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downwiththeficness · 25 days ago

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The Usurper-Chapter Thirty Two

Summary: Lilah McNamara stole things for a living. It was tedious work and often dangerous, which made it just exciting enough to keep her interested. After botching a routine job, Lilah finds herself standing amid monsters. Wholly unprepared for the horror of living under Amaru’s reign, Lilah decides to use her well honed skills to thwart the queen’s plans and prevent the end of the world.

Word Count: ~4,700

Disclaimer: I do not consent to this work being copied or posted to other sites of blogs.

Start at the Beginning Previous Chapter Next Chapter

Read on AO3 Masterlist

The heat in the room kept rising while the pool came to a roiling boil. Lilah froze in her position, kneeling close to the rim. Her hands came up in front of her body, a motion borne solely out of the instinct to defend herself against attack. Pools of blood didn’t just boil all by themselves.

Suddenly, the blood lurched to one side. It rushed in the opposition direction from where Lilah was kneeling in one massive, rolling bulb of crimson. The liquid mass condensed near the stairs, overflowing the rim, before sloshing in back towards her. Not wanting to get covered in it, Lilah fell back onto her ass. She got her hands and feet beneath her and crab-walked as fast as she could until she hit the wall behind her. Even with the extra space, the blood caught up, spilling over her toes and the soles of her feet. It hurt. Because of the boiling. It was also really, really gross.

The word ‘ew’ left her mouth in one long, disgusted syllable. She shifted her balance left and right, flicking her feet to clean them. The skin was inflamed, but not blistered, as she thought they might be. Lilah stared at them, watching in real time as the swelling went down, returning her feet to their normal shape. The pain of the burn faded in tandem with the swelling.

“That is...weird,” she drawled with a frown.

The pool lurched again. Harder, this time. Lilah walked her hands up the wall and stood, but still ended up with blood up to her calves. She hissed with fresh pain that faded just as fast as it came. Her toes wiggled in the messy aftermath. She had just enough brain power that wasn’t being used to scream ‘run’ at her to be annoyed. This was her only set of clothes and now they were all sticky.

When Lilah was young, her father hit a dog while taking her to school one morning. She remembered hearing him curse for the very first time and how quickly he stopped the car so that he could get out to see what they hit. Even as a child, Lilah was not a very patient person. She waited all of a minute or two before unbuckling her seat belt and joining her father on the side of the road. He was crouched near the animal and she could hear it whimpering in pain. As she approached, her father held up his hand to stop her. He told her that an injured animal is a dangerous animal and that the dog might bite her, even if she was trying to help.

It would take a significant amount of force to move that amount of blood so violently. Lilah didn’t know what, exactly, he was doing under there, but she definitely knew the extent of his injuries and it looked like he was coming up swinging. She didn’t want to end out as collateral damage for an enraged preternatural being.

While Lilah cringed, the pool began to settle. The forward and back undulation softened to nothing but a slow ripple, then to the stillness that bad been there before. Lilah watched for further movement before daring to step closer. One sticky foot in front of the other, she neared the rim and called out, “Brasa?”

Lilah received no answer. She tried again and got more of the same. Lilah moved even closer and said his name a third time, raising her voice so that it echoed off the far wall. She got an answer this time. Large air bubbles rose to the surface, each one moving just a little bit closer than the last. It was Brasa, it had to be. Lila dropped to her knees and leaned forward onto her hands so that she could peer into the opaque depths. The bubbles stopped about an arm’s length from her. She focused on the spot, waiting for something—anything—to to happen.

The pool was still again for long enough that Lilah’s hope for Brasa to emerge began to dwindle. She let out the breath she’d been holding, disappointed and faintly demoralized. Her shoulders dropped and she passed a hand over her face, as if the motion could wipe away the stress and the worry.

“Get it together, Lilah.”

The temperature was still high. Stifling. Lilah could feel sweat pooling at the back of her neck and under her arms. The blood on her feet and calves was drying into a fine, flaky crust. She rubbed at her them, eyeing the shower across the room. The thought of cool water clearing away all the sweat and blood had Lilah moving to stand. Even if she didn’t have a change of clothes, Lilah could at least get clean. Clearly, Brasa wasn’t going anywhere. As she pushed her hands into the floor, another bubble burst to the surface. It was the largest bubble by far, sending ripples outwards in quick succession. She bit her lip, squinting while her heart kicked up in her chest.

Blood swirled around the space where the bubble floated up. It formed a small funnel the reached slowly downward to towards the bottom. After a moment, it dissipated with a wet, sucking sound. Blood splashed in a wide spray, peppering the surface with droplets. Lilah leaned away, despite the fact that she was already half covered. She kept looking, kept waiting. Hope burned in her chest. The feeling wasn’t soft or sweet. It wasn’t that kind of hope. Lilah’s hope was a sharp, jagged thing. An instrument meant to carve, as opposed to nurture.

Jagged hope in hand, Lilah grit her teeth and kept watching. It started as a shadow. A darkness that moved slowly to the rim. As it moved, it grew in size. Vague and amorphous, it rested just below the surface, teasing Lilah with the possibility that Brasa might be alive enough to come out of the pool. Injured and healing, but alive. Pissed the fuck off, but alive.

He broke the surface slowly. Head and shoulders obscured momentarily by the oozing flow of blood running off his body. Lilah recognized the sharp slant of his eyebrows and the way his chin lifted proudly. He was still wearing the clothes she found him in when he lay nearly dead on the altar. The bloodstained shirt was hanging open to reveal equally bloodstained the bandages Javier wrapped tightly around his torso. She couldn’t tell if the wound was still open, but he was upright and that was a step in the right direction.

Eyes closed, Brasa took an audible breath. She could hear a slight rattle in his lungs as he did. Had he inhaled some of the blood while he was healing? Did he actually need to breathe? She couldn’t remember ever hearing him say anything about it. Lilah shook her head and focused on him.His chest rose with the inhale. Lilah watched the movement closely, noting that it looked relatively normal. Then, he opened his eyes and there was nothing normal about them.

