Blood Stained Tranquility (50 page)

All at the same time.

Holy . . . shit.

This is what her man was capable of. This is why everyone feared Mavrak so much.

The human agents scattered in every direction, running for their lives. Aviraji warriors began dematerializing, just as desperate to escape the reach of the wraiths. Only the
Refluths
and
ceFtuts
remained, and a few of the Aviraji warriors that hadn’t been able to get away fast enough.

The multitude of screams became all she could hear.

One
Refluth
managed to evade the reach of the wraiths, twisting and turning out of reach and heading straight in her direction.

Dimithinia jumped up behind it, grabbing onto its shoulders, and even through the mist, Evesse could see that her eyes had gone entirely black.

“Die,” she whispered in a double tone.

The creature fell to the ground, lifeless. Not even a twitch. Its life was given in an act of total obedience to the female that had demanded it.

It was far beyond what Eve could command. Evesse controlled death only because Mavrak gave it to her. What Dimithinia had just done was something else entirely.

She ran at a dark-blue skinned Aviraji, catching him before the wraiths could. Two words, “die now,” and the male fell to the floor, his black eyes unseeing.

Dead.

The huge hands of a
Refluth
came at Dimi from behind, and the wraiths were spiraling to life feet from it, but there wasn’t going to be enough time. It was going to grab her if Eve didn’t do something.

She materialized in front of Dimithinia just in time. It wasn’t the
Refluth
’s hands that they had to dodge. Its entire body was catapulted into the air as a wave of red, blue, and white energy hit it straight on.

Eve slammed her hands down on Dimi’s shoulders, pushing them both toward the ground just as seven feet of nasty flew in a spiral over their heads.

It landed on the concrete behind them, the tri-colored energy it had been hit with flaring so brightly around it that it lit up the darkness of the mist. The wraiths got to it just as it started to change, becoming another of those silver creatures. The wraiths floated above it, obviously confused, then continued on, clearly looking for another victim to attack.

Turning, she caught sight of Soleria, hands extended as she sent another wave of power at a
ceFtut
.

She was shaking. Sweating. Unsteady on her feet as she sent out another blast.

She was still human.

“Sol! What the fuck are you doing?”

How the hell had she gotten there?

Soleria’s heart stuttered inside her chest, and Eve heard it clear across the feet that separated them.

No.
No.
“Stop! Sol!”

Leaving Dimi crouched and panting on the floor, Evesse shot for her best friend, determined to stop her before she overloaded herself and something really bad hap—

Soleria’s heart gave another sputter, sounding like a splat as it struggled to pump blood in her chest. Eve reached for her, went to grab her shoulders—

Sol’s heart stopped. Eve watched all the life leak out of those baby blues right as the mist disappeared and the daylight reclaimed the world around them.

“Soleria!”

Eve’s scream was echoed by a heart wrenching, ear-splitting howl.

Soleria’s body landed on the ground, her dark red hair fanning out beneath her.

“No!” Ismini screamed from somewhere behind Eve. “Soleria! No!”

Another howl, this one closer this time.

Sinking to her knees, Evesse stopped breathing, her ears searching desperately for any sound, a heartbeat, a fucking breath . . .

There was no energy signature. Nothing. Her soul wasn’t in there anymore.

No. Fuck, no!

“Move!” Dimithinia shoved Eve out of the way, throwing her several feet to the right. She looked way too pale, and on the verge of passing out herself, but the female crouched over Soleria, hands pressed to her chest as if she was about to start CPR. “You shall not die. You shall live.” Instead of the black energy that came out of her while she killed their enemies, pure white currents shot out of her fisted hands and into Soleria’s chest.

Soleria’s upper body contorted off the floor, as if she’d been shocked by a defibrillator.

“Live, damn you. I command you to live.”

Another dose of that white energy; another contortion of Soleria’s back.

Her baby blue eyes shot open momentarily, and the hard inhale she took burst out from her parted lips. Soleria’s body fell back to the floor, her eyes closing. The sight of her chest rising and falling made Eve’s word spin.

Dimi moved back, breathing shallowly. The sleeves of her long black coat rose up a few inches.

That’s when Eve caught a glimpse of a very familiar looking arm cuff around Dimithinia’s wrist.

A red-skinned, yellow-haired male materialized behind Dimithinia, sword raised.

Evesse couldn’t even move. Wide-eyed, and almost completely absent of the reality around her, she watched as the male brought that sword down, his blade taking Dimi’s head off her shoulders.

The next howl that rang out was different from the first, but no less agonized.

Blood spewed all over Soleria. The male dematerialized just as a wave of black and red mist came at him, missing him. Dimi’s headless body fell to the ground next to Sol’s, her head rolling several inches.

Then, both body and head were gone, disappearing in a poof of dark smoke.

Tears ran down Eve’s face, mixing with the blood still on her cheeks. She knew, beyond all the shit twisting in her head, that Dimi wasn’t gone. She’d be back. Whatever Dimithinia was now, she had clearly been given the power over life and death.

That didn’t make witnessing her murder any easier to handle.

Ianthen, in wolf-form, came running toward them, his legs seeming to fall out from under him as he got close to Sol. He fell to the ground next to her, his massive canine head on her chest. Energy crackled around him, and the fur on his body shimmered and shook.

He was trying to change back to his regular form, but he couldn’t.

The whimpers that left him were able to penetrate some of the numbness that had Eve frozen. Ismini appeared next to Soleria, falling to her knees and cradling her head in her now gloved hands. Ianthen rubbed his head into Soleria’s chest, clearly taking in the sound of her heart beating as his body kept twitching and shimmering.

Ismini looked up at Evesse, tears striking down her cheeks. “Dimithinia—”

Eve heard her dead voice answering her friend. “She’s fine. She came back last time.”

