He held his stare on Talon for a hot second, making sure he was the warrior he thought he was, making sure he knew it was the second hardest thing he’d ever done. Losing the first war, putting a world around Reveca so Revelin couldn’t reach her was the first.
“Then she came. She came and pulled me to her. I saw it as a reward. I saw it as the Creator of us all showing me some mercy—allowing me to see her once more. It didn’t fucking matter that she was yours, had been, that you had this family, this life. That you had figured out a way to handle her power. It didn’t matter. I got to see her and I was willing to wait for Cashton to stand up.”
“You weren’t waiting on shit. You tried to kill his ass ‘round every bend.”
“I didn’t. Trust me—if I had tried you would know. I’m fucking pissed at him because he wasn’t there when his people needed him. He was off in the Veil having a good time. Now he’s here riding bikes, partying, doing whatever else he feels like doing.”
“He wasn’t killing you. A man in your shoes should be grateful for that,” Talon spat back.
“Not when he’s allowing others to fight in his place.”
“You want to stop talking shit about my boy?” Talon said, pulling his shoulders back. “He has done nothing but fight to be out of the curse on him. I’ve watched him suffer. I’ve watched it test his mind, a test that I doubt either you or I would pass.”
“Yeah, well, I know that now.”
“So that’s the deal. You’re not going to kill him and he’s not killing you. Problem solved.”
King let a sardonic grin come to him. “No.”
“What the fuck to do you mean no?” Talon said with a murderous glare. No one ever told him no and lived to tell about it.
“I mean sooner or later Revelin is going to figure out I’m here. I’m out, and when he does he’s coming for me.”
“And this is the God who took you and forced you to imprison Reveca.”
“I didn’t imprison her. I stopped…Revelin was destroying her soul. He was severing us. He figured it was the only way he could twist me to become his.”
“So this is your fault. He never severed the bond so it’s here today. Even though she clearly has a life of her own and you have been up to some war game.”
King’s cold stare said yes. “You’re all here because I did that,” he said in a matter of fact tone.
“Oh, so I owe you my fucking life, too? Everyone seems to feel that way today.” King’s stare questioned Talon but he ignored it. “I’m not going to stand here and wait to die.”
“Neither am I.”
Talon was so pissed, he was confused and the look in his eyes said as much.
“Time is not the same to us, to Revelin. I have barely been gone a few seconds in his mindset. My armies are going to get stronger as long as they lurk in this plane, and in time, when Cashton and company find a way to rise I will too, and I will take him out myself.”
“You know you own that victory.”
“No. I don’t. I won’t survive it. I have to keep Reveca alive, and my people. I have to break this bond.”
“I’m the last fucking person that will ever back up Jamison and Saige. But they’re pretty damn sure the only way you’re going to win anything, the only hope you have, is by not severing a bond but embracing it.”
Rage came over King as he stepped even closer to Talon. “She is not going anywhere near this war. She will not even know it exists. I’m nothing more than an Escort who has to perish for a Rapture, she doesn’t believe in, to occur.”
Talon’s eyes searched his. “You’re going to kill us all.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Your plan is to sit here and wait for whatever. Then rise up and march into a battle you can’t win without her, and you’re going to kill us all.”
“We’ll break the bond.”
“You in your witchy ways know how to do that? Because I just left her sister, the one who knows this Rapture inside and out. I saw her nearly cry. She told me she couldn’t get her out of this. You got a way to break it, you lay it on me right now.”
King said nothing.
“You don’t. Right now you can barely hold yourself back. You feel a pull to her, you know she’s the only way to win this because you’re the same fucking soul. You know whatever power you have is shared with her, that if you sever her—which you can’t—you have no hope. You’re walking into a slaughter.”
“She’s not going near it.”
“When is this war?”
“Far enough away that I can figure a way around this. She survived me being taken by Crass, and that was as close to asunder as one can get without becoming just that. It can be done.”
“She survived,” Talon said with his eyes narrowing. He stepped away and cursed under his breath.
He knew. He surely was the only one who knew Reveca was not surviving. She was slipping, deeper than he had ever seen her. The flower that she once was, was wilting. Now he knew why. He also knew there wasn’t enough charm, seduction, or laughter in the world to bring her back around. It took grief to awaken her. It took getting King from Crass.
“Whatever you did to keep her well all this time, that’s what has to happen,” King said.
“You know what I do for her?” He lifted his brow as he stared back at King. “I do what’s right for her. When I don’t like it and I don’t understand it, I do what’s right for her. What’s right for my Club. That’s my truth. That’s what kept us strong.”
“I’m doing the same.”
“No, you’re treating her like a girl. Maybe the way you treated her when you first met her and you were some big bad warrior and she was an innocent. I got news for you, buddy, she was innocent when I found her. I didn’t shove her in a box—I unleashed her. I taught her that it’s best to face the demons, to use her anger as a gift. I let her be a woman. And my woman is not going to wait to die.”
