brown eyes I saw my own black eyes and red runes reflected. Me, Mars, as I had always been: a monster.

"You know, Mars, the Necromancer that's not a Necromancer," she said insistently, "You know."

She lifted her hand and a red jumping bug sprang forth and took flight on clumsy wings. She watched it before leaning her face close to mine. "They followed me, now you follow them."

She released me and began to walk away with the wolves, taking several steps before stopping and looking at me from over her shoulder. "And, Necromancer, bring fire," she stated simply and then was gone.

I hung my head limply as I heard sirens flare up in the background and the murmur of curious spectators. Two large feet surrounded by blinding white brilliance appeared in my line of sight and I summoned the last of my strength to look up at Max. God, there was no other creature in existence as captivating as him.

His face transformed into something breathtaking as his lips quirked into a crooked smile. "You are so much more than what you seem, Ellian. And to think, I was trying kill you," he chuckled as he shook his head before reaching out and softly placing a hand on my hair. His touch shot through my body, hot and forbidden, and I knew by the heavy, warm weight of it that I had encountered this touch before. I knew without a doubt then that he was the winged savior from my nightmare. I gasped...

Then I promptly fainted.