Page 8

FIVE YEARS LATER

S tanding tall, Stephan opened the door and walked in. The woman behind the reception desk called out in greeting. “Mr. Everwood, welcome. Go ahead and take a seat. Healer Hyacinth will be right with you.”

He sat on one of the plush, wingbacked, embroidered chairs in the waiting room. It spoke of money—no stained carpets or horrible plastic furniture in sight.

Considering Healer Hyacinth was a renowned specialist in his field, Stephan supposed the man had enough money to make his practice look as fancy as he wanted. Seeing the elf meant receiving a bill that would make most faint, though Stephan wasn’t sure of the exact amount. Hyacinth, having been a friend of his late mother, had never charged him.

As comfortable as the waiting room was, it did nothing to calm him. Stephan clenched the strap of his bag as he waited. As his mind raced, his heart sped up, and sweat formed on his brow.

How long had it been since he’d been here? Five years? No…that was how long it had been since he’d found Jayden. Had it really been five years already? If so, then…it had been seven since he’d walked through that door.

They must have replaced the lights with stronger bulbs since then. They seemed brighter. Not just brighter, but hotter—at least, he felt hot. Had they turned off the air? They must have.

Stephan flinched when the receptionist’s chair creaked.

Oh Gods, he was going to throw up. Breathing slowly through his mouth, he tried not to hyperventilate. This was ridiculous. Stephan needed to get ahold of himself. He was a successful businessman. He dealt with hostile takeovers, so he sure as hell could handle this, dammit!

A whimper slipped out—if only the rules of business applied outside the workplace.

Calm, hah, what a laugh. How the hell was Stephan supposed to remain calm when the next few minutes would decide an important part of his future? Maybe he should have waited longer. Like maybe a hundred or so years—or a thousand. Was it too soon? Would it have been better to wait?

No, no…Stephan wasn’t going to do this now. There was no point in second-guessing himself—no point in waiting. It wouldn’t have mattered. The results today would tell him all he needed to know.

The door that led to the offices and examination rooms opened, and Healer Hyacinth walked out. Tall, with long blond hair, the man had a kind smile, tan skin, an angular masculine face, pointed ears, and was currently wearing an immaculate black suit, with a white healer’s coat thrown over top of it.

“Come on back, Stephan.”

Stephan followed the man down the hallway to his office. As he sat in one of the chairs in front of the desk, Healer Hyacinth closed the door behind him and sat as well.

“Your results are in…and…”

Stephan flinched at the man’s hesitation. “Just say it.”

“I’m sorry, Stephan. Nothing has changed.” After pulling out two sonograms from a manila folder, he set them side by side and pointed. “The sonogram on the right is from eight years ago. The left is from last week. As you can see, they’re exactly the same. Unfortunately, I don’t even see minuscule changes. The internal cam showed the same. I’m sorry, Stephan. You’re still barren.”

He rubbed at the sudden ache in his chest.

Stephan knew this would happen. He’d known how low his chances were. He shouldn’t be upset.

Why had he hoped for more? Why should he hope? He couldn’t even handle people hugging him, let alone have sex. And the idea of in vitro terrified him, they would have had to knock his ass out for it. How the hell had he expected to have a baby? It was ridiculous. By the Gods, he was so stupid.

Barren or not, there was never any chance of him having a child. Stephan had no reason to be upset or sad…none at all.

With a tight smile, he stated, “So there really is no chance I’ll ever be able to have a child? ”

Healer Hyacinth leaned back and ran his hand through his hair. “I didn’t say that. I will admit the lack of change is troubling. And so far, none of the treatments, medicines, or magical interventions have worked. With most, I would say, at this point, it’s unlikely. However, considering what you are, it’s possible that years from now the damage will start to heal.”

“Do you really believe that?” Stephan laughed bitterly. “What is there left to heal? The miscarriage destroyed so much. It just made the damage from my”—he swallowed painfully—“from my attack, that much worse. Being a Ly?—”

Healer Hyacinth interrupted him. “Don’t say it, Stephan. Privacy spells or not, I’d rather not chance it.”

“If I could have controlled my powers back then, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation, would we?”

