Chapter 55: 55__Disgraceful acts of healing

There had been no time to think. The moment the Legion saw Rogan flare out his power like that, they were up. Seth shoved off his coat, Syre stalked forward with red eyes ablaze.

Maia’s wide eyes saw a definite war coming. But it was two against one!

Rogan growled, the air around him seeming to be darker than the rest of the night.

Maia got chills as she stared at him. A sudden realization hit her. She was wrong. She was worried about the *wrong* thing. It wasn’t that Rogan would get hurt… it was that Rogan was about to *kill* these three.

With urgency, she crawled to her knees, scampering up until she was dashing across the garden, her long skirt blowing back and her bare feet hitting the ground.

“Rogan!” she yelled. “Stop!”

He was beyond hearing her. Maia ran faster, her heart hitching when Rogan’s power strengthened. He’d just killed a man. For no reason! Why was he hell bent on fighting these guys when Maia had just clearly heard them say they weren’t here to hurt her?!

With the most sardonic look Maia had ever seen, Rogan threw out dark magic like it was air and it went right for Seth.

It was a moment before death, but it was a moment that Clover spent dashing up and shielding Seth with her body.

Maia screamed.

With a curse, Seth whipped his body around, hunching his shoulders so Clover was completely hidden from Rogan’s power, her wide eyes staring up at him.

The magic hit him.

Seth groaned, his eyes squeezing shut. The feeling was unfathomable. It felt like a six foot long sword of fire was steadily pushing into his back, threatening to slice his body apart. It was sorcery unlike any he’d ever felt before.

Seth trembled with the pain. Hell. Rogan had gotten even stronger.

“What’s wrong with you?!” Maia yelled breathlessly, jumping onto Rogan’s arm and holding it down even as her curly hair came loose.

“Get behind me, Maia,” he muttered, gaze locked on Syre who looked ready to battle.

“No, I will *not* get behind you!” Maia said with eyes wide in shock. “You almost hit Clover!”

Rogan cursed, glaring at the back of Seth’s head. “Hand Clover over to me right now!”

Seth’s teeth wouldn’t unclench enough to let him respond. His muscles still shuddered from the pain as Clover’s small hands framed his face.

“Oh, nooo!” she whimpered before her eyes flashed in Rogan’s direction. “Why’d you do that?!” Clover barked around Seth’s arm. “Why’d you hit my Vampire friend?!”

Rogan snarled. “Your Vampire friend? Get your little sparkly ass over here before I turn your hair black, Clover!”

“Rogan, stop!” Maia said firmly.

Breathing hard, he finally looked at her. “Maia, I told you to get behind me.”

“And I told you to stop.” She pointed at the Legion. “Look at what you did.”

Rogan turned his eyes to where she pointed. Vlad lay writhing on the floor, the dagger firmly set in his chest. Seth stood with Clover, his arms draped heavily on her shoulders as she supported his weight. Only Syre stood untouched, staring at Rogan like he was waiting his turn.

“They asked for it,” Rogan growled.

Maia saw him flare up more magic and gasped before pouncing onto his other arm and holding it down.

“Stop!”

Rogan retracted his power faster than lightening. “What’s wrong with you?!” he demanded, alarmed. “Why would you throw your body onto magic like that? You got a death wish?”

Maia gritted her teeth, holding his arms as tightly as she could. “Just stop it already. You killed one of them, can’t you see?! They’re not even here to fight!”

“Maia—”

“Stop!”

Her voice was firm and, infuriatingly, called for no arguments.

Rogan clenched his jaw. Why was she so damn unreasonable?! “Fine!” he muttered darkly, his hands still itching to stab them all to death. How dare they come after Maia?

“Promise me you won’t fight!” Maia said, her arms still holding his captive.

Rogan’s eye twitched in frustration. “I… fucking hell, I promise.”

“That you won’t fight!”

“I promise I won’t fight the sons of bitches, Maia!” He sighed. “You can let go, I won’t fight them.”

With a sigh, she slowly released his arms.

Hearing Rogan speak those words, Syre broke out of his fight mode, turning to his brothers with a face paler than every Vampire of Onyx.

