Page 32 of Gift from the Source (Source of Elementra #5)

Twenty-Seven

Draken

“One more run through,” my dad says as his eyes scan and count the vampires gathered in front of us.

I cock my brow at him. That would be the damn fourth round. “Do you really think there’re more in the forest or are you salty I beat you around the forest?”

“We can never be too careful. And you didn’t beat me. I tripped over a tree stump. They’re everywhere in this blasted place.”

Yeah, okay. He’s full of shit.

“If you say so.” I roll my eyes, and he does it right back. “Guys, we’re going around one more time.”

My brothers all groan and Willow shoots Keeper a knowing smile. Well, both of us.

His is about his blatant attempt to claim I didn’t win fair and square. Mine is because…I’d run around this forest all day every day for however long he wanted to if it meant he wasn’t about to leave us.

Nope. Can’t get emotional again.

“One, two, go!”

I take off through the trees and laugh as I hear his muttered curse from somewhere behind me .

I’ve been dreading this day for two weeks now.

When Willow came and sat me down with tears in her eyes and her bond pouring sadness, I knew she was going to tell me it was time for him to go home.

She had already explained to all of us, her blood would tell her when there was something she needed to do.

Apparently, that morning as she went to check on Tanith and spend some time with her, it started thrumming through her veins. Flashes of the Forsaken Forest before the vampires were trapped here kept crossing her mind.

She said they needed to go home, and she needed to heal the land.

I begged for more time.

She gave me what she could.

Jamie started that day whipping up a new batch of the Bane of Essence so our Nexus, Oakly’s, and Lyker’s could come into the forest. The first batch—somehow, not at all aware of how—got spilt and he had to start again.

That little incident bought me an extra week.

“Dishonor. That was cheating, son.” Keeper laughs as he catches up to me.

“I did a countdown. You just weren’t ready.”

“You completely skipped three!”

“Lies.”

The two of us grin mischievously at one another before we kick it into high gear.

He pushes my arm and I push his back. I throw a couple fireballs he has to dodge. He does dramatically as he runs up a damn tree and jumps off the branch in front of me.

We don’t actually pay any attention to whether there’re any vampires left hiding around the forest. I already know there aren’t. I don’t sense a creature anywhere near us. He doesn’t either or he’d go and snatch them up like he did the others.

We’re both just delaying the inevitable .

As we prepare to round and start the long straight shot to the other side of the forest, I make a last-minute decision and cut through the center.

He grumbles, then hollers my name.

He wants me to stop going in the direction I’m going, but I can’t let him avoid it any longer. He insisted on another round, which means this rendezvous was meant to be.

In only a few seconds, my skin pulls as I cross the parameter line, and I keep going until I skid to a stop in front of the small house.

The door is open, but there were none strong enough in this forest to get through the barrier he left behind. Like our wards, he can place something like that too, but instead of magic, he used his blood.

Which means the day we rescued him, he came in, got his book, and left. Not bothering to look back.

He’s silent as he walks up beside me and presses his shoulder to mine.

“I know you didn’t want to come here.”

“I don’t care much for goodbyes.”

Clapping him on the shoulder and squeezing, I take a step toward the house. “None of us do. This isn’t goodbye, though.”

His footfalls sound behind me as I reach the door and push it open further. I stand at the threshold and let the sight of it now collide with the memory my little wanderer showed me.

In true me fashion, I paint a picture that never happened.

My mom sitting there on the couch singing while I play on the floor at her feet. My dad’s in the small kitchen humming to her tune while he cooks us dinner. We’re just one little happy family.

I shake my head out to clear that scenario from my mind.

That wasn’t the life we were meant to live.

I clear my throat as he walks around me and runs his fingers over the surfaces of his things. “You can tell me no, but you know, we can take care of this place for you… I mean, I know the forest has awful memories attached to it. You might not want to ever come back here. Even though Willow’s going to change it all. This house, though, you know maybe—” Grunting, I shut my mouth since I obviously forgot how to fucking talk like a normal person .

