Blood Stained Tranquility (44 page)

She didn’t even need to trace the origin of the music.

At least she knew Cyake was home.

On the second floor landing, she turned, intending to head to his room when a cough, a heave, and what sounded like a wet splat stopped her in her tracks. She paused, turning and cocking her head to the side.

Another cough. More of that wet sound.

Then Ianythi’s voice reached her. “Nylicia should be here soon. She said she’d have something to help you.”

Ianthen groaned miserably. “I don’t—” He choked then gagged. “I don’t give a fuck. Just leave me like this.”

Nythi sighed. “No, you moron. You’ll die without help. And just because you fucked up, that doesn’t mean you get to be suicidal. Live with the consequences.”

Beyond curious, Eve popped into Ianthen’s room, bypassing the door leading in. She made her way through the sitting area—which resembled an odd combination of an arcade and a bar—and made her way into the bedroom. Once there, she traced the wet, choked sounds to the bathroom.

Ian was throwing up.

Nostrils flaring, she took a single step back as her brain registered the smell of blood. A hell of a lot of it.

“I love you, brother. You know that right?” Nythi asked in a soft voice.

Ianthen garbled out that he loved her too between his yakking.

“But,” Ianythi continued, a smile in her voice, “considering your track record, and the way you’ve treated females since you hit sexual maturity,
and
your stupidity last night, this is what I would call divine justice. What I’m saying is that I feel bad for you, but I don’t. Make sense?”

Nythi went momentarily quiet as her brother tried to curse her out while retching.

“She was devastated Ianthen. She tried to hide it, but I saw it. She was furious and heartbroken.”

“And you fucking took her to that asshole!”

Nythi tsked. “One, she only kissed him. I was sure she was going to fuck him just to get back at you, but she couldn’t go through with it. Two, I had no idea at the time that you were mated
and
bonded to her. Obviously, you had just found this out yourself. I mean, come on, we found you with that nymph’s hand down your pants and her tongue in your mouth, dude.”

What the
fuck
?

In a blaze of rising fury, Eve flashed into the bathroom. She almost took the doorframe and wall with her when she grabbed onto it to stop herself from going further.

Ian leaned over the sink. Blood covered every inch of white marble in front of him. A small puddle had accumulated on the floor. Even the mirror had been spattered with drops of red.

Nythi stood behind her blood-drenched twin, a delicate hand rubbing the space between his massive shoulders.

“What the hell did you do to Sol?” Eve locked her fingers, digging them further into the doorframe. She would not kill him. Not yet. He was going to fucking give her answers first!

But no sooner than the question finished leaving her mouth, her powers of Justice surged just enough for her to see what had happened. She was assaulted by the image of Ianthen outside a house, a black-haired female practically climbing him. The female was almost cruel in the way that she kissed him, her head bobbing back and forth frantically.

Her hand had been just as bad, jerking up and down inside his unbuttoned jeans.

Ianthen had placed his hands on the female’s shoulders and pushed her back with a look of growing agony on his face a millisecond after Nythi had appeared, her hand on Soleria’s arm.

God. Oh God. The look on Sol’s face.

“I’m going to fucking kill you, you asshole!” Eve shook her head, willing the image to disappear out of her mind. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t hearing the screech, or that the voice of Justice hadn’t begun to demand its due, yet. Eve’s rage was more than making up for the lack. “Why? Why would you do that to her? I barely saw you guys eight hours ago, and you looked like you were dying for her. I thought you fucking cared for her!”

“I do!” Ian willed the water on, rinsing a tremulous hand and running it across his mouth. When he met Eve’s accusing stare in the mirror, she saw the gray tone his skin had taken on, and the dark, purple bags under his eyes. “I love her.”

She almost ripped his tongue out of his mouth. The wall cracked as she pulled on the doorframe.

“You have one hell of a way of showing it. Why would you go off with another female?”

Ianthen lowered his head, but not before Eve caught a flash of the misery playing out on his face.

“After you left last night . . . we were hanging. Things got heated. I haven’t been with a female in over two months. Since I met her. I was out of control, and my bonded symptoms were starting to show. I knew. I fucking
knew
she was the one, but I didn’t want to admit it to myself. My body started calling for her and then she went crazy at the scent of my skin.” He paused, shuddering so hard his entire frame moved.

Ianythi pulled her hand from her twin’s back and took a step away from him, her expression saying it all. There were some details best left unsaid.

Ianthen cupped the back of his head and continued rambling, oblivious.

“She went wild on me. How could I resist that? Fuck, she was
delicious
. Amazing . . . she was . . .”

“Brother stop.”

“Yes,” Eve agreed. “Stop.”

He didn’t even seem to hear them. “I knew it wasn’t going to work out, you know? She’s still human. So fucking fragile.”

“Did you hurt her?” Eve was ready to kill him all over again.

“No. But it didn’t work out. She was so freaking
tiny
.” Ian bent down closer to the sink, groaning repeatedly, shaking in agony.

Ah. Ah shit.

Eve squeezed her eyes shut, praying that the powers of Justice wouldn’t show her
that
part.

Her imagination stepped in where her powers failed though, and she found herself bombarded with the visual of Ianthen trying to shove his
godly
prick inside still-human Soleria’s hoo-hah.

Oh, fuck.

“This is so wrong,” Nythi groaned, scrubbing at her eyes with her hands.

“I was freaking on the verge of going rabid after we stopped. And I was scared, okay? Cyake prophesied that the woman I would fall in love with would come to destroy me. I never wanted to fall in love. Or bond. Or fucking mate.” He stopped, almost falling into the sink as dry heaves wracked him.

“Is there a difference between mating and bonding?” Eve asked Nythi, her stomach sick from the fury.

