26. ~Orpheus~

26

~Orpheus~

Abandoned and ruined.

That was the state that Electi Academy had fallen into.

Just another casualty of this war.

Not even the worst of it either.

There would be more to come before it was over, before we vanquished the threat to us all.

There was no deal that Constantine could offer up that would prevent that from happening. I was only here to keep Elliot alive, to buy time.

There was some silver lining to this demented situation he’d forced us into, and that was the very act of him reaching out following Obsidian’s reveal and subsequent defeat of a unit of his acolytes demonstrated how unsettled he was about its existence.

And where there was fear, there was opportunity.

To get under his skin.

To manipulate in him what hadn’t been possible before, because that fear provided an opening, a vulnerability.

But it also posed a danger.

When people were afraid they didn’t always react rationally.

They made rash decisions out of desperation that they normally wouldn’t.

And when you were trying to strategize and predict the actions and re actions of an enemy, something like that posed a challenge.

I had to be wary.

Warier than just the fact of meeting with him alone already warranted.

I couldn’t afford to fall. I was needed. Obsidian needed me. Our foursome needed me. My father. Even Elliot Sabre and Exemplar. The list had become much longer of late with all that had transpired.

There was a lot of responsibility and need bearing down on my shoulders. Fortunately, I wasn’t just handling it well, I was excelling at it. I’d become the leader that I’d always wanted to be.

Best of all, it had been on my terms.

With this new incarnation of Obsidian.

I wouldn’t fail it, I wouldn’t fail anyone, least of all myself.

No matter what Constantine really had up his sleeve with this forced meeting.

As I waited just beyond the gates, I took in the main building.

It had suffered some fire damage, especially on the upper levels. Fortunately, Talon had managed to mitigate it so it hadn’t spread through to the rest of the building. It hadn’t even been dealt with in the aftermath, though. Some windows and walls had been blown out from the battle too. It had all just been left in ruin and disarray when the place had been evacuated.

It had been treated as a lost cause.

It wasn’t.

It was far from that.

And the students needed it to be far from it. A lot of them depended on the Academy. If not to reach their full potential because of the ridiculous rules concerning that, to relegate the heightened emotions that went along with being a supernatural species, and to understand and better use their abilities. It was also a home and a safe haven to many as well. While the Academy was closed, those who didn’t have a place to go had been put up in various supernatural safehouses run by Exemplar with a member or two keeping an eye on them. And of course, I’d also brought several into Obsidian , mostly those in their final year and a handful who were younger but possessed a maturity and a handle on their abilities that matched those with more experience.

It made me sick that Constantine’s actions had caused the Academy to become a battleground several times now and that it had led to the dean closing it as a result.

It was yet another personal affront and there had been many since he’d risen.

Too many.

All of which he’d pay for in blood.

A surge of magical energy rolled through me and I turned from staring forlornly at the building, spinning toward the sensation.

Mere moments later, an eruption of crimson smoke came into view approximately ten feet from where I stood, Constantine materializing from it.

His long, black hair whipped around in the breeze, brushing against his signature black cloak.

The moment he took me in, that snide smile formed on his face, the fucking thing that I’d wanted to smash to pieces every time he looked my way.

Hold it. Give them more time to work the spell.

“Orpheus, what a thorn in my side you have become of late,” he said, sauntering toward me with that overt arrogance of his.

“Coming from you, that’s really something.”

“You think you’ve already won, but you’re fooling yourself. You’re heading down a dangerous track. You’re fortunate that I’m in a benevolent mood at the moment, so I’m willing to give you the opportunity to save yourself.”

I slapped my hand to my chest. “You’re really tugging at my heartstrings, almighty one.”

He sneered at my biting sarcasm. “I’ve already struck at your heart several times. Kidnapping your father. Violating and ruining Alena and forcing her mother into a state leading to her ultimate demise. Murdering Talon’s parents, then employing Cornwell to force him to lose control. Turning Xavier and using him as my sireling puppet, and now holding his father’s life hostage. Twisting your professor lover, Cornwell, to my side. Attacking Electi Academy. And, let’s not forget, taking your mother away from you and making her mine.”

