My hope stuttered and panic reached into me, demanding I accept the truth. That he was really gone. That my world was going to be absent of him for the rest of my life. And that thought was enough to tear my heart in two, never to be repaired.
We hadn’t had enough time. And he was too young to die here, broken and cold in some cave. Fate was bloodthirsty and callous, taking him like this when all he’d wanted was to save his sister. It broke me in a way I didn’t think I’d ever heal from.
Seth pulled one hand back, wrapping it around my shoulders. I tried to shake him off, but he wouldn’t let go. His grip tightened and he nuzzled into my hair.
The ground shuddered beneath me and my tear-soaked lips parted as I looked to the cave entrance. A huge shape moved out in the snowstorm, disappearing a second later.
“Darius,” Seth gasped.
Hope tore through me like a blazing ray of light. “Darius!” I screamed, the desperation in my voice clear.
He came charging in, pulling up a pair of sweatpants. His gaze swept over us, taking in our hands on Orion’s stomach then moving to his best friend’s face with a look of utter horror.
“Help us!” I begged and he knelt down on my other side, laying his hands over mine.
“Drop your barriers,” he commanded both of us and for some reason, it was easier with him. The strength of the two Heirs tugged on my magic and I forced my mind onto the Phoenix fire at my back, drawing on its power and feeding, feeding, feeding it to them.
The green healing light flared once more as Darius’s power joined what remained of ours. The rush of his magic was burning hot, flaring through my veins like pure starlight. The healing energy grew stronger and stronger and my chest physically hurt as every ounce of magic was dragged from my veins, forced to do the Heirs’ bidding.
I couldn’t see the wound beneath the green light and had to squint against it as I lost sight of Orion behind it.
“Fuck,” Darius grunted, slumping forward as he gave everything he had.
“Don’t give up,” I pleaded.
“Not for the world,” he swore.
A groan sounded and my whole chest nearly burst with relief. “He’s alive,” I gasped, the light dimming so I could see him beyond it.
“Holy shit, it worked,” Seth rasped and the three of us removed our hands at once.
I inhaled sharply. The wound was gone, nothing but a red scar lining his skin amongst the blood
My gaze flicked to Orion’s face and his eyes snapped open a second before he lunged at Seth. He knocked him over backwards with a snarl, ripping into his throat with his fangs.
“Lance!” I screamed, leaping forward as relief and terror tangled inside me.
Seth was shouting in rage as Orion savagely drank from him, blood spilling over his clothes as he tore his throat open.
“I haven’t got any magic left – stop him!” Seth yelled, shoving his shoulders.
Orion pinned him down, gripping his hair and violently wrenching Seth’s head sideways to gain more access.
“Fuck!” Darius grabbed Orion by the shoulders, but he was like an animal, ripping into Seth’s flesh until he started gargling on his own blood.
“Stop!” I begged, fear clawing at my heart as I realised he was going to kill him. I grabbed hold of Orion too, tugging back with all my might. With a roar of effort, Darius tore Orion off of him and bared his own throat.
“Bite me,” Darius demanded. “Take what you need.”
Orion sank his fangs into Darius with a desperate hunger, clinging to his arms and nearly knocking him off of his feet. Darius clutched onto him, pressing his face into his hair as he held him. “I can’t believe I almost lost you after...” he trailed off, pulling him even closer and the sight sent warmth into my frozen limbs.
I stood trembling, balling my hands up to stop myself from interfering. He needed to feed. He was drained beyond belief and disturbing him now was clearly dangerous. But hell, I wanted to go to him. I needed to wrap my arms around him and feel the heavenly pounding of his heart.
Seth swore between his teeth as he clutched his neck, blood rushing down to stain his shirt.
“Darius,” I warned and his gaze fell to Seth who looked on the verge of passing out.
“Alright Lance,” he said gently, clutching him with a heavy sigh. “That’s enough.”
Orion pulled back a step, his gaze whipping to me. He was a beast coated in blood, his gaze consumed by shadows. Then the darkness receded and his eyes were full of love and apologies and fear. His eyes suddenly fell closed and he stumbled backwards unconscious. Darius caught him before he crashed to the ground, lowering him to lay down with a look of concern.
I gasped, rushing forward and kneeling by his side.
“It’s blood loss,” Darius explained in a hollow tone. “He’ll need time to recover.”
“Yeah, I’m starting to understand how that feels,” Seth wheezed as Darius dropped to his side and pressed a hand to his neck to heal him. “Thank fuck you didn’t run out of magic during that or he’d have killed me.”
I pressed my hand to Orion’s cheek, feeling the warmth of him and sagging forward as my heart started to settle. He was going to be okay. We had time stretching out before us, years and years and years. And I was going to cherish every damn one of them. I wasn’t going to let a second go by without coveting each moment we had together.
My relief washed through me, but a darker emotion was chasing it away as my thoughts started to click together. Rage bit at my heart and I rounded on Darius with a snarl, standing up to face him. My Phoenix fire flickered behind him, casting his face in shadow.
“Where were you?!” I snarled, shoving him in the chest as he pulled Seth to his feet. “We needed you. He needed you.”
“I…” Darius shook his head. “Something happened.”
“Not good enough,” I hissed, throwing my palms into his chest again and he made no move to fight me off. “You knew how much this meant to him!” I threw a punch at his jaw, then clawed at him in my fury. How could he have abandoned him tonight of all nights? If he’d been here, we would have had enough magic left to face Clara. None of this would have happened.
“I know,” Darius said weakly and something in his posture looked so defeated that I sensed something awful really had happened to keep him from coming. “How did this happen?”
I glanced at Seth, swallowing thickly as I realised I couldn’t talk about this in front of him.
Seth folded his arms, his body bloody and his eyes shadowed. “If you think I’m gonna walk out of here without an explanation, you’re really fucking deluded.” He looked to Darius. “Are you keeping secrets from me with a teacher and a fucking Vega?”
I could have sworn Darius flinched at the word Vega. “You know I practise dark magic with Lance,” he said, his voice kind of empty as he looked to me. “Go ahead. You can speak in front of him, I trust him.” He walked past me, dropping down beside Orion and lifting him into his arms.
“Well I happen not to trust him,” I said bitterly, moving after Darius to brush my hand over Orion’s forehead and check he was still okay.
“Clara came back,” I told Darius as evenly as I could without falling into a pit of anger. Of hate. I’d helped bring her back, I’d had a hand in almost losing Orion. But if Darius had been here…if Tory had. Where was she? “Clara did this to Orion. She seemed lost to the shadows.”