Lilah made a soft, surprised sound that she cut off by snapping her mouth shut. She held his stare while her muscles bunched in preparation to flee. Brasa’s eyes—eyes that she knew could oscillate between a warm brown and fierce, deep, dark black—were a bright, burning gold. She might even go so far as to describe them as molten. Those molten eyes were looking at her in confusion, as if he were looking at her for the first time.

Her lungs burned, forcing her to draw a quick, gasping breath. Brasa’s uncanny eyes caught on to it and his gaze narrowed a fraction. He walked forward, wading through the blood easily, until he stood directly in front of her. For once, Lilah had the advantage of height. She looked down at him, caught up in the swirling glint of his golden eyes. Even covered in gore, even with his strange golden eyes, he was still handsome. Lilah had to hip-check the urge to lean down and press her lips to his. An injured animal is a dangerous animal.

Brasa’s hand lifted and he started to reach for her cheek. His arm stalled in mid air, drops of dark red plopping loudly in the silence. For the first time, he broke eye contact with her to look at his own hand. The fingers curled in on themselves, squeezing more blood out of his palm. Brasa’s lip curled and he took a deliberate step back. Lilah watched him turn and walk across the pool to the stairs. He climbed them slowly, moving without his usual grace and efficiency. Then, he headed for the shower.

Lilah frowned at his back, feeling oddly rejected. His expression had been inscrutable and he certainly wasn’t explaining what he was thinking. Determined that she wouldn’t be brushed aside so easily, she stood and circled the pool while Brasa shrugged out of his shirt. The ruined material felt to the floor, forgotten, while he began to unwind the bandage around his chest. By the time Lilah got to the edge of the green tile, the long length of bloodstained gauze had joined his shirt and he was pushing the waist of his pants down over his legs.

She hesitated, eyes following him as he walked to the tap and spun the knob. Water burst from the shower head, catching on his skin and forming pink rivers that flowed in winding downward paths. With his back turned to her, Lilah couldn’t see the full extent of his injuries. She couldn’t see if there was still a hole in his chest. Couldn’t see if he still needed help. What she could see was the smooth, unblemished skin of his back. Lilah could see the hills and valleys of muscle that her hands had mapped over and over. She could see how his hips dipped in ever so slightly above the curve of his ass. She could see how his thighs flexed as he shifted his weight. She could see his arms lifting so that he could scrub the blood from his face and hair. All of this, Lilah could see. And, it made her want to touch. To press her palms to his shoulders, to turn him so that she could look into his weird new eyes and rejoice that he was alive.

Lilah must have made a sound. A sigh, or a groan, or an eager exhalation of breath. Brasa swiped a hand over his face and turned to look back at her with eyes so golden that they nearly glowed. Lilah almost couldn’t look at them. Her attention quickly shifted down to his chest. The hole where Amaru dug out his heart was closed, although there was a raised and ragged scar. Her relief was so intense that tears sprang to her eyes, falling over her cheeks unchecked. Lilah’s lips parted to say something, but she couldn’t find the words. She just kept standing there like an idiot, looking at him with her mouth hanging open.

For several impossibly long seconds, there was no sound except for the water hitting the floor and a low, gentle sizzle. Steam wafted gently through the shower area. It was unnaturally thick, blurring all the edges until the whole room felt soft and dreamlike. Lilah was so focused on Brasa’s face that it took her a little while to see how the water was no longer hitting his body. The sizzle she’d been hearing was the sound of droplets bursting into steam just short of Brasa’s skin.

She said his name. The sound of it was a question, but Lilah had no idea what she was asking him to tell her. Brasa blinked slowly and pivoted to face her directly. He walked over to Lilah, placing one foot deliberately in front of the other. She recognized that approach from their early days, knew that he was choosing to go slowly so he wouldn’t frighten her.

Was she frightened? Lilah took a quick scan of her body and discovered, to her chagrin, that she was frightened. All the fear about losing him to Amaru’s machinations, and then to the depths of the pool, had shifted around to a fear that he was changed in way that was deeper than the color of his eyes. Had he survived only to be so changed that they no longer recognized one another?

Brasa’s fingers brushed her cheek and Lilah hissed. His touch scalded her, as if every finger was red hot. She pulled back and cupped her cheek, blinking at him in confusion. Brasa’s hand stilled and she could see her confusion reflected back to her in the crease between his brows. Brasa frowned and closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them again, they were the same brown eyes Lilah knew so well.

“Lilah,” he murmured. “its okay. I’m okay.”

Blinking through the tears, Lilah inhaled a horribly loud, agonizing breath. Any control she had over her emotions and her body dissolved at the sound of his voice. She reached for him, stopping short when she remembered the searing heat. Brasa’s mouth tipped up in a small smile and he very, very slowly took her hand. He was warm, but didn’t burn this time—and that made her cry harder.

Hushing her softly, Brasa gathered Lilah in his arms and held her while she cried. She let out all the emotions, old and new, that had been building for months. What made it worse was her inability to say anything. Lilah couldn’t form the words to tell him how scared she had been, how it felt to see him torn open on the altar, or what it was like to sit in vigil by the pool with no guarantee that he would ever come back to the surface. The great exhalation of feeling left her sagging against Brasa’s chest. He rocked her gently, one hand rubbing up and down her back until she calmed.

“I’m here,” he assured her.

Even with Brasa real and solid in her arms, Lilah could hardly believe it. She tilted her chin up to look at him. Her eyes roved over his familiar features, memorizing what she already knew by heart. Brasa indulged her for a time, until she let out a long, exhausted breath. He smiled and Lilah couldn’t resist touching the dimples on either side with her thumbs. It was nothing to meet him halfway when he leaned down to kiss her. The shape of his mouth was the same, as was the warm greeting of his tongue. Once she started kissing him, Lilah couldn’t seem to stop because kissing him meant that everything was put to right again, that all the chaos was, for the moment, gone.

Brasa took her kisses and gave them back to her with a passion that was sweeter than anything she’d ever experienced. He held her close while he sidled back into the shower. His steps were slow. One at a time. Lilah went with him, uncaring that her clothes were soaked through. She wasn’t going to be wearing them much longer, anyways, not if she had anything to do with it. Lilah kept kissing him while water dripped from her shirt and jeans.

