Blaize and the Maven: The Energetics Book 1 (33 page)

Indigo fought under the influence, whereas Blaize fought for her life.
 

Once Blaize was in a sitting position she pinned one of Indigo’s wrists with her knee, and the other with her hand. She held Indigo there while she took another moment, and then she pulled at Indigo’s energy, which was flickering and weak.

Instead of absorbing the energy herself, she used it to build a cage around Indigo, throwing herself backwards as she closed the front of the cage. She then put a blindfold on the woman, pulling enough of Indigo’s energy to render her unconscious.

She had the woman’s astral body trapped. But for how long, Blaize didn’t know.
 

She closed her eyes and focused everything she had on Cuinn’s Haven. She sent out a pulse of energy that was as strong as she could make it, an energetic cry for help.
 

She repeated her message over and over. But her strength was limited. And it was failing.

Indigo stayed unconscious in her cage, her body stretched out on the floor. The prison Blaize had created for the woman’s spirit held. For now.

Cuinn was in the dreamscape, out in the wild energy. He was close to having to go back to at least his Haven, if not the physical plane, to rest. His fists clenched at the thought.
 

He wouldn’t lose her.
 

He wouldn’t let her down.

He moved his astral form through the untamed places, making and remaking the world as he proceeded through it. He sifted through pieces of dreamscape like an archeologist seeking shards of pottery from the past, looking for any trace of Blaize’s distinct energy.

The inhospitable environment tested his strength, as he kept his own mind as focused as possible.
 

He especially didn’t want to think about the vision of Blaize in the prophecy, dying.

He focused his mind on one thing only.
 

Finding her.

Staying receptive to any indications of her energy while broadcasting his own signal as a beacon and enclosing his mind in a strong shield, sapped his energy.
 

He would have to go back. He would be no good to Blaize if his own mind was caught in the dreamscape, lost to the influence of other, unknown energies.

He followed his trail of reality to his Haven. He was cautious, taking no chances, but his bitter anger at not finding Blaize infected the trail, his emotions changing reality as he jogged back.
 

A snarling dog appeared in front of him, and he stopped, using his black feelings to quickly shape some of the energies around him into a bigger dog. A hellhound. It sat at his side for a moment, before it threw itself towards the other dog—which didn’t hesitate, but turned and ran.

Cuinn called his dog to his side.

It looked at him, eyes glowing, fierce teeth dripping saliva. He called it to heel and used the hellhound to chase away anything that tried to injure him.

He was close to his Haven when he felt something. A tug. A pulse of energy that felt familiar. It felt … like Blaize. He spun in place, trying to read where the energy was coming from. How had it reached him?

He put his hand on the dog, drawing the energy and the emotions that had created it back inside him, the hellhound disappearing like smoke.

He drew on the energy of the emotion, every single feeling that Blaize had ever caused him to feel. Anger, frustration, annoyance, irritation. Amusement, contentment, fun.
 

Love.

He wove this complex mix into an arrow. He created a bow and drew the string back, the muscles in his back and arm tense and straining. He released the string and shot the arrow into the air.

Find her.

The arrow disappeared from sight, and Cuinn followed its energy trail into the ether.

The wild energies flickered past him. Invisible hands grabbed at him as if he was being dragged through brambles and bushes, their sharp thorns scraping his skin and leaving him covered with long bloody scratches.

But finally the arrow connected to Blaize’s pulse of energy in a stranger’s Haven.

The Haven was warded, of course, he could see the energetic protection that surrounded it, but the wardings were as irregular as the Haven was misshapen. It had the appearance of a castle in a fairytale, but it was subtly wrong. Off.
 

He held up his hand, and the arrow flew back to his palm. His body shook from the efforts he was making. But he wouldn’t give up now.

He hauled on his emotions again, putting everything he had into the arrow.
 

He drew the bow.

And released.

The arrow shot out, and twisted and turned, spinning in the air, a golden blur.
 

It found one of the weaker wardings and pierced it. Cuinn followed it in, expanding the weakness into an entrance.

And once he was in, he could feel her.

But her energy was faint. Fading.

He ran through the strange corridors, crystals and gold flickering at the edges of his vision.

He found a huge room and slammed through the doors. His gaze darted around the room until he saw her lying on the floor, her back propped up against the side of a bed.
 

Thank Source.

He got closer and saw she was battered and bloody. Next to her was an energetic cage. Holding the unconscious Rogue.

Blaize saw him and sagged in relief. “Can your energy follow me back to the physical plane? See where I am? Come find me? Indigo, the Rogue, said I’m not far from Merrow. But she’ll move me as soon as she wakes.”
 

Blaize started to fade, losing her connection with the dreamscape.

He clung to her energy and travelled back with her to her body. Once there, he looked around, trying to gauge where the property was. Blaize and her captor were unconscious in the basement, but he was unable to do much physically.
 

After what seemed like an eternity, he found a heap of abandoned junk mail thrown on a shelf. They all had the same address. Bingo. He noted the address and fled back to his Haven, gathering his strength and then dropping back into his own body.

It would be critical to reach her before the Rogue woke up. Source knew what damage the Rogue would do to Blaize when she did.
 

He’d never associated Blaize with the word ‘fragile’ before.

It was breaking his heart.

***

All four of them piled into Cuinn’s rugged 4x4, Tierra to keep Cuinn calm, and Cara with medical supplies to help Blaize and restrain the Rogue. Fintan drove. On the way, Cara called the medical facility where she worked to request backup transport for the Rogue.

Every minute Cuinn spent in the car was agony. His body was rigid and stiff, and his every breath rasped from him like the noise of a saw blade. There was a metallic taste in his mouth.
 

