Seduced by Crimson (42 page)

"Demons!" Hatred boiled in the word.

Patrick threw up his hands in disgust. "So you masterminded an Earth invasion? You bring these bastards here to destroy both planets for revenge?"

Jason sneered. "Oh, I didn't mastermind this. I just came along for the ride when I heard it was happening." He shook his head, and Patrick saw oblivion in the man's eyes. It was more than disgust, more than horror—it was a black, all-consuming and total loathing of everything. "No, I was busy with another plan entirely."

"Which was… ?" Damn, where was everybody? One glance around told Patrick that the battle still raged. Demons continued to ravage, defenders continued to kill, all was death and chaos. Except for here, where Jason calmly listed his accomplishments. How strange that the man seemed just like he'd been as a teen: a braggart. Brilliant, powerful, and a bit sadistic, but he still needed an audience.

"Can't you feel it?" Jason asked. His energy surged again. Dark, ugly, and angry, it poisoned the air. "Power. Lots and lots of limitless power. To do with as I want, whatever I want."

"Why?"

Jason blinked, but he didn't stop talking. "I didn't need the amulet on Orcus. Going through changed me somehow. I was so damn sick at first. Dying, you bastard. Then I discovered I didn't need the amulet."

The energy continued to crackle along Patrick's skin, but each needle-prick of pain seemed to burrow deeper now. Jason's energy was slipping inside him somehow, syncing up and sliding in. It was an awful sensation—like black oil seeping into his soul—and he tried to shore up his mental defenses against it.

No go. As Jason continued to reminisce, the evil man's energy steadily infiltrated and corrupted Patrick's own.

"I could absorb energy without the trinket. Sure, it helps. And I'll get it back, by the way, don't think I won't. But I don't need it to take what I want."

The assault began: Jason began stealing Patrick's energy, Patrick's life force. He just sucked it away, draining it steadily while Patrick fought and struggled to stay himself, independent and separate from this psycho. But he had just opened himself to all that was—Orcus, Earth, Xiao Fei. They were intertwined. He couldn't close down what he'd just worked so hard to open. The transition just didn't work that fast.

And as Jason drew Patrick in, he drew in all the other power as well. He was sucking in the life force of two entire planets.

"Why?" Patrick rasped. "What do you want?"

No answer. Jason was busy now. He had to manage the power flow. His concentration was fierce, his power unbelievable—and growing by the second. The energy flowed through Patrick to Jason. Patrick tried to direct the flow, to shape it somehow, but the stream was too fast, the current too strong. No man could stop it once the flow had begun.

Love.

The word whispered through Patrick's thoughts, the sound so soft it was a miracle he heard it at all. It came from Xiao Fei. She might have been sending him the thought for a while, but he only now heard it.

Love.

Yes, he loved her. She was dying. It was her last goodbye, not only to him, but to the world, because—thanks to Jason—both planets were now doomed to die.

"I'm not going to take it all, you know," Jason said. His voice trembled with strain. "I've got to live somewhere, don't I? I'll take just enough."

"Enough for what?" Patrick asked.

"Whatever I want."

No reason then, Patrick realized. Jason had no purpose beyond greed, no thought except of more power. Patrick felt himself drop to his knees, his body unable to support the current. Damn, how much could a man want?

Love
. Again Xiao Fei's word slipped into his thoughts. He heard it, accepted it, and tried to dismiss it. He was battling for two worlds here. He had to maintain his focus. But her love was too bright to ignore, too insistent to forget.

"I love you, too," he whispered. He meant the words for Xiao Fei. He sent the thought to her mentally even as he whispered it. And in that moment, the current changed. The moment he embraced her—even in his thoughts—was the moment the power shifted in nature. It warmed, it surged, it became more alive.

He heard Jason grunt with effort.

Love opens.

Patrick frowned. Xiao Fei was telling him something. Why didn't he understand?

Open.

Open what? Open Jason! Understanding rippled through him. Jason was just one man. He held and shaped the energy he stole; he didn't become it. It circled him, it surrounded him, but it didn't suffuse him because he was too small to hold it. No wonder Jason hated with such fury. That kept him closed to the energy. It kept him separate.

But if he was filled with love, if he had to open to what he did…

Patrick began to work. Amazing, how simple it was, how easy once he'd been shown the way. He began with the small and worked outward. He loved Xiao Fei. With his whole heart, he loved her. He loved the Earth and Orcus. Mentally, he embraced all that lived. He began with the plants and animals, the fish and the birds. He expanded to people—human, werewolf, vampire, demon—all were embraced. Human, werewolf, vampire, demon…

And villain.

He remembered Jason the boy. He remembered his friend's torn socks, ripped too-small jeans, and cocky grin. He recalled the boy's missing mother, distracted father, and the yearning for something else, something more. Love, though neither child knew it then. Jason had wanted love. And so Patrick gave it to him. He pushed the thought into the current. Better yet, he poured the emotion into the power of two planets and surrounded Jason with it. Love—eternal and all embracing. Love—complete and filling. Love—the power to open even the hardest hearts and the most closed mind. Patrick loved Jason as completely as he loved Xiao Fei. And with that love, he brought this entire horrible mistake to an end.

Jason screamed in agony. Patrick suffered, too. His love made him open to it. He experienced his friends pain as if it were his own. He sensed it as Jason's soul opened to the love that surrounded him. It was a tiny crack at first, the smallest softening to the most overwhelming of wonders. And as Jason opened his spirit, Jason let the power in. He absorbed all the energy of the people he had killed, the souls he had taken, and the life force of two planets. All of it poured into him.

