Darkness & Discovery (The Bespelled Trilogy #2) (13 page)

I dodged to the left and Athos cut me off. So I made a decision
and pressed my eyes shut and barreled straight ahead, under the theory that if
he was composed of light, I should be able to run right through him.

Uh, no.

Smashing into him felt like running into a giant redwood. The word
oof
actually left my mouth as we collided. He hadn’t been expecting me
to run right into him, apparently, because he fell to the ground beneath me,
cushioning my fall. He swore in French as I brought my elbow into his ribcage.

My eyes were still pressed shut, the white light almost unbearable
right through my eyelids. It was a relief when it faded out suddenly. Athos’
big hands grabbed my shoulders, but I squirmed and fought, not ready to give
up. “Stop it, Luna,” he said, his tone exasperated.

He stood, picking me up like I weighed nothing, and still I fought
him, yelling, “Put me down! I’ll just escape again. You can’t keep me
prisoner!” He was bare from the waist up for some reason, and I scratched at
him mercilessly. I kicked and tried to roll out of his arms, grabbing for his
hair so I could pull it.

Athos gasped suddenly, and went completely still. And then he
dropped to his knees. He put me down and reached up and touched the side of his
neck. I scrambled backwards, out of his reach, as he stared at me. He was still
very slightly illuminated, so I could see him perfectly, his aquamarine eyes
wide and frightened as he asked, “Luna, what did you do to me?”

I got to my feet and took a few shaky steps backwards, getting
ready to run. And then he collapsed forward onto the ground.

For a moment, I was totally at a loss. And then I noticed
something bright in my hand. I was still holding the bespelled knife, and its
blade glowed with Athos’ blood. “Oh! God,” I stammered and rushed to his side,
rolling him onto his back with considerable effort. “Athos, are you ok?” I knew
I should be running, but I just couldn’t leave him for dead. I didn’t have it
in me.

“What happened?” he asked, his voice quiet.

“I accidentally stabbed you. I’m not sure where.”

“My neck.”

I turned his head and saw the cut, which was bleeding fairly
heavily. I pulled off my sweater and pressed it to his throat.

“What kind of weapon did you use?” His body was totally slack, his
arms limp at his sides.

“This.” I held up the little knife where he could see it.

His eyes went wide. “Where did you get that? How are you even able
to hold it?”

“What do you mean? It’s mine. It follows me around. Did it…did it
do something to you besides cutting you?”

“It poisoned me. A serpent’s tongue is lethal to angels, even
half-angels. The tiniest scratch kills us.”

“A serpent’s tongue? What are you talking about?”

“That weapon. It’s dark magic and incredibly powerful. It
shouldn’t even be possible for a human to wield it.” His voice was a little
fainter.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you! Isn’t there anything we
can do?”

“Afraid not. Luna, be careful around Alastair. You’re really not
safe with him.” His eyelids fluttered.

“Athos, stay with me! There has to be something we can do, some
way to stop this!” I pressed the sweater to his throat and brushed a few loose stands
of his long, dark hair out of his face.

“I didn’t like the idea of taking you prisoner,” he murmured. “I
thought it was wrong to involve you. I’ve been with the Order such a short
time, though, and my opinion didn’t matter to them.” His eyes slid shut. But he
was still breathing, his big chest rising and falling with effort.

I didn’t realize I was crying until I saw my tears land on his
chest. “Athos, is there anyone I can call for you? A friend? Your family?
Someone…someone you want to say goodbye to?”

“There’s no one. My real father wants nothing to do with me, and
my human parents and my two brothers are long dead. I’ll bet you can guess my
brothers’ names,” he said with a little half-smile, opening his eyes just the
tiniest bit.

I managed a weak smile. “What if the third child had been a girl?
Then what would your parents have done? Named you Athos, Porthos and Susan?”

He smiled too. “Perhaps.” A tear spilled from the corner of his
eye, and I brushed it away and kept stroking his cheek.

“Oh God. Athos, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s ok. You didn’t know. Was an accident.” His voice was barely
a whisper. Even as he was dying he was forgiving me, absolving me of guilt.
What
an absolutely extraordinary person
, I thought, as I continued to caress his
face.

Right then, with no warning and no fanfare, Bryn appeared beside
me. “Well, this is unexpected,” he said, taking in the sight of me in nothing
but a bra, crouched over Athos’ sprawled body.

“Bryn!” I exclaimed. “He’s dying. He’s nephilim, and I
accidentally stabbed him with this.” I opened my palm to reveal the silver
dagger.

“Yeah, that would do it.”

“Bryn, help him! There must be something you can do. Save his
life!”

“Why?”

“What do you mean, why?”

Bryn shrugged and said, “He’s a member of the Order, part of the
group of assassins that are after Alastair. I think killing them is pretty much
the goal here.”

“Not this one! Please Bryn, save him. For me!”

The warlock frowned and said, “You really want this?”

“Yes! Please!”

Bryn sighed and took a look at Athos. And then he put his hands on
Athos’ chest and closed his eyes.

An eerie black-blue light crept up Bryn’s fingers and hands and disappeared
under the sleeves of his shirt. After about thirty seconds of this, Athos
gasped and sat up, and Bryn let his hands fall away. “There,” Bryn said. “All better.”

“But…is it in you now? The poison? Because that’s what it looked
like,” I said.

“It is. But I’ll probably be ok, as long as I can keep it
encapsulated until I figure out a way to get it out of me again.”

“
Probably
be ok? Bryn, did you just put yourself in
danger?”

“Well…yes.”

“But why?”

“Because you asked me to help him,” Bryn said, getting to his feet
and brushing off the knees of his black dress pants.

“That’s not enough of a reason to endanger yourself,” I said,
getting up too, still holding the knife in one hand and the balled up sweater
in the other.

