19. Zachariah

CHAPTER 19

Zachariah

S omething yanks inside the center of me, jerking my body and soul to attention in such a demanding way that I flinch as Alek speaks to Conclave.

Zachariah , I hear Talia's voice inside my mind, whispering down the bond that connects us.

It's followed by a rush of pain and fear and regret, her location easy enough to lock on as I hurry out of the Conclave walls, Alek calling after me, but I barely hear his questioning yells. I pull my phone out, texting my brothers before I wend without a second thought, the three actions taking me mere seconds.

I immediately spot Talia, collapsed in the middle of the street, next to one of Benedict's motorcycles.

And then I see the horde of bloodmad vampires.

Every single one of them is racing toward me.

I don't have a second to think, to hesitate.

My arsenal of powers springs to the surface in one harsh snap as the very real possibility of death bears down on me…on Talia, lying there, so limp…

A roar escapes my lips as my powers snap out of me, each one aimed at a bloodmad in the horde, each one different. Electricity and metal and energy spear from me, one by one my powers rising and shooting out at the threat, lashing and slashing, sending half their deaths.

Talon and Dagon and Saint wend in, and I finally breathe, dropping to my knees from the force of the loss of power. My entire body feels drained from the intensity of using so much at once. Too fast…too much…I can barely feel the wisps of any power now, despite knowing they're trying to regenerate.

My brothers take over, and I spare half a thought to wish Ajax wasn't across the globe right now, knowing he could stop time and end this for us.

"Zachariah," Talia says as I crawl to her, but she's not looking at me. She's focused on something behind me. "Take my powers," she whispers. "You need them. You can end this right now. He's there, take my power and end this?—"

"Never," I cut her off. I don't care if my powers never return, I'd never take hers. I look over the wound on her left side, my stomach twisting at the sight. My eyes switch to thermal, rage spearing through me. "Who did this to you?"

Her lip trembles as she struggles to get the words out, but she looks behind me again.

I follow her gaze.

Conrad is there, holding a vial in one hand and a blood-soaked blade in the other.

And just behind him is Samuel .

"The vial," she whispers. "You have to get it. Take my powers. Do it."

Even if I would consider it, in the states she's in, she'd die.

I shift away from her, reaching for the blade concealed in my jacket sleeve, eying the dagger in Conrad's hand one last time, the one drenched in her blood.

I throw the knife.

It sinks into Conrad's chest. He collapses to the ground, the vial slipping from his fingers, rolling behind him and hitting Samuel's boot.

Samuel picks up the vial as Conrad's powers slam into me, the shapeshifting capability so much more intricate than that of Talon's animalistic one, something sinister about it as it slides into my blood.

I battle every instinct inside my body to capture my once brother, and instead fall to Talia's side, slicing open my wrist and bringing it her to her mouth to heal her.

"Drink, my love," I beg her, but her eyes have lilted closed. She's limp as I gather her into my arms. " Please drink." I put my wrist to her lips, but she's barely breathing, let alone capable of swallowing.

Saint steps in front of us, his eyes on Samuel.

"Good to see you free, brother," Samuel says, smirking at Saint before glancing down at me. "Sorry about your mate, Zach," he says. "She certainly was a striking thing, but my poisons have a way of bringing even the most beautiful creatures down."

"You're done." Saint draws his gun and fires, the bullet aimed straight for Samuel's heart?—

But it slices through a wisp of shadow as Samuel wends out of sight.

I gather Talia in my arms, wrapping my power around the two of us and wending us straight into Gabriel's offices, knowing my brothers can easily handle the rest of the bloodmads.

"Help!" I cry out, placing Talia on one of Gabriel's examination tables, the doctor immediately racing to my side. "She was stabbed with a blade," I say, looking at the gaping wound in her left side.

Gabriel leans down, sniffing the wound, and if I wasn't so panicked about losing my mate, my instincts would have had me snapping at him for getting so close to her bare skin.

"Night Thistle," he says, his nose curling up at the scent. He hurries into some gloves, and digs into her wound. "Shit, it looks like the tip of the blade broke off, hitting some of her bone. It's distributing the poison into her bloodstream at a rapid rate." He glances to his left, chest heaving. Aurora is standing there, eyes wide as she looks from Talia to Gabriel. "Do you think you can heal her?" he asks with an urgency that I feel in my bones.

"I...I... I can't. I'm so sorry. Everything I touch dies."

"That's all right, Aurora," he says as calmly as he can. "Can you fetch the queen for us? Please?"

Aurora nods, racing out of the room.

"Gabriel," I beg. "Save her."

"I'm working on it," he says, grabbing a scalpel and a pair of surgical tweezers, hesitating just above her wound. He looks at me. "You should probably step out. This is going to hurt, and I don't have time to administer a local anesthetic."

I grip her hand. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Can you control yourself?" he asks seriously. "If she starts screaming in pain, the last thing we need is for you to kill me because I'm harming your mate."

"I'm in control," I say, smoothing my hand over the fresh mating mark on her wrist. "Do what you need to, just save her."

Gabriel blows out a breath, parting open her wound with his fingers, going in with the surgical tweezers and slicing away other pieces of her muscle deep in the wound to get to the fragment that is killing her.

Her body starts convulsing, and I immediately help hold her down, my heart in my throat and my soul fracturing at the broken, wounded sounds escaping her lips.

"I'm here," Lyric says, hurrying into the room, heading straight past the table and grabbing a syringe, instantly filling it with her blood.

"I have to get the fragment out first," Gabriel says, still digging into the wound as my mate starts to scream, her eyes snapping open in shock.

"I'm here," I say, pressing my forehead against hers as I hold her down. Her strength is wildly intense for someone who's lost so much blood, not to mention one that is poisoned and half dying. "I'm here. I'm with you. I love you. I love you."

Tears escape Talia's eyes, rolling down her cheeks as she grits her teeth. She clenches her eyes shut as she tries to cut off her screams but can't.

"Faster," I demand to Gabriel, even though I know I have no ground to stand on. "Please."

"Almost," he says. "Got it." He pulls out the small fragment of blade, her blood spilling onto the table before he works to seal the wound.

Talia goes limp on the table as she loses consciousness.

I cling to her, whispering I love you over and over again, praying to any god that will listen to not take my mate away from me a second time.