There was the squeak of a turning knob and the shower turned off. His arms pulled her closer, squeezing her tight to his naked body. Lilah sighed happily into his mouth and pushed into him so that they were pressed together from chest to knee. She felt more than heard his slight gasp and the way his back bowed to put space between them. With a mental curse, Lilah remembered that he had been mortally wounded not a few days before and that he might still be hurting. She cringed and tried to put more space between them, “Sorry, sorry.”

Brasa was already shaking his head, “No. I’m alright. Just...sore.”

He had to be a lot more than sore. He’d had a whole fucking organ removed. Sore probably didn’t even begin to cover it. Lilah felt a wave of guilt come over her, followed by faint embarrassment. He’d been awake for less than ten minutes and she’d thrown herself at him without thinking.

She assessed him anew, seeing for the first time how tired he looked. “You should,” Lilah cleared her throat, “maybe lay down for a bit.”

Brasa’s brow lifted with wry humor, “You think so?”

Warmth crept up her neck. Lilah resisted the urge to swat at him, “That’s not what I meant and you know it.”

He hummed, ignoring her. His fingers caught the hem of her shirt and pushed beneath it to splay over her belly. Lilah made a half-hearted sound of censure that Brasa also ignored while his other hand joined the first. He kneaded her skin with a clear, focused intent before he tugged her shirt up and over her head.

“Brasa,” she said breathlessly, “you are hurt.”

Again he ignored her. He brushed the backs of his fingers over the cup of her bra, following the line of the band to the back so that he could unfasten it. He threw her shirt and bra to the side and ducked down to lay his head in the curve of her shoulder. The unexpected move caught Lilah off guard so much that it took her a second or two to return the embrace. She hugged him tight, mindful of the scar she could feel against her chest. A single hard line scoring him in half.

Brasa held her like that as the room cooled. Then, he ran both hands down her sides to slip his fingers into the waist of her jeans. Lilah knew what he was doing and she couldn’t let him keep going. As much as she wanted to be closer to him, he had just woken up from near death and he needed rest. Her needs would have to wait until he was fully recovered.

“C’mon,” she ordered quietly.

He grumbled as she pulled away from him, but let her take his hand and lead him out of the shower area and around the side of the pool to the door. It was here that he stalled, tugging her to him a step or two so that her back molded to his chest. Brasa folded both arms around her and buried his face into her hair. Here, he took a long, deep breath. Then, she felt his mouth trace down her neck to her shoulder where he let his teeth rest against her skin. He didn’t bite down, but the threat of it sent a shiver all over.

Brasa’s hand skimmed over her belly and down to the button of her jeans. He flicked it open and pushed his fingers beneath the elastic of her underwear down, down, down, until he met the hot, wet, core of her. Lilah whimpered as he rubbed firmly in large circles. All the reasons why she shouldn’t let him keep touching her were suddenly very far away. If he felt well enough to initiate intimacy, then he couldn’t really feel that bad.

Lilah bit down on her better judgment and widened her stance to give him more room. He hummed happily, rewarding her with more focused circles over her clit. The surge of pleasure it sent through her body nearly buckled her knees. Brasa’s arms tightened, bringing her closer. The subtle shift in their bodies highlighted the irregular pattern of the scar, reminding Lilah once again that taking what he was offering her would be selfish.

“Wait,” she croaked. “Wait.”

Brasa’s fingers stopped and he arched his neck over her shoulder to get a look at her face, “What is it?”

Lilah turned to face him, “This is...really nice, but you need rest.”

He rolled his eyes, “I’m fine, really.”

“You died.” Her voice was an accusation. “That takes a lot out of you.”

“You’re forgetting what I am,” he replied. Slowly, as if talking to a child.

Irritated by the condescension, Lilah made herself take a moment to say, “I don’t care what you are. You died. That’s a lot for even a god. So, bed.”

Brasa rolled his eyes again, but followed her to the bedroom and let her guide him to sit on the mattress. The sun was up, filling the skylight with beams that angled towards the East. Lilah estimated that is was early afternoon. In an hour or so, the room would dim some and that might make it easier for him to sleep.

Instead of scooting back to get under the covers, he grasped her hips and pulled her to stand between his knees. Lilah’s hands went naturally to his shoulders. Again, she was struck by how real he was. She knew she was awake and she knew she wasn’t hallucinating. Brasa was actually sitting in front of her, looking at her as he always did—with eyes that told her everything he was feeling.

She pushed his damp hair back from his face. It was drying in curls that he would brush away in the morning. But, for now, she could wind them around her fingers all she wanted. He leaned forward and let his forehead rest against the valley between her breasts. Lilah cradled his head and ran her hand up and down his back. The motion was as soothing to her as it was for him.

Brasa’s head turned and he pressed his lips to the soft mound of her breast, His hands tightened very slightly on her waist, as if he expected her to pull away. She didn’t. Lilah stood where she was and let him place little kisses over and between her breasts, gasping quietly when his mouth closed over a nipple. She knew she should stop him. That she should order him into the bed to sleep and recover. And, she would. In a minute or two.

It wasn’t until he started pulling down her jeans and underwear that her conscience caught up with her. Lilah steeled her resolve and pushed his hands away, “Alright, alright. Its bed time for you.”

Brasa whined, “I’m not tired.”

“Don’t you lie to me just because you want to get laid.” Lilah tried to sound serious, but she was smiling the whole time. “Now, up.”

She was able to get him into the center of the bed and under the covers, but when she went to pull away, he caught her hand. Wide brown eyes looked up at her with such innocence that it stopped her from censuring him, “Lay with me.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

A slight tug on her hand, “Please?”

The single word was a question and it rang with uncertainty. Lilah felt all the steel inside her melt away. She put a knee on the mattress before realizing that her jeans were covered in blood that was drying for a second time. Not wanting to destroy the sheets and mattress, she shucked them and her underwear to the floor and crawled naked under the covers.

“We’re resting,” she said, pointing a finger at him. “Resting.”

He nodded in a way that told her he was barely listening. She let him gather her up into his chest so that they lay on their sides facing one another. For a little while, there was nothing but soft touches and the gentle rhythm of their breathing. Lilah watched Brasa’s eyes grow more tired, more glassy as time went on. She would wait until he fell asleep, then go out and find her phone to tell Javier the good news.