I gritted my teeth at his awful recap of those despicable events he’d been responsible for and the nonchalant, almost proud way, he’d listed them.

“Your point?” I growled.

“My point is, those things weren’t even directed at hurting you. It wasn’t my goal, yet they’ve impacted you so profoundly. So just imagine if my target did become you. Imagine what I could do in order to not merely cut at your heart, but to tear it from your body.”

“I’m trembling in my two-thousand-dollar boots, hybrid.”

He snarled and stepped closer to me, stopping just shy of my personal space. Trying, but failing to intimidate me.

Noticing, he started throwing out more threats in a ridiculously transparent attempt to unnerve me and weaken my conviction, “Your father has made peace with the supernatural world, even working with Exemplar recently. What do you think would happen if I unleashed my most powerful weapon in your mother to murder his fiancé? Do you believe for one moment that his grief and rage wouldn’t spill out into the human realm and destroy everyone and everything in his path, that his darker nature that he’s keeping checked so well currently wouldn’t unleash in all its glory and devastate the altruistic reputation he’s worked so hard to create lately? That it wouldn’t bring the two of you to the brink of war in the process?”

“You’re a fool. He’s not an easy being to manipulate. Not to mention, you won’t get anywhere near Marlowe.”

“Because he and your army are residing in a pocket dimension of your own creation?” He grinned as he saw me tense involuntarily. “You might have turned many of my potential recruits against me and brought them into your army instead, but I still have those on the outside that are loyal to me. And we’re tracking your movements, determining who you’ve recruited and when, witnesses in the area when you transported them to the hidden location. It won’t be long before we figure out the entry point into your pocket dimension. And given that Lenora is wielding borrowed celestial magic, it can be breached quite easily.”

“She’s not the only one possessing celestial magic.”

“Alena has been ostracized from the supernatural world thanks to my efforts. Her refusal to join with me and subsequently rejecting me has made her useless to me. So I’ve made her useless to you all. She’s currently being hunted, having to be hidden away.”

He didn’t know the whole story there and I wasn’t about to reveal it to him, no matter the provocations he threw my way.

“Yes, you certainly outdid yourself with that twisted manipulation.”

“Something you should be very wary of. You may be gifted at such a thing, but I’m the king, youngling.”

I narrowed my eyes.

Before I could respond with a biting response to take him down several pegs—where he belonged now after so many failings at our hands—I felt a careful push at my mind.

I allowed it and a mind-link opened, my father’s voice sounding through.

“Son, I’m here with Elliot. I’ve written the spell—impressive solution on your part. Performing it within moments. If you can stall safely for another five minutes, do so. However, if you’re under threat, leave immediately. Do not put your life in jeopardy.”

“Received. I can stall.”

“Be very careful. His speed is your weakness, but your ability to influence another’s actions is yours.”

“Understood.”

He closed the link, knowing I needed my wits about me.

I glared at Constantine. “So, did you really just call me here to issue threats? To, perhaps, convince yourself that such threats could still have an impact on those whom you levied them upon? Or is there actually a deal you wanted to discuss?”

“This militarized force you’ve created— Obsidian— as a means to provide the supernatural world with protection in a way that Exemplar has failed to do, is a fine concept, an inspired creation. You’ve used it to take my place, to give them hope and safeguarding in a way that turns them away from my goal of taking power and ruling over them, promising them the same so long as they do my bidding and kneel to me. You’ve set it up as an alternative, which is working to effectively push me out. I applaud the underhanded and manipulative nature of it.” He stepped closer, just shy of breaching my personal space. “The issue is, that promise rests on your shoulders, your leadership. It’s you they trust in. Your victory over the force I sent in against Electi Academy on the eve of Abigail’s death sparked that trust and hope for many—in you specifically .”

“You just love to hear yourself speak, don’t you?”

The more I engaged him and aggravated him, the more he’d go on and on just to piss me off. He’d already proven that so far. Which was exactly what was needed now to bide time until my father confirmed the spell had been completed and Elliot and Xavier were safe, at least for the time being, until we could get Alena directly involved. It was bad enough that my father had needed to be brought in. I just hoped it hadn’t impacted Alena’s training or the development of the failsafe. I didn’t want it dragging out any longer than was already necessary. It had already been days on end without having her with us, and it hadn’t been sitting well with me, or Talon and Xavier. We needed her with us.

