The Trio Together

The Trio Together
Adrian's POV

I snatched Cassian's hand, and I traced us away from the witch's castle. If we wanted to win, we had to change the playing field. She followed us, as I knew she would. Her presence was heavy behind us even when we stepped into the overbright airport terminal.
The humans using the hall turned fast to us as we stumbled in. I dragged my eyes from the stares. “Attack her now, Cassian. If there is no darkness around for her to manipulate, then she wouldn't be able to turn into the smoke stuff again.” 
“You should have just told me that. I have a better idea than this,” he growled, carrying his eyes to the humans staring at us furtively, their flashlights starting to blink fast on us.
I don't know why he cared anyway. As vampires, we wouldn't show up in the recordings. Perhaps the witch would, but we wouldn't.
I spun around to him. “Just attack her, Cassian, before she gets away.”
He grunted again as he charged for the witch. He jumped onto a bench and lifted himself in the air, his fingers moving fast for her neck.
The witch tried to move her neck away from the reach of his claws. But with no darkness to manipulate, she couldn't move herself fast enough. His claws folded on her neck, and he pulled her forward.
His fists curled fast, and he started belting punches right into her face, her head rocking to the back from the continuous hits. A wave of collective gasps rose from the crowd around us, the flashlights blinking faster.
And behind the crowd, a couple of unformed men were pushing through, forcing their way through the crowd, armed with batons or guns. The airport security.
I folded my sleeves, ready to take them on, while Cassian dealt with the witch. I stopped at his voice—as he grated the words out, his tone gruff. “I am leaving here,” he grunted.
When I turned around to him, he’d disappeared with the space. Only empty space stood where he had just been.
My fist trembled beside me, and I grunted. “Damn it,” he might mess this up. I traced after him, tracking him as fast as I could. I stumbled into some very illuminated hall, with fluorescent lamps fitted to the walls and ceilings. Other than a few benches around the hall, it was free.
I could feel the humidity of the room. The warmth. The hall was definitely below ground—a bunker.
Somehow, the witch had escaped his claws. And he whirled around, throwing his eyes everywhere, searching for her.
Damn, he’d ruined this already. I spotted a tiny dark area in the hall. The bulbs in that area were shredded to pieces.
Splinters of glass scattered on the floor. I tapped Cassian on the shoulder. “She is there, Cassian.” I said to him, pointing to that dark area.
He growled, grinding his teeth noisily. His face tightened to a furious frown as he charged fast in that direction. He pulled back when huge blasts of fire pumped out of the darkness at insane numbers.
He grunted, trying to dodge them all. There were just so many. We had to attack the witch fast and end this before she healed herself from Cassian’s punches. Once she does, she might become impossible to defeat once again.
I traced forward towards the fireballs. The heat was scorching. My nearness to one burned my shirt to a crisp even before I walked into it. The fire blast burned my face, burned my body—my whole body searing hot—pain radiated through me. The smell of burning flesh clogged my equally burning nostrils. But I was a master against pain. I could control it. Soon I was charging into more, like they were nothing, even though I was quickly burning to a crisp. 
“Stay behind me. I will take the blasts, and when we are close to her, you attack.” I managed through my cooking throat. I kept pushing forward at her, taking blast after blast of fire. Not a whimper or a cry of pain escaped my lips, though I was pushed back a little with each blast, but kept forward for her through everything.
Cassian groaned painfully from behind me. Since my body was thinner than his, that meant he had to deal with a little of the heat himself.
“I don't think this is a good idea.” He winced, his teeth jarring noisily as he gnashed them painfully. 
“It is, Cassian. Just follow my lead.” 
“Okay,” he groaned out a response.
I made sure I was well near the dark haven she hid in, then I yelled, “Now! Just reach into the darkness for her, Cassian.” 
He pulled from my back and charged into the darkness with an unimaginable speed. He pulled her out of the darkness and fast into the lighted areas while throwing punches upon punches against her head, and at the same time, strangling her, his fingers folding tighter against her small neck.
Though I could fight and deal with pain. I couldn't deal with the aftermath. The image of the Cassian, punching and clawing at the witch with his claws, suddenly began to blur off in my eyes, as if a black veil was covering my eyes. My whole body felt weak and tired, and I collapsed onto the floor.
I don't know how long I was out for, but I woke up gently, my eyes opening like a curtain at a familiar voice yelling my name. “Adrian! Adrian!” Cassian kept screaming, calling my name and slapping my burnt cheeks.
“I am awake already,” I growled, my voice thinned out by my aching throat. My eyes slowly opened to his face looming over me, his brows wired in a worried expression.
He took a deep breath and sighed as he dropped wearily to my side. “You fucking scared me, man. I thought you were dead.”
“I thought you said you wouldn't save me if I was about to die. Why get worried that I was dying?” I said, cocking a brow at him.
He grunted and reached for my neck with both hands. “Why don't I just fucking kill you now?”
I rolled away from his claws, chuckling as much as I could, which was a little. He stared down at me, met my eyes, and his lips crumbled in a smile too. He checked out his bloodstained knuckles quietly as he laughed gently.
“The witch,” I asked.
“Dead,” he responded crisply. He nudged his jaw ahead to a body cloaked in black lying still on the steel floor of the bunker.
He jumped to his feet. He loomed over me, the look on his face quickly turning into a frown, his eyes roaming me. “You look bad.”
“How bad?”
“As bad as a beef forgotten on a grill.”
“Then that doesn't look good.” I coughed. “Take me to my castle, my medicine store specifically. I have something to help me heal faster. I don't want Seraphina seeing me like this.”
“Seralyn,” he said, his tone scolding me.
“Her name is Seraphina.”
“No, Seralyn.” He corrected again, snapping at me.
I saw the firmness and heat in his eyes. The bastard was always too serious about everything. “Whatever, man,” I grunted. “Just take me away from here.”
He bent low and scooped me into his arms. He traced me away. Soon, instead of the overbright bunker hall, I was staring at my dim-lighted medicine store.
He laid me on a table, and I dropped slowly to my feet and leaned forward to grab a jar from a nearby shelf. I poured the contents down my throat, lapping at it like it was blood, even though the herb was the most bitter thing I would ever know.
My throat burned with the herbs, but then my body healed too, and gradually, the burning smell around me began to ease off, and I could move my limbs better.
I dropped the empty glass jar, and I looked down at myself, watching my skin heal itself faster, real tissues closing over the wounds.
In less than two minutes, I was back to normal. Cassian checked me out, his brows narrowed thoughtfully. “You will have to make me one of those, Adrian.”
“And you will have to pay through your teeth for it.” I teased.
But of course, he wasn't used to it, because he was too damn serious. His face locked fast into a frown. “I saved your…”
“Technically, you didn't. The only thing you did was bring me here. I was the one that saved your life.”
He was about to argue, his lips snapping wide, when the door burst open. 
Seraphina stood by the door, a luminous orange cloak I recognized to be a Kitsune spirit covered her from head to toe. Even inside the cloak, she looked so devastatingly beautiful, I sucked in a deep breath, taking her in.
She stared at us for a moment, looking into our eyes. I thought I saw a strand of tear sliding down her cheeks.
“Come on,” Cassian called, throwing his arms forward for her. Her sword clattered on the stone floor while she ran fast into the room. I stood up completely from the table and stood beside Cassian. She flew into both of us, hugging us as much as her small arms could go.
“Why did you both take too long? I was so worried.” She breathed.
“The witch was just too hard to kill,” I chuckled, stroking her hair as she pressed her face between my body and Cassian’s.

THE END
THANKS FOR READING
EPILOGUE COMING SOON