Shadowstorm (The Shadow World Book 6) (11 page)

“And what’s that going to lead to?”

“Well…hopefully it’ll give him more energy, emotionally and physically, so he can at least have the strength to take better care of himself. I’m hoping that—”

“That’s not what I mean, dumbass.”

“Then what…oh.” David chuckled. “You would want to know that, wouldn’t you.”

“Hey, it’s just me and my battery operated boyfriend up here. Give me some fodder at least—the mental image of you and some pointy-eared sexy beast going at it would keep me buzzing for a while.”

Now, he laughed outright. “You’re incorrigible, woman.”

“You’re the one who passed out on my front porch and got me into this whole mess. It’s all on you.”

David leaned back in his desk chair, smiling. “True. I get such delight out of sucking innocent bystanding vampires into our collective madness.”

“Not just vampires anymore. Witches, Elves…if I happen across a werewolf I’ll send him along and you can have a complete set.” He could hear her rustling papers around, meaning she too was at her desk. “So is there anyone you aren’t planning to sleep with?”

He snorted. “I thought I’d stop once I got to Jacob.”

“If you do manage to shag the Elf, that’ll be three people in the building you’ve been involved with. Miranda has some catching up to do.”

“Honestly, I don’t really think her thing with Kai is going to get that far. I just can’t see her going to bed with anyone, at least not yet. I worry about her getting hurt, but she’s a grown woman who knows her own heart and mind.”

“But you’re sure she’s okay with all of this?”

“I’m sure. We’ve talked about it at length. She comes first, obviously. And believe me, this isn’t something I plan to make a habit of. I wasn’t expecting this. I figured eventually we’d move in that sort of direction—but I thought that was decades in the future.”

Too fast…everything these days was moving too fast, even though nothing was actually happening right at this moment. Why couldn’t he and Miranda have had fifty or so years to rule in relative quiet before all of this?

“Well, just…be careful. All of you. And be careful tonight for different reasons. I know your Stella knows her stuff, but things could still go wrong. We’re all rather attached to you, you know.”

He smiled. “I know. It’ll be okay, I promise. I’ll talk to you tomorrow night, hopefully, or at least send a text.”

“You’d better.”

As soon as he hung up, David finished running through the various checks he did every night, returned his most urgent emails, and spent a moment reading through Jacob’s report on the latest Council doings. There were no new deaths, thankfully, but several of the holdouts who had insisted Morningstar wasn’t a real threat were quietly increasing security, hiring dozens more Elite and retreating to their Havens whenever possible. Morningstar might not have made a move lately, but they didn’t need to right now—fear was doing their job for them, and soon they’d have the entire Council treed like a squirrel.

He wanted to take satisfaction from it, and he had for a while, but even divorced from the Council their fate was tied in with his. They represented the last bastion of traditional order in the Shadow World, and as antiquated as they were, their loss would usher in an era of civil war and worldwide violence until someone either took things in hand or their entire society was destroyed and there were no laws, nothing to stop vampire kind from killing en masse and quickly exposing their existence to the world.

It was not a comforting thought. Neither was the thought that the someone taking things in hand was probably going to be him.

He was, therefore, in a fairly dark mood when he arrived at the ritual room, where Stella, Nico, and Kai were already waiting for him. Stella had candles burning on the altar with a typical Wiccan array of tools and décor. They’d also piled a dozen or so cushions on the floor, and Nico was sitting cross-legged on one, looking tired and faintly sick. Kai was fussing over him as usual, and David caught himself having another moment of the tiniest bit of appreciation, if not affection, for the Bard. It was something of a relief, really—he and Kai might never really like each other, but they needed to be able to coexist, and if they could be friendly, so much the better, for Nico’s sake and Miranda’s.

Kai seemed to agree. He gave David a nod in greeting. Nico, on the other hand, smiled like the moon rising on a cloudless night, and all worries about the Council and vampire society vanished under that light.

Stella was in a more serious mood than usual. “Okay,” she said, taking one last look at the altar to make sure nothing was missing. “If you guys will have a seat facing each other, we can get started.”