He sneered again and told me, “My point, Dark Fae Prince, is that at this current sensitive and early stage of inception, what you’ve created rests upon a house of cards.”

“You’re wrong.”

“It’s actually worse than that. All that needs to happen is for you to fall and it will all come crashing down. You’re the key element, the binding element. Without you, it doesn’t work. In time perhaps you’ll bring in another leader and they’ll prove themselves to the supernatural world in the way you already have from your efforts against me lately. But at this specific point in time, that isn’t the case.” A smug smile spread over his face. “You see, finally finding a way to get at Elliot and then using that to force your hand was killing two fools with one stone.”

Motherfuck.

“The third piece of the puzzle was completed when Lenora and I managed to break the blood vow I’d made with your father to ensure nothing I did or ordered would lead to your death.”

He stepped back and announced, “Now, I like you and respect you, so killing you won’t give me any personal satisfaction. And, truth be told, I enjoy sparring with you, playing these little games of ours. You’ve proven yourself a worthy opponent, and that’s not easy to come across. Very few can match my prowess, power-wise, or intellectually speaking. I’d rather keep you alive. As such, there is a deal on the table. I’ll ensure all your loved ones and those you value are unharmed going forward, that you are all left alone and not impacted by me and my activities in any way whatsoever. In exchange, you will stop recruiting those I’ve already tapped as my new recruits, stop blacklisting me across the supernatural world and souring my reputation and name, and you won’t stand in my way when I take command of Exemplar . You, Elliot and I will designate territory for me to rule without any interference. No more bloodshed. No more infringement on you all living your lives. No more war. We will write up peace accords to this effect.”

Was he actually serious?

The level of delusion was unbelievable.

Then again, for someone who’d thought themselves a god, it fit.

“And if I don’t agree to consider this, or put it to Elliot?”

He lifted a shoulder, nonchalantly. “Then you die.”

“I see. It’s not a deal, but an ultimatum.”

“Label it what you like. Those are the terms.”

“Terms. Demands. It’s all the same to you, isn’t it?”

“I wouldn’t dismiss it out of hand. The terms are very favorable for you and yours.”

“And what about the territory that you wish to take? What about the supernatural beings who would be under your rule?”

“That won’t be your concern, will it?”

I felt that same gentle push at my mind from earlier and I allowed it, my father’s voice sounding in my head a moment later.

“Spell complete. Xavier is healing. Elliot is rousing awake.”

“Nicely done.”

“Take your leave of him now.”

“Not yet. Even with you breaking the connection between Elliot and Constantine, Elliot’s magic still needs to be retrieved.”

“No. It’s too dangerous. We’ll find another way.”

“That spell was only temporary. With him in possession of the magic, he could re-establish the connection any time. Elliot isn’t safe and neither is Xavier.”

“He can’t re-establish the connection. I’ve had Alena ensure it. She’s sealed things with her celestial magic. It’s over. They’re safe.”

“Alena is there?”

“With Elliot in dire straits, I needed her magic to stabilize him so he could withstand a spell of this magnitude.”

“Why didn’t you tell me immediately?”

“Your head needed to remain clear, your focus absolute. I’ve only told you now to stop you from risking yourself to retrieve Elliot’s magic.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Orpheus—”

I broke the mind-link to find Constantine staring out at me expectantly.

“Well?” he pushed.

“You’re not known for your diplomacy. The fact you’re attempting it now raises many red flags. I’d need a gesture of good faith to even take the offer at face value, let alone to run it by the leader of Exemplar.”

“A gesture of good faith,” he mused to himself.

