Cataclysm (47 page)

Kerrigan turned to her best friend. “Gabe...”

“I’m already on it,” he said taking off.

They already had some of the extract made up for Kerrigan, and she had only used a small amount of it when they got home; however, they were going to need more than what they had on hand to use on not only Sinclair, but Drew and Kerrigan as well when she came out of Dominic’s dream.
If
she came out of his dream. He couldn’t allow himself to think like that. She
had
to be okay. Their
baby
had to be okay.

Moments later, Gabe had returned with so much of the extract that Colton had to help him carry it. Drew kissed Sinclair and swore he would do everything in his power to ensure she would be okay. She looked scared but determined to play her role.

Drew looked around the room. “Where are you, mate?”

“I’m here,” he answered from next to Kerrigan.

“Be careful not to take too much. You need to pull from the power in the room around you so that you have as much as you can get before you start to drain Sinclair. If anything happens to her, I’m holding you personally responsible.”

Fair enough. He would react the same way if it were Kerrigan risking her life. Which she did on a regular basis for him, so he knew the feeling all too well.

Sinclair lay down on the floor, and he stood above her. He concentrated on pulling from the power sources around him first, causing the lights to flicker. Soon, the entire room was pitch-black with the exception of the small amount of light his ghostly figure gave off.

Sinclair looked up at him as he hovered over her. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry,” she said, and then she closed her eyes and parted her lips.

Dominic did the same, not able to bear watching himself do something so inhuman, albeit necessary. He inhaled a deep breath, feeling the first tingle of energy tickling his lungs. The sensation spread and filled him, making him come to life from the inside out. The heat of her essence warmed his cells, and they danced in celebration. It was the same feeling he had when he had transformed from ghost to human on a daily basis, only this was dramatically slower, allowing him to feel each distinct cell as they fired to life. He could become addicted to the sensation and understood why William had refused to let go of Kerrigan—what her Guardian essence must have felt like flowing through him.

“That’s enough,” Drew said.

Dominic pulled back before he became lost in the allure of taking more. The demon inside him wanted it, begged him to steal it, but his human side—the part embraced by his angelic bloodline and the Light—gave him the strength to push away. He stood and looked down at himself, finding a golden glow surrounding his physical form and it was evident that this was only temporary.

“Dominic,” Kerrigan whispered with sadness in her eyes.

Drew leaned over Sinclair’s lethargic body. She offered him a weak smile to prove she was okay. “I’m so proud of you, sweetheart,” he whispered and then kissed her.

“You can molest her to your heart’s content later, scrumptious, but right now you and I have a job to do.” Gabe took Sinclair’s head into his lap and waved Drew off. “Go do your thing before it’s too late.”

Drew reluctantly left her side and stood in front of Dominic, looking him over. “Where’s your mark?”

Dominic pulled his shirt over his head. He tossed it to Kerrigan, and she held it to her chest like it was her lifeline. Drew noticed.

“Not to worry, Kerrigan,” he reassured her. “If you two pull this off, you’ll be holding him in your arms again before you know it. And make no mistake about it... it is imperative that you pull this off. As soon as he falls asleep, you’ll need to go to your sanctuary and wait for him to call you into his dream.”

“No pressure, huh?” Dominic said with a shrug and a forced smile.

Drew focused on the mark on his right shoulder, lifting his hand to reveal a ball of white hot light in his palm. “You might feel a jolt, mate.” Before Dominic knew what was happening, Drew slammed the palm of his hand into his shoulder.

Dominic’s head whipped back and he shut his eyes tight as his entire body strained with the power shooting through him.
A jolt, my ass
, he thought. It was like being struck by lightning repeatedly in the same spot. He clenched his teeth, the vibration of so much energy jarring him and threatening to shatter his pearly whites. He held back a strangled cry even though he felt like he was burning from the inside out. And then, without warning, it stopped.

He opened his eyes and lifted his head. He was warm again, whole again.

Kerrigan threw herself into his arms, but he caught her before the force could send them both tumbling to the ground. Holding onto him tight, she buried her face in the side of his neck. “I love you, I love you, I love you!” Her words were frantic, but she was relieved.

He chuckled and turned his head to the side to put his lips to her ear and whisper softly, “I know. It’s the only thing that keeps me going, so don’t you ever stop because I promise I’ll never stop loving you, Querida..”

“We haven’t started the real work just yet,” Drew said, reminding them of the task at hand. “I don’t know how long this will last, so we need to get you off to bed for the next leg. By the time you wake up, if all goes well, you should be as good as new. Perhaps if we go downstairs, you might have better luck falling asleep.”

Kerrigan slid down Dominic’s body until she was once again on her feet, but she refused to let go. “I’m not leaving him.”

Drew nodded. “Of course. You should be with him.” He turned to see that Sinclair was almost back to her normal self, sitting up with Gabe and Colton on either side of her. She looked like she might even be able to walk, however shaky her legs may be. “Shall we?”

Sinclair nodded and attempted to stand with Gabe and Colton’s help. She was using the wall as leverage and didn’t look to be doing a very good job of it. Drew stepped in and swept her up into his arms. “I’ve got you, sweetheart,” he said as she smiled up at him. He turned to Dominic and Kerrigan before heading out. “You’ll need to come and get me as soon as he falls to sleep. I don’t imagine there’s anything more I can do, but someone should be here just in case.”

Kerrigan nodded and then offered a smile to Sinclair. “Thank you.” Still too weak, Sinclair only nodded in response.

