Chapter 21

LEIGHTON

As I’d listened to Declan changing within Sydney’s home, I’d felt his pain, the torture of his mind and body. His elemental soul had reached out to mine, crying out, and I had damn near lost my mind over it. As I stared out the windshield of Sydney’s pickup, my soul cried out to his in return. I’d felt him changing, experiencing his final shift into the Darkmore. The moment he had lost the battle between good and evil, I had known it was time for us to leave, for not only had he stopped being Declan, something else had been lurking about as well—another Darkmore—an occurance that was supposed to be impossible. Everything ever written about the beast, said there could only be one at a time, and that one would remain a single werewolf—a lone beast—until the next came into existence—at that time the previous Darkmore would cease to exist. So, how was it then, there were two at the same time? It made no sense—but the fact was, I couldn’t deny what I had discerned.

That was why after Sydney and I had made it inside my home, I had headed straight to the enormous library hidden behind a cloaking spell cast many, many years ago within a time when the Sylph’s and the Mortimer witches co-existed. Sydney had followed in my footsteps and now sat on the couch, her feet curled beneath her as she flipped through the pages of one of the huge volumes of literature which had been passed down through our lineage for millions of years—yes, we were that old. We were in possession of them because in our kind, we were royalty. Our tombs were to us, like a grimoire was to a family of witches—every event that had ever occurred within the existence of the sylphs’ had been recorded: as well had our rituals, prophecies, herbs needed for healing, and a very detailed genetic breakdown of what made us what we are—the wind. We could exist within a human form, or remain within our true form—an elemental force. The large collection of tombes the Guchereau library contained, didn’t just stop with our records though, it held information on just about every elemental force, supernatural being, and paranormal event that had ever existed. One very sought after tome though—or many as no one really knew the count—was missing from our collection, and appearantly any other species collection, was that which contained Sydney’s classification.

In time, I would tell her of the missing tome(s) which contained everything she needed to know about who she is, but for now, I needed her help finding out what the fuck was occuring with the Darkmores’. Help to learn how the hell two could co-exist. I could only pray the information lay somewhere within the many volumes upon the shelves.

With a worried sigh, I returned my focus to the voluminous documentation in my lap. I Had a feeling I needed to round up all the information I could, because I sensed we were soon going to be preparing for battle; something in this realm of time was shifting, and it wasn’t for the better—I could only hope the end result was not the same as what had occurred within the earth’s history—a bottleneck.


DECLAN
The floor was covered with blood. I was covered with blood. Fuck me! As awareness sprang to life of where I was, and with amount of blood all over me and on the floor, fear shot straight to my core. WHAT HAD I DONE? Waking curled in a fetal position, naked as fuck in the kitchen of the Guchureau mansion was not my idea of a good morning, and by all indication, I was not the only one who wouldn’t be having one. Suddenly the scent of the blood hit me, it wasn’t human, nor animal…what the fuck was it? The more wakefulness claimed me, the more aware I became of the state of my body. Deep scratches covered my stomach, chest, arms and legs, slashes actually. My flesh had been ripped apart and I was bleeding profusley. Realizing I needed help, I started trying to stand, but with each movement, more of my life force poured from my wounds. I’d managed to sit up, but that was as much as I could do. I was dieing, or rather, my body was dying. Drawing a deep breath, I opened my mouth and slid from the human shape, once again becoming the wind. I sensed Leighton in the other room, and with a sudden burst, I blew out of the room, leaving carnage behind in the hurricane force wind I became.

Seconds later, I entered the library, my energy stilling at seeing Sydney curled around a tome, but hesitation was my enemy at the moment and regathering myself I gusted over to Leighton, then with a swipe of my hand, I knocked the large volume off his lap, where it landed with a loud slap on the large tiles of the floor.

Jumping out of the chair, his eyes wide, Leighton shouted, “Shit!” Immediately sensing I was in trouble.

Turning now that I had his attention, I whipped out of the room, surging back toward the kitchen. Leighton, still in his human form, ran after me. Sydney was right behind him, but I had no time to worry about what she was about to see. Pushing back into my bodies mouth, I filled the dieing cavity, then drew a deep breath, forcing the form to breathe. Eyes focusing, my gaze landed on Sydney, seeing the horror that covered her features, the tears that streamed down her cheeks, and I held out a shaky hand in her direction. Dropping to her knees beside me, she grasped my hand, screaming, “Fucking help him, Leighton!”

Leighton, grabbing towels from out of a drawer, threw them at Sydney, shouting, “Staunch what you can. I have to get my herbs,” before running out of the room.

Hands trembling, Sydney began applying the towels to my stomach, the most obvious source of blood flow. Afterward, raising up on her knees, she placed both hands on the balled towels, then bearing all her weight on me, she pressed down on my wounds, beginning to chant, “Wounds that steal, you are ordered to seal. Closure with the glue of my binding, the blood you weep, the havoc upon this life you reap, stops with my bidding.” As her words filled the air, she began to glow, a blue shimmer encircling her and me both, heat ebbing and flowing all around her and sinking into my flesh. It burned like hell, but I could feel my heartbeat regulate, the blood seeping from my wounds slowing, then stopping. After a few seconds of her heat consuming my body, and feeling as if I had been placed within a furnace, I pushed her hands away, then ripped the towels off my stomach. Leighton, who had come back into the room without either my or Sydney’s notice, dropped the herbs he had gathered onto the counter, as peering at the lack of torn flesh on my stomach, he laughed, stating, “Well, we sure as shit won’t be needing these! Holy quacomole, Sydney!”

Sydney, now sitting on her butt just stared at my stomach, a look of shock on her face as she breathed, “What the fuck just happened?”

“Well, I would say you just saved his life,” Leighton replied. Slowly she nodded her head, as raising her hands she gazed at them as if they were foriegn objects to her.

Sitting up, I reached out and clasping her hands between mine, I breathed, “Thank you.”

At my words, she jerked away from me, then making a fist out of her hand, she slammed it against my jaw, hissing, “I thought you couldn’t die!” before breaking into sobs.

Pulling her into my arms, I settled her in my lap, resting her head on my chest, as looking up at Leighton, I snapped, “Will you go get me some Goddamn clothes!”

After Leighton left the room, I held Sydney tightly against me, reveling in the first physical contact I’d had of her in months, then with a sigh, I sated, “As a Darkmore, I can’t, Syd, but my human casing can. If it had died, I would have taken on the Darkmore’s form, and then would have forever remained in that form until the next Darkmore comes into existence…as it is, like I told you before, my genetics combined with the spell makes me shift back and forth between this form and the lycanthrope, and with time, I will lose all humanity, all my memories and begin a constant spree of killing and maiming. I will continue this pattern until you are powerful enough, and hopefully, end it all for me.”

Pulling back from me, she peered at me as shaking her head, she barked, “I will not end you, dammit! I am going to find a way to stop this damn spell, even if I have to go back in time and face Vitaba in fucking person!”