I can only bond someone who possesses dark power. I saw it in her on the day I emerged. It’s the reason I could bond her.
But the wound in my arm could only have been created by pure light that somehow pierced my defensive magic.
My angry champion possesses pure light energy, and because of the bond, my defensive magic doesn’t stop her. She just pierced my impenetrable body with pure light. Which means that not only could her death send me to sleep, but I’m actually bound to someone who can do me real harm. I have no idea how that was even possible, but when I yank out the stick, my blood sprays across the water, and I can’t deny it.
My champion could, potentially, destroy me if she wasn’t so weak.
That’s really, really bad.
But what’s worse, is that I should kill her right now. I should destroy her before she realizes that she could destroy me. Who cares about a forced nap? Only, I can’t bring myself to do it. I think it’s because, for the first time in my entire life, I like something. A woman. A very small, very passionate, very angry woman.
If I can’t do what needs to be done. . . Whitney’s actions from earlier give me an idea. Sometimes when we can’t do what needs doing, we have no choice. It might be embarrassing, and we may not want to do it, but we were given our family for a reason. Before I have second thoughts, before I can talk myself out of it, I act.
I close my eyes, and I dig down deep, and I call for my brothers.
11
Whitney
Xolotl’s blood sprays all over the water as I stare, dumbly.
I shot him eight times and it did nothing. I stabbed him before with a freaking hunting knife, and it made just a few drops of blood that dripped down and disappeared. But just now, I threw a tiny stick at him, and it actually pierced his arm, causing him to bleed all over.
I blink. I blink again, but I’m sure I saw it.
Only now do I notice something even more strange. Below the water, tiny creatures are churning. Grody, strange, bizarre-looking little bodies, bobbing and churning all around him. Are they lake piranhas or something? Were they drawn to the blood, possibly because it’s magical?
Ew.
I should apologize. I should beg him to forgive my irrational lash-out before he takes out his frustration on me by killing lots of humans. But I’m too distracted by all the disgusting little churning water things.
“What on earth are those?” I hop out of the water and onto the shore, hoping whatever they are can’t follow.
Xolotl turns his attention from his arm to the water beyond the jet ski, and instead of reacting with alarm at the churning creatures in the water, he smiles. I can’t help notice how beautiful his face is when he smiles. It’s like the sun rising over the flaming gorge in the fall. The colors around us are brighter when he’s smiling, especially the blasted cobalt blue of his eyes.
“Why hello, little guys.” He crouches and reaches into the water.
The nasty little wrigglers bob and shake even more frantically.
“What are they?” I lean a little closer, careful not to get too close.
“They’re my little babies.” Xolotl straightens, holding a few of them in his hands. They stop churning once he’s holding them, instead rubbing their heads against his big hands. They have little frilly things around their heads, and they’re brown and green. Except one is actually pink. “I’ve only seen them once before.”
“Your babies?” I ask.
He nods. “When my blood falls into water. . .” He lowers them back into the water, and the others go crazy again. “I think the humans called them after me.”
That’s when it hits me what they are. “Axolotls!”
His smile widens. “Yes, that was it.”
“And you like them?”
He shrugs. “I made them.”
Oh my word. His blood mixed with water makes tiny aquatic weirdos. “That is the strangest thing I’ve ever seen, and I’m traveling with Death.” Wait. He can create? “What about when your blood mixes with dirt?” I frown. “Are you even the god of death if you also make new little creatures?”
Xolotl’s expression reminds me of a storm cloud. “Whitney, come back to the jet ski. It’s time for us to focus on your abilities.”