King looked over him once. Gratitude was present in his glare. “You tell her of this war, this battle, the risk. You send her to me with grief. You send her to me out of obligation.”
“And?”
“And you don’t get this power, this deal with us. It can’t be fooled. It will not rise out of either of us for obligation. It may allow us to do fun little tricks in the mortal world, protect ourselves, but that’s it, that’s just the overflow. There has to be a genuine emotion, one I’m not capable of feeling, for it to raise the way Jamison or Saige has led you to believe. It’s not a weapon you pick up. It’s a life you claim.”
“You’re saying you don’t love her. That she doesn’t mean anything to you. That you’re rubbing up on her for kicks.”
“I’m an Escort. I can’t feel that for her.”
“You’re lying to me.”
“Read the lore.”
“Fuck the lore. I’m reading your eyes.”
“Try reading hers,” King said coldly. “She is devoted to you. Even if there was some aversion to what I know about the race of my souls—that right there takes the genuine out of it. We’ll have power, but not what is needed to slay a God.”
Talon glared at him. “I’m not letting her die. Any of us.” And with that he stormed away, leaving King to stare at the distant river, to track Reveca as she made her way home.
***
Reveca and the others had been slowly tracking their way back. They had surpassed the Edge but the energy she had around them remained. She sensed something just as sinister as Crass’s men lurking.
Zale.
She had sensed him in the Edge as well. That was the issue with him, why he was a threat. Why it was hard to stop him from creating Rouges. He could enter the Edge. Even move in and out of the fringes of the Veil.
Most times he stayed away from the gates Reveca had to use to get Cashton out, the ones where the dead entered their souls. There were other ways in the Veil he used, ways where you could walk with the dead. As long you didn’t go too deep, kept your wits about
you, you could get out.
Reveca never went inside the Veil, wasn’t entirely sure why Jamison would allow River, a young witch, to do such things. It was death. Something Reveca had avoided succumbing to, stolen from. It didn’t feel right for her to taunt it by lurking within.
It was different for Zale. He was always looking for power, some way to gain supremacy over the coven that bore him. Over life and death.
Zale’s knowledge, coupled with his ability to step into the Edge, made him just as dangerous in the supernatural world as the mortal one. The mess with this drug black started because of the games he played. It started because he could not just live, enjoy the fact that he still could. He wanted easy money and the freedom to plot onward.
Reveca was sure he was just spying now. Wanting to know what alliances she had with the dead. Wanting to know if she had figured out how to stop Mr. Black. He too surely had thought that asking the dead what mortal was reaching in would be a backward, but effective way to locate said mortal. The thing was, Windsome wouldn’t help him. Not when she owed a debt to Reveca, his enemy.
Reveca continued the sway of her hand across Cashton’s forehead. He looked as if he were only sleeping just then but his eyes would flinch and the pain he was surely feeling would make itself known.
Judge and Steele were still tense. This ride had been a little too eventful for them, and they were well aware that Zale was near.
“Almost there,” Steele said quietly to Reveca.
As soon as they reached their waters, waters which touched the property of the Boneyard, Zale would be blind to them. His invitation to the Boneyard had expired hours ago.
Reveca nodded. She knew that, and apparently Zale did, too. He had stopped following them a mile back. She felt his gaze in her direction, could have sworn she felt him lust after the power she was clearly displaying—her holding the energy barrier in place as if she didn’t have a care in the world.
“What’s wrong with him?” Judge asked, as he came to sit on the bench across from where Reveca and Cashton were.
“He’s going to be fine.”
“You gonna have to say more than that, Vec. By now he’s always sitting up and cracking jokes. He may seem high as hell, half drunk, but he’s aware.”
“He’s helping us fight this war,” Reveca said quietly.
“What did you make him do?”
“I don’t have the power to make any of you do anything.” She looked down at Cashton. “He sought information from a witch on that side. If a mortal is pulling dark energy, she’d know who and where.”
“Did he get it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why would she fuck him up like that?”
“She didn’t. He’s holding energy inside of him that is not his, it’s not made of him. It’s going to exhaust him, but he’ll be fine when I pull it out.”
“Do it then. We’re in our waters. You still have this shield up.”
“Not yet.”
“You don’t want us to know,” Judge said as anger flashed in his eyes. “Reveca, you’re forgetting that we’re a part of this. What you do affects each of us.”
“You think I don’t know that?”
“I think you’re distracted.”
“I’m focused. More so now than ever.”
“Then what’s with the secrets?”
“There are none. You know Cashton is from another place, has a fate he cannot reach because he’s imprisoned. I’m helping him understand that. The witch was helping him with that, too. And it’s his business. I would do the same for you. We are all one. We’re a family, but there are times when we need our space to figure out who we are so we can make this family stronger.”
“We gonna lose him? He leaving?”
“One day. I don’t think he’ll ever be far or forget us, though.”