“I dreamed of you,” Brasa murmured quietly.

Lilah made a sound a sound of question.

“I dreamed of you,” he repeated. “While I was under, I dreamed of you. The pain was...painful, but I could stand it when I dreamed of you.”

Her heart felt like it was breaking all over again. Lilah had hoped that he was unconscious throughout, that all he experienced was nothingness. To hear that he felt every bit of his body knitting back together made her both sad and angry. It made her want to walk into that cell Richie built and put a bullet in Amaru’s head—didn’t matter that it was also Kate’s head. Lilah wanted justice. She wanted vengeance. But, now wasn’t the time for either. Now, Lilah simply nodded and stroked a path down his side to where his skin met the blanket.

“I was afraid of what she would do to you—of what she had done to you. I remember when she was cutting me open that I hoped you ran away, that you would never find us.”

Lilah swallowed down her anger and replied, “I wouldn’t do that. I wasn’t going to leave you to be killed by her.”

He nodded, as if he expected her to say that all along, “I know. When I regained consciousness, I was afraid to reach for you. I was afraid that our bond wouldn’t be there anymore and that I would walk the world alone. That thought hurt more than having my chest ripped open. So, I lay there and let myself dream of you. I told myself it would just be for a little while, until I was ready…”

Lilah waited for him to continue. Brasa looked for half a second like he would, but the words didn’t come. He simply pulled her closer and kissed the crown of her head. She squeezed her eyes shut to stop the tears. Lilah wanted to be strong for him, for them both. When she thought she could speak without crying, she said, “I’m here. You’re here. We’re here.”

Brasa’s reply was a soft, sleepy hum. Slowly, by degrees, his body relaxed into the mattress and his breaths became even. Lilah kept laying there for a while, listening to the thump-thump of his heart. It was strong and steady, keeping her love alive with every beat. Her gratitude to the fist sized clump of muscle would last forever.

When she was sure that Brasa wouldn’t wake, Lilah slipped from the bed and hustled to the living area where her cell phone was still charging. She quickly dialed Javier and, before he could finish saying ‘hello’, began giving him the rundown of everything that had happened.

“This is wonderful news,” he said. Lilah could hear movement on the other side of the line, “I’ll bring a cooler to you. He will be starved, I’m sure.”

He went on for a minute or two, verbally working through what needed to be done. Javier would bring them clothes and she would need an extra meal or two. If Brasa was up to it, Javier would take them back to the caves where he was still working to clean up Amaru’s mess. The shipments were on time, so he shouldn’t worry about feeding the culebras who were still loyal. All of this and more came rolling out of Javier’s mouth in a stream of consciousness that was, frankly, overwhelming. Lilah couldn’t have anticipated or coordinated half as much as he had in three times the amount of time. She was so, so grateful to him for picking up the pieces.

“Thank you, Javier.”

There must have been something in her tone that cued him to how close she was to having a breakdown because Javier paused, “Of course.”

A few minutes of logistics later, Lilah ended the phone call and padded back to the bedroom where Brasa was still sleeping. He’d rolled to his back with one arm over his head and the other stretched out beside him, as if he were reaching for her even in sleep. She put the phone under her pillow and crawled in next to him, barely resisting the urge to cuddle as close as possible. He needed sleep and she was afraid to wake him with any touching.

She watched him sleep in between short bouts of dozing, until the sun moved across the skylight and down towards the horizon. The room dropped into a hazy orange that deepened into purple, then darkness. Lilah kept watching Brasa until she couldn’t even see the proud slope of his profile in the dark. She drifted into a true sleep listening to the sound of his breaths.

#from dusk til dawn: the series #brasa #from dusk til dawn #au #maurice compte #the usurper #soulmates

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downwiththeficness · 1 month ago

Text

The Usurper-Chapter Thirty

Word Count: ~5,400

Disclaimer: I do not consent to this work being copied or posted to other sites of blogs.

Start at the Beginning Previous Chapter Next Chapter

Read on AO3 Masterlist

“I am so fucking mad at you right now.”

Lilah and Seth stood in the underground hallway near the cavern where the ritual was taking place. All the overhead lights that Brasa installed over the last few months were out, leaving the two of them to navigate the halls with only the flashlights on their cell phones to light the way. That, and the sounds of screams.

At regular intervals, someone would start screaming. That scream would keep coming, until it morphed into the sound of gurgling death. Sometimes it was a slow decrescendo, sometimes is was fast and cutting. Always, it was filled with a pain so absolute that death must be a mercy. With every step forward, the screams grew louder. More intense. Eventually, Lilah couldn’t let herself get any closer and her steps slowed to a stop.

“We weren’t trying to hide it from you,” Seth whispered. “And, honestly, we weren’t sure she was even still in there.”

Lilah’s mouth curled, “This would have been good information to know weeks ago.”

“Would you have done anything different?”

“Well, no,” she allowed. “But, I would have liked the choice.”

Seth rolled his eyes, “There was no choice. Richie said he saw that she was inside Amaru.”

“And, you believed him?” Lilah hated the edge in her voice, but her gut told her Richie might be engaging in a little wishful thinking—the faint hope that his bondmate was still alive and that he could get her back.

“He’s a little crazy—don’t tell him I said that—but he’s perceptive. If he says Kate is still in there, she’s still in there.”

Lilah blew out an angry breath. The fact that Richie’s bondmate was the vessel for Amaru was one more complicated variable in a sea of complicated variables. What they were doing was one step away from a suicide mission. Add on that she couldn’t actually kill Amaru and it was like forcing Lilah to take that final step.

Seth touched her shoulder, “Listen, you get Brasa out of there. I’ll handle the blood queen. She can’t stop once she’s started, right?”

“That’s what the book said,” Lilah replied dryly. “If she lets go of the staff before the door is open, it’ll release all the pent up power and everything goes boom.”

He nodded, “Good, so she’s stuck to the same spot. Won’t go running out on us.”

She returned the nod “What do we do with her once we stop the ritual?”

