He turned one hand palm up, reaching toward his biological sire, his “Uncle Ere.”
“With us.”
Ere’s eyes tracked his gesture but didn’t react. He hadn’t spoken but for the blood-curdling, monstrous roars.
Ben wondered if he was mentally half-beast right now. There was no white in his eyes, only opaque black, with glowing red centers. Even his face wasn’t completely human. It wasn’t his usual half-form, which Ben had seen many times, where, except for his wings, he maintained all of his humanoid form.
Now, in addition to his clawed hands and feet, Ben saw up close that the sharpness of his face wasn’t just from the self-imposed starvation over the past few weeks, but that the bone structure itself was different.
His brow was more protruded, as were his cheekbones and chin. His ears were larger and “elf-like” with pointed tips; his fangs, longer than normal. Sharp horns sprouted from the top of his head through his wild black hair. They were a miniature of his dragon horns. Behind him, a long, spiked tail whipped from side to side, the point like a javelin.
Thisversion of Ere was the stuff of children’s nightmares. A monster of biblical proportions. He could have stepped out of medieval fairytale books.
The ones that depicted the Devil.
Satan. Iblis.
Lucifer. The Morning Star.
The Light Bringer.
Before he fell from grace.
But Ben saw none of that. He only saw Ere.
His friend. A kindred soul. A funny, quirky, irreverent being.
Now lost and hurting.
And Ben vowed then and there that he would do everything in his power to make things right. He’d find a way to trek to the Underworld to bring Sorin’s soul back to the living if he had to.
“Don’t give up,” he whispered so softly that only Ere could hear him.
“It’s not the end. We’ll figure it out together. I promise you. We’ll bring him back.”
A long, keening sound rumbled from Ere’s monster chest, emphasizing the transformed topography of his fleshly shell. His collar bones were more pronounced and sharp like blades; every rib could be counted in stark relief.
Someone shifted close to Ben, and a sense of calm flooded his system, steadying his heart.
“There were no ashes, stardust or smoke,” Cloud said beside him. “And certainly no body was found.”
“We do not know where Sorin had gone. He simply…disappeared. I saw it on the live feed from the healing chamber. One moment Ere was holding his hand, head down on the bed beside his Mate, taking a brief rest. And the next, Sorin was…gone. Simply dematerialized.”
Ben didn’t take his eyes off Ere, who watched him and Cloud intensely, his black eyes narrowing.
“So, it wasn’t like a death, you mean? When an Immortal’s soul departs the body?”
“No,” Cloud confirmed.
“If that were the case, there would have been evidence of his passing. There was none.”
“What do we do now?” Ben hissed beneath his breath as Ere’s eyes sharpened further like a predator about to pounce.
“We contain him,” Cloud answered.
“He cannot be here in the human realm, in New York City of all places. Until we resolve the situation with Sorin, Erebu must be neutralized.”
Cloud turned slightly toward Ben, bending closer to murmur low, “You witnessed and felt what he’s capable of. Another roar from him and the whole building will crumble. As it is, we will have to relocate at least temporarily until the damage is rectified. He is unleashed right now. All the Darkest parts of him. He has no Light to balance his powers. We have to take him away from here.”