“Move.” She tried to shove past him, but he was an impenetrable wall. She fisted her hands, feeling her chi respond. Her crystal scalded her arm, and his eyes darted to it.
“If you leave you’ll be vulnerable.”
She lifted her chin. “I can defend myself.”
“You almost broke your hand when you punched that enforcer. You have zero training in any defence moves, both physical and magical.” He glowered down at her. “You almost killed yourself because you’ve never been taught control of your power.”
“Maybe I should go back!”
Xander’s face thundered, his rage an almost physical force.
“You saw what I could do,” she said. “Maybe I should go back, maybe it’s what I deserve.” She went to shove him again, but cringed away when she almost hit his chest. “Move!”
Xander noticed, tracking the focus of her attention. He pulled off his shirt in one smooth movement. His skin beneath was whole, normal with no discolouration or marks to indicate any damage. The beautiful tattoos undisturbed, whole as if he had never been hurt.
“Ho… how?” She reached forward without realising, her fingertips touching his pectoral, the muscle beneath rock solid. She had seen his chest open and bleeding, his muscles and tendons destroyed by the arcane.
“My tattoos,” he explained, pressing into her touch until her whole palm branded him. “Are a specialised type of glyph, a siphon just like your crystal. But they don’t block my magic, they concentrate it.”
“I saw you… I saw you…” She looked up to meet his eyes, his rage melting to a simmer. “You were hurt.”
“Your crystal is the same as my tattoos, they concentrate your magic, Kyra. It’s probably the only reason you haven’t killed yourself yet.”
“No, they block the connection I feel to souls.”
She wanted to snap her hand back, her power ready to strike. He sensed the tension along her arm, moving to hold her against him. His movement had been a blur, so fast her eyes couldn’t track it.
“No, they concentrate your powers elsewhere. It’s why you were able to call those spirits to you in the field.”
She could still feel those spirits, inside her. She needed to get away, get them out.
She tugged at her hand, his grip like iron. “Let go!” The tattoos that she touched rippled beneath her touch, glowing. “I need to go, I can’t be here!”
“At eight I was thrown into training against my will, along with Riley and all the others. We were forced to train, forced to withhold more magic than our bodies could possibly hold. It would rip us apart, and many times almost killed us. And when it didn’t we were forced to hold even more.”
His words came hot and fast, as if he didn’t tell her quickly he may never tell her at all.
“The Archdruid at the time, Riley’s father, wanted perfectly designed warriors, ones who were capable of defeating a Daemon. But druidic magic wasn’t enough, even though we were more powerful than any of our ancestors. Druids are of nature, and our magic generally isn’t aggressive. So he made a bargain with Hadriel, a fallen angel and the ruler of The Nether.”
“The Nether? As in the prison?” Kyra couldn’t stop herself from asking. She hadn’t heard of the place since her childhood, when her parents would gush about the dark power that could be found in the realm.
“Hadriel cursed us, forcing our bodies to share itself with beasts he had created. And it worked, we were suddenly able to take a lot more damage. We developed advanced strength, speed and agility, all designed to make us undefeatable warriors. We tattooed ourselves with the glyphs, the siphons enabling us to concentrate our natural magic without tearing us apart. We became exactly what the Archdruid had wanted, and all it cost was our freedom.”
Xander’s lips contorted into a grimace.
“We were fifteen when we were forced into the ritual. We all survived, barely, and when we stepped out we each shared our soul with our own personal beast. We were warned that if we shifted too much, we would never be able to return. So we kept away from temptation, from strong emotions that would cause us to shift. We were told we could never love.”
Kyra blinked, emotions clogging her throat. “But, Riley and Alice?”
“He risked everything for her,” Xander said, his voice softening. “He would have walked into Hell and destroyed Hadriel himself for her.” A quiet, secret smile. “We later found out it was all bullshit, lies told to us to keep us in line. We were never at risk of losing ourselves to the beasts, not if we fell in love. No, the curse that Hadriel put on us was to fight for one-hundred years on Earth Side, and once that time was up we were to serve him down in The Nether. Bound to him for all eternity.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
Xander’s nostrils flared, his irises swirling into liquid silver. “Because you need to understand that Iseeyou. That sometimes the Fates give you a shitty hand and you do nothing but make it a bit more bearable. Being born a soul witch was not your fault, it doesn’t make youdisgustingor any less than anyone else. In fact, it makes you so fucking powerful that you have survived despite everything.”
Kyra flushed, unable to draw her eyes away as he bent closer, his lips open in invitation.
“Keep surviving Kyra, don’t let the darkness win.”
