Page 4 of The Bonds of Indigo

“Please, I need help… Anyone… Please help me.”

Even if she was whispering, it was like I could hear it as though she was standing right beside me.

It’s then I hear Mister. “She needs you. They… need you.”

I don’t even look at Sydni before running off back toward Xera and Kairhyse, because if her Familiar was reaching out to me through the Phantasm, something I’m not physically capable of reaching through, then I know that I have not but a second to waste.

Even if it was already too late.

Sidence is bathed in blood, but that’s not what drives me to my knees. The splash as I hit the ground is nothing compared to the agonized sounds tearing from Xeraphine’s throat. I haven’t drawn breath in hundreds of years, yet seeing her clutching my friend’s severed head—holding it as if it’s the last thing keeping her tethered to this world—forces air into my lungs.

“No…” The word slips from my lips before thought can catch it.

It’s as if she hadn’t expected me to come. Her head jerks up, eyes wide, and in them all I see is fog. They aren’t shrouded in darkness, nor are they silver. They’re empty. Void of everything. Red veins splinter back from the corners, disappearing behind her swollen eyelids.

“H-help… him…” Her voice shakes, just as violently as her body does. “Help… me… I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”

I move toward her, reaching for them. But, as though she’s terrified I’m coming to take him away, she screams bloody murder.

I bolt upright in bed, heart racing faster than its usual snail’s pace. My ears feel clogged, so I slap my palm against the right one, hoping to dislodge whatever’s stuck. Though I know there’s nothing there. They’ve been like this for weeks now, ever since that night.

Drawing my knees up under the sheets, I rest my elbows on them and drop my head forward. I take a deep breath I don’t need, then let it out in a heavy sigh.

It’s been two weeks since Xeraphine and Kairhyse were laid to rest in Alaric’s basement. I haven’t slept much—and while Vampire’s like myself don’t require it, I’ve always liked to rest my mind, the way I did when I was Mundane.

That solace hasn’t come.

A constant feeling of failing them haunts me. It’s what has kept me from getting any semblance of peace.

It’s not just the memory of her screams or the sight of his head cradled in her arms that keep me awake—it’s her parting words.

“I need to tell you something.”

I thought she was going to blame me for not defying their request and just staying with them to help fight against Tali.

No, it was something far worse.

“Lucifer. I saw him in the Beyond… with his father.”

I hadn’t thought about him in centuries. Not until Kairhyse called me to meet his girl, Xeraphine, who just so happened to be a Succubus. Even then, talking about him with that firecracker only brought back good memories—a strange kind of nostalgia.

But hearing that he’s just in the Beyond? With his father? That pissed me off.

Lucifer, that damned Incubus, left without even saying goodbye. No breakup. No nothing.

I grip the navy blue blanket, my upper lip twitching.

It isn’t like he couldn’t have come back to me and done it. I’ve seen him cross through the gates; he’s absolutely capable of giving me closure.

Pushing my shoulders back, I take in the room I’ve been occupying in that Fallen, Alaric’s, mansion of a home. I’ve convinced myself to stay here; to not do something reckless enough to get me killed.

That logic has kept me grounded… until this morning. Which I’m taking as a sign.

I need to stop waiting for what may never come—that Xeraphine and Kairhyse will wake up from their deaths, and move on with their lives.

I’ve got to stop holding onto hope I can ask Xera to open the gates to the Beyond, so I can drag that damned Demon out myself, just to make him pay for leaving me like he did.

It’s a selfish notion, wanting them back just so they can help me…