His smile was filled with mischief, “You leave that to me and Richie. He’s been working on something to knock the bitch out of Kate’s body for weeks.”

Of that, Lilah had no doubt. “You think it’ll work?”

A shrug, “If it doesn’t we’ll try something else. The professor’s been working on a containment spell. Its dicey, but worth a shot.”

Lilah turned her attention to the darkness ahead, “I gotta meet this professor some day.”

Seth shifted to stand next to her, “Nah, he’s a dick. A smart dick, but still a dick.”

She hummed and the hall fell into silence that was shattered by a new scream. High pitched and feminine, it went on for a short ten seconds before it, too, was cut off. They were running out of time and Amaru was already way ahead of schedule. Lilah held up the phone and took the lead again, moving along the rocky path. She made a left turn and spotted the warmth of what looked like firelight in the distance. Quickly, she tapped the icon to turn off the flashlight and gestured for Seth to do the same. Then, she pressed herself against the wall and began to close the distance between them and the opening.

Up close, the screams turned Lilah’s stomach so much that she thought she might have to wretch. A creeping pool of red rolled out from the doorway, letting her know just how grisly things would be inside. If Amaru had spilled that much blood, she had to be close to the number of sacrifices necessary to get the ritual off the ground.

Lilah shrugged off the backpack and dropped into a crouch, pulling supplies out and setting them in a neat row against the wall. In her periphery, she could see Seth doing the same. It didn’t matter if she was ready, didn’t matter that she felt queasy. It was showtime.

Their plan was simple...and a little bit reckless. Which was the point. Amaru was going to expect guns and bullets. She was going to expect knives and violence. What she wasn’t going to expect was pure idiocy wrapped up in a sophomore chemistry lesson that Lilah barely remembered. The only thing Lilah had going for her was the element of surprise and she was going to exploit the ever loving hell out of it.

One by one, Lilah uncapped and removed the safety seals on each of the bottles. Then, she put the caps back on two of them and pushed them into the back pockets of her jeans. She capped a third and slipped it into the waistband at the small of her back. The two bottles she carried in her hands, Lilah left uncapped for maximum efficiency. There wasn’t going to be time to screw around once they made their presence known.

Another scream roared so loudly that Lilah swore she could feel the entire cave tremble. It blew past her on an unseen wind while the firelight swelled to near blinding. Lilah’s shoulders rose protectively around her ears and her eyes scrunched closed. The scream was short, but it echoed all along the hallway. No human could make that sound.

“Brasa,” Lilah breathed in a broken whisper. Her feet started to carry her forward to save him and it was only her rational mind screaming at her that stopped them. They had to be smart about this. Brasa wasn’t going to benefit from her storming into the room without knowing what she would find. Lilah had to stick to the plan.

Seth was way ahead of her. He knelt near the door, getting as low as he could to the ground. Then, very slowly, he peeked around the corner. Lilah swallowed down the urge to do the same. One pair of eyes might be ignored. Two probably wouldn’t. She forced herself to stand still while Seth figured out how far Amaru was into the ritual and the best way to fuck it up.

After about a minute, he leaned away from the door and stood, “Okay. Pretty much everyone in there is dead. The bodies are stacked along the walls. God, there must be a couple dozen of them.”

“A hundred,” Lilah said, absently. “She needed a hundred sacrifices.”

“Right. A hundred. Anyways, Amaru put down the runes and she’s got the staff set up.” Here, he paused and his expression sobered, “Lilah, she...she was holding a heart. Was pouring the blood into that cup we found.”

Her jaw clenched around a wave of emotion. She’d killed him. Amaru had killed Brasa. Lilah was too late. She was far, far too late. Her body began to tremble with rage and anguish, overcoming any defense she might have. Tears welled in her eyes and she heard a soft, pained whimper come from somewhere deep in her chest.

Seth grasped her shoulders, “I know. I know this fucking sucks, but you have to pull yourself together. We have a job to do.”

Lilah nodded and sniffed. The tears were still falling, but she was determined to push through them to achieve her goal. No one else was going to die because Amaru’s power trip. Lilah was going to make damn sure of that. With a huge breath in and out of her lungs, Lilah hefted the two bottles into a better grip and gave Seth a look to convey that she was ready.

He gazed steadily into her eyes, then said, “The ground is gonna be pretty wet, don’t fall. If you fall, you give her an opportunity to kill you. I’ll take the right, you take the left. We’ll move in a circle around the room and meet at the altar. Richie is chained up against the fall wall with Javier. They both looked like they were unconscious.” He paused, “How are you with locks?”

“I’m shit at locks,” Lilah admitted. “Always have been.”

Seth took it in stride, “Alright. I’ll work on freeing Richie and Javier. You take what’s left in the duffle and pour. Keep pouring until there’s nothing left.”

She nodded along, “What do we do with Amaru? The trapped power isn’t going to last forever and she’ll let go of the staff eventually.”

One side of Seth’s mouth quirked and he held up a syringe, “I’ll take care of that.”

Lilah squinted at the brownish colored liquid, “What is that?”

“Just a little tar I cooked up before Amaru came storming into the bar.”

She blinked, “You’re going to drug her with…”

“Heroin, Lilah. Its heroin.”

“I’m going to set aside the fact that you’re cooking up heroin in the bar and remind you that you’re trying to keep Amaru alive—or, her body, anyways.”

He waved her off, “Its a low dose, but it’s enough to knock her on her ass so that we can get her somewhere safe and evict the little bitch.”

In truth, Lilah didn’t care if Kate’s body survived the encounter or not. The demon inside her had killed Brasa and that nullified any soft and cozy feelings she might have about the fact that Kate had been possessed while it happened.

“You ready?” Seth asked as he turned towards the doorway.

“Ready,” Lilah replied.

“Fuckin’ A,” he muttered under his breath and took a step forward.

Lilah followed, saying nothing. She entered the room behind Seth and, as she crossed the threshold, there was a noticeable change in the air. Every molecule was suddenly sizzling with energy that pulsed from the center of the room. The force of it slowed her step long enough for Lilah to realize just how much power was being gathered together in order to tear apart the barrier between dimensions.