He held up his left hand, indicating that he wasn’t attempting an attack. With his right, he opened his robe, then tugged on a leather strap hanging around his neck and pulled a pendant free from his black shirt. I took it in as it rested on the fabric, an oval stone glowing vibrant indigo. “Like this?” he asked, running his fingers over it. “All that power of his and it can be condensed into this. It isn’t easy to hold at bay, however. It’s being contained by both my magic and Lenora’s borrowed celestial magic.” He registered my eyes on it. “You can’t liberate his magic. A Hellborn or a celestial object could, but thanks to the misguided supernatural leaders, those are unreachable now. What about Alena, hmm? Technically, yes, she has the power. However, she’d have to touch my magic. Do you really think she’d be able to stomach that after what I subjected her to? More to the point, do you really want to put her through that? To be clear, if she does try to penetrate my magic, I’ve added a special present for her. A rush of memories will assault her of all the fun we had together, every dirty little thing I did to her, every painful and degrading moment I forced upon her.”

Son of a bitch.

“You underestimate her.”

“Do I? I have my spies, remember? I’m aware she could barely function after her time spent with me. Not the mark of an almighty hero, is it? She’s ruined. I ensured it. She’ll never be the threat to me that her mother was now. If she’d stayed by my side and allied herself with me, I could have taught her how to reach her full potential. She could have become the most powerful being in the supernatural world. But when she rejected all that I had offered her, I ensured that would never come to pass. I shattered her. There’s no coming back from that.” He grinned out at me maliciously, as further poison dripped from his lips, “She’s nothing but my broken doll now.”

I growled low in my throat.

He burst forward and wrapped his hand around my throat, hauling me off the ground.

“You’re a fool. Love is never anything but a weakness. Caring for others is unwise. It will compromise you time and time again. It’s what has brought you to me this night. You should have stayed with Obsidian , yet you came to spare Elliot and Xavier instead. A decision borne from emotion and care.” He called the vampire forth, his features contorting and his fangs dropping, and he snarled in my face, “You think me a fool? You don’t intend to take my deal. You were merely trying to create an opportunity to find out where I’m keeping Elliot’s magic. Puppet master recognizes puppet master, Dark Prince.”

“Then you’re missing a step in your advanced age. And your ever-increasing insanity, of course,” I rasped against his restrictive grip.

He frowned and it took him a moment, but then he grasped the leather band around his neck with his free hand, noticing what I’d done while he’d been embroiled in this burst of violence and intimidation of his, along with his love of laying down threats.

His eyes shot wide. “How did you… where is it?”

“Right here,” I said, opening my hand.

In the next second, I made him watch as it dematerialized as I sent it to my father for safekeeping, along with a warning that would activate as soon as it flew into his hand about what would happen to Alena if she tried to breach the spell trapping Elliot’s magic within.

“Too slow, especially for an elder vampire. How disappointing.”

He roared and hauled me into the gates of the Academy.

They tore open under the brutal impact and the force he’d used and I careened right through the quad and smacked into the wall beside the main entrance, taking a chunk out of it in the process.

Grunting, I pushed off the ruined wall, choking up a mouthful of blood.

“You’ve signed your death sentence,” he snarled, striding toward me, fury emanating from every part of him. “You think I’d allow a youngling to best me? To be my downfall? I’ve survived for centuries! I’ve defeated all those who’ve stood in my way! I’m not about to let Saryan’s prodigal son usurp me!”

“Seems like it’s already done. You’ve lost many of your followers, your potential recruits. They’re loyal to me, not you. I’m creating the new world order that you couldn’t, that you’ve failed to time and time again because of your greed and obsession with power, your inability to care for anyone or anything. That’s your weakness.” I smirked at him. “Well, one of them.”

As I’d predicted, my words further enraged him, and he came at me in a burst of emotion, rather than rational thought or a plan of attack.

He fisted his hands in my blazer and slammed me back against the ruined wall.

And then he attempted to do what all vampires did when they were enraged—he went in for the bite.

I gritted my teeth as his fangs tore into my throat.

I only had to endure the searing pain for a few moments before what I’d known was coming happened, and he jerked back, staggering from me and choking.

I smiled as I watched him spit out my blood.

“What the… you poisoned your blood?” he rasped, sinking to his knees.

He might have been able to spit some of it out, but he’d drawn so quickly to make it as painful as possible for me that he’d already ingested some of it.

“I drank a full bottle of holy water on my way here. We’re a match magically, but with you knowing that, I figured you’d use your vampire side to my disadvantage. So I took precautions.”

I called my magic and ran my fingers over the wound, healing the damage he’d done.

