Chapter Seven

Storm

W e’re getting nowhere, and I’m seriously getting concerned about where the fuck Farren is and why we can’t feel her through the bond. Although I know why I can’t feel the damn bond, I’ve had it for just over a fucking day. I have no idea how it works, and she’s kept her end blocked from me most of the time. I’m trying not to let my insecurities get a hold of me and convince me that she’s blocking me because she doesn’t want the bond with me.

I wouldn’t blame her, I’m not exactly the best person to be tied to, and I have no idea what this bond entails; if I’m honest, I don’t think she does either. I spoke to Kill last night after everyone had gone to bed, and all we know is that it’s not the warrior bond or the Centre bond; it’s something different, and it appears that Kill has done some research on it and can’t find anything similar in any documentation.

I’m pulled out of my thoughts when Killian stumbles back suddenly, almost like a force has hit him.

“What the fuck,” he curses before he gets thoroughly distracted, and we all stare in shock as Farren suddenly appears, legs wrapped around his waist and lips thoroughly glued to Kill’s.

“Farren?” Grey asks, shock colouring his tone.

Farren pulls back, “Oh, thank fuck, you can see me now?”

“See you now?” I ask, trying not to get distracted by the way she’s clinging to Kill and how much I wish that she was clinging to me.

“I’ve been here the whole time, I’ll explain later, but right now, we really need to go before something worse than the Wraiths find us.” She says urgently.

As soon as she gets down off Killian, she disappears again.

“Fuck where did she go this time?” Zev asks, searching the surrounding area.

“I’m right here,” she replies and suddenly appears with her arm wrapped around Loki’s waist this time. “Apparently, I can’t let go of one of you, or you can’t fucking see me again.”

“Alright, let’s go,” Grey mutters, “Farren’s right; we need to get out of here. I’m surprised something hasn’t found us already.” Grey calls his horses, “We better get back to the carriage and take the ropes off.”

We all make our way back to it and make quick work of getting rid of the ropes just in time for the horses to show up. We help to get them back in their harnesses, and then because they all have missing pieces, because we cut them loose to save them from the Wraiths , Kill and I use our shadows as kind of ropes to keep them in place. Fortunately for us, Fae horses are intelligent, and they know that we’re not trying to harm them, so they don’t put up too much fuss.

“Just in time,” Farren mutters as we take off, and she disappears again before reappearing, this time on my lap. While the others all start talking about the creature that’s just run out of the woods, she turns to me, “I can sit with someone else if you want me to. It just seems that I can only stay here and be solid if I touch one of you. I figure it works best with one of you that I have a bond with.”

She sounds so unsure of herself, so unlike the Farren that I’ve become used to, and I know that it’s because of me, because of how I treated her. We’ve talked it out, and ever since the whole changing room fuck up we’ve been better, but clearly how I treated her before has left its mark. She’s still unsure about what I want, and it probably doesn’t help that I kissed her, and then we got thrown into this shit show immediately after.

I don’t want her to question whether I’m going to go back to how I was behaving before, my arms wrap around her as she starts to stand up, and she settles back down. I keep my voice low, wanting this to be ours, “Listen closely, there is nowhere I’d rather be than right here. I don’t think I’ve properly apologised for what I put you through,” she starts to make a noise, and I add, “Nope, let me finish I am truly sorry for hurting you, and I will do whatever I can to make it up to you.”

Farren is silent, and it makes me nervous as hell. I’m not used to actually showing my feelings, and I’m feeling vulnerable as shit. She turns around on my lap so she’s straddling me and puts a hand on my face.

“I forgive you,” she says and then grins “but don’t stop fighting me. I like it when you give me a run for my money.”

I smirk, “You can bet your ass I’ll keep fighting you. It’s one of my favourite things to do.” I pull her closer and then frown as she winces like she’s in pain, “what’s wrong?”

“I, erm,” she starts, seemingly unsure of what just happened. She pulls aside her jacket and then frowns as she sees the still wet blood, “that shouldn’t still be there.”

“You’re hurt!” I exclaim and instantly have the attention of all the other men in the carriage just as we start our descent down into the castle grounds.

“What the fuck, Farren!” Grey exclaims.

Farren gives Grey an unimpressed look that makes me smile, “Don’t you start that shit with me. It happened when we were fighting the Wraiths , just before my magic kicked in. It should be healed by now.”

“Maybe it’s got something to do with the magic?” Rival suggests and then adds, “What exactly did it do? Make you invisible?”

Farren shakes her head, “Not exactly.”

“Let’s get you inside, and then you can explain. My wards are good, but I’m not willing to test it right now,” Grey mutters.

We all get out, and I stand up with Farren still in my arms as we all make our way into the deceptive castle.