“V-Vlad…” he whispered, falling to his knees besides his brother.

Seth staggered over, also kneeling on the ground. “Vlad. Hey, look at me.”

Maia watched them try to revive their brother and felt her heart break. “Oh, no…”

Rogan looked at her with a dark frown. “They started it. I’m the fucking victim.”

Maia’s gaze whipped towards him. “*You’re* the victim? They just lost a brother!”

Rogan rolled his eyes. “It’s just a little dagger, he won’t die! For hell’s sake.”

Syre’s tear-streaked face whipped up. “W-what? He’s not gonna die?!” He looked back down at Vlad, brushing his brother’s dark hair back so his face was visible. “Vlad? Can you h-hear me?”

Maia turned her teary eyes to Rogan. “Fix him!”

Rogan made a face, looking as disgusted as he would if she’d told him to wear Aiden’s clothes for a month. “No! I don’t go around fixing people that *I* broke!”

Maia’s grey eyes went from wide with hurt to narrow and sharp with rage.

Rogan blinked. “What?”

She stepped closer. “Look here, Sorcerer,” she growled, sounding very much like him. “You hurt that man, so now *you’re* going to fix him! I won’t walk away from here until those two get their brother back! Now fix him.”

Rogan swallowed, clearing his throat. “Fuck no. I won’t do it.”

Maia bit her lip with fury. Then an idea occurred to her. She nodded at him. “Okay. Fine. Don’t do it.” She smirked. “I will!”

Rogan stared at her in flat shock. Flicking her undone hair in his face, she turned around and marched right for the brothers, kneeling by their side.

“Maia, get back here!” Rogan said, his eyes wide. Would she really do it? The stubborn forest rabbit!

She looked at him, one hand on Vlad’s shoulder. “No! I’m going to use up every ounce of my strength and ability to heal this man until I’m weak and dead! Then you can just live with the guilt because I’ll be *dead*! Remember when I helped heal Clover and then slept for like two days? Well, this man is a Vampire so healing him will probably make me sleep *forever*!”

With a harsh scoff in Rogan’s direction, she turned back to Vlad and looked in horror at the dagger in his chest. Oh, sweet heavens, it was deep. The dark liquid around the wound had drenched Vlad’s entire shirt.

Syre looked at her hopefully and Maia felt her heart sink. How the hell could she fix this?!

Luckily, she didn’t have to wonder for long because Rogan came rushing over, a stream of curses running out of his mouth.

“Use even an ounce of your strength and I’ll spank you into your next life,” he muttered, shoving her lightly. “Move. I’ll do it.”

Smirking, Maia moved out of his way and let Rogan do his thing. Ha-ha. Her plan worked!

Syre and Seth exchanged looks before looking back at Rogan in disbelief.

The Rogan they knew would have never *ever* done this! Seth’s mind was overwhelmed with thoughts. Was it possible that living in Geminor had gotten Rogan a double side to him? Or was this perhaps not Rogan at all? Had he been cloned and changed?! He stared wide-eyed at the Sorcerer before him.

There wasn’t much more time for Seth to be shocked, however, because, just then, they heard a cough from Vlad.

“Arghh...” groaned Vlad as the dagger in his chest vaporized and disappeared. “Rogan… son of a bastard… arghhnnn…”

Syre gasped. “Vlad!” The youngest brother threw himself onto Vlad, hugging him.

Vlad’s face contorted with pain. “Get off me, Syre.”

Rogan looked disgusted as he straightened, standing and stepping away from the brothers.

Maia joined him with a rosy-cheeked smile. “Thank you, Rogan.”

He scoffed down at her beaming face. How dare she look at him that way after what she just threatened him into doing? “Just don’t ever tell anyone I did this! Killing and then healing? Disgraceful.”

“Are you okay?” Syre was asking, helping Vlad sit up.

Rubbing his chest, Vlad nodded. “I’m good.” His gaze burned up at Rogan. “Having fun, you prick?”

“Okay, enough chit-chat!” Rogan snapped with a clap of his hands. “You three are going to tell me, right this fucking minute, why Viktor is after my human. Tell me or I kill you and there will be *no* healing this time.”