Page 82 of Resurrection

Seiran panicked. He felt Gabe’s disorientation, pain and fear, as he floundered away while burning. Vampires and fire were not a good combo, and these flames were not some spontaneous combustion. Gabe dropped to roll on the floor, but it didn’t seem to interrupt the fire.

Magic. A spell rather than something of natural origin, it’s why it kept burning even while Gabe should have been able to put them out with ease.

Seiran felt the power of it dancing over his skin, reaching for him through the bond he had to Gabe. Seiran did the first thing he could think of and shoved the spell back at the caster. Like a mirror, reflecting back with all the force he could pull in those few seconds of insanity. Any other witch would have needed complicated spells to build up that sort of power. But Seiran bounced it back with a wallop that actually doused the flames on the bed and sent Gabe tumbling backward, partially extinguishing his fire.

The fire alarm was going off in an annoying wail. Seiran felt the last ties of the spell shatter, the casters either injured or trying to escape the backlash. He grabbed a blanket, racing to Gabe’s side to douse the flames. He kept his magic pushing at the spell, like a wall propelling at the witches who dared to reach through the distance and hurt them. It was like being in two places at once.

He saw others bursting into flames. Not one, but many, scattered around symbols drawn that Seiran didn’t recognize. An organized assault by the Dominion? Or someone else? They screamed and floundered, burning slower than Gabe had, but it would hurt plenty.

Seiran patted at Gabe, thinking thoughts of a cool breeze or icy lake, though he’d need access to a source, or to pull direct power from the Goddess to use either of those.

Then Kelly was there, dousing the flames with cooling water. Soaking them all, and washing the basement floor in a layer of icy spill that would be a bitch to clean up later. But the fire was finally out.

Gabe heaved pained breaths, his skin blackened and flaking away, his blood boiling and burning like lava through his body. Seiran felt the bond between them begin to close, Gabe trying to shut him off from the pain.

“Don’t,” Seiran demanded.

It will cause you pain,Gabe said through their link.

Pain was a mild statement for the feeling, excruciating, a better term. How was it possible to be that damaged and still feel so much? Or be conscious?

“I am earth. I can help you heal this.” It hurt to look at him, blackened and nightmarish, reminding Seiran of the vampire bodies they had found. Had this spell come from the same group? He had to work to steady his emotions. Now was not the time for panic. The flames were out, and this was unlikely to kill Gabe, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t going to be brutal.

Jamie took the blanket from Seiran, carefully wrapping Gabe up. “Let’s get him to the arboretum.” There was no way that touching him wasn’t going to hurt. And Gabe seemed to half pass out a second as Jamie lifted him.

Fear and grief rose in Seiran’s gut. He knew the damage was too great for Gabe to heal without going to ground. But Sei wanted to scream at the injustice of it. He’d just gotten Gabe back and they were trying to work through shit. Now Gabe would be back in the ground for who knew how long.

They all headed upstairs, passing the kids who were all waiting in the kitchen, awake with wide eyes and scared. The door to the basement had been broken, likely Jamie coming through after hearing the alarms. Everything else seemed untouched.

“Is the fire out?” Kaine asked with huge, terrified eyes.

“It is. It’s okay, go back to bed,” Seiran told him. It was like three in the morning. They should all be asleep.

“Can we help?” Ki asked.

Seiran reached out to squeeze his kids’ hands as he moved to open the door to the arboretum. “Bed. But thank you.”

Jamie carried Gabe to a large open patch of dirt in the garden. They all liked to roll in the fresh spread when they played in their shifted forms. It was wide enough for a couple bodies, as even Jamie enjoyed a good roll in the dirt when he turned bear. It was also the only ground that was untouched by plant life of some kind.

The fae swirled around them in a crazy smash of color as Jamie carefully lowered Gabe down and peeled the blanket away. Gabe swallowed and tried to speak. His eyes open, seeming mostly coherent, though Seiran could barely breath through the shared pain.

“Don’t. It’s okay,” Seiran assured him. “Let the ground take you. Rest. Heal.” Seiran got a storm of emotions from Gabe. Mostly the white-hot rage that someone had sent a spell their way. Tried to destroy the zombie of Steve, for what? To silence the dead? Destroy evidence? Or an attack specifically to weaken Seiran? Gabe sent all of that in a blaze of hot emotions. “It’s fine. I’ve got this,” Seiran promised. “Not a kid anymore, remember?”

He leaned down, careful not to touch Gabe’s skin. The blanket had rubbed the blackened bits off, exposing damaged nerves and muscles. Seiran swallowed hard, hoping he was keeping the worst of his fears to himself. “It’s okay. Rest. I love you. And I will still be here when you get back.” Seiran shoved the conviction of his words into their bond, letting Gabe feel the truth of them. Yes, Seiran would miss him, but it was okay.

Don’t want to go,Gabe whispered through the bond, but he was almost completely lost in pain. His eyes turning a mix of red and black, warning of the revenant.

“You can either let go and heal, or keep fighting it and risk freeing your revenant.” Seiran hovered his fingers above Gabe’s face, not willing to touch him and chance hurting him further. “I love you. But not all is forgiven, so I expect you back soon.”

Gabe looked undecided, but Seiran pulled a rolling wave of earth power letting it soothe a cooling wash over Gabe. Gabe sighed, giving up the fight, and began to sink into the ground, the earth swallowing him up in a way that was specific to vampires. It wasn’t like zombies in reverse, with vampires digging their way in rather than out, but more like the quicksand of old movies. The ground shifting and becoming soft, fine, and almost like water. Seiran had often thought the kinetic type of sand that the kids used to play with was the closest he could recall to the way the earth reacted to vampires. It could be solid, smooth, and unyielding, but soft and delicate as it cradled them deep.

Seiran watched, until Gabe was completely overtaken. He could feel the grip of the grave as an icy touch to soothe the pain. Gabe’s storming emotions vanished in a familiar quash of their bond. Not closing exactly, but becoming less defined. The strength of the earth magic took Gabe fast, breaking down the damaged body and releasing the mixed edges of soul and revenant to drift, dream, and heal untethered by mortal coil.

Would decades pass again? Seiran sucked in a hard breath, his chest tight, and fed the rage.

He’d been complacent too long. Following the rules and keeping his head down. Trying to protect his family and himself from the wrath of those who would never offer him any quarter. Gabe’s return had given him hope, not only of finally not being alone anymore, but of finding a way free from all the chains they’d shackled him with. He’d had a few moments of hope, thinking he could escape the Dominion and find another course for his life, Gabe’s calm strength and incredible power a wall to hide behind.

But that had been stupid. Seiran didn’t need to hide. He was the scion of Earth, the Green Man, Father Earth, Pillar of magic, a mortal god in his own right. And once again the man he loved had been stolen from him while he was expected to sit back and obey.