Amaru was standing in the middle of the room with the staff, just like Seth said. Her eyes were closed in concentration and her mouth was moving around the ritual words. The staff was glowing a hateful orange so bright that it made even looking at it difficult. At Amaru’s feet was the cup. It overflowed with incredibly powerful blood. The same blood the was painted into a circle of runes around Amaru. Beyond, Lilah could see Brasa laying across the altar. His shirt was torn open and ritual knife was laying by his side. Lilah couldn’t see the totality of the damage from this distance, but it couldn’t be anything less than an ugly, lethal mess.

A fresh wave of despair and anger washed over her, giving Lilah the push she needed to act. She grit her teeth and moved quickly, but carefully, along the row of dead bodies. The ground had soaked up most of the blood, but her shoes were still sliding with every step. Lilah held out the bottles in her hands and turned them over so that the hydrogen peroxide poured out onto the swollen ring of red. Wet, viscous foam bubbled up in her wake. When she the first two bottles were empty, she took out the two from her back pocket and spun off the caps, pouring those out, too. As Lilah repeated the process with the one in her waistband, Amaru tore her attention from the staff and caught Lilah’s eye.

The old saying, ‘if looks could kill’ applied now more than it ever had in Lilah’s entire life. Amaru’s stare was ancient and deadly, full of impotent rage. Lilah gave it right back to her, flipping Amaru the bird with her free hand as she made the final pass to the altar. Over the dull sound of power pulsing from the staff, she could hear Amaru’s growl of displeasure.

Fuck you, too.

Lilah meant to duck behind the altar and do as Seth told her—to grab the second round of hydrogen peroxide from the bag and keep pouring. She really, really meant to do it. But, seeing Brasa’s dead body swept away all her good intentions. The pain stopped her cold, made her reach out and touch his cheek only to jerk her hand back when she felt how icy his skin was.

The opening in his chest cavity was cut with surgical precision. His ribs weren’t even broken. Blood still dripped over the side of the altar, leading the way to the bruised and disfigured muscle that used to be Brasa’s heart. It looked so human as it sat there beside his body. So human, and so dead.

She couldn’t help herself. Lilah picked up the heart and held it tenderly in her hands. Like Brasa, it was cold and lifeless. She felt new tears fall down her cheeks as she tried to figure out what to do with it. Her thumbs ran over the cool, crimson flesh, one of them catching on something hard and sharp. Confused, Lilah tugged it free and held it up to the light. It looked like bone. Or, like a calcified fossil she might find in a lake bed.

“Well, shit,” Lilah murmured, knowing exactly what it was.

She squeezed it in a tight fist and was gratified to feel the thing crumble to dust. Lilah was even further gratified to hear Amaru’s responding cry of pain. She looked up to find the blood queen bent over with both hands still on the staff. Her lips were pulled back from her teeth in a grimace, but she refused to let go. Amaru took deep breaths of air into her her lungs before her eyes lifted to lock onto Lilah’s. The shared glare ended when Lilah bared her teeth at Amaru and went to set Brasa’s heart back where it belonged.

She knew it might be an impossible wish that he could heal from this kind of wound—a mortal wound, if she’d ever seen one. Lilah knew that there was not much that she could do. That didn’t stop her from taking the knife and digging it into the meat of her forearm near the elbow. Hissing with pain, Lilah held her arm above Brasa’s body and let her blood drip down onto his heart. She kept still and watched the little stream of red roll down the sides to pool beneath until the stream dribbled to a stop.

Seth, who had already started working on the chains holding Javier and Richie captive, called out, “We gotta keep movin’, Lilah.”

Blinking back the tears and swallowing down her emotions, Lilah nodded and turned from Brasa to open the duffle at her feet. From the depths of the bag, she took out as many bottles as she could hold and went about doing what she said she was going to do. Her feet moved in a circle, carrying her around the room while she watched Amaru grow steadily more angry. As she went, the light from the staff began to dim, signaling that their half-brained plan was actually working.

Encouraged, Lilah emptied the last bottle and threw it to the side with the others. She hustled back to the duffle and kept pouring in the other direction. In all, Lilah dumped about twenty giant bottles of peroxide on the blood, destroying the life it represented. The electricity in the air began to fade. Slowly, at first, and then with gathering swiftness, until there was nothing left but a dull buzz of power.

Having gone through the supply, Lilah threw down the last bottle and moved towards the altar. Seth rose from behind it and gestured for her to help Richie and Javier. They weren’t unconscious, but they looked like they’d been hit pretty hard. Javier was walking his hands up the wall in an attempt to stand and Richie’s was barely holding his head up. Lilah pushed her hand into the duffle and pulled out the last item, a dark glass bottle filled with sloshing red wine.

There was no corkscrew to open it, so she gave it a hard tap against the stone of the altar, smiling when the top cracked in a clean line around the rim. She dropped onto her ass and used the heavy denim of her jeans to carefully pry to top off, then crawled over to Richie.

“Drink up, buddy,” Lilah ordered. Then, when he reacted too slowly, she added, “Hurry up. Your girlfriend is pretty pissed and we need you focused.”

Richie made a slurred sound that was probably the word, ‘what’, but it came out more like, ‘wyaa’. Lilah shook her head and tipped his chin up so that she could pour the wine into his mouth. He choked down the first gulp, but caught on to what she wanted pretty fast. His hand lifted to steady the angle of the bottle until he’d emptied the whole thing.

Lilah gingerly took it from him and set it to the side, “You good?”

He passed a hand over his face and gave her a thumbs up before pushing to standing. Lilah watched him carefully, ready to help if he began to fall. When Richie steadily rose to his full height, she put the broken bottle aside and got off the ground. On the way, she saw Javier moving very slowly to where Brasa lay. His expression was crumpled with grief. He extended a shaking hand and lay it atop Brasa’s forehead. Unlike Lilah, he didn’t pull away.

“Quit squirming!”

In the middle of the room, Seth was wrestling with Amaru. He had an arm around her shoulders and the needle in his free hand. Amaru was still gripping the glowing staff. The light was much dimmer, which meant they had minutes—maybe seconds—to sedate her before Amaru could turn the heavy weight of her power on them.