There’s a teasing smirk on his face, but his eyes glisten. “I’d like the house to be saved when your beloved saves the land. It might be nice to have a place of my own when I can come back to visit.”

I swallow the prickles in my throat down. “It’ll always be yours. I can have it moved if you want me to.”

“I’m kind of used to the location. It’ll look good with some upkeep, though.”

The teasing in his voice pulls a watery laugh from my chest. “I’ll let my little wanderer know your expectations.”

“The Adored will be happy to oblige. I’m sure of it,” he says as he pulls me in for a hug.

“She will be. She’d do anything for you.”

“And I for all of you, son.”

When we pull apart, I duck my head as I fake a cough and make my way out the door. My eyes close with the sound of the door clicking shut.

Wind whips past me, causing my eyes to fly open, and his loud-ass laugh carries back to me. “You won’t beat me this time.”

I wipe my face and tilt my head back, letting a vicious smile cross my lips. When I look in front of me again to track his movements, my eyes shift.

My dragon aids in the burst of speed I’ve been handed down and I zig-zag through the trees to catch up to him. I can make out the crowd of vampires and my family waiting a few hundred feet away and he’s almost halfway to them.

Not on my timekeeper, old man.

Pushing myself even faster, he growls as I come up beside him and I wink.

I make it back to everyone a step before he does.

“Whew! Did you see that, little wanderer? I won again.”

“None of us could see anything, dragon, but the dirt you two kicked up,” she says, laughing as I bury my face in her neck, then put her down.

“We sincerely apologize about the mess, Adored. Whatever will we do with the dead leaves the two of us killed even more. ”

“Very funny. Come on, you two. Tanith is growing antsy outside the ward.”

My heart clenches.

In the month since the battle, Tanith’s healing journey has been a long one. Apparently, a broken dragon bone takes far longer to heal. The skin of her wing that was frayed and shredded in multiple areas has healed back for the most part. They only left behind a few scars.

Jamie learned quickly the structure of her bones was very, very different and her body didn’t respond as immediately as any of ours would. He’s been having to heal her in sessions. She guided him as needed during the process and he’s confident she’ll heal the rest of the way perfectly fine.

This week she started doing small jumps and flapping her wings. She’s determined to get back to full strength as soon as possible. When she mentioned that if she came across an unknown dragon in the Keep, they may view her as weak and attack, both Willow and I nearly shifted where we sat.

She and Keeper had to constantly reassure us that wasn’t going to happen.

As we make our way to the ward on the side of the forest that will lead directly into the one with the portal, I watch how the vampires react.

We brought plenty of blood with us to make sure they were all well fed before going home. The last thing we wanted to do was send Keeper across a portal with a bunch of crazed vampires who would attack as soon as they were free.

Almost all that were left still had their wits about them. Some even cried a little when he announced they were going home. Tillman and Willow went through the minds of all of them. Those who actually committed atrocities and deserved to be put here, they informed Keeper. Those who didn’t, Willow apologized to endlessly.

He is using his compulsion on them right now to get through the ward and portal orderly. He told us not to worry about the other side.

They’re going to be fine, and he’ll make sure they get reacclimated or punished properly.

Probably lose their heads .

“Ready?” Corentin asks as the five of us move to the front of everyone else and put our hands on the ward.

“Ready.”

As our palms get sucked in, he starts saying an incantation in Elema Lingua Vetus .

Which, by the way, I haven’t started studying.

One language at a time, please.

Cas and I will do a little language tradzies.

There’s a small vibration that passes through us, then explodes outwardly behind us. Like glass shattering, the ward crumbles down around the forest with a thundering boom.

Instantly, there’s more light pouring into the forest and I squint my eyes for a second to give them time to adjust.

We all move to the side and allow the vampires to start walking through first. My little wanderer’s eyes glisten as she watches each of them look around with wonder. When about half are through, we lead her out so she can lead the way to the portal.