“I can walk, you know, Storm. I fought off the Wraiths fine enough,” Farren tells me.

I don’t bother replying because there’s no way that I’m going to put her down knowing that she’s in pain and she hasn’t healed when she should have, which is why I simply growl, a sound that most people would be scared of, but she isn’t most people, she just smiles softly like I’ve done something cute, which is infuriating but for some reason makes me want to smile.

We head into one of the many comfy lounges that this castle has, and as I go to sit on the sofa, Farren starts wriggling in my arms.

“What?” I ask her, my eyebrow raised.

“I’m not risking getting blood on that sofa. It’s fucking white.” She protests.

I roll my eyes, “I’ll buy him a new one, not that I think it would bother Grey in the slightest. He’s more interested in making sure you’re okay than if his sofa is fucking stained.”

“He’s not wrong,” Grey agrees readily and then adds, “Now, explain to us exactly what your magic is doing.”

Farren narrows her eyes at Grey, she really doesn’t like being told what to do, and since she admitted that she likes the fight with me, I think I just found a new way to ruffle her feathers.

Finally, after her stare-off with Grey, she sighs and starts to explain, “It’s new. My magic has never done anything like this before. It slowed everything down, or at least I thought that’s what I was doing. I thought everything looked like it was in slow motion because I was moving so fast.”

When she pauses, looking confused, Zev asks, “But?”

“But I was standing still next to you guys while you were talking, and you still couldn’t see me. You guys were still in slow motion as well, and your words were like drawn out; I tried to talk to you, but only Reaper heard and thought it was a high pitched squeak.”

“And if you let go of one of us, then you disappear and everything goes in slow motion for you again?” Grey asks.

“Yes, but I’m not sure if it’s something to do with the bonds, I’ve only tried with those I’m bonded to,” Farren replies.

“Come here?” Rival suggests, “just to test the theory.”

I reluctantly let Farren go, and she instantly disappears before reappearing, sitting on Rival’s lap. His arms wrap around her, and she melts into him like she does all of us.

“I guess it must be all of you then,” Farren shrugs.

“I think we need to check out your wound and find out why you aren’t healing like you should be,” Mayhem suggests.

Farren stay’s sitting on Rival’s lap and turns slightly so that she can lift up her shirt and show us the slice on her side. She frowns, “It’s just a little nick. It should have been sealed by now.”

“Okay, one, that’s not fucking small, Farren,” Reaper's deep voice rumbles throughout the room as he moves closer.

He’s not wrong; the little nick, as Farren referred to it, is actually six inches long and relatively deep. It also looks like it's just been done. There’s not even been an attempt for it to heal. I’m not even sure how she’s been moving around with it and not showing that she’s in pain, I had my arm wrapped around her tightly, and she only briefly winced once.

The strength she has is insane and awe-inspiring.

“Loki, why don’t you see if you can heal her while she’s sitting on Rival’s lap,” I ask him.

He looks over to Farren, “Is that okay, Love?”

“Yeah, of course. Have at it.” She replies.

Loki makes his way over and takes a deep breath as he holds his hands over the wound. Unlike when he used to heal when we were kids, his eyes glow bright green. In fact, his whole body begins to glow. The power that he’s kicking off is insane and so much more than it used to be. His gift is growing, and Farren’s gifts are obviously changing and growing too. It’s concerning.

“Well?” I ask when the glow finally starts to diminish.

Farren looks down at her side which still looks red raw, and bloody. “Nope, still there. Thank you for trying though.”

Loki frowns as he sits back on his heels, “Maybe my magic just wasn’t strong enough?”

Zev snorts, “No way mate, your magic signature was off the fucking charts. There’s no way you weren’t strong enough. There has to be something else going on.”

“Zev’s right.” Grey agrees and then adds, “Colour me impressed that you can heal as a vampire; that’s incredibly rare.”

Loki smiles, “Thanks, man.”

“Alright, so what do we do now? No offence but hanging onto you guys is going to become awkward as hell when I need to pee.” Farren announces.

“Good point,” Reaper replies, looking thoughtful.

“Have you tried going into the Void to heal?” Loki asks, and I almost smack myself. Why didn’t I think of that?

“No, I haven’t,” she frowns.

“I think that maybe this new magic that’s flowing through you is stopping you from healing, and maybe going into the Void will reset you and put it all back to normal,” Rival suggests.

Farren shrugs, “It’s worth a try.”

We all watch as she summons her magic and then steps through the portal and into the Void, disappearing.

“I really hope this works because I’ve got no idea how to help her otherwise,” I mutter.

“Me too,” Reaper replies, staring worriedly at the space that she disappeared from.

“We’ll have to stitch her up the way we would the lesser supes who don’t heal as quickly,” Zev reminds us.

