Chapter 17

Xavier’s P.O.V

I could not afford to think more. I was afraid, that if I allowed my mind to wander, I would come up with the whole world without her. I came here a few days ago, firmly believing that I would get my revenge. But ever since I saw her, I could not think straight; I could not see revenge in my path.

I could see that I wanted Vin to die. I could see that I still wanted to kill him. But instead of leaving the future to an emptiness that I would figure out after I got revenge, I began to realize that I wanted to stay in Seattle. Seattle was a place full of intriguing mysteries. Faith, for example, was a mysterious girl. She was hardworking, she was strong and confident. She ordered her Master around, and obeyed her Master. Her Master treated her like a friend; not a servant. Faith walked around with an air of confidence, but she was also afraid of things too.

Cole, on the other hand, was the joker. He held a perfect shell of strength on the outside, but when he was around his Master, I saw his weakness. I saw that he wanted her very much. I saw that he was fascinated by her. But I saw that his fascination was only of someone he couldn’t get.

I saw things in Seattle; I saw the things that made this place interesting.

But the reason I was truly tied to this place, was her.

I tried not to think of her blood flowing down my arm, dripping from her finger tips. I’d removed the dagger, but her blood was still flowing. Anneson had come up with a makeshift bandage, but I doubted it would work.

My heart pounded in my chest as I ran, keeping a tight hold over her. Footsteps slapped behind me as Anneson chased after me, but I did not stop. I could not think. I didn’t want to.

I saw someone familiar.

“Drake! Bring me to the Dark Wind! Please!” I shouted through the empty street, but my voice broke as the tears flowed. No, I wouldn’t –couldn’t –let her die. Not after the light I’d found at her presence. Not after I realized that I loved her.

Not after I realized that she was my other half.

My old friend stopped halfway from crossing the street, turned and stared at me while I ran. Eyes lit with recognition and confusion, before turning to shock when he saw Dru in my hands. She was such an angel. She was not tall; not big. No, she was almost like a perfect Barbie doll, slightly shorter than me, but filled with the same ferocity. I saw the same ferocity, the same nonchalant innocence inside her as I did Christy.

And she was dying.

“What happened?” Drake’s first words were slightly worried as he watched me run towards him. I was a stranger to Seattle, and I needed to get Dru to the Dark Wind quick. I wasn’t sure what it was that the nightstalkers there could do, but Faith could at least do something. They could at least do something.

“Please, bring me to the Dark Wind!” I begged again as the tears rolled down my eyes. Though he’d promised me that he would never help me ever again when I left the NHS, I could see that he was caught. Drake was always the soft one; the one that wasn’t like his father.

Cautious eyes went between me and Anneson, then back to Dru, who was limp within my arms. She had been so strong; standing up against her master. She had been so tough, fighting with Vin.

All of it ended up with her brush with death.

Drake nodded, turned and ran. I didn’t know if I should trust him. But I had to. Dru’s life hung on me.

“Sister! Sister! Please, wake up!” Anneson tried his best to coax her back to consciousness, but it didn’t work. Dru’s eyes didn’t flicker and her power drained out into the air. I didn’t think, I followed Drake mindlessly, hearing only my panting breaths, my loud heartbeats.

I ignored the cold of the night air around us as I ran, but I could not ignore the warmth of the liquid flowing down my arms. I could not imagine something feeling so comfortably warm bringing such a deep, cold chill of fear inside me.

Drake led me into shortcuts, and we finally appeared in a familiar street.

“The Dark Wind’s just up ahead. Go!” Drake said as he stopped at the end of the street, looking at the two bouncers stationed outside the nightclub. Drake knew when he wasn’t welcomed. But I didn’t care.

With barely thanks, I ran ahead, feeling the life force beginning to drain out of my other half. Anneson shouted thanks after me as he followed quickly on my heels. The nightstalkers at the door tried to stop me, but I no longer cared. I summoned wind, and barreled them away, causing them to fly down the street as I shot the door open. I jumped through the open doorway, and then stopped.

Eyes were on me, thousands of weapons drawn. Then they saw Dru.

“No! Dru!” Faith was strangely pale as she ran forward, trying to take her body from mine arms. But I didn’t allow it as I dodged her hands, keeping Faith away from Dru. No, Dru was to be with me. Dru was mine.

“What happened? What…” Cole jumped out of nowhere, advancing on me before he trailed off. His reached his conclusion almost immediately.

“You did this, didn’t you? You came back here to show off your result, aren’t you?” Cole demanded, and many other nightstalkers growled. I spoke no words, brushing Cole aside as I cleared a table close to me, laying Dru carefully on the table.

“Help her. Please, help her, Faith.” I spoke softly, though the nightstalkers could clear hear me.