“Best of luck, mate,” Drew said to Dominic, and then he left.

Colton approached his brother. “If you die, I’m going to kill you.”

Dominic laughed. “Deal.”

Gabe stepped away from Colton and hugged both of his roommates. He kissed Kerrigan on the cheek and then turned to do the same to Dominic, his lips landing on the corner of his mouth. Dominic stiffened and drew his head back. “Oh, hush up, you big homophobe!” he said and then slapped his face playfully. “It’s just a kiss. Being a sissy isn’t a disease, so you can’t catch it. Besides, they say a kiss from a fairy is good luck.” He snickered and then he and Colton left as well.

“Well, it looks like it’s just you and me.”

Kerrigan managed a smile before taking his hand and leading him over to the bed. They lay down, and Kerrigan snuggled closer, facing him. She took in his face, drinking him in, and then kissed his lips softly. When she pulled back, she looked into his eyes and whispered, “Come back to me.”

“Siempre, Querida. I will always come back to you,” he said before she put her fingertips over his eyelids and he drifted off.

Dominic found himself standing in that same alleyway in Jacksonville where he had made his first kill at the ripe old age of fourteen. Only he wasn’t fourteen. He turned to look behind him, but didn’t see any evidence that Ricardo was nearby. His heart thumped like a bass drum in his chest, a sound he was sure could be heard in the eerie silence of his surroundings.

His right hand felt heavy, and he lifted it to find a handgun. Smoke rolled out of the end of the barrel as if it had just been fired. He looked toward the corner of the alley where he knew his first victim would be lying. There he was, discarded newspapers covering his lifeless body and the stench of gunpowder and death in the air.

“No!” Dominic shouted, but there was no response. He threw the gun down to the ground and took a step away from it. Looking at the man again, all the thoughts he had that day came rushing back to him. A family, lost without the one person who had kept a roof over their head and food on their table, dying at his hands. His hands. He was no better than his father.

Dominic fell to his knees and bowed his head in regret. “I’m sorry,” he said, needing to say the words aloud. “I’m sorry for everything. If I could take it all back, I would.”

In the blink of an eye, Dominic was hauled to his feet in reverse order. The gun flew back into his raised hand, and the smoke drifted down from the air to be sucked back into the gun. The bullet from the shot dislodged itself from the man’s chest and came whirling back at him in slow motion. He could see the spinning movement of the trajectory and the way the air around it rippled in reverse with its force. His hand jerked up a fraction of an inch when the bullet entered the barrel and slammed back into the chamber as if the shot had never been made, and then the gun disappeared from his hand.

He looked to the place where the man’s body had lain, finding nothing but a swirling wind that picked up the newspapers and carried them a smidge to the left before redepositing them back on the ground.

“Well, now isn’t that touching?” The hair on the back of Dominic’s neck rose, but he didn’t turn to face his father. Something told him that if he did, he’d lose his nerve.

“You say you’re sorry and all is forgiven. Your sins are wiped cleaned. It just warms my heart.” He could hear Drake approaching him. “Demons lie though, you know? I don’t have a heart. Hell, I don’t even have a soul.” He laughed, a deep throaty sound. “It’s why I’m able to do what I do without remorse. That’s your problem. You’re more than capable of performing heinous acts, but your pansy ass soul makes you feel the guilt of those actions. It makes you weak!”

Drake grabbed Dominic’s shoulder and spun him around. Dominic only got a brief glimpse of the demon before a heavy hand lashed at his face and sent him flying backward. Instinct forced a flare of Light to shoot from him and fly wildly without aim. He landed with a hard thud on the hard asphalt, the loss of energy instantly felt. Shit, a wasted shot. He wouldn’t have much time at that rate.

“Kerri—” The demon was on him, grabbing him by the throat and cutting off his words.

“You’d call your little bitch here to die with you?” The demon’s black lips curled up into a sneer. His jagged teeth clenched with a growl, and he raised his hand to reveal razor-sharp claws that tore through his chest in one swipe. Excruciating pain ripped through him, and he tried to cry out, but the hold Drake had around his throat effectively smothered all sound.

The demon laughed, amused by his torment. “Sucks, doesn’t it? Try enduring an eternity of torture at the hands of the most vicious and vile beings Satan, himself, created. I’m a pussycat compared to them.”

Drake lifted him up by the throat and threw him against the brick building to his left. Dominic could feel his spine crack before he fell back to the ground. He tried to inhale, but his lungs refused to cooperate, only allowing a quick, shallow intake. A sharp, stabbing pain in his chest alerted him to the fact that his right lung had been punctured by what was likely a broken rib. His chest rose and fell in rapid succession, each inhale sending a jolt of pain from his chest through to his back. A dull ache in the back of his head was all the proof he needed to know his skull had been fractured, but just to be sure, he put his fingers to the spot. Warm, wet, and sticky. He looked at his fingers to find them coated in his own blood.

Shit. This wasn’t going very well at all.

Drake approached him with a purpose in his step, orange eyes zeroing in on him with pure hatred. He was just toying with him, but no way was he going to let Dominic leave that dream alive.

Pushing past the pain, Dominic willed the Light inside of him to take aim. It hit Drake dead in the center of his chest. The demon arched his back—laughing. Granted, he knew he didn’t have as much energy as he’d had in his previous dreams, and he was considerably weaker, but that should have had at least some effect on him. So, why did he act like it was nothing more than a tickle?