We all share a look, and then Loki says, “I haven’t stitched anyone up for a while, but I’m fairly sure I can remember how.”

Zev sighs and runs his hand through his hair as shadows cross his eyes, “I can stitch her up, but hopefully, going into the Void will heal her and sort her magic out. I haven’t seen anything that would explain this, and what I have seen is not coming yet, and I can’t tell you.”

Zev looks up at us, frown lines dimpling his forehead; he looks genuinely concerned that we’re going to have a go at him or get mad.

“Mate, really, it’s okay. We get it; we know if you could tell us you would,” Mayhem reassures him and claps him on the shoulder.

“Seriously?” he asks.

“Of course,” I reply, “we don’t just say shit for no reason.”

“Thanks,” Zev replies.

“Has she been gone for longer than usual?” Grey asks, looking worried.

We share a look, and Kill replies, “No, she hasn’t, but shouldn’t you know that? You were with her for a long time. She must have travelled the Void.”

Grey shakes his head, “She didn’t like using it, she had me watch out for her when she went in to find Killian, but she refused to go in when she needed healing, even just after we escaped the Underworld. She said it would be bad.”

My eyes widen; I’m an idiot; I’d forgotten what happens when she gets back from the Void after healing. Standing up, the others do the same as the same thing occurs to them.

“Here’s the deal,” Killian starts as Grey’s eyes ping between us all, and Zev looks just as confused. He fits in so well with us that it’s like he’s been one of us for years, and I’ve got to remember that it’s actually been a lot less time than that, and he doesn’t know some of the things that make us who we are.

“What’s going on?” Zev asks.

“She’s only gone into the Void in front of us once because it was that or she died. When she came out, she was supercharged, and she needed to fight out that extra energy. We helped her do it the best we could, but it took three of us to do it, so when she comes out, she’s going to need our help to fight it out of her until she calms down.” Killian carries on explaining.

“So that’s what she meant,” Grey mutters, and although his words could fit Farren and what she told him, I just have this feeling that he’s talking about someone else.

He doesn’t concern me in the sense that I know I don’t need to worry about Farren or any of us being in danger from him, and I also know that he’s a decent supernatural; my instincts tell me that much. However, my instincts also tell me that he’s hiding something, he’s not telling us everything, and I can’t get a read on what kind of supe he is, so that does make me cautious and more observant.

“We’re going to have to be on our guard. With her magic acting up as well, we have no idea how she’s going to come out of the Void. If she’s healed, then the chances are that she’s coming out practically overflowing with magic, but she could be even stronger with her magic playing up.” Rival points out as we all get ready for her to reappear.

“Good point, okay, so this is the order, Kill and I first, with Reaper and Loki next, then Rival and Mayhem,” I start to order and then look at Grey and Zev, “Grey, we don’t know enough about your magic to know how well you’ll do against her so your last and Zev . . .”

Zev smirks as he interrupts me, “Yeah, I’ve fought Farren when she wasn’t all jacked up with magic from the Void. I’m all for you guys wearing her out first before she gets to me. Especially since my visions seem to be on the fritz.”

I smile as Loki snorts in amusement.

There’s no more time for talk as Farren comes through the Void.

“Whoa, holy shit,” Zev mutters as he gets a good look at her.

“Fucking stunning,” Grey adds.

“She didn’t come out looking like that last time. I think shit’s about to get real.” Mayhem mutters.

We all stay on guard as we watch a floating, glowing Farren, a wind that only affects her winding her hair around in its own breeze as her eyes glow black like they did when we fought the Void beast.

Killian steps closer, “Darlin’, did it heal you?”

“Yes,” she replies, her voice sounding more melodic and not as husky as usual.

“Do you need to fight out the extra energy, Love?” Loki asks.

She hesitates slightly and then nods, “It’s stronger than it ever has been.”

“It’s okay, we’ve got you, Farren,” Zev reassures her.

She suddenly charges straight towards me, and I let my shadows free; I hold back but not by much because I know how strong she is and holding back is just going to get me in trouble and isn’t going to do fuck all to wear her out, and that’s the end game, wearing her out before she hurts herself or seriously hurts someone else.

Killian and I fight together while the others stay back, and Reaper and Loki hold Zev and Grey back, explaining that we’re not hurting her and that she needs this. I suddenly find myself flying across the room as a thread of black and purple magic slams me into the wall cracking the plaster and making me groan as I crumple to the floor. She broke my ribs with that hit.

“Loki, in,” I order, and he dives in immediately, no questions asked.

While Loki and Kill are wearing her out, exchanging normal blows as well as magical ones, Mayhem and Rival make their way over to me while Grey, Zev and Reaper switch between watching Farren fight with shock colouring their faces and looking at me to check I’m okay.