Judge looked down, surely dreading that day, then he let his gaze rise to meet Reveca’s. “And Dagen?”
That name got Steele’s attention. He glanced over his shoulder to gauge the response Reveca would have.
“That’s King’s business, and I will tell him of it.”
“You going to tell Talon?”
“Tell him what?” Reveca asked with one lifted brow.
“That some man was here who clearly had more power than we have ever crossed.”
“He’s not an enemy. He was checking on his friend.”
“If someone has friends like that then they have enemies that are just as powerful,” Judge shot back.
“True. But they’re not ours.”
“They are if they belong to King, who is under our roof.”
“Judge, we have enough going on right now. You never distract a man before war, or you will lose him. Talon is embarking on a war now. We have business to handle.”
“And we need you with us.”
“I’m here.”
Judge looked away. “I’m not going to ask you to promise to always be like some kid. But it’s not fun when you’re gone.”
A weak smile emerged on her lips. “I made that promise to you when I brought you back. That I’d be there. I’m going to be.”
Cashton let in a deep breath.
“He knows,” Judge said. “He knows he’s home.”
Reveca had to smile at that.
She looked up at Judge then at Steele who was gliding the boat to the dock. “It’s going to be all right. There’s change on the horizon and that always means troubled waters.” She grinned. “We always make it through and have a good story to tell when it’s done.”
“Yeah, I can’t wait to tell the story of some dude that caught a bullet I put in his eye and asked me if I dropped it,” Steele said with the faintest of humor in his tone.
“It was bad ass. I’ll give him that,” Judge agreed.
“His calm. That’s what we all need. When you’re calm and confident you see every blow coming.”
“You calling me uptight?” Steele said with a lifted brow. He couldn’t hold it, a smile came not long after it.
“No, I’m telling you there is no enemy you cannot beat. At all times, you’re the only one standing between you and the victory you want. The enemy is an illusion of your doubt. Some victories just take more time, more planning than others.”
They both nodded to agree. They had seen enough wars, both hot and cold, to know the truth in her statement.
Judge stood to help Steele bring the boat in to tie it to the dock. When it was secure they both came to Cashton, ready to carry him in.
“We’re fine.”
“Vec,” Steele said.
“We’re fine. We’re going to take our time and get this out. It’s quiet and dark here. Moving him will only exhaust him more, make it take longer.”
“What do we tell Talon?” Steele asked.
“Tell him we have to be back in front of Crass in two days. Tell him I’m with Cashton helping him come out of the haze.”
That statement told the boys loud and clear what she had asked Cashton to do, what she did for him, was not kept from Talon, that though she and Talon were not side by side constantly, they were always aware of the other—they always have a plan.
Reveca waited until she sensed the boys move far past the dock. She closed her eyes and breathed in. The energy barrier was down and though she was not wiped out, she felt weaker. That hum was close, and once again she was going to use it.
A few long, deep breaths later she opened her eyes and brushed her fingers through Cashton’s hair. His eyes flinched. Reveca reached for his arm, but he flexed it to him.
Carefully, she laid his head down then moved to his side.
“Cashton,” she whispered. “You’re home. Let go.”
His brow furrowed once more. She glided her hand over his arm, and a few sways later the tension started to leave.
It took her forcefully moving it from his chest for him to give in. Using her nail she opened the same place on his arm as she had before. She knew then she was
right—he had found Windsome. Her energy was far different from Reveca’s.
A purple haze began to hiss out of Cashton’s skin, and as it met the air Reveca heard the whispers of the dead, the echo. That whisper they all have when they speak of what is to come, what they feel in the energy.
It was too fast, on too high of a frequency for Reveca to clearly hear or understand, but it was a testimony that when this energy was sealed again it was within the Veil, near a witch who could hear those whispers.
The opening around the wound grew while more and more energy slithered out. Then, all at once, a volt of it erupted. It rained down on Cashton and as it did his body jarred up. Every muscle in his body tensed, his jaw locked, and a roar left his chest.
The energy lingered on his skin, slowly seeping back in.
A spell.
Windsome had given him a gift, paid her debt to Reveca. She could not hold his memories within the Veil, but if her energy made it out and fell upon him, the knowledge she gave him, no matter how great or small, would stay with him no matter how many times he stepped in and out of that Veil.
Reveca had to smile, had to feel gratitude for this victory of his. He’d fought so hard for his freedom and the hardest fight was in his mind, what he lost from one side to the other.
Fast breaths left him and sweat came to his brow. Reveca eased her hands over him, sent her energy into him, her calming mood. This was something she always did when he returned—what helped him find the high the boys thought was so entertaining.
Moments later his eyes fluttered open, the blue flames all but masking their black canvases.
“Welcome home,” she said with a smile. “Miss me?”
Cashton focused his eyes on her, then a grin came to him. He reached up for her, pulled her down to his chest, and hugged her as tightly as he could. “My bloody favorite witch,” he said with a lazy drawl.