Lilah and Richie moved in concert around the altar. Richie to the left and Lilah to the right. They came together in the middle of the runic circle, four extra hands to hold the blood queen down. Richie grabbed her waist from behind to hold it steady while Lilah dropped down and caught both legs in a tight grip. She pushed her face into Amaru’s thigh and locked her fingers around her elbows. As Lilah adjusted her stance to lean more weight into her heels, she vowed to hold on until either Seth put Amaru down or Amaru let go of the staff and blew them all to bits.

For as little as she was, Amaru was really fucking strong. Even with all three of them—to include one preternatural being twice her size—holding on, Amaru still had enough leverage to swing back and forth in an attempt to avoid the needle.

“I said,” Seth yelled, “quit fucking squirming.”

Above, Richie drawled, “I’m kind of enjoying it, honestly.”

Lilah grimaced, “Ew, Richie.”

He laughed, completed untouched by the disgust in Lilah’s tone. Annoyed by it, Lilah shifted forward and dug her knee into the toe of his shoe. It wasn’t the most effective strike, but she thought it sent the right message when he yelped.

“Let me go, you stupid sacks of meat!” Amaru yelled, mid-squirm.

“I don’t know if you’re aware of this,” Seth grunted, “but you’re wearing a meat sack right now. That meat sack is our meat sack, and we want it back!”

Lilah hear Seth’s triumphant yell, signaling that he’d gotten the needle in. Amaru continued to struggle against their grip, calling out all kind of oaths in Xibalban. Some of them she’d read in the book, others she couldn’t even begin to interpret. The message was pretty clear: the very second Amaru was able to let go of the staff, they were all fucking dead. More than dead. Obliterated from existence.

“How long is it going to take?” Lilah asked. She might be stronger than other humans, but her arms were beginning to ache and her knees burned from holding her weight on the stone floor.

Seth made an ‘I don’t know’ sound, “Usually a minute or two.”

She leaned into a particularly strong jerk of Amaru’s legs, nearly losing her grip, “A minute or two might be too long.”

A minute or two was definitely too long. As the words tumbled out of Lilah’s mouth, the light of the staff suddenly went out. Lilah’s jaw clenched around her fear and the absolute knowledge Amaru couldn’t get free. She couldn’t be allowed to kill more people. Lilah buckled down and renewed her efforts to hold Amaru still. At least, she started to before Richie reached down and grabbed her by the collar of her shirt. The movement surprised her enough that he could easily toss her a few feet away. She landed hard, forgetting to roll into the motion.

When she righted herself, Lilah scrambled to all fours and focused on her enemy. Amaru kicked Seth away with one well place blow to his stomach. He let out a loud ‘oof’ and fell back onto his hip and shoulder. He cried out with pain at the impact, holding onto his arm and wincing. Having dealt with one brother, Amaru turned her attention to the other.

Richie caught Amaru’s hands and pulled them tight across her body. He dodged the back of her head and yanked her up and off her feet, using his greater height to his advantage. Amaru screamed and flicked her legs forward and back, kicking uselessly at the air. Her attempts knocked the staff free of its post and it rolled away, also useless. Richie held her tight, even when her flailing knocked off his glasses. He simply closed his eyes and tucked his chin down and held on.

Lilah, not trusting that Richie could overpower Amaru for very long, crawled over to the staff and picked it up. She stood and held it at the ready. The metal was surprisingly cool in her hand, as if it hadn’t previously been so filled with power that it glowed. The center of gravity was heavily tilted towards the ornate tip and it forced Lilah to choke up a bit to hold it level.

Nearby, Seth got to his feet. He shook away any disorientation and started towards Amaru again. She hissed and spit in his direction before kicking out again and clipping Seth in the hip. He anticipated the strike and cushioned it with a pivot before grabbing at her ankle and tucking it into his side. Both hands grasped at her calf and held strong. Seth gave Richie a nod and braced himself to hold his position.

Richie nodded at his brother, then pushed his cheek against Amaru’s, “Kate...Kate I know you’re in there.”

Amaru was incensed, “She’s dead, you ignorant fuck. Dead! I killed her the second I took her body.”

“That’s not true,” Richie insisted, and Lilah could hear the conviction in his voice. “I saw her. She showed herself to me, told me how to save her.” He paused, lowered his voice, and added, “I have the amulet, you little bitch. Now, let go of my bondmate.”

“No!” Amaru cried as her body contorted with such enormous strength that she was able to not only dislodge Seth, but also free herself from Richie’s arms. She turned and elbowed him in the stomach before throwing a punch at his face. The impact of her fist on his nose was audible, as was the crunch of bone and cartilage.

Lilah watched all of this occur in the space of several heartbeats. It was only due to her fear and rage that she remained standing, remained ready to do whatever was necessary for this thing to end right here, right now. Her arms moved without conscious thought, lifting the staff above her head. She brought it down on Amaru as hard as she possibly could, bending her knees to drive all the way through the motion.

The bejeweled head of the staff hit Amaru in the bend of her shoulder and neck. The strike wasn’t nearly as effective as the one Amaru had just delivered to Richie, but it knocked her off balance enough for Richie to recover. Blood pouring down his face, he caught Amaru by her hair and threw her down. He gave her no time to get her legs underneath her and stand, falling upon Amaru’s body and digging his knees into her thighs. Amaru got a punch or two in before Richie captured her wrists. He balanced his weight between his hands and knees, effectively restraining Amaru to the bloody floor.

Seth moved to stand over them, “Hold her.”

“I am holding her, asshole.”

From his pocket, Seth produced another syringe. He dropped to a knee and pushed Amaru’s head to the side, quickly and efficiently giving her a second dose, “That’s enough to knock out an elephant.”

“I think a Xibalban is stronger than an elephant, brother.”

“I’ve got more,” Seth replied. “You just keep holding her.”

Lilah stepped closer to Richie and Amaru, ready to strike again, if necessary, “I thought you wanted her alive.”

“I do,” Seth said. “but, he’s right. A Xibalban is much stronger than a human. That was my mistake.”

“Big mistake to make.”

“An honest mistake to make.”

Richie looked up at the two of them, “Are you honestly going to debate this right now?”

