Chapter 72 Running Out Of Time

Chapter 72 Running Out Of Time
INDIE
          The only sounds in the room were Zade's ragged breathing, the frantic rustle of Giselle's healing magic, and my own heartbeat pounding so loudly it drowned everything else out. My flames had finally dimmed but it felt like they would burst right out if I breathed too deep.

Please...

Please let Leon be wrong.

The door burst open, and Mason staggered inside. One look at his face shattered the tiny piece of hope I'd been clinging to.

He looked sick. He stood there, breathing hard, his face drained of all color. Sweat beaded on his forehead. His eyes were wide with pure horror.

"Mason?" I whispered, my voice cracking.

He swallowed hard.

"I found Enid." His voice was hoarse when he spoke.

No one moved or breathed as we waited for his next statement.

"She's dead," Mason continued, his voice cracking on the last word. "In her bed. Her throat had been slit clean. The knife... it was still in her hand. It looks like she did it herself. Her eyes were pitch black."

The silence that followed was suffocating.

Zade jerked in Leon's arms. A fresh, guttural cough tore through him, spraying dark blood across my chest. His body convulsed hard, his spine arching as another wave of pain stabbed through him.

"Zade—!" I screamed, grabbing his shoulders.

His violet eyes snapped open, wild with agony and a sudden, horrifying clarity. He tried to speak, his mouth opening, but only blood and a choked, wet sound came out. His hand fumbled weakly for mine, his fingers trembling.

I pressed my forehead desperately to his, tears streaming down my face.

"Through the bond," I begged. "Please, Zade. Speak to me through the bond. I'm listening. I'm right here."

He struggled. His body shook harder. The bond between us flickered like a dying flame, full of his pain. I gasped as echoes of the siphon tore through me too, like invisible claws ripping at my insides. Then, finally, his voice broke through my mind, raspy and strained.

"Varak... he's trying...to take my...body."

I gasped, my pulse thrumming harder.

Zade's grip on my hand tightened weakly as he forced more through the link, each word costing him visibly.

"He can't exist here fully... not yet. He wants my resurrection power. With your flames... he can burn the chains holding him in the dead plane. He wants to possess me completely. Use me as his vessel in this world."

Horror flooded every inch of me.

I sobbed harder, clutching him tighter as fresh blood dripped from his lips onto my shoulder.

"No," I whispered brokenly. "No, Zade. Stay with me. Please stay with me."

Leon's hand gripped my shoulder from behind.

"We won't let him," he said fiercely. "We're not losing you."

Zade's eyes met mine one last time through the pain, burning with that familiar, dangerous love even as his body failed him.

"Don't let him take me, bunny. If I start to change... you know what you have to do."

The bond flickered again, weaker.

I screamed his name as his eyes rolled back, his body going terrifyingly limp in my arms.

The infirmary descended into pure chaos once more.
But this time, the terror had a name.

Varak wasn't just coming.

He was already trying to steal the man I... loved. The realization hit me like a bullet to the chest. I sobbed harder, clutching at him.

Somewhere between his impossible possessiveness...
his ridiculous sarcasm...the way he looked at Lila...
and the way he kept choosing me...

I'd fallen in love.

...

The bathroom was thick with steam and the sharp bite of ice. Leon had filled the large tub with freezing water and half a bag of ice from the kitchen.

Zade lay submerged up to his chest, his head tipped back against the porcelain edge, his eyes half-lidded in exhaustion. His skin was deathly pale, his lips tinged blue, but the fever still burned through him like a forest fire.

Every few seconds his body would jerk with another shiver, his muscles locking painfully under the cold water.

Leon knelt beside the tub, one hand steady on Zade's shoulder, the other periodically running a wet cloth over his forehead.

His red hair was damp, his golden eyes fixed on Zade's face.

I sat on the cold tile floor a few feet away, surrounded by every record, scroll, and ancient-looking book Giselle had been able to scrounge up. My hands shook as I flipped through page after page, my eyes burning from the strain.

"Salt circles and chanting the names of the dead backwards for seven nights," I read aloud, my voice cracking. "That's... that's one option. Apparently it traps the spirit in a jar made of bone."

Leon let out a tired, bitter laugh. "Fantastic. We'll just need a bone jar."

Zade made a weak, raspy sound that might have been a laugh or a groan. His head lolled slightly towards me.

"Next," he rasped.

I turned the page, tears blurring the ink.

"Smear the possessed with the blood of a stillborn lamb at midnight," I read, my voice trembling. "It... it says the spirit will leave willingly."

Leon snorted softly, squeezing Zade's shoulder as another shiver wracked his body.

"Adorable. We'll add that to the list right after the bone jar."

I kept flipping, desperation swelling higher in my chest.

Zade coughed weakly, blood dripping from his lips.

"Don't tire yourself out," he muttered, his voice barely audible. "I vote we skip straight to killing me."

"Don't you dare say that," I snapped, tears spilling over as I slammed the book shut and grabbed another.

My hands were shaking so badly I almost dropped it. I forced myself to keep reading, my voice cracking with every absurd suggestion.

Then I found it. My breath caught.

"The Bonded Seal," I whispered. "Through a completed triad. A blood ritual and full mating. It must be performed three times, once on each of three consecutive full moons. The three bonded must join completely—body, blood, and soul—to create an unbreakable anchor. The possessed's spirit is sealed to the triad's combined strength. No external entity can take root."

The room went very quiet. I looked up slowly.

Zade's violet eyes were open, watching me with that dark, exhausted intensity. A slow, crooked, painfully Zade-like smirk tugged at the corner of his bloody mouth.

"So," he rasped, "to save me from demonic possession... we have to fuck three times on three full moons. While bleeding on each other. And hope my body doesn't give out halfway through the first one."

He let out a weak, wet laugh that turned into a cough, more blood trickling from his lips.

"Romantic," he muttered. "I always knew our relationship would end with ritualistic group sex under moonlight. Just didn't expect the demon possession clause."

Leon's shoulders shook with an exhausted laugh as he wiped Zade's mouth.

"Only you would make it sound like that," he said, but his voice was thick with worry.

I clutched the book to my chest, tears still clouding my eyes, but something dangerously close to hope bloomed in my chest for the first time in hours.

Three full moons. Three rituals.

It sounded insane, but it was something. And right now, it was all we had.

"Go on... dates...with me," Zade suddenly said, and my gaze softened.

"You can barely move, Z," Leon muttered, reaching for clean towels.

"If I'm...going to die...I want to spend...meaningful time with you...two. You...owe...me...that."

Tears slipped down my cheeks as I moved over to his side. Swallowing my sob, I ran my thumb over his cheek.

"If that's what you want. I'll give you as many dates as you want," I choked out, reaching for his hand and pressing a kiss to his knuckles.

"No....crying..." Zade croaked and I nodded, mustering a smile.

How do I tell him that only one successful Bonded Seal has ever been recorded?