Faith kept still and quiet while she went to Dru’s side, checking her heart wound. It was still spilling blood, but her lips were getting too pale. My dear Dru; she was turning as white as a sheet of blank paper.

I forced my tears back.

“You bastard! You did this!” Cole accused, taking my aversion of the topic as admission. I looked up from Dru’s limp body to see Cole charging towards me with a vegetable knife branded before him.

I didn’t try to stop him, because if I could embrace death alongside Dru, I would. My revenge was done. There was no point of my existence any longer. If Dru went, then the light would die from my world. I would follow her into the Otherworld, to meet Wind there by her side.

“Stop it!” Anneson’s raw voice penetrated through the war cry that erupted from Cole’s throat as Dru’s brother jumped before me, whacking away Cole’s knife. By rights, Anneson wouldn’t have a chance at disabling Cole. But the nightstalker was still shocked, and allowed himself to be unarmed.

Eyes turned to Anneson, curious of the intruder. Faith’s eyes registered Anneson, but were staring at Dru, the tears flowing like waterfall as she tried to put pressure on Dru’s wound.

“I am Dru’s brother! My name is Anneson Reyzon, brother of Dru Lorna Reyzon! She wasn’t stabbed by the Hunter! She was stabbed by a nightstalker called Vin!” Anneson declared fiercely and bravely, and then turned his back on the nightstalkers, running over to his unconscious sister.

I took his explanation and took Faith’s hand in mine, taking her eyes to me.

“Tell me what you can do to save her. Please.” I begged sincerely, for my heart was close to breaking. I would not hear her last breath; I would not make myself hear her last heartbeat. It was slow enough as it is.

Faith closed her eyes as her face grew more than dejected. It was the painful anguish of losing a loved one. She shook her head, the tears spraying a little.

“I can’t do anything. She has to have the blood of Wind. She has to drink Wind’s blood.” Somehow, I knew that answer in my heart, except that I didn’t wanted to accept it. With her words, I could only let my heart shatter.

She was dying. And I could do nothing for her. Her master was dead.

“Wind’s dead. Is there anyone else that can help her? Anyone? Any of the Ancients? Kote?” I grasped painfully at the last few straws, but I knew; deep down, that it couldn’t be done.

Except that Faith’s eyes flew open.

“Jin! Jin will know what to do!” She exclaimed as she snatched Cole’s vegetable knife from the nightstalker. Then, with amazing speed, she sliced open Dru’s palm. I could only barely control myself from jumping at Faith, for injuring her more than she already was.

I struggled not to let my mind shatter at the fact that her blood didn’t flow more.

I waited for something to happen. Anneson clutched heavily on Dru’s hand, his tears mixing with her blood. She did not reply. Her breath became even slower.

Then there was a brush of wind, and I blinked.

“Goodness! What in Heaven’s name happened?” A deep voice exclaimed, and I looked up to see a white-haired man standing over Dru. And then he was interrupted by another voice, a lighter, but still male, voice.

“Look at her, Jin. She is fighting for her last breath and still you ask what happen?” The soprano voice was more reprimanding as I connected that voice to a name. I knew who it was.

“Help her, Kote! She’s going to die. Wind’s dead!” I cried.

The Master Ancient looked me in the eye, and I struggled not to flinch.

“Xavier Valentino. Is Vin dead too?” The Master Ancient greeted me with a nod, understanding who I was.

I’d spoken to Kote a few times before and met him a couple of times. Kote had always wanted peace between nightstalkers and sorcerers. And Kote was clever in dealing with the Families. Kote knew us, and made friends with us, though we were still wary of nightstalkers, much less their leader.

I nodded to answer Kote’s question, hoping and praying that he would understand my anxiousness. If anyone could save Dru now, it was Kote.

“Please, save her. She’s the Mistress; I can’t afford to lose her!” I begged, but Kote only looked at me with curiosity.

“Rumors say you are the Master. Is it true?” Deep, green eyes penetrated through me, searching for an answer. I desperately nodded.

“You do know she is a nightstalker, made by Wind’s blood, don’t you? Wind is dead. There is no way to save her, than the blood of her Master. Little have tried to survive such a wound without their Masters. However, there may be one way she may live.” Kote said, nodding, pleased at the desperate answers I was surrendering to him.

For Dru, I didn’t care what I surrendered. Just for her to live; anything.

“What? Save her! I’ll do anything you say!” I begged desperately, as her heart gave one of its last few beats. It was weak and feeble, shallow.

Kote shook his head, studying Dru’s wound carefully. The other nightstalker called Jin growled a little, looking at me, then at Dru.

“It has nothing to do with you, Xavier. What I plan to attempt is something I have done only once before. I don’t need sacrifices from you; just assurance that you will try your best in maintaining peace between our kinds. I cannot safely tell you that she will live, but I will try. I fear she has made an impression on me.” Kote admitted as he carefully studied the wound, looking up at me.