“Stephan, you can’t change the past. You know that. At fifteen, you shouldn’t have been able to access them as you did. It’s highly unusual for your kind to develop such abilities so early. If you hadn’t been put in that situation, your powers would just now be beginning to show. There’s no point wondering about the impossible.”

His healer continued to talk, but all he could do was nod. Really, was there any point in talking? There was nothing Healer Hyacinth could do that would fix what was wrong with him. There was nothing Stephan could do—nothing anyone could do.

Thirty minutes later, he found himself leaning against a wall in an empty hallway. Stephan couldn’t remember how he had gotten there.

The world was clouded, unrecognizable through the watery wall his tears had created. No matter how much he tried to tell himself that it didn’t matter, they still formed.

He bit his lip, one of his fangs piercing through as he tried to keep the tears from falling. But one managed to slip free, and the others quickly followed.

His lungs seized as Stephan took a ragged breath. It hurt, it hurt so much—the pain was almost unbearable. His heart was still beating. It had to be…he could hear it. But it felt as if it were being crushed, each beat a struggle under the weight of his despair.

Clutching his chest, he slid down the wall. On the floor, Stephan curled into a ball and began to sob.

T he past week, Stephan had appeared oddly nervous—twitchy even. The little elf was usually perky as hell, but it was as if his spark had been stolen away, and Jayden was determined to find out why.

Today, Stephan had acted as if someone had died, when the elf had said he had an appointment—despite how late it was—so Jayden did what any rational person would have. He followed him.

Yay! Now, he was a stalker on top of being a murderer. Ah, he was moving up in the world.

His gaze flicked to the inscription on the door— Sean Hyacinth—Obstetrician . Not a place he’d ever expected to find himself, that’s for sure.

Forced to wait outside until Stephan was called back, Jayden absently searched the receptionist’s mind. Like him, she was wondering why the appointment was so late.

Once Stephan left the waiting room, he strolled in, clouding the receptionist’s mind to prevent her from seeing him. Standing in front of the door that Stephan had disappeared behind, Jayden took a deep breath, widening the opening in his mental barriers.

A multitude of privacy spells buzzed against his skin, but none were strong enough to concern him. While he couldn’t overhear the conversations, he could pull them from the memories of those involved.

Jayden’s mental energy spread out, gliding over and latching onto all who were in range. Despite the time, a considerable number of people were still in the building. It took a few minutes to find the mind of Sean Hyacinth, the healer.

He cocked his head at the unspoken words— Lydus blood elf . A well-kept secret of Stephan’s, one he found out on his own years ago. Not that Jayden would tell anyone.

Jayden rolled his eyes—not that he even had anyone to tell.

Stephan’s kind was supposed to register with the government. Apparently, there was a top-secret list for their protection.

He snorted—at least, that’s what all the monarchs claimed.

So many of Stephan’s kind had been wiped out, they were almost extinct. As strong as they were, spells could bind them, and up against a mob, even they would fall. Especially a mob of blood elves that feared they would be next if they didn’t do their part in eradicating those who were so similar to themselves. Family turned against family, and survival became all that mattered, even at the expense of the innocent. With so many against them, the Lydus elves had no other option but to hide. Something they have continued to do even now.

While laws that had led to their persecution had been mostly abolished, and there had been more recent incidents of others attacking outed Lydus blood elves, Jayden had a hard time believing what remained now was just for their protection.

Healing abilities aside, Stephan could open old wounds and create new ones from a distance. He could also increase blood flow. A Lydus blood elf could easily cause massive hemorrhaging, bleeding someone dry in seconds.

Now that Jayden thought about it, all blood elves could increase blood flow—just not as quickly, and not from a distance.

Though, bleeding to death would be the nicest way a blood elf could kill you. They could always heat your blood and boil you alive. No doubt, a very painful way to die.

It was ill-advised to piss one off. As blood elves were rarely ever violent, Jayden personally thought if a person was stupid enough to do so, they deserved what they got.

“I wish I had better news…he’s been through so much already.”

Ah, now what did the good healer know that he didn’t? As he searched Healer Hyacinth’s memories, images of when the healer first met Stephan popped up.

