Page 29 of Resurrection
“You don’t think one of them created it?” Page asked.
“No. I think they got it somewhere. The magic they had in their dorm wasn’t the same as what’s in the golem. Someone in their family has some powerful skills with wards, but the golem wouldn’t have begun to unravel if it belonged to them.”
“It doesn’t look like it’s unraveling now,” Page said staring at Forest.
“My magic, and my blood,” Seiran said. “I’m hoping to unravel it soon.”
“What will happen to the souls then?” Page asked. “I mean if they are vampire?”
“They go wherever vampire souls go when they die.”
“That’s really sad,” Page said.
“It is. But hopefully we can stop it from happening to anyone else. Please get those students back in here.”
“Of course, sorry.” Page nodded and returned to the desk picking up the receiver for the phone.
He kept his gaze on the golem who was now seated in the corner of Seiran’s office. Gabe entered the room, feeling another roll of wards press against him, and then accept him. He closed the door behind him, giving them a bit of quiet as he composed himself. He could also feel Seiran clearer now. The wards wrapped around them were his, and the warmth that gave life to the entire area, from the plants to the buzzing sense of welcome, all belonged to the witch.
It made sense that Seiran would have created this as his home away from home. A sanctuary of earth magic and safety. He doubted anyone could actually enter Seiran’s office if he didn’t want them to. And Gabe suspected the wards would have slapped him down hard with little flex from their creator.
“You okay?” Seiran asked as he pulled a laptop computer out of his bag and set it on the desk beside the files.
“Yes,” Gabe said, feeling it was only half a lie. The sealing of that final ward seemed to stop the constant tug on the golem and he let his shoulders relax. If it had been created from vampires, that made sense, however, he wasn’t sure it was something they could control in the long run.
“Murdered vampires?” He added as he examined the golem with that edge of magic which had awakened in him after his first true death. He had never thought of death magic as dark or evil really, as it was what made a vampire. Gabe could recall a handful of times he’d seen it used for purposes that could be called evil, but all magic was that way. “It feels like a vampire,” Gabe said quietly. “Hungry and a bit wild.”
“You can feel it?”
“Yes. I think through your blood? But it feels like a vampire, so I’m trying to wrap ties around it like I would a new vampire. Keep it from resisting so much.” It wasn’t all that unlike what Max had done to him, binding him at the core. Though Gabe had not given it blood, not as Max had given him. Perhaps that was why it was a lot of work to hold it?
“Do I need to give it more blood?” Seiran asked.
Gabe moved so fast he wasn’t certain how he’d gotten across the room, and had Seiran pinned to the wall of filing cabinets before he came back to himself. His hand was tight on Seiran’s throat, but not squeezing, just holding him in place. Their bodies pressed together, Gabe’s against Seiran’s until they were both immobile. He felt like he was about to snap, but no blood had been drawn.
Seiran waited, Gabe didn’t know for what. He expected to be slapped down, drawn back into the earth with little effort by a man so powerful. He actually felt the witch’s power, the slow gather of it growing, a pool of energy lapping beneath the surface. But as he touched it, it seemed to dissipate. Spreading outward in a slow curl of strength, warmth, and life that made the plants on top of the cabinet grow. They didn’t reach for him, in fact the power seemed to absorb through him, giving him clarity, even while he fought not to let the darkness rise.
Gabe sucked in a deep breath, the scent of Seiran, his blood, his skin, the smell of green things, vanilla, and a hint of honey, filling his lungs. “Sorry,” he said, unable to let go. This close, his body pressed to Seiran’s, there was a stirring of something in him. A thousand emotions, all tied up and jumbled like a ball of yarn matted in knots, and physically, a reaction of slow awakening desire. It was like muscle memory. His body reacting as it was supposed to, even if his mind hadn’t caught up. He and the witch seemed to have had a more intimate relationship in the past.
The warmth of Seiran’s pulsing earth power called to something in Gabe’s core. It was an ebb and flow of strength. If Gabe worked hard enough, he thought maybe he could use it himself, though he couldn’t recall ever having that power.
He stared down into sapphire blue eyes, feeling for the first time as though he recognized them. But that fast the memory was gone. A glimpse of a feeling perhaps. “I think it’s the idea of you giving someone else blood,” Gabe offered, fighting with himself over the fact that he needed to let go. He wasn’t hurting the witch. His grip wasn’t strong enough to do damage. But he also had the underlying knowledge that hecould. Maybe it would be one hell of a battle, him against a witch of Seiran’s power. Would he win? His speed and strength before the magic could be cast?
Seiran swallowed. The movement of his throat seeming to give rise to intense desire in Gabe. He found himself tightening that hand a little. Not enough to cut off air, but to feel him breathe.
“You can’t kill me,” Seiran whispered. “The earth will keep bringing me back until it’s done with me. Can you say the same?”
But Gabe didn’t want him dead. He just wanted him. In a dozen ways, some of them sexual, some of them bloody. Being a vampire really sucked sometimes. His gaze narrowed down to Seiran’s face, while he prayed for more memories. He ran his thumb over Seiran’s lower lip and was rewarded with a tiny edge of recognition.
“I don’t want you dead,” Gabe said, leaning forward to brush his lips over Seiran’s. It was the barest taste of a kiss. The warmth of Seiran’s mouth feeling like water to a man dying in the desert of thirst. Gabe held there for a moment. The witch frozen against him, unmoving other than to breathe. And it took Gabe another long moment to pull away and release his grip one finger at a time.
By the time he stepped away, they were both shaking. Gabe didn’t think it was from fear. But he also wasn’t expecting the fist to the jaw that sent him tumbling over the desk and through the glass door, which rained down on him in shards of broken glass and darkness.
Chapter 11
Instinct, Seiran told himself. Though the guilt bothered him. He hadn’t expected the kiss, the reaction to the kiss, or the fact that he’d pulled strength from Gabe without trying, which caused more damage than Seiran ever could have on his own.
Super human strength wasn’t a witch trait. Not without some serious magic backing it up. He could craft spells and wrap magic around himself that would rival a vampire, had done so in many sparring matches with Sam. But that punch had power been beyond any spell he’d ever created.