Page 34 of Becoming One
Giving Nelson a nervous look, Jewel replied, “I think he is going to go after Nelson first. Nicu wants Orion to suffer before he dies. The best way to do that, is to kill or seriously hurt his mate.”
“Okay, so what do you need from us?” Heskel asked.
Orion looked at Heskel. “Yesterday, one of my men came to me about an entry, Radeem Napal. He entered under Enoch’s coven. However, Enoch has never heard of the man. When Jewel and Nelson were on their way to the battles, they discovered a dead body. No one recognized the man as one of our own coven members.”
Killian interrupted Orion, saying, “When I heard the announcer say the name, I was shocked. I have a coven member by that name, and I know he came here to watch the battles. However, when the announcer said he was from Enoch’s coven I thought he had made a mistake but then I never gave it another thought.”
“Well then maybe you can tell us if this man is someone you know?” Ezra stated walking to the metal table and pulling down the cloth, exposing the body beneath.
“That’s Radeem! Who did this? What the hell is going on?” Killian angrily asked.
Jewel went to Killian, softly saying, “We are sorry for your coven’s loss, Killian.”
“It’s as you said, Jewel. The mage needed a body to give to Nicu,” Ezra stated.
Nelson shook his head. “I’m seriously confused. I mean I see it for myself, but why the hell didn’t we notice it was the same man?”
Jewel went to his friend, asking, “When you saw Radeem on the ground, did you really look at his face? I know I didn’t.”
Thinking a moment, Nelson replied almost shamefully, “No… no I didn’t.”
“It’s nothing to feel bad about, Starlight. Death is not easily looked in the eye,” Orion softly replied.
Nelson then asked, “Then why didn’t Killian recognize the man? If he was from your coven, shouldn’t you have seen that the man was someone you knew?”
Killian sighed. “Honestly, I was far more focused on the man next to me.”
“You chose the battle to try and woo a lover?” Heskel asked in shock.
Shrugging, Killian replied, “He was sexy as hell and damn it I really wanted him in my bed and since that was who was with me when I was summoned here, I would say it was worth my time.”
“As interesting as it is to discuss Killian’s love life, maybe it would be time much better spent if we focused on what’s going on here,” Zaros stated firmly.
Ezra nodded. “Zaros is right. My mate knows a great deal about a mage life. We also contacted my brother-in-law and his mates. They are very powerful mages in their own right. Jewel, Dain, Kerrick, and Rune all agree on one thing. This magic that was used to change Nicu is a black magic spell. It requires the death of a person in order to cast it.”
“But why didn’t I feel Radeem’s loss? I am, or should I say… was, his scion. Ezra you know as well as I that we are connected to every member of our coven. It’s how we know that everyone is okay. How did I not know he was gone?” Killian asked in disgust.
“He’s right, Ezzy. He should have felt it and that connection is what we were counting on to help us with this problem,” Jewel said in concern.
“Ezra, your connection is from the bloodletting we do every month, correct?” Orion asked.
Nodding, Ezra replied, “I take a small sip of blood from each of my members. It allows the bond to stay strong.”
“How long has it been since you guys did this with your own covens?” Orion asked.
Enoch replied, “I just did mine before I left the coven. I didn’t know how long I would be gone and I didn’t want to take a chance that Nicu would harm one of my own without me knowing about it.”
Zaros nodded. “I did the same before we came here and for the same reason.”
“I alternate in groups for mine. Every month I do a quarter of my coven. However, I did the bloodletting with anyone planning on coming to the battles. I wanted to make sure I could keep tabs on my people. You know how these Ceremonies are. They drink too much, get rowdy and the next thing you know everyone is fighting,” Heskel stated.
“I do mine like Heskel and I also did the bloodletting before we left… come to think of it, Radeem wasn’t there. I was going to get to it, but then the Nicu thing happened and I gathered everyone here to help you with the Ceremony and completely forgot. When I got here we got in the middle of trying to locate Nicu and I never got around to it. Fuck! Radeem’s death is completely my fault!” Killian snarled.
Orion shook his head. “No Killian, Radeem’s death is completely Nicu and the mage’s fault. Somehow, they found out about the weakness of your link. Maybe it was overheard by Nicu somehow, or maybe the mage used his magic. What’s done is done. However, it means that our original plan will still be able to be used.”
Ezra looked at each of the scions. “I want each of you to track your people. I want to know if any of them do anything out of the ordinary.”
“What about tomorrow’s event? Do we continue with the ranking ceremonies?” Enoch asked.