Then I approached him, both palms flaming with my purple fire, as he reeled there on his knees, choking and spluttering, while clutching his throat as the holy water burned him from the inside out.

“This… can’t… kill me.”

“No, your sorcerer side will spare you from that fate. Hurts like a bitch, though, doesn’t it? Nothing less than you deserve.”

He glared out at me, trying to call his power, but failing in his current state, his fingers twitching with the need.

“Speaking of what you deserve, let’s see to that, shall we?” I fired a bolt of my magic at him, striking him in the gut. It blew him onto his back. “Any last words?”

He went to raise one of his hands, his magic glowing barely, intending to strike me, but I twisted my hand, breaking his fingers magically. His scream rolled through me like the sweetest music after everything he’d done, all the damage and pain he’d brought to us all.

Then I gathered my power, turning my palms up, until my flames morphed to sparks of lightning. It rose and rose, gathering in a fury, and then I fired the full force of it at Constantine.

He screamed and writhed on the ground, his limbs twisting against the torment.

I stepped closer, delivering a more concentrated burst, ripping into him with magical electrocution that had his whole body convulsing as he shrieked out into the night.

Pained and helpless.

Just like he’d made us feel.

It was more than mere vengeance.

It was justice.

It was what needed to be done.

The world would only be safe with him fucking dead!

It wouldn’t be long now.

It would finally be over.

“Stop!” he cried.

I scoffed. “You’re begging for mercy?”

“Can’t… kill me. Elliot’s… magic.”

“We have the pendant.”

“It’s… a decoy.”

His claim pulled me up short. “You’re lying, trying to spare your life.”

“Check. Check… with whoever… you sent… it to.”

“It doesn’t matter, once you’re gone, we’ll use Lenora to find it if we have to.”

“She… doesn’t… know.”

“More lies.”

“She has… celestial magic. Think I’d… trust her with that? Her power-hungry… nature. Now… having all that magic… she could… betray me. Needed… leverage.”

Motherfuck. This bastard.

I opened a mind-link to my father.

“Check the pendant. Hurry.”

“What’s happening?”

“Just check it.”

I pulled my magic back, still holding it at the ready, as I awaited my father’s answer.

“It contains just a flicker of his magic. It must be a decoy.”

“Fuck, it is. I—”

A blast of power slammed into my back, sending me hurtling into a tree a few feet from Constantine. I clawed at it to keep my balance and staggered around to see my mom bursting through the other side of the forest, ripping down trees and the brush to force her way through, her borrowed white magic destroying everything in her path.

“Kill… him,” Constantine ordered her, clutching himself as he laid there in the fetal position keening in agony.

Her eyes narrowed on me. “I warned you. You’ve left me no choice, Orpheus.”

In the next second, she thrust one of her palms forward, streaming her celestial magic at me.

I threw up my hand and caught it with my own, blasting back my own purple stream against her.

My hand shuddered under the insane power coming off her, power that wasn’t hers to wield.

“Stop,” I ground out, bringing my other palm into play and directing two streams at her one just to hold it off, even as my boots slipped and I had to dig my heels into the ground. “This won’t end well for you. You have a chance to do the right thing here. And this isn’t it, mother.”

“I’ve sacrificed everything to get where I am.” She gazed at the magic in awe. “All this power, I’ve been fighting for it my entire life. I’ll never give it up and I certainly won’t let you threaten that.”

“This power you crave so badly is killing you.”

“There are loopholes to everything.”

“Wrong. Not everything. Is that what he’s made you believe? That you could survive this? You can’t. Not if you continue wielding celestial magic.”

“I won’t start from nothing again!” she screamed. “I’ve come too far!”

“Kill him and… you won’t… have to,” Constantine told her.

She looked from him to me. “You almost killed the only person who’s ever cared for me, ever understood me!”

Fuck me, she was completely brainwashed.

Beyond saving.

It wasn’t like it had been with Alena. There’d always been hope there.

But with this, with the woman who’d once been my mother, there wasn’t even a spark. So many years twisted by him and her obsession with power had seen to that.

She was gone.

Utterly.

“He doesn’t care for you. He’s not capable of it. You’re just a tool to him. A weapon now too. He could have wielded the celestial magic himself, but he had you do it so you’d perish instead.”

