134 | UPDATE

My head’s still spinning when Blue strolls into the kitchen, a coupe of bags of groceries in his arms. He stops when he sees me, the brilliant grin on his face fading into a worried expression. I open my mouth to speak, knowing it’s more for a feeling of normality than necessity since Blue can just read my mind, when I become aware of another presence. My mate looks over my shoulder, his warm eyes frosting over and tender expression becoming hard.

“Nikki,” Blue greets the Ancient tonelessly, setting the groceries down on the counter and stepping up to my side as a silent show of support. I let out a heavy sigh and turn in my chair to face one of the two individuals that make up Death.

“Hello,” Nikki nods to us both. She’s wearing her nearly-glowing white robe, eyes shimmering a shade of violet with gold shot through. She’s looking better than she had the last time we met, that small fact giving me another fraction of hope.

“What’s up, Nikki?” I ask her softly, not daring to raise my voice as the warmth of hope in my chest grows in increments.

“I have come for our monthly update,” Her words deflate the balloon of hope in me, just a little. “I have good news.” I feel my spine straighten again, my attention drawn to the Ancient. “The Revenant situation has been amended,” She tells me, something I already knew - well, just found out.

“Yeah, my cousin - the liaison at the Court - called and I got to speak to the Queen about it a few minutes ago,” I tell Nikki, Blue turning to look at me as he hears this, but he says nothing. I can sense the relief from his side of the connection, though, so I know he’s not unhappy about the news - even if he’s not hearing it before the Ancient.

“Just as well,” Nikki nods, humor dancing in her eyes. “I expected you would not believe me if I had told you first.” I shrug, accepting that notion. If anyone but Ry and Mina told me the Revenant was gone, I’d laugh and ask for proof before believing them. “The Soul Count is still out of balance, however, it seems to be coming back to equilibrium as the events are corrected, as I had hypothesized.” She continues.

“The event surrounding Darklight is still an issue,” Nikki reminds me.

“I’ve got a meeting scheduled with Dr. Chambers and Shola coming up,” I nod, taking a deep breath and leaning closer to Blue. “I’ll take care of it.”

“Please do,” The Ancient agrees. “That event is the closest and largest-scale threat at this point.” I tilt my head, catching her odd phrasing and shoot her a frown, letting her know I caught the wording. “There is another issue that has come to my attention, a possible complication that could lead to catastrophic fallout. There was a disruption in the balance of Magic when the Hellgate was closed, which sent out a Magical surge. That surge triggered a large amount of previously dormant Magic to become activated.”

“I heard about the surge from one of Mari’s associates.” I explain to the Ancient about Obbie and what he’d told me. “Is it him?” I ask her, sure that it’s not before Nikki confirms it by shaking her head.

“I don’t believe it is,” Nikki says. “The center of the problem is not one thing, but has the probability to grow into an event. Which is why I am monitoring the situation in Texas at the moment. I will let you know if the problem becomes an event.”

“Alright, so that’s most of the events we’d talked about.” I nod slowly, sensing the Ancient has more to say.

“Yes, well, there is one more event - aside from that of Darklight - that needs immediate attention.” There’s a hint of worry in Nikki’s eyes as she looks to me. “There is a Reaper who is in need of assistance in South Dakota. They need to survive in order to prevent another event- well a cascade of events, really.” The gold in the Ancient’s eyes burns brighter for a moment before it dies back down to a flat color.

“Craven, my cousin, is in the West,” I hesitate to offer his assistance, knowing he’s got that draki at his back if the ‘problem’ escalates. “What would he need to do?” I ask cautiously. Craven was a force to recon with back when he was insane, but I haven’t really seen him in action lately and worry he not be able to handle something too intense.

“Just a rescue,” Nikki seems to relax a little at my suggestion. “If your cousin could lend aid to the Reaper and help him survive, the event will be bypassed."

“Okay. I’ll give him a call and see if he’s in the area…” I tell her, pulling my phone out and getting a message to Craven to call me back - because of course the call goes straight to voicemail. “You know when and where this Reaper of ours is going to be in peril?” I ask the Ancient, attempting to use her stiff yet breezy tone to voice my question. It’s a pitiful attempt to lighten the mood, bu it works, getting Nikki’s worried eyes to soften a bit.

She gives me the details, as well as an odd sounding situation dealing with a horde of some demonic-possessed creatures and the name of the Reaper. I jot the information down in text-form and shuffle the request off to Craven. By the time I get everything, Craven’s sent me a thumbs-up emoji followed by a dark moon and evil-face purple emoji that somehow makes me smile and cringe at the same time. He writes out a quick explanation of why he hadn’t answer my call: he and the *draki* are headed back through a large mountain range and are trying to be stealthy.

My cousin promises to call me once they’re ‘in the clear’. I relay the information back to Nikki before tucking my phone back ino my pocket. Blue stays oddly quiet throughout the whole exchange, and by the far-away look in his eyes I can tell he’s receiving a report or something from one of his Pack members. There’s nothing distressing coming from his side of the connection so I don’t allow myself to worry.

“Was that it?” I ask Nikki, wondering if this is really all I have to worry about I’m so used to getting five conflicting things flying at me at once that this feels too good to be true.

“For now, yes.” Nikki replies with a tiny smile. “I will stop by next month if there is nothing else that requires your attention.” She nods to us before popping out of existence.

“Everything good?” I ask Blue, turning to face him as he comes back out of his own conversation.

“Yeah, just an update from Yuri.” He shrugs. “Things seem to be getting serious between him and Darine.” He adds when I just raise an eyebrow at my mate.

“Oh?” I feel my eyebrows shoot higher and a grin spreading across my mouth.

“Mhm.” Blue smirks back and leads me to the couter where the groceries are still sitting. We fall into the mundane pattern of talking about the events of the time we’ve missed from each other’s day while we put away the items and make dinner. The familiar normality settles me and helps me to process the news I’ve received today. By the time we’re settling in for bed, the tiny flicker of hope in me has bloomed into a bonfire that chases away the worse of the nightmares and helps me to feel a little more human.