“Anything; just save her.”

This time, he looked up and caught my eye seriously. “I warn you: I have no guarantees. She may die in the next second. The thing I attempt on her may prolong her pain, only to have her die. She may suffer for months, and die. She may never come back. I cannot say. But if you put her in my hands, you have a chance. Are you willing to take that risk?” The way Kote put it; I felt my shattered heart sink even lower. Would I want Dru to suffer, only to die in the end?

“Remember: you are making this choice for her. She may hate you for cursing her to suffer. She may condemn you when she wakes. Would you understand, if she would to return a changed person?” Kote interrupted my thinking again, brushing Dru’s fringe gently.

Would I? Would I risk it all, let her suffer, and maybe –just maybe –come back hating me?

I looked down at her, at her blood which created patterns down my arms. I looked at the serenity upon her face; remembered her last sigh. It had been so relieved, so relaxed as if she was shedding her worries. Would I tie her back to her world, to return her to the troubles she may face?

There was only one answer, as I trailed the back of my fingers over her pale, soft cheeks. So delicate; so undeserving of a Master like Wind. She deserved another life, where she could be loved freely, where she wouldn’t need to give up her life for another. In that life, I would hold her hand, joining our power, and supporting her. I would not see another tear, or feel her shaking.

“Do it, Kote. Save her. Whatever the consequences it may bring, I will bear it.” I said; hearing my voice strangely hoarse in my ears.

The Master Ancient’s gaze held on to mine as he searched for truth in my words, then turned his eyes to Anneson. Dru’s brother looked at his unconscious, at me, Faith, Jin, then back to Kote. “We all want her back. She deserves a chance.”

Nods came around, and Kote nodded back in reply. In silence, Kote carefully carried Dru in his arms. She didn’t react to his touch, as her perfect head of long, black-dyed hair lolled back. She drew in a slow breath.

I fell heavily into a chair when she didn’t let out her breath again. Her heart didn’t beat.

“It is not too late yet. Jin, you will stay here and oversee Seattle until Dru returned. If she does not make it, Faith will be the next Keeper. Asia will survive without you for a few weeks, Jin. Leave me alone until I return.” Kote began to instruct and a stricken look passed Jin’s face.

“But…” The white-haired, green eyed nightstalker tried to protest, and I did not see the strong, powerful and fear-instilling nightstalker Jin was supposed to be.

“I need quiet and a place where I can work without being interrupted, Jin. If you care for Dru, leave me alone.” With that, Kote turned to me, my lifeless Mistress in his arms. I closed my eyes, dropping my face in both my hands. I could not bear to see her like this. It reminded me of pain, of the mangled, lifeless body of my parents. It reminded me of Christy; so purely delicate.

“I will not keep the truth from you, Master of Magic Manipulation. There is chance that your other half will never return. But I shall give you simple words of advice. Keep yourself safe and sane for the day that your Mistress may return.” Kote’s voice filled my ears, and there was a brush of wind.

“He’s gone.” Anneson’s dejected voice whispered.

A warm hand touched my shoulder, but I did not look up. I tried not to think of the painful silence, how there had been no heartbeats, no breathing from Dru.

“I am not one with words of comfort, Hunter. I do not normally view hunters of my kind favorably, but if Dru accepts you, I will. Till she returned, you may come to the Dark Wind. I extend the same invitation to you, brother of Dru.” Jin’s deep voice filled my ears, and then the hand went.

“We all need time to deal with the loss of a Keeper. The Dark Wind shall be closed for the night. Go home, nightstalkers of Seattle, and reminisce of you Keeper.” There was shuffling, and the door closed.

Silence.

Anneson brushed past me, his power trying to send comfort I could not receive, and the door opened and closed.

“Please, hold yourself together, Hunter. Dru will live. I know it.” Faith said softly, though I could hear that she was desperately trying to convince herself too.

How ironic.

I came to Seattle, seeking to kill a nightstalker. I, the Hunter, ended up breaking my heart and shattering my mind over a nightstalker. Heck, I even had to beg a nightstalker. And here I was; having a nightstalker comfort me.

Then, as if lightning jolted through me, I began to understand Dru’s lethargy. For the past days, she had kept herself strong despite my, Wind and Anneson’s arrival. All she wanted was a snack and some sleep.

So simple; yet so hard.

Wordlessly, I stood up, my body rigid and stiff with unspoken tension. I turned to Faith, thinking to thank her, but there was something in my eyes at which she drew back from. What was it?

I didn’t know; didn’t want to know.

In silence, I walked out of the Dark Wind, unknown to the chill that bit me. I was painfully aware of Dru’s chilly blood don my arms. I returned to the apartment I had rented, dropped on the couch, and fell into a fitful sleep.

And then the nightmares came.