“You were terribly upset. You’d never forgive yourself if he
died.”

I grabbed Bryn in a hug, careful not to stab him, too, with the
blade in my hand, and when I let go of him he said, “Does that count as getting
to second base? I’ve never hugged a topless girl before.”

“I’m not topless. I’m wearing a perfectly opaque bra.” I shook out
the sweater and decided it was too bloody to put on, so I tied it around my
waist and returned the knife to my boot. Athos stood up shakily, then jogged
out of the clearing. He was back a moment later with his leather jacket, which
he put around my shoulders, and his t-shirt, which he pulled over his head. I
slipped my arms through the sleeves of the jacket and pulled up the zipper. It
completely engulfed me.

And then Athos went down on one knee in front of me and took my
hand. I was afraid he was about to propose. But instead, he bowed down and
touched his forehead to the back of my hand and said, “You saved my life, Luna.
And in return, I pledge myself to you. I will do everything in my power to
protect you for the remainder of my days.” He added something in Latin as I
fidgeted uncomfortably.

“Um…thanks,” I said, extracting my hand from his and awkwardly patting
him on the top of his head as if he was a dog. “But since I’m the one that
almost
took
your life, I think the fact that I then asked my friend to
save it is pretty much a wash. You don’t owe me anything.”

“Look, this is all very entertaining, but we need to get out of
here before the rest of the Order figures out what’s going on and closes in on
us,” Bryn said. “Although now that I know the serpent’s tongue is with you and
now that I’m with you, they probably wouldn’t stand a chance.” He turned to
Athos and said, “So. He Man, Master of the Universe. After that little archaic
ceremony, I assume you’re coming with us.”

“Yes sir.” Athos stood up as he said, “We should go that way.” He
pointed into the forest, his huge bicep flexing under his black t-shirt. “The
four remaining members of the Order are stationed at each of the four inroads
into this property. If we go in that direction, we can slip right past them.
Provided we’re quiet.” He started walking, and I jogged to catch up and then
fell into step with him.

Bryn materialized a few feet ahead of us instead of running to
catch up, and I asked him as he too fell into step beside me, “Am I wrong to
trust a member of the Order?”

“As of right now, I’m a
former
member of the Order,” Athos interjected.

“You can probably trust him, especially after that vow he just
took,” Bryn said. “If he’s an honorable man, he’ll never do anything to harm
you from this point forward.”

 “I am, sir. I swear I won’t do anything to betray Luna’s or your
trust,” Athos said.

“Is there some reason you keep calling me sir?” Bryn wanted to
know.

“I was taught to respect my elders, sir.”

“Elders! I don’t look a day over nineteen. How old do you think I
am?” Bryn exclaimed.

“I see your age at right around three hundred and thirty.”

“A reader! How unusual in a nephilim.”

“About as unusual as a warlock with enough power to teleport. That
must make you Bryn Maddock, sir.”

“Of course I’m Bryn Maddock. And knock off the sir business. Makes
me feel older than disco.”

“Yes sir. Um…sorry.”

We pressed on into the forest. And after a couple minutes, Athos
said, “You’re both way off, you know. He Man was blonde.”

Bryn grinned at that and glanced over at me. “You called him He
Man, too?”

“Along with a bunch of other things. His name’s actually Athos,
though.”

“I know. I never have to be told people’s names, Luna. Don’t you
remember?”

“Oh, that’s right. Brynaldo the Magnificent knows all,” I joked.

“It was an obvious dye job,” Bryn said.

“What?”

“He Man,” he said. “No one has hair that color. So obviously, it
was a dye job. And before he dyed it, he would have been a dead ringer for our
new mate here. So I say the He Man reference is perfectly valid.”

“Wanna hear his stripper name?” I grinned.

“He has a stripper name?” Bryn smiled ear to ear.

“Not before he met me. But I decided that would be a good career
for him and assigned him one,” I said.

“You’re still exasperating,” Athos whispered. “And we’re getting
almost within earshot of the nearest Order warrior. So please be quiet.”

“Leather Van Der Pants,” I whispered, and Bryn burst out laughing.

“Shhh!”

“Oh please. You must think you’re dealing with a rank amateur,”
Bryn said. “I’ve wrapped the three of us in a concealment spell. We could drive
a Mardi Gras float and a fifty piece marching band through here and no one
would see or hear a thing.”

“Well, that’s handy,” I said.

 “The only problem is, my energy’s a bit spotty these days, and I
already used a ton of it to transport myself to you. So let’s be quick about
this, before the spell disintegrates.” And Bryn broke into a jog.

“How’d you find me, anyway?” I asked as I jogged beside him.

“Your location wasn’t a secret, the Order told us where you were.
They meant to lure Alastair to the trailer. ‘Come alone. Don’t bring the
warlock or the young vampire, or the girl gets it,’ and all that TV crime drama
bollocks. Apparently the four nephilim surrounding the place thought they could
close in like a noose and take Allie out. Pretty overconfident, if you ask me.
By the way, Alastair tried to insist on being the one to come and save you, and
Joey tried to do the same.”

“And what, you all drew straws and you lost?”

“I could never lose at that,” Bryn said, “because I could cheat.
Think about it. I could pull whatever straw I wanted.”

“So how’d you get assigned to the knight in shining armor role?” I
asked as I ducked under a tree branch.

“I didn’t get assigned, I took it by force. Both Alastair and Joey
would have come in here guns blazing and probably gotten themselves killed.
They were
furious
that the Order had taken you. But I knew there wasn’t
any need for the shock and awe approach and them risking their lives, not when
I could stroll in here and get you out quietly.” Bryn looked pleased with
himself.

“So how exactly did you take it by force?”

“Don’t be mad, but I incapacitated both your vampires. They’re
enjoying a little down time until we get back.”