Jayden jerked in shock—he hadn’t known about the aftermath of Stephan’s attack. A knot formed in his stomach—pregnancy? !

He hadn’t known. Stephan had never told him. No! He didn’t want to know! He didn’t want to see! Jayden tried to pull free, but the memories held on tight, refusing to release him.

He cried out and hunched over. Clasping his head, Jayden tugged on his hair as the images continued to flow through him. Please, oh Gods, he didn’t want to see. Stephan’s blood, his pain, his heartbreak. He couldn’t…he couldn’t…

When Jayden finally managed to wrench free of the memories, his world swayed. Sagging against the door, he remained collapsed there as their conversation continued. Stephan’s walls were cracking. Jayden was seeing blips of the man’s emotions. Emotions Jayden was struggling to handle—struggling to understand.

Maybe he just couldn’t. Jayden knew pain and heartbreak—he had felt it—but he couldn’t comprehend them. Those feelings had been lost to him years ago. That part of him had been crushed under the weight of his hatred, at least that’s what Jayden had thought… Why was this affecting him so much? He had seen worse.

When the conversation ended, Jayden pushed up from the door. The sound of footsteps had him backing away from it as if it would bite him.

Wide-eyed, Jayden rushed out of the waiting room, unblocking the receptionist’s mind as he fled. Once in the hall, he hid behind a corner and watched.

Moments later, the little elf stumbled out, looking completely drained. Stephan didn’t even notice Jayden silently following behind him as he staggered down the hallway .

Jayden almost tumbled over when Stephan stopped to rest against the wall. Leaning there, the man fell apart.

Jayden’s heart began to race, beating painfully out of control as he watched. Wincing, he grabbed his chest, trying to will it to stop, from freaking out. He didn’t understand how the elf didn’t hear it—it was as loud as thunder in his own ears.

Slowly, Stephan slid down the wall and began to sob. Jayden had never seen Stephan cry before—he'd never seen the usually bright, full of sunshine man look so defeated.

Jayden blinked rapidly when his vision began to blur. Something wet slithered down his cheeks—what…

With a shaky hand, Jayden touched his cheek. It was wet. Crying, he was crying.

Jayden lurched back, his throat closing up as terror clawed its way through him. He couldn’t feel again! He couldn’t!

For the first time since Jayden had met the man, Stephan’s mind was completely open to him. But he couldn’t handle what he was seeing—what he was feeling. So Jayden did the only thing he could—he fled from it all.

Shutting everything down, he reached for the emptiness inside him as he ran out of the building, bumping and stumbling his way through the crowded streets of the city. Jayden ignored the shouts of anger as he staggered on. His mental walls still open wide, and their minds bombarded him.

Jayden cried out as a dark voice painfully pierced his mind, stopping him in his path.

“I’ll bleed him when I get home…”

The voice chased his confusion away, pushing emotions he didn’t understand back in the pitch black hole they belong in. Turning, Jayden found the origin of the thought. His powers crept forward and ensnared, taking control.

Now filled with purpose, Jayden calmly walked off, the man trailing behind him.

S tephan sat in the back of his parked car, staring vacantly at the headrest in front of him. His head throbbed and his eyes felt grainy. All he wanted to do was go home, take a bath, and sleep.

The car door clicked as it opened, and Liam slid in next to him. The man held shopping bags, and quickly stored them in the back. He had insisted on coming with him, but Stephan had refused to let him come in. He probably went shopping to distract himself. He had already texted him about what happened… Too much of a coward to dare speak it out loud.

His godfather looked sad as he clasped Stephan’s hands. “Don’t lose hope, Sweetie. ”

Pulling away, he held up his hand and mumbled, “Stop, please. I just can’t anymore…I don’t want to think about anything right now.”

“As you wish…”

Stephan took out his phone when it beeped, then sagged when he saw the notification—Jayden’s tracking chip had gone off.

He had chipped the vampire’s ass a few years ago—it notified him whenever Jade strayed too close to an area filled with abandoned buildings .

“Jayden?”

Stephan just nodded at Liam’s question. Jayden was at it again—this would be the eighteenth time Stephan had to run off to stop him.

Tired, he was so tired. How many more times would Stephan have to do this? Why did Jayden have to choose today?