It was too much. No physical mass could contain it all. Jason's mouth stretched wide, his chest began to pulse and expand, and his body heaved. Patrick extended a hand, not knowing what he could do, but offering nonetheless.

It was too late. Behind him, he heard Xiao Fei scream. "Take cover!"

Before him, Jason convulsed. He gasped. And then he exploded.

There was no doubt of his death this time. Patrick felt the man's body explode. In his mind's eye, he saw Jason's spirit, too—bloated and diffuse—as it threw off all the energy it had taken. Power poured out in wave after wave. And Patrick knew what to do. It was easy, in fact. It was how he had first learned to see the energy, to feel the waves.

He surfed. He stepped upon an imaginary board and rode the waves of power. He entered that zen state of perfect acceptance, perfect unity with all that was. There was no ownership. How could one own the ocean or the power of two planets? You could only step onto a tiny piece of wood and enjoy the ride. If only he could share it with…

Xiao Fei was there. As soon as he had the thought, she appeared beside him, standing precariously on the board he navigated through the currents. He held her tight, laughing at the glory of it all, and feeling her love embrace and support them both. He returned it full-force, amazed that no matter how much energy he gave to her, she returned it magnified ten-fold. But then that was the power of love: it grew stronger the more it was shared.

Without Jason to hold it, the ocean of power returned to its natural state. The energy flowed back to each planet. Orcus took its own, and Earth held what belonged here. Patrick's job was to surf to the rough spots and use his will to smooth out the difficult separations. He and Xiao Fei did it together, laughing whenever the waves got rough.

And so, the veil that had been torn asunder began to knit. The forces that knotted the planets together began to unravel.

It was almost done. The balance was nearly restored.

Then Xiao Fei trembled and fell away.

In Patrick's mind, she simply lost her footing and slipped off the board. In reality, he knew she had lost too much blood. The link to her dying body was fading.

He could save her. He knew what to do. But he couldn't both knit her body and surf the energy. He couldn't seal the veil if he was shaping her healing.

He had to choose: Earth or Xiao Fei? A planet or the love of his life?

Indecision made him shake on the board. His footing began to slip. Then he jumped off.

He landed naked on his knees in the grove. Battle sounds still buffeted him from all sides, but his thoughts were on Xiao Fei. He saw her immediately. She was on the ground, blood still seeping from her leg, her skin a transparent gray. He scrambled forward, a scream on his lips.

"Xiao Fei!"

She opened her eyes. "Did you finish it?" she whispered. "Is it done?"

"Yes," he lied. In truth, he didn't know. It was nearly done. The energy ought to settle as it should, even without him there to direct it.

"Finish it," she ordered. "I've got a little power left. Use it…"

He didn't know how she knew the truth. Their hearts were so intertwined, she probably read it from him. But it didn't matter. He had abandoned the larger power to protect the smaller. He couldn't seal the veil if he tried. So he used her power not to save the Earth, but to surround her with love. He shaped the energy as she had taught him. He focused first on her thigh. Cell by cell, he painstakingly reknit the pulsing artery in her leg. As he worked, he had to fight the surge of each heartbeat, the blood that would rip open what he'd just put together. But the pressure was lessening, her blood loss severe.

Pushing away his fear, Patrick focused on her all his power, whatever energy he possessed, and all his skill. Breathless seconds later the artery closed. But he didn't believe it. He spent long moments making sure the vessel was sealed and the skin whole. Too much was at stake. Only after his sixth pass over the area did he finally allow himself to breathe. At last, the dreadful wound was closed.

He expanded his awareness to her full body, and realized he had taken too much time; she'd long since lost consciousness, her body slack and cold against him. But she was alive. Her heart still pumped what little blood was left through collapsing veins. There was hope.

He shifted his attention and searched out all her other little wounds. He closed the nick at her neck, a half dozen tiny cuts along her face and body even a long, raw scrape on her knee. But it wasn't enough; she was still dying, and the terror of that thought would not release him. He knew that his fear interfered with his work. Love energy healed; fear corrupted and destroyed. That was what Xiai Fei had taught him. He'd done all he could anyway, and yet it caused a physical pain when he separated their minds.

The world was silent. That was his first thought. He heard no birds, no gunfire. Even the wind and trees were quiet. He blinked and tried to focus his eyes.

It was night, but several lanterns gave enough light to see people standing in a silent circle around him. One of the druids saw that he was aware, and silently offered him his robe. Patrick used it to cover Xiao Fei.

"She needs blood," he said, his voice raw in his throat. "Help me get her to a hospital."

"An ambulance is on its way," said the man.

Patrick nodded as a vampire pushed through the crowd. "The gate feels… different," the vamp said.

Patrick didn't answer. He was looking at Xiao Fei's skin. Even in the gentle glow of the lanterns, he could see the fine tracery of her veins, stark blue in her transparent flesh.

A hand gripped his shoulder. "Draig-Uisge! Did we succeed? Is the gate closed?" a voice asked.

He shook his head, his misery overwhelming. "I… don't know." All around him, the crowd muttered or cursed in anger. Patrick tried to care. God knew, part of him was horrified by what he'd done. Had he sacrificed the world to save one woman? Had he just betrayed the people who'd fought and died to protect him while he poured everything he had into Xiao Fei?

Try as he might, he couldn't regret his actions. And yet, he couldn't look into their eyes either. He couldn't speak as all. He simply wrapped himself around Xiao Fei and closed his eyes.