“Finally. I was preparing to come in there after you all.”

“Of course you were, Tanith.”

“Don’t make jokes with me, young lord. There was no good reason I couldn’t come through with you all anyways.”

“There was and you know it. Jamie said he didn’t want the ward to pull on your skin. Reason enough.”

“I’m so over being treated like a hatchling.”

“I don’t believe that for a second.”

She rumbles in warning, and I throw my head back, laughing before fully approaching her.

I lean my forehead down to hers and close my eyes. “Fuck, I’m gonna miss you.”

“And I you, Draken. So incredibly much.”

I pull back without looking at her because if I see a single tear welling in those big ol’ golden eyes, I’ll just die.

The whole horde stops walking as we reach the massive cave mouth and Willow takes a few steps forward, then stops again. There’s a slight tremble in her shoulders that I know she’s trying to hide, but it’s getting harder.

I step up beside her and lace my fingers with hers. “Where you go, little wanderer, I go.”

She breathes a shaky breath. “Thank you.”

The five of us walk into the cave alone and we give her some space as she continues on to the back wall. Her fingers caress the stone lovingly before she withdraws them and shifts them into claws.

Her murmured words are tear-drenched and my fists clench tightly beside me.

Just as her palm touches the wall, a tear rolls down my cheek, and a hand clamps on my shoulder.

Looking beside me, my dad has his own stream pouring out his ruby eyes and that breaks the rest of my dam.

“This is a moment I’ve waited for, for hundreds of years. I never would’ve imagined it would hurt this much. You have two homes now and you will always be welcome in both.”

“Same for you. This is your home now too.”

A bright flash of light has us both covering our eyes before we turn to the glimmering portal in front of us. The swirling of rainbow is so hypnotizing all I can do is gawk at it.

“Keeper,” Willow says softly.

The broken tone makes my heart pound even harder and all I want to do is hold her. She made this possible. She technically knew him even before I did, and I hate to see this sadness crossing her face.

“Yes, Adored,” he says as he steps closer to her and pulls her into his chest.

She slowly tugs herself free and holds his hands. “I, Willow Vito, release you, Dericko Keeper, from our vow. You’ve fulfilled your end in totality and now you are free.”

Magic surges between them and he grunts as the vow, I honestly forget she made him make, breaks. Before he can say or do anything, she drags her claw down his palm and slices him open .

Slamming her bloody hand to his, she then presses them both into the portal and he screams.

I’m so fucking confused and shocked, all I can do is gape at her.

“Vows we kept have come to light. One’s blood blesses him the right.”

He stumbles back as the portal releases him and I hurry behind him to steady him. “What in the realm was that, little wanderer?”

“She…” Keeper trails off, shaking his head.

“I have to close the portal back when he passes through. It’s not time for it to be permanently opened. But I’ve given him the right to come and go as he pleases.”

“You…” A laugh mixed with a sob bursts out of me and I lift my dad up and spin him around. “Told you she’d do anything for you.”

As I set him down, he grips me on the back of my neck and his smile matches my own. “I’ve never doubted it. Never doubted any of you.”

A piercing whistle passes his lips as he breaks away from me and Tanith leads the charge of vampires through the cave.

Before she steps through, she bows low to Willow.

My little wanderer sobs as she kisses Tanith’s snout, but she nods along with whatever sweet nothings are being whispered to her.

As the last few vampires pass through, Keeper makes his way to Oakly, her Nexus, Aria, Lyker, his brothers, then my own. Each of them embraces him fully, even Cas, and my throat constricts painfully.

With one last hug to me, he swears, “I’ll see you soon.”

My fists clench repeatedly and I’m creating little holes in my palms from where the sharp tips of my nails have shifted.

I holler just as his hand presses to the ward. “Wait!”

His head turns and he looks over his shoulder at me. There’s so much hope in his eyes.

“I love you, Dad.”

His relief nearly knocks me off my feet.

“I love you too, son.”