Kai looked worried but determined, and squeezed Nico’s shoulder lightly. “I’ll be close by if you need me,” he told his twin, and left the room, looking back at Nico one more time before closing the door.

David gave Nico what he hoped was a reassuring smile as Stella circumambulated the room, marking the boundary of a large circle with salt, water, and incense. Slowly David could feel something in the room changing; he didn’t have the Sight the others did, but he could definitely sense the Witch at work. The room felt closed off, removed from the ordinary world.

Stella settled herself on another cushion so that the three of them were in a triangle. “Make sure there’s one behind you,” she told David. “Just in case this knocks you out and you fall over.”

“Are you going to help, Nico?” David asked. He kept his voice low—the air in the room had taken on the feeling of a church, or a grove of ancient trees where no one would dare speak above a hushed, reverent tone.

The Weaver shook his head. “I am useless, I fear,” he said. “I have not been able to Weave for a long time, and I lost my vision of the Web months ago. I get glimpses, and when Stella and I work together I can See more, but she needs her full attention on the task at hand.”

David lowered his eyes, trying to stay grounded, but the matter-of-fact way Nico spoke of losing the gift that made him who he was, was heartbreaking. Sadness and anger both tried to claw their way up his chest, but he smoothed them over carefully before they could leak out.

“Tell me what you need me to do,” he told Stella.

The Witch’s eyes were closed, but she grinned. “Hold hands and shut up,” she replied.

Prime and Weaver smiled at each other and laced their fingers together.

David wasn’t the sort of person who was content to just sit still and let other people work—he felt like he ought to be doing something, especially since for a while it seemed like Stella was just meditating.

Then, she asked, “Nico…can I bring you in for a look? I have it narrowed down to two strands, but I could use a second opinion.”

“Of course,” Nico said, and closed his eyes. As if he sensed David’s discomfort, he narrated what he was seeing. “There are two possible places in your Web where she can anchor the link between us. One is more powerful, but it runs deeper; the other is more superficial.”

“Why not use the deeper one?” David asked.

The Elf smiled. “The deeper she reaches for the power, the more intimate the connection—we might get more than we bargained for, you especially. Connecting to that one will be less draining for you, as it’s closer to the core of your being, but you run the risk of having me wrapped more tightly in you than you wanted.”

“We’re not talking Signet bond level, are we?”

“Oh, no,” Stella said. “Even the deeper strand is way, way weaker than that. It won’t come anywhere near your bond with Miranda, either in power or proximity. There are levels of connection a Signet bond reaches that go way beyond simple energy exchange. He might get echoes of it, but that’s all. On the other hand if we use the superficial strand you won’t be as solidly connected, but it will probably make you more tired than the other. It’s like your bond with Miranda is your aorta, the inner strand is your femoral artery, and the other is whatever vein it is in your arm that they stick needles in.”

“Femoral artery,” David said firmly.

“Are you sure?” Nico asked. “We cannot predict the consequences.”

“I’m sure—for one thing, if you’re going to be yourself again you need strength, and some arm vein isn’t going to do it. For another, I can’t afford to walk around like I have an IV line in 24/7. I’ve dealt with chronic low-level weakness before; it’s impossible to do my job if I’m draped over a fainting couch.”

Stella chuckled, probably at the mental image. “All right,” she said. “Let’s do it. You can step back, Nico—if I need your eyes again I’ll say so.”

“Very well.”

Nico squeezed David’s hands. David wondered if the Elf was afraid; he wasn’t showing it, but this had to be at least a little scary, the thought of being connected to a Thirdborn even on a mostly-superficial level. There could be just as many consequences for Nico as for him. At the very least he should be a little anxious.

Actually, he was; despite his calm exterior he was afraid that it wouldn’t work, that he had gotten his hopes up for nothing yet again…or that David would hate being linked and want it severed…David could feel him resolutely staying grounded, but he was…

…wait…

“Did you feel that?” Nico asked quietly.

“Yes.”

“Not quite there,” Stella murmured. “The link is made but I’m holding it shut for a second while I make sure there aren’t any weak spots. In a minute when I let it go you’ll probably both get one hell of a head rush.”

