“It was only a dozen or so times,” I said defensively. And then, “Because we were in battle.”
A vision of Eva and me locked in a heated embrace flashed to the forefront of my mind. Nothing had happened, but we were in a cave for two days. She shared her blood and I shared mine, with no other choice but to strengthen one another before facing the fighting again.
“So if I had a bite of Dark One…” Alex’s lips twisted into a thin line as he rubbed them together. “I’d basically be a ninja.”
“Eva knew how to fight without my blood. It just enhanced her regular abilities. You’re too sedentary. I imagine a Dark One’s blood would just turn you into a comatose state.”
Ethan smirked. “So he’d be the same then?”
Alex scowled his eyes narrowing into tiny slits as he glanced in my direction, his face impassive. The bastard was picking away at my thoughts. Self-preservation told me to back away and go upstairs, but my feet felt sluggish, my body, exhausted and sore as if I’d taken on an entire army by myself.
“Sleep.” Alex said helpfully. “You’re a human now, you need actual rest.”
“I just woke up!”
“Good, then you’ll remember how to go back to sleep,” Stephanie said walking into the room. “You’ve spent no time sleeping, most of your time trying to do everything you used to be able to do sans power. Sleep and then we can train.”
A scream erupted from downstairs.
John.
“No.” I shook my head vigorously. “Absolutely not.”
“Yes.” Stephanie held out her hand. “For me.”
Her voice was so enticing, before I knew it, I was grasping her hand and following her up the stairs as Alex parroted, “for me,” in a high pitched voice.
I chose to ignore him.
Because she’d be upset if I tried to kill him and I was the one that ended up dead. At least I hoped she would be.
If I ever had my powers returned, if the future ever changed and Stephanie didn’t kill me, I was going to have a serious talk with that Siren.
He mimicked her voice again and burst into a laughter.
A very serious and damning talk.
The thought cheered me the entire achy way up the stairs.
Stephanie
NOTHING ABOUT CASSIUS WAS FRAIL. His physical body was in peak condition, but his eyes? Mannerisms? The way he carried himself? It was like was dying before my very eyes, which seemed silly, but there it was, his blood, not pumping as fast through his system.
If I closed my eyes when I pressed a fingertip to his arms, it was as if I could feel the cells dying, his body aging, but I didn’t have any proof of it just this insane natural ability to be able to read his body chemistry. As if his physical body was already mourning the loss of years it would never see.
Once we reached the room Cassius was staying in, he frowned, and then moved back down the hall and walked into my room.
“Sure, let yourself right in,” I mumbled while Cassius’s exhausted body weaved its way toward the bed.
“This body exhausts me.” His mouth formed a curse against the large white pillow as his hands clenched the blanket around him. “I’m constantly at war with myself, hot, cold, hungry, full, angry, happy, sad.” He yawned.
I sat down next to him, reaching out to comfort him, laying my hand across his back. “You’re useless tonight, we’ll start training first thing in the morning.”
He groaned. “We can train… just…” Another yawn. ?
?A few hours, in our dreams.”
“You want to train me in your… mind?” The thought was extremely unsettling. I’d been in his head; it was a dark place, a dark and lonely reminder of my future.