Chapter 69 Chapter Sixty-Nine
Chapter Sixty-Nine
⚓️⚓️⚓️
Zeke
I needed a hot drink to calm my racing heart.
I didn't turn, even as I heard Qyle's footsteps follow me to another part of the field.
This place was a dimension which Kai had created with his shadowing skills. We were still on the battle ground, and Xavier was still lurking around. But we'd bought ourselves some time.
It was taking me time to wrap my heart around the fact that Mirah had actually tried to stab me with a dagger. Even though I knew it wasn't her doing.
“Would you be fine if she returns?” He asked softly behind me, and I tensed further.
I tucked my hands into my pocket. “I don't know. At the moment, my chest is burning.” I said hoarsely.
“From the wound?” He asked, and I heard the leaves rustle beneath his feet.
I turned to face him. “My heart,” my voice dropped, and I fell to my knees. I was feeling double pain.
From my pain and hers.
“It feels like it has been ripped into smithereens. I can't breathe.” I willed myself to stop thinking about Mirah. About what her disappearance would do to me. About what her pain was doing to me at the moment.
I willed myself to stop feeling.
To close my heart, and return it to the way it was before I met her.
“Zeke,” Qyle merely said in a strained voice. It was a single word, but it carried the weight of his sympathy for me.
But beneath that same word lurked his loathe for love. It strengthened his notion that love was a dangerous activity.
A dangerous activity that our kind wasn't supposed to indulge in.
“I should be regretful, but-” I paused as a sudden rumble sounded beneath our feet.
I sprang up, wincing at the pain in my chest. The wound wasn't healing. Worse still, I felt weak, almost ripped off my powers.
“What's happening?” Qyle asked the same question that was on my mind. We both raced to the part where Mirah and the others were.
Kai was reinforcing his magic, his muscles strained. Nastasha stood panicking by his side, but it had to be noted that she didn't argue with him.
Which was good. These two hated themselves, and couldn't coexist in the same space.
My attention went to Mirah who was lying on the ground. I couldn't say if I was pleased to see that she hadn't returned. Or if I was annoyed at the fact that she was still here.
Maybe it was a mix of both.
Her eyes were tightly shut, with her fists clenched beside her. I assumed that she was still pained over my decision, and I hurried over to Kai.
“What is happening?” I asked him.
“Xavier suddenly started trying to rip through the dimension. And he's stronger than before.” His voice was hoarse, and sweat dripped down his forehead.
Kai was strong. Even stronger than me in terms of power. If the magic Xavier was throwing at him was strong enough to make him break sweat, it meant that Xavier had either grown stronger, or he had been hiding his true power all along.
Or perhaps…
I met the gaze of others, just as the thought formed.
“He has help.” I voiced out the notion which shone in their eyes.
“Make a formation,” I ordered, going to stand directly behind Kai. I called on my vampire-force, and channeled it at Kai's nape.
The power flowed into him, and increased the power of the magic he was reinforcing. The rumble reduced.
Natasha stood five paces away, and channeled her power to me, while Qyle faced me directly. From his angle, he channeled his power to Nastasha.
A formation in the supernatural world was an intricate arrangement that required sharing powers. But it also meant that the sharer would be left bare, without any powers.
In essence, if anyone in the formation lost focus, the flow would be disrupted and result in a backfire of power.
As such, I focused all my attention on Kai, heaving a sigh of relief as the cracks that'd appeared on the dimensional sky disappeared.
“He's down,” Kai announced, and I fell to the floor feeling weak.
“Are you okay?” Natasha asked.
“He needs blood. We've run out of supplies.” Qyle said in a regrettable voice.
“He could drink from Mirah's vein-” Kai began saying, and I was about to refuse when I noticed that his face had lost color.
“What?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper. Lord help me, but I could pass out at any moment.
“Mirah-” He gestured.
“She's gone.” Natasha whispered, just as I whirled around.
★★★
“Fuck!” I growled, my fingers channeling my powers to Kai.
“Focus, Zeke! The formation is waning.” Natasha called out.
I couldn't hear her. I should've known.
I should've known that it was a distraction from that bastard. His plan all along was to take Mirah away.
And we'd all fallen for it. I'd fallen for it. I'd failed to protect her yet again.
I should've stood guard, and watched as Natasha sent her back. But my emotions had won over.
“Zeke!” Qyle called out in a strained voice pulling back my attention to the formation.
Few minutes after Mirah's disappearance, the dimension had begun shaking again, forcing us to make another formation.
But this time, I couldn't focus. I was angry.
I was seeing red.
I wanted to rip out that bastard's heart with my bare hands. I wanted to sink my claws into his eyes.
I pushed my exhaustion to the side, thriving on pure adrenaline.
He'd taken her.
And he'd taken her right under my watch.
I was sure as hell that she hated me now.
I'd been about to send her back in time against her wish. And then, I'd failed to save her from Xavier.
My kitten.
A loud growl left my throat, as I threw my head back. The dimension shook even harder, and I felt my control slipping away.
The force was pulling me down to my knees.
The emotions were so strong.
The pain.
The anger.
Kai shouted. Qyle too. But I ignored them. I couldn't control myself at this point.
I felt my knees hit the ground, as everywhere turned dark. My powers were still leaving me. The strain was much.
“Mirah,” I whispered.