She was, it turned out, understating things a little. A moment later David felt like something was sucking his mind out of his head; the sensation was a little too familiar, a little too like dying, and he nearly panicked, the terror-laden noise of those memories thundering in his mind.

“It’s all right,” he heard the Elf say gently. “I’m not going to hurt you…just breathe…it’ll stop in a…moment…” Suddenly Nico gasped.

David’s eyes snapped open. “Are you okay?”

But Nico was smiling, and in a few seconds a tear fell from one of his closed eyes. “I can see it,” he said. “The Web…I can see it. You’ve given me my Sight back.”

David’s heart leapt. He held onto Nico’s hands tightly; he could sense the Elf doing what he couldn’t for so long, looking over Stella’s work with approval, then examining the link to see how deeply it—

Nico jerked his hands away from David, who was shocked at the abrupt change in Nico’s face. It no longer showed joy or concentration.

Fear.

He was staring at David wide-eyed, breathing hard, and forcing himself not to shrink away.

“What’s wrong?” David asked.

Stella looked worried, too, and put her hand on Nico’s knee. “Sweetie, what is it? Is it not working?”

Nico visibly steeled himself to sit straight again, slowing his breathing inch by inch. “I’m fine,” he said. It wasn’t remotely believable. “Yes, it’s working…I can feel things changing. In fact I…damn.”

The Elf barely had the word out before he toppled over sideways. Luckily there was a cushion there too, and he didn’t strike his head on the hard floor.

David looked at Stella. “What was that?”

She shrugged. “Not much telling. But it’s as done as it can be. If it starts to cause pain, or you feel tired for more than a day or so, we’ll have to undo it. For now you should probably stay together—physical contact can help seal this sort of thing, and at the very least he’s going to sleep for a while. You should too.”

Taking a deep breath, David nodded. “Thank you, Stella.”

A smile. “You’re always very welcome.”

She got up and set to taking down the circle, returning the room to its ordinary atmosphere; meanwhile, David got up slowly, checking for dizziness before he bent to lift the Elf up off the floor.

“Once he wakes up send me a text just to check in,” Stella told him.

David said he would, then carried Nico’s far-too-light body out of the ritual room and back to the Elf’s own bed.

*****

It was several hours before Nico woke, and in that time David dozed off once or twice but started awake every time he heard a noise. He could feel things changing—something pulling at him almost delicately, working its way in to take root, then settling down and tapering off until he could barely feel it. It was a remarkably gentle kind of magic, even pleasant, and nothing like the immense drain when Miranda had bound them briefly to Deven. Stella had been right; this link was lighter, far less deep. Judging from the strength of the current he would have to be in physical contact with Nico to sense anything beyond what he could already read. That was good. David didn’t want anything to compete with his bond to Miranda—he’d seen how impossible that kind of situation was.

He caught echoes of Nico’s dreams, nothing specific but some watery images and emotions. He wasn’t aware he’d drifted off again until he woke with a jolt and looked into Nico’s wide, frightened eyes.

They stared at each other a minute. “All right,” David said, “Tell me.”

Nico sat up, then put a hand to his forehead in what looked like a vain attempt to stave off dizziness. He shut his eyes tightly for a few seconds and didn’t look at David as he said, “When the connection opened up, I…saw things.”

“What things?”

Nico met his eyes, took a breath, and said softly, “The New Moon.”

David’s heart tumbled down to the floor. He had hoped that, of all the things the Elf might learn about him in those brief moments, that that would not be one of them. It was one thing to know he’d done violent things in the past, but this was now…and was going to keep happening. “Oh.”

Nico’s hands held onto the comforter so hard they shook. “And the Queen, too. You’re both…”

Now David sighed. “Just say it, Nico. Don’t dance around it. I’m a murderer. Miranda is a murderer. That’s just how it is. I had to accept what would come as the price of coming back from the dead as Thirdborn — it was the price of coming back to her, one we both willingly paid. That’s why she and I didn’t want to sire you through our blood—you would have been just like us.”