Lilah pursed her lips, “You’re right. We’ll save that for later.”

In Richie’s distraction, Amaru made her move. She arched up and snatched his neck in her mouth, biting down. Richie hissed and his fangs dropped, contorting his whole face into a scaly visage. He wrenched his neck free, pouring blood down his shirt and onto Amaru’s chest and belly. “Save the foreplay for later, honey.”

Lilah rolled her eyes and she saw Amaru do the same. In Lilah’s periphery, she saw Seth pull out another needle, “How many of those do you have?”

He glanced at her, “Three more.”

“I’m usually not one to judge, but that is a lot of heroin.”

Seth shrugged, “I wanted to be prepared.”

She gasped in mock surprise, “A Gecko brother? Prepared? If I hadn’t seen Amaru performing the ritual, myself, that would be definite proof that the world was ending.”

“Fuck you.”

“Fuck you, too.”

Lilah looked down in time to see Amaru headbutt Richie and use her legs to throw him all the way across the room. She was suddenly on her feet and doing the same to Seth. Lilah swung the staff and caught her arm only to have Amaru grab it and pull hard. The carved metal slid through Lilah’s hands, the jewels scraping her palms. Lilah didn’t have time to determine how deep the cuts went. Amaru backhanded Lilah so hard that her vision went temporarily black. She felt her whole body fly through the air and land against unforgiving stone. Dizzy and seeing double, Lilah held her head in her hand and groaned.

Amaru stomped up to Lilah and towered over her. Lilah blinked until her vision cleared, coming face to face with Amaru’s wide, toothy smile. She lifted a closed fist, letting it hang in the air with menace long enough for Lilah to register what, exactly, was about to happen. Then, she stopped. Amaru stopped moving and her eyes unfocused. She swayed on her feet, stumbling back with a look of disbelief. Her expression relaxed and her mouth opened up in surprise. It was the first time that she ever looked like the young woman she was to Lilah.

A shadow moved behind Amaru. Seth grabbed her shoulder and put a third syringe into her body, thumb pressing steadily on the plunger. Amaru bared her teeth at him and slammed the heel of her palm into his jaw. Seth’s head snapped back and he stumbled away, the syringe falling to the floor. Amaru turned to face him in a movement that swung to far and had her hands stretching out for balance. She squeezed them into little fists and planted both feet. A low growl formed in her chest, emphasizing her displeasure.

Lilah’s head ached and nausea turned her stomach. She rose very slowly, using the stone ledge of the altar for balance. Then, she swallowed down the bile that threatened to rise and prepared to keep fighting. She circled Amaru, positioning herself equidistant from Seth and Richie. They, too, were sizing up their opponent.

Richie wiped the blood from his face and snarled. Amaru started to say something, but her words were lost when Richie lunged forward and sank his teeth into her neck. His arms trapped her in a vice that lifted Amaru until she was balancing precariously on her toes. He drank in loud gulps, sucking the blood out of Amaru until her head lolled back and her body went limp. Richie released the bite with a panting breath, eyes scanning Amaru’s face for signs that she was still conscious.

Satisfied that he’d drained all the fight out of her, Richie slowly and carefully gathered Amaru up into his arms, “We gotta go. She’s not going to be out for long.”

Seth nodded and started to follow his brother out of the cavern. He stopped and turned to Lilah, “We’re taking her back to the bar. Richie’s been working on a holding cell for her in the basement.” Then, “Are you...going to be okay?”

Lilah caught his subtle nod to the altar. She couldn’t quite look back. Not yet. “I’ll be okay. I need to...take care of him. I’ll meet you after.”

He nodded again, “Take your time.”

She watched his back until he turned the corner. With nothing else to distract her, Lilah took a deep breath and looked over her shoulder at the altar. In all the chaos, she’d forgotten Javier was there, too. He was standing over Brasa’s body and he was focused on the wound. One hand held the knife and the other was hovering in the air. He’d ripped the sleeve off his shirt at the seam and cut a long gash into his forearm. Blood poured steadily into Brasa’s chest, slowing as the wound closed.

Lilah walked forward, “Is he...do you think…?”

Javier’s gaze turned to Lilah and she saw an ancient grief in his eyes, “I don’t know. This is beyond my experience.”

Her hands were shaking and her throat closed around a sob. She took Brasa’s cold hand in both of hers, bringing it to her lips and pressing a kiss to each knuckle. The flow of blood stopped and Javier lifted the knife to cut again. For several minutes, there was only the sound of her crying in the cavern. Her tears poured out of her and onto Brasa’s chest, mixing with Javier’s blood and the viscera of Brasa’s exposed organs.

She cried until her tears ran dry. Until the ache in her head pounded against her skull and radiated down her spine. Then, Lilah sniffed and wiped her face, “I don’t think its working.”

Javier cut his arm again, “It might be.”

Lilah shook her head, “This isn’t like when he pulled his fangs. She took his heart.”

“I know, Lilah.”

“She took it and she used it.”

“I know.”

“I want her dead, Javier. I don’t care if she’s wearing someone’s body. I want her dead.”

“I know.”

Lilah wiped at her face again and made herself look at Brasa’s heart, sitting free in the cavity of his chest. Angry and sad and shocked by the sight of it, she reached down and cupped the muscle in her hand. “I’m sorry I didn’t get here in time. I’m so, so sorry.”

The apology brought with it a fresh wave of tears and an ache in her body that Lilah thought might never go away. She hunched over Brasa as she cried, not yet ready to let go of his heart. Next to her, Javier ran the blade over his arm yet again, and she felt hot blood pour over her hand and wrist.

She also felt something else. It was so small that Lilah almost dismissed it—a very small, very brief twitch. Her head lifted and she stared at where her hand met cold, wet muscle. There. It happened again. A small, but definitely real, twitch.

Lilah looked up at Javier, “Did you see…?”

Javier smiled, “I did. There’s still hope.”

Straightening, Lilah sniffed and fixed Javier with a steady look, “What do we do?”

His smile held, “We get him to the healing pool.”

#from dusk til dawn: the series #brasa #from dusk til dawn #maurice compte #au #the usurper #soulmates

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