“You know nothing! You’ve never known me!” she screeched, upping the power she was sending my way.

My foot slipped and it pushed me back into the tree with a bone-jarring thud.

I took a chance and pulled one of my palms away, firing the other up into the sky, intending to create a fusillade of magical missiles to rain down upon her, to break this standoff before it was too late for me and her magic overpowered me.

I’d just managed it, about to direct them toward her, when she slammed her fist down onto the ground and created a massive magical shockwave that had me roaring as the searing pain took my whole body and sent me hurtling deep into the forest, downing tree after tree from the force of the brutal impact.

By the time the hell ended, I landed hard on my back on the grass, white light filling my vision as she levitated toward me, making her way through the carnage.

I was choking and barely able to draw in a steady breath as she reached me, her eyes flaming ferociously.

I tried to lift my hand, but I couldn’t, my body needing more time to recover from the damage that such a massive blast of her power and the blunt force trauma of hurtling through the trees had caused.

She hovered there, levitating before me like an angel of death.

All I could do was watch as she raised her palm to deliver a death blow.

I saw her magic flame.

But then an explosion of golden light filled my vision a moment before a shimmering dome suddenly encompassed me.

And there Alena was standing between me and my mother, her back to me, her magic flaming on her upturned palms wildly.

“You’ve reached a new low today,” she called to her levitating form. “Trying to kill your own son.”

“Stand aside, Nephilim. I’m wielding celestial magic.”

“But you’re not a celestial.”

In the next second, she unfurled her wings, then shot up into the air, snagging my mom on the way. I watched as she flew her up at breakneck speed into the dark clouds and beyond.

Everything was eerily still for a moment.

All I could hear was my weak breathing and Constantine’s rasps and pained groans in the distance back over by the gates.

And then a sharp whistling sound like that of a missile about to strike its target cut through it a moment before my mom fell from the sky looking barely conscious before she hit the ground a few feet away, the impact creating a crater in the middle of the forest.

Holy. Fuck.

Alena materialized in front of me, her wings now away, and wrapped her arms around me, helping me to my feet. “Are you all right? You took the full force of a celestial magic blast.”

I winced as I struggled in my step. “I’ll heal.”

“You need rest for that to occur,” she said, looking me over worriedly. “Let me put her down, then we’ll get you out of here. Saryan said there’s a place in the DFR that can hold her until we can extract my mom’s magic from her.”

She helped me against a tree, then strode over to the crater, calling her magic as she went.

When she reached it, she peered into the hole, then cursed, and spun around, looking every which way. “She’s gone,” she announced after a few moments. “How the hell?”

“She’s the master of the miraculous escape. She’s used that skill on Constantine far too often, saving his ass at the last moment.”

“Constantine… fuck,” she uttered, urgency spilling from her as her gaze darted back over by the gates.

In the next second, she was grabbing hold of me and teleporting us over there.

When we rematerialized, we both breathed a heavy sigh as we found him still there reeling on the ground.

My mom hadn’t saved him this time.

He’d been right to worry that she’d betray him now that she possessed unmatched power.

Well, almost unmatched.

Constantine smirked nastily as he saw Alena. “Darling princess… it’s been… too long.”

“Shut the fuck up,” she seethed. And then she was storming to him. “You’re not getting away this time.” A boot to the face knocked him out easily in his messed-up state. She looked out at me. “We’ll get the location of Elliot’s magic from him and then he’s done for.”

“I had the means to kill him,” I gritted out. “I was so close.”

She came to me and cupped my face, smiling up at me. “This decoy bullshit of his will only buy him a few more days. He’ll meet his fate and we’ll be rid of him. In the meantime, he’ll be locked up and unable to do any more damage. This is a win, baby.”

“You’re right. It’s just—”

“Unfinished?”

“Yeah.”

“I get it. You want it over here and now. I’m right there with you. But we will have our victory. I can taste it now, can’t you?”

I nodded, then staggered and managed to wrap my arm around her, holding her to me. “You’re not going away again. Do you hear me?”

She chuckled. “Absolutely. I’m all yours now. I missed you guys so much.”

“Right back at you, little angel. Right back at you.”