Dark Flight (The Shadow Slayers) (33 page)

Struggle
, she heard. But she wasn’t here to struggle. No. Julian was struggling. She remembered her grip on his hand and felt his energy waning. A vision came to her of Julian in all his savage glory holding Brakken’s head under the quicksand…but Julian himself was sinking, every kick took him deeper.

Brakken’s mouth broke the surface again for one last gasping breath, and in his eyes was his disbelief and anger that he was finished. He grasped Julian’s shoulder and they both went under.

The silence was complete now and perfect in its stillness. Kara floated, suspended in perfection like an embryo in her mother’s womb. She clenched her hand, but something was missing.

Julian was missing.

I’m here for a reason.
And was the reason to simply exist? No. Not today. Today she was here for…Julian?

Some part of her consciousness snapped back to attention. Julian had gone under. Julian was gone.

Kara kicked through the perfect warmth and found the surface of the sand. She reached her hand in and sharp teeth dragged along her fingers, nipping at her flesh. She almost pulled her hand back until she found the tips of strong, kind fingers. She reached deeper. Two hands, but she couldn’t decide which to take.

She grasped the hands and brought them together, merging them into one, and a feeling of rightness surged into her being. She pulled and Julian emerged from the sand, coughing up bits of his spirit until he settled into himself.

Kara felt a deep sadness at saying goodbye to this place, but it wasn’t her time to stay. Now was the time to bring Julian home.

Gavin had lost all hope. It had been hours since Kara and Julian had flashed away with his father, and Gavin had scouts posted every place they might appear. Kara’s apartment. Mercury Island. Julian’s lair. Mazeki’s kingdom. The location where they’d found the Sanctiáre—though the mountain Kara had visited was no longer there. Hell, Gavin had even stationed a scout at the Hoolecha Inn.

But there was no sign of them, and Gavin was ruined beyond deliverance.

He walked to Julian’s old tree on the island…the place he’d once buried his oldest and dearest friend…the place he’d dug Julian up when he’d feared the regeneration had stalled. One thing he’d never done—though the curiosity had come to him one sleepless night—was open the casket once again after Julian had risen.

He’d always wondered if the man who’d risen was a new creature, only Julian in one element of his spirit, or if the black-wing had resurrected Julian’s corpse. He’d never checked after the first time, because he told himself it was too invasive, that it wasn’t his right to know. But in truth, it had been too terrible to witness his dearest friend’s decomposing body.

How ironic that he’d thought having Julian’s body in a box was the worst thing. It couldn’t compare to the fear and desolation that both Kara and Julian might truly be gone, their bodies and spirits consumed.

He would never see them again. Never know what happened in their last moments. Never be able to tell his friend, even the pompous black-wing ass, how much he dearly loved him. He would never be able to spend millennia proving to Kara that she was the only woman he would want for all time.

Gavin leaned against the trunk of the poplar, thankful the tree could support his weight when he could not. He closed his eyes, unable to even cry, when he felt a curious shimmer in the air around him. He opened his eyes again and realized he was seeing a vision. Kara and Julian, thin like mist, but naked, forehead to forehead in the grass, their knees tucked up to their chests and their fingers intertwined.

The vision was a gift. He knew it meant they were happy wherever they were.

But then Kara moaned, and Gavin blinked in amazement. Was their outline getting darker against the green of the grass? He didn’t dare hope, just held his breath and said
be still
to his heart as he waited.

“Oh, crap,” Kara groaned. “Julian, are you okay?”

Gavin crept forward, not wanting them to vanish like the dream he feared they were.

Kara sat up, her long brown hair wet and stuck to her head, and her beautiful body on display. She glanced up at Gavin and frowned. “Why are you staring at me like that?”

He went down on one knee. “Are you real?”

Kara dropped her chin and stared at him through lowered brows. “Yeah. Are you?”