He needed to get to her. Desperately. He couldn’t let her down like Sophea.

They reached the address. Fintan dimmed the vehicle’s lights and turned off the engine to coast onto the property as quietly as possible. They parked far away from the house and Fintan sketched out a plan. Despite Cara’s Healer status, she’d also trained in Manipura and had fighting skills akin to Blaize’s, so Tierra was the only one of them without any offensive training.

But Tierra’s training meant she could spot any energetic shields the property had. “I’ll walk around the house and check for wards.”

“We don’t have time for that,” Cuinn said. “Blaize is in there, and who knows what shape she’s in.”

Fintan had a hand on Cuinn’s arm, a reminder to stop him rushing off.
 

“It’s more dangerous if we don’t check first,” warned Fintan.

Cuinn felt desperate. “See what you can find Tierra, and then we’ll decide. Hurry.”
 

He was so close, and still being held back.

They were crouched in the shadows of a thick set of bushes at the side of the house. Tierra drew in a breath and closed her eyes, and Cuinn felt the prickle of her Muladhara seep out. After a few interminable minutes, she opened them again.
 

“It’s warded with Manipura and Ajna only. Cuinn, you should be able to get through the Ajna, and Fintan, if I show you the wards for Manipura by flaring them with my energy, can you destroy them?” Tierra said.

Cuinn went to work immediately. He opened up his energetic awareness and drew on his store of energy. The wards were sophisticated, but nothing Cuinn couldn’t get rid of. He burned all three away, leaving nothing but Manipura. He gestured to Fintan and Tierra.
Hurry.

Tierra closed her eyes and a ward flared over to the right. “Again, please,” requested Fintan. It flared again, bright as a small sun.

A moment passed, and the ward exploded.
 

“One more. To the left.” Tierra pointed. Another ward flared, and this time, Fintan was ready. The ward disappeared in a shower of energy.

“Now. For fuck’s sake, let’s go,” said Cuinn, already moving. He went directly to the worn back door. It was locked. Fintan gestured to him to move and stepped back to give the lock a kick. The old wood shattered and splintered, the door slamming open but leaving the lock in position.
 

In the dirty kitchen, Cuinn looked around for the door to the basement he’d seen in the dreamscape. It was easy to spot, and he tried it. Locked again. Fintan came over. This time he put his hands on the door, and simply burned the lock out. Cuinn went through the door at a run, and threw himself at the bed, leaving the others to restrain Indigo, who thankfully hadn’t yet regained consciousness.

Blaize lay shackled to a dirty bed, a tube coming from a needle attached to her hand.
Thank Source. She’s alive.
He cradled Blaize in his arms while Fintan undid her chains. Cuinn felt sick, and he kissed away the tears drying on her face and wiped the hair from her forehead. He had nearly lost her. That wouldn’t happen again.
 

She opened her eyes. “You’re here.”

He nodded. “I’m so sorry, Blaize. We found you as quickly as we could.”

“Rescued myself, didn’t I?”

He nodded, unable to speak because of the thick emotion that clogged his throat.

“But I thought I'd let you help. Now we’re a team and all,” Blaize finished, with some effort.

Cara looked at Cuinn, drawing his attention away from the exhausted woman in his arms. “The Rogue’s fading. I don’t know if she’ll make it. Her body’s okay, but her mind is—unstable.”

“We could call a human ambulance; would that help?” said Tierra.

Cara shook her head. “I don’t think so. It’s her spirit and her mind, not her body. Not that that’s in great shape, but she won’t die from it. It’s the addiction; it’s eating her up.”

“You need to check Blaize before you do anything with … that.” Cuinn’s tone was flat.
 

Tierra came over to Blaize. “I can check her. But you’ll need to put her down.”
 

Tierra stepped over to the bed, gesturing for Cuinn to move out of the way. Cuinn reluctantly and gently lowered Blaize onto the bed. Her hand came up and clenched around his, as Tierra softly touched her and checked her for injuries.
 

Cuinn could see a little colour return to Blaize’s face as Tierra mended some of the worst injuries. Cara looked up, her eyebrows drawing together. “Tierra, be careful. You don’t have much to spare yourself yet.” Tierra nodded and stepped away, wobbling slightly. Fintan caught her. She frowned and tried to push him away. He settled himself more carefully around her. “Just until you get your balance back.”

Cara was still working on the Rogue.
 

“How long do you think the evac team will be?” Fintan asked.

“Not soon enough. She’s nearly gone. Her pulse is thready, and her energy is unstable.”

“I want to talk to her,” said Cuinn.

“I think Blaize’s dreamscape cage is holding her mind. You’d have to talk to the Rogue on the etheric plane, and you’d be exposed if she got free. It’s her Haven. She’s strongest there,” said Cara.

“She won’t. I’m stronger. A lot stronger.” Cuinn’s firm stare dared Cara to disagree with him.

“It’s a risk.”

“It’s not worth it, Cuinn.” Blaize’s voice came weakly from the bed, her fingers gripping his more tightly. “She’ll live, or she won’t. I’m sorry for it, but I wouldn’t trade my life for hers. Or yours."

“Nor would I, but I still want to talk to her.” He needed to find out what was behind her attack on Blaize—if it was anything more than a Leech who had found the perfect energetic to draw from. He needed to know if it was linked to the prophecy. It was worth the risk of going into Indigo’s Haven once more.
 

He lay on the revolting bed next to Blaize and relaxed his body as fast as he dared.

He followed the energetic trail that he’d created earlier, and entered through the hole he’d torn in the Rogue’s wardings.

Once inside he looked around at the decor, and pitied the Rogue. The environment was so far from the surroundings of the abandoned property where her physical body now lay, it was ridiculous.