“Yeah. Hyrens bond. Gods and other immortals mate. Different symptoms, but just as bad. And he did both in the span of one night,
whilst
allowing another female to touch him.” Nythi shrugged, her long, navy-blue hair falling over her shoulders. “Accelerated symptoms.”

No wonder Eve’s powers weren’t demanding anything. Heck, it really was divine justice to see him like that, attacked by the raging symptoms of both a mating and bonding.

“You fucking mor—”

“Evesse.”

For an instant, logic deserted Evesse. She froze, arms dropping to her sides. Her ears picked up on the sound of approaching footsteps, but her brain was too shocked and hopeful to respond.

Her nose greedily pulled in his scent, pumping a “
hey-idiot-turn-around!
” through Evesse’s synapses. The world faded, and everything around her ceased to matter.

All but one thing.

“Evesse.”

She gave an embarrassing little squeal, flipping around, her wide eyes searching out her mate.

Zeniel.

It was her Zeniel. He was in the room. He was storming toward her. His demon markings were writhing, his cheekbones were beautiful, and his blood-shot eyes were . . .

Blue and gray.

His eyes were
blue and
freaking
gray.

“Z-Zen?”

He swooped down on her, his big arms lifting her off the floor.

Stunned, Eve stared blankly behind him as he pressed his cheek to hers and rubbed their faces together. The pleased groan he gave shocked her out of it.

“Zen.”

“Baby.” He pulled back.

Blue and gray. She hadn’t been imagining it. The physical marks of his
Erencei
half were still visible, but his eyes were . . . no. It wasn’t his war demon
half
any longer.

“You . . . you’re whole now, aren’t you?” She cupped his face.

His eyes were red and swollen, but his irises remained the same dual color that reflected his Tranquility powers. The nod he gave her was small. His smile, however, was not, and once again she was faced with that grateful look.

“Yes. Thank you.”

Zen had been crying. She realized that just as she felt his residual pain hit her through their re-opened connection. The memories churned beneath his notice, painful but unheeded at the moment. He cupped her head, putting them forehead to forehead and inhaling her. Eyes closed, he smiled and thanked her again.

The relief in his tone almost broke her right there.

Zen didn’t give her a chance to fall into tears. His eyes opened to half-mast, and locked on her lips. The look he gave her was so primal, it made her shiver.

“You wanted me whole, my
R’ma
.” She trembled harder at the way his voice split. Willingly. “You’ve got me.”

She was about to have him all right. As a matter of fact, her thoughts had all centered on the idea of having him under her, and using her body to erase any lingering pain he felt.

Until Ianthen puked again. Loudly.

Zen scowled in confusion, staring over Evesse’s shoulder.

She saw the exact moment he realized what Ian had done. His eyes blurred red and black and he let out a dangerous growl.

“You moron.” He let Eve go, taking a step into the bathroom. “I should rip you apart. Let my wraiths destroy your manhood. What the hell is wrong with you?”

“The freaking prophecy, you fidiot! And you’re taking your new role as uncle a little too seriously, don’t you think?”

Evesse grabbed Zen’s arm, waiting for the mist to start up. He turned his head and shook it, silently letting her know that he was okay. He was seeing Ianthen’s actions but he wasn’t feeling a need to punish him.

Zen looked back at Ian. “You fool. You’re going to die like this.” Scoffing, he turned to look over his shoulder. “Where is Nylicia? Wasn’t she working on—”

Cyake popped into the room before Zen could finish.

This time, when Zeniel’s eyes widened, there was no doubt that little trickles of mist were beginning to swirl out. Like miniature ribbons in the wind. He slammed his eyes shut and dove, pressing his head between Eve’s shoulder and neck.

Eve grabbed the back of his head, holding him to her.

“Tell me I can’t punish him. Please.”

She looked away from Cy’s tortured, worried expression and whispered in Zen’s ear. “Don’t punish him.”

She wasn’t even surprised when she heard her voice change. What did surprise her, however, was that her new powers didn’t act up in front of Cyake, either. Clearly, the things he had done were bad enough to screw with Zen’s powers. So why were hers unaffected?

Zen moved back, slowly, eyes closed as if he was afraid that her command wasn’t going to stick. The relief he felt when he opened his eyes without danger was palpable.

Cyake looked between Zen and Eve, shocked. There was a spark of hope in his face there, too. As if he had been waiting a long time to see what he was seeing and still couldn’t believe it was happening.

The moment was broken by Ianthen, who seemed like he wasn’t going to be able to stop anytime soon. Cyake stormed past Eve and Zen, horrified.

“Fucking hell dude! Why the fuck didn’t you call me? What the fuck happened? What the hell did you do?”

“Here we go again.” Nythi rolled her eyes heavenward, taking her place behind her brother and running a hand soothingly along her brother’s fauxhawk.

Ianthen didn’t get a chance to answer. A light flashed next to him on the blood coated counter, and in its wake were two odd, silver cylinders.

No. Not cylinders. They looked like arm cuffs. Freaky cuffs that consisted of multiple, engraved rings connected to a single bar. The rings didn’t meet on the other side, and it was obvious that the bar went on the front of the forearm, and the rings went halfway around the back of it.

It was what was on the end of those rings that almost freaked her out. Eight rings and on the ends of each one, on
both sides
, were what looked like spikes. The kind that stuck out of a pit bull’s collar or the kind you found on gothic accessories. Except these were scalpel sharp.

Eight rings, sixteen spikes, and if the end of the rings went on the back of the forearm that could only mean that the spikes went
inside
.

She didn’t recognize the language of the words engraved on the bracelets. Didn’t matter. Somehow, she knew what they were for, and she could sense what they were made out of.

“Put them on.”