He couldn’t help himself. He scooted to her on his knees and took her mouth with his until she all but melted in his arms. When he was finished, her full nipples pressed against his bare chest and he suddenly regretted that she’d lost her crazy bloodlust when her wings had finished forming. He wouldn’t have minded being bit and pushed up against the tree in that moment.

He kissed her again and murmured his love against her cheeks. “I thought I’d lost you both. If you ever mean to travel to the Abyss again, take me with you. I’d be just as lost without you here.”

Kara smiled. “I don’t think we’ll be going back again.”

“It worked?”

She squeezed him tight. “Yes, baby. It worked. Brakken isn’t going to be coming back.”

Gavin closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to hers. “Praise the Maker.” And when he pulled back, he glanced at Julian’s sleeping form. “It was hard on him?”

Kara rubbed the heel of her hand over her eyes. “I think so. Honestly, I can hardly remember it. I have a feeling he did most of the work.” She reached her hand out and rested it on Julian’s thigh. “Julian? Hey, Jules…wake up.”

His black lashes fluttered, and when at last they fell open, his eyes widened, his gaze darting from Gavin to Kara. Suddenly, he jumped to his feet. “Ha!” He half laughed, half shouted.

Gavin was momentarily worried for the black-wing. It was as though the Abyss had addled his brain. But then Julian did something even stranger—he dashed over to Gavin and picked him up bodily, twirling him around and then setting him on his feet, and all the while he continued his strange
Ha!
noises.

“Ha!” Julian started jumping up and down, hugging Gavin like he hadn’t seen him in a hundred years.

And everything in Gavin stilled. “Julian?”

“Yes!” the man shouted, grinning like a proper idiot. “It’s me!”

Kara stood, her face a mix of concern and waiting for the punch line to a joke she hadn’t yet heard. “What’s going on?”

Gavin couldn’t help it, he squeezed back and jumped in time with his friend. “It’s Julian!”

“Yes, I see that,” Kara replied.

Julian released Gavin with a playful punch in the shoulder as though he hadn’t just been rubbing his naked self all over Gavin’s buckskin, and then he took Kara by the shoulders. “It’s me!”

Perhaps the carefree grin was what finally convinced her. “Oh my God. Julian?”

“Yes.”

She stepped back. “Let me see your wings.”

As though curious himself, Julian cast a glance over his shoulder as his wings expanded. His black wings.

“They’re black,” she said, seeming suddenly unsure. “Which you are you?”

He stepped forward and took her hand. “I’m both. It’s as if the Abyss connected both halves of my soul.” Then he looked to Gavin. “I remember everything. The centuries we passed together. The battles we fought. And I remember the rising as well. It’s just not as difficult to fight the urge to kill you now.”

Gavin took in the awesome power of Aniliáre before him and coughed. “That’s good news, Jules.”

“And can you…” Kara’s voice was almost a whisper. “Can you remember me?”

“Oh, my love,” Julian told her, and when he wrapped his arms around her, Gavin felt nothing but joy. “I treasure and remember every moment.”

“Every moment?” she repeated.

“Except the break-up. I don’t remember ever doing that, do you?”

Kara laughed. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. What break-up?” But then she suddenly looked to Gavin and froze, as though she’d said something wrong. “Gavin…”

Gavin turned to Julian, and he saw the spark of life he’d always remembered in his friend’s eyes. “We said when Julian rose he could decide. That was our agreement. Well, now he’s truly risen.”

No matter what happened today, Gavin was thankful to have the two people he loved the most restored to him. “What do you say, my friend? Is there any chance that we could both have a place in Kara’s life?”

Kara was gazing at Julian hopefully, but he shook his head, the hard glint returning to his eyes. “Not a chance in hell.” Then he came to Gavin and put his arm around Gavin’s shoulders, reaching under his arms to pinch his biceps.

“Ouch!” Gavin bellowed and grabbed Julian’s hand so he couldn’t pinch him again. What exactly was he up to?

