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Brett gestured to his own face. “Those black lines are gone. You look normal. Like yourself. I thought... I don’t know.”
Nick didn’t say anything, and Henry glanced at him, but he didn’t comment on it.
“Brett, you should really sit down,” Henry said. “We’re safe here, the wards will protect us.”
Brett took a slow, shallow breath. “Okay.” He sat down stiffly, like he wasn’t used to the movement.
Nick didn’t sit down. His blood was pumping and he was torn between relief and guilt.
“We should talk about what happened, if you’re up to it,” Henry said. “Do you want a drink? Something to eat?”
“We don’t need to talk,” Brett said. “I’m back. Isn’t that the main thing? I came back.”
There was something in his voice that made Nick wonder if he was just as surprised as they were.
“Brett, listen,” Nick said. “I know you’ve been through a lot, but there is a lot going on. A lot of moving pieces. If you can tell us anything about what happened, it would be really helpful.”
“You know what happened,” Brett said. “The vampires turned me into... this.”
Nick swallowed his guilt. “What happened before that?”
Brett shrugged. “Who knows? My memory from before is hazy. All I remember is that woman’s face. She turned me. I don’t remember the details.”
“What woman?” Henry asked.
“Not sure,” Brett said.
“Probably Faye,” Nick said. “She works directly under Samuel.”
Henry frowned. “Do you remember why she turned you, Brett?”
He shrugged again.
“Brett, please,” Nick said. “If you can think of anything-”
“I can’t. I just... I can’t talk about it right now.”
Nick wanted to argue, but he could see the dark bruises under Brett’s eyes, and the sheer exhaustion that lined every inch of his face.
“Okay.”
Henry nodded and led Brett to the stairs, and Nick sat heavily on the couch. Brett was back, but Nick still couldn’t relax. A small part of the knot in his chest was unwound by relief that his brother was safe, but he was still tense, and he stood up again.
He needed to be active. There had to be something he could do.
He remembered the way Brett looked at him when he saw the void on his face, and Nick let that feeling twist inside him, coiling in his gut. He cautiously let it grow, and it didn’t take long for the void to merge with his emotions. It spread from his hands, up his arms, and he felt it spread across his chest.
When he was practising with Henry, the void never moved beyond his fingers. It was reactive, draining the small amounts of magic in those objects, but nothing more.
Not like this.
The void pulled out his anger, his fear, his frustration. These days, none of them were far from the surface, and the void nudged them out of hiding. Nick took a few deep breaths, fighting to calm himself. The void wanted to take control.
He could feel it across his back, his chest, his arms, over his neck, and he brushed his thumb across the side of his jaw, and he knew the void was there.
Another deep breath, and Nick focused on Brett. Brett being home, being safe, and he didn’t linger on everything else. Brett was here. That was all that mattered. Brett came back.
Slowly, Nick pushed the void back. It thrashed wildly, fighting him for control, and by the time the black veins faded away, he was breathing hard and his heart was pounding in his chest. He watched the last of the darkness trail across his hands and finally disappear.