Dyletri appeared behind Ismini, wrapping her in his arms and staring down at Soleria and Ianthen with an enraged scowl.

Zen. Evesse needed him. Where was he?

He materialized in front of her, his face sliced open, a gash cutting across his forehead, eyebrow, and the bridge of his nose. He fell to his knees, shaking, his red-and-black eyes tortured.

And still, he reached for her, bringing her to his chest and cupping her head gently with his palm. He pressed his nose to her hair, sniffing her, and rocking her back and forth as her sobs started to really gain steam.

“It’s over, my
R’ma.
It’s over.
Shh
.”

His presence helped—feeling him was pure medicine to her rabid adrenal glands—but nothing would be able to erase the emotional twister ripping through her. It had just started, too. Her mind hadn’t even begun to fully process everything she’d just experienced.

“You’re hurt.” His hand slid around her ribcage, pumping healing energy into her.

He wasn’t anywhere near as powerful when it came to the healing as Ved was, but she felt her rib start to mend. Zen brushed his lips against her injured cheek, his tongue flicking out to taste her blood even as he healed that cut as well.

Cyake also appeared, out of his wolf-form and suited up in his gold-and-black armor. He knelt behind his best friend, laying his large, gloved hand on the back of Ianthen’s head.

Zexistr and Keiros appeared next. Zexistr looked ready to pass out, his too-pale skin three shades lighter.

They were followed by a black-eyed man that looked like he could almost be Crius’s twin.

Hades.

Crius himself was next, and he was still in wolf-form, running toward them like a tank ready to collapse. His eyes were frantic as he looked around them, clearly seeking out Dimi’s body. He was near-rabid, those monstrous jaws snapping at the air as he growled furiously.

Zexistr, Keiros, and Hades caught him right as he slammed out of wolf-form, looking like he’d gone mad with rage.

“Calm down! Crius!”

“Where is she?” he screamed, his eyes monstrous. They’d turned light-purple, huge pupils almost overtaking his irises as he roared. “Where the fuck is her body?”

There were black scars on almost every inch of him. Starting from his chest, and arching down in almost tattoo-like lines down to his ankles.

“Calm down! You’re already blitzing out, you idiot!” Cyake cried, jumping away from Ianthen and joining the circle of huge male bodies trying to keep his naked brother in check.

“You morphed into your wolf-form,” Keiros said in a soothing, calm tone, lowering his head so his mouth was near his brother’s ear. “The spell that helps you stay celibate is already failing you. You’re going to go rabid. Calm down. Breathe.”

Crius heard none of it. He struggled against the hands and arms holding him.

“I don’t give a fuck! Where is her body! They—they fucking killed her. I felt it. She’s gone.” Tears welled up in his changed eyes. “They killed her.”

Eve’s heart twisted inside her. “She’ll be back.”

Everyone seemed to freeze at that. Crius’s head turned slowly in her direction.

She would never forget the look in his eyes. Ever.

Dimithinia was mated to him. She knew that now. Had seen the bracelets, and felt the power in her that so mimicked his own.

“It happened before.” Evesse cleared her throat when she heard how hoarse her voice had become. “She came back. In
Renentr
. She said she woke up there.”

Crius flung all his brothers off him at once, sending them flying in every direction. He was gone before anyone could say or do anything else.

Trembling, Evesse fell further into Zen’s lap. When he shifted, lifting her the rest of the way up, she let him. One look around proved what she’d already known. The battle was over. The
Sesengts
were materializing, forming a circle around them. Everyone’s eyes were on Ianthen as he kept on whimpering, his snout now pressed under Sol’s chin.

Three of the turned
ceFtuts
stood off to the side, like big, white, bear-dogs waiting for a command. Four of the changed, now sleek and silver
Refluths
were behind them, doing the same.

Zen cupped Eve’s chin, tilting her head up. “Tell me you’re okay. Please.”

His hoarse plea, combined with the look on his face, made her cry harder.

“No,” she answered honestly. “I’m not.” He tensed under her, eyes widening. “But I will be,” she hurried to add, sliding her hand around his neck.

It was true. She would be. She had no choice. She would just have to figure out how the hell she was going to deal with the emotional and psychological backlash of everything that she’d experienced.

That reminded her.

“Makayla. Get her. Please.”

Zen looked like leaving her was the last thing on his mind.

“Please. I can’t dematerialize right now.”

He kissed her, pressing his lips to hers almost ruthlessly. Their tongues didn’t meet. It wasn’t so much a kiss of passion as it was a relieved, brutal act. He was gone the next second, dematerializing to do as she’d asked.

She was shaking so hard she couldn’t freaking stand. Something was wrong, but she couldn’t allow herself to focus on it. She knew that if she did, it was going to take over.

She was going to lose it.

And it was only a matter of time.

On her hands and knees, she moved closer to Soleria and the others.

“She’s going to be okay, big guy,” she told Ianthen, all the while praying that it would be true. He shifted, and the cuffs around his front legs glinted in the sunlight. They had grown huge, expanding to accommodate his new size. What was obviously a red, white, and dark blue mating mark could be seen through his fur, covering his entire left side.

She rubbed between his ears. “You’re the biggest idiot I know, but we’re going to get her back for you.”

He whined, sniffing his
R’ma
’s skin. His eyes were red when he lifted his head up and turned to Eve. He nuzzled her face with his snout in a totally canine way. She closed her eyes and hugged that big head to her. “We’ll get her to Vedlyl. You’ll see. She’s going to be fine.”

Zeniel materialized, his arm around a sick-looking Makayla. Eve was surprised to see none of the satisfaction from last time in her eyes considering what was going on around them. She looked like she was about to throw up.