“You see, Kara—” Julian stood tall beside Gavin, his arm still hooked over Gavin’s shoulders, and his black wings displayed jauntily over his back, “—it’s not a matter of us having a place in
your
life. I would like to know if you would like a place in
ours
.”

Kara’s eyes widened. “Really?”

Julian looked to Gavin, and Gavin nodded.

“Yeah,” Kara said, her cheeks flushed and her smile radiant. “I think I could handle that.”

And when she threw herself into their arms, Gavin simply held on—his dearest friend in one arm and the love of his immortal life in the other.

He kissed Kara’s damp hair, then pulled back and met Julian’s eyes. “But don’t think we’re going to spend all of our time in the Shadowland at that little apartment of yours. You’ll have to split your time between the realms now that you can travel to the surface. We have a clan to govern.”

“We?” Julian asked.

“Yes. Your memory is back and so are your duties to the clan,
Lord Julian
.”

Julian looked to Kara. “I’m sorry…who is this man next to me? Do I know him?”

“Nice try. Don’t make me take you for another swim in the Abyss.” Kara put her hand to Julian’s naked hip. “And besides, the two men I love on one island?” Her hand grazed his waist and delved lower. “That’s sounding like a pretty solid plan to me.”

Gavin laughed, long and deep, and it felt as if his soul was being woven back together with threads of joy and contentment. His father was gone. His child was safe. His friend was healed. And his woman was back from the very mouth of hell, flying on her own two wings.

Suddenly, Gavin’s smile drooped.

“What?” Kara asked, seeing the shift.

“Nothing. It’s just—” he ran his hand over Kara’s smooth, bare back, “—your wings. Your gift from the Sanctiáre. Are you going to miss them?”

“Trust me, they were not all that,” Julian teased.

Kara smacked him on the shoulder. “Hey! They saved your ass. And they were cool while they lasted.”

“Well, now you have silver wings
and
black wings at your beck and call.” Gavin expanded his wings and the tips of his feathers brushed down Kara’s side. “You’ll want for nothing, princess.”

“Yeah, it was still awesome. I’m always going to remember how it felt to fly. Just—poof! And there were my bony wings.” But when she flexed her back and
poofed
, her bony wings burst from between her shoulders.

Only they weren’t bony any longer, and Gavin was speechless.

“What?” She waggled her shoulders, as though afraid to turn around. “They’re still there? Please tell me they’re still there.”

“Not exactly,” Julian replied, seemingly as tongue-tied as Gavin.

So Gavin simply reached around and gently brought the tip of one wing into Kara’s peripheral vision. They were magnificent. Stunning. He’d never seen anything like it. White feathers with the edges thinly laced in black.

“What does it mean?” Kara breathed.

Julian’s smile was purely wicked. “This theory may need to be tested, but I’m fairly certain it means you need to be made love to—immediately.”

When Kara’s lips parted and her naked skin flushed, sending the essence of her arousal into the air around them, Gavin slid his hands around her waist and pulled her near. “You may be on to something, my friend. Let’s go explore what wondrous mysteries this woman’s body holds.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

“These Mercury men know how to party!” Abbey shouted over the music, a virgin piña colada in one hand and Jaxon in the other. Kara couldn’t get over her best friend’s belly, or more specifically, how Abbey had no shame grinding on her husband with said belly bouncing to the beat. It was awesome.

What was less awesome was all the speculation surrounding the impending birth. Even the O.P.A. had come calling, offering to run blood tests and DNA panels on the unborn child. Some speculated it was the blood Julian had given Abbey that made her body more susceptible to the event, but regardless of how it had happened, the last time a witch and one of the Fallen had produced a child—the product was Julian.

Theories abounded over whether or not this child could also become a black-wing, and if it was therefore possible to create a second generation of Aniliáre—possibly stronger than the first. Abbey figured the only way to prove that theory was death and the slim chance of a Shadow Rising, so when asked what she thought the child would grow to be, she always answered, “High priestess, like her mommy.”