Slay My Soul

"We need spades," I state, staring at the fresh grave in front of us. Sirus clips me around the ears and I growl at him. "Fragile, remember!"

"We have a Fae, dumb ass. He can move it easily, if you would kindly do the honors Sir," Sirus says, motioning Acassus forward. Acassus lowers me to the ground and then kneels at Eve's grave. He plunges his hands into the soil and the vines on his wrists slip free, extending from his fingers. The soil flows out of the grave as if repulsed, and soon Acassus's vines are lifting the casket out of the ground. His vines retreat and with a touch of his hand, the vines of the casket withdraw and he grabs at the glass so it doesn't fall in. We stare in shock at what is revealed in the casket.

Eve has desiccated.

"That's impossible, she hasn't been in there long enough to be like this," Sirus says confused. He reaches in and carefully lifts Eve out. "I need light." I pull my phone out and flick the torch feature on and pass it over. Sirus motions me to hand it to Acassus. "Hold it steady." He carefully unbuckles the armor and unzips the thin kevlar underneath. We had stitched the gaping hole in her chest closed. His claws lengthen as he carefully slices the stitches and pulls back the dry paper-thin skin. I look away. It's difficult to see Eve like this, with leathery skin and sunken eyes and cheeks. This is not how I wanted to remember her.

"What is that sound?" Acassus asks confused, cocking his head as Sirus works to remove the shrapnel from her chest. "It's like butterfly wings beating against glass." I concentrate and begin to hear what he does. I gingerly lean forward and the sound is clearer. I follow it on my hands and knees until I'm beside Eve on the opposite side of Sirus. I lean down but it's not coming from her heart. My ear stops at her belly button and I swallow bile.

"Um, I think something is in her stomach, maybe a bug?" I suggest, scooting back disgusted. Sirus stops his digging and scowls at us.

"What are you two blathering on about? What's in her tummy?" He scoots down and puts his ear directly on her stomach, he rests his head for a second before his eyes go wide and he rushes back to where he was working on her heart.

"What is it?" Acassus asks worriedly.

"I don't know which one of you morons didn't wrap it up, but I will not lose either of them because of you fools! Explains why she is so desiccated though." he rambles, plucking shards of metal out as fast as he can.

"English, Sirus!" Acassus growls on edge.

"She's pregnant you fool, the baby has sucked everything it can from its mother and is in distress. Eve's body can't support itself if her body is in limbo. I'll be fucked if my grandchild is dying here today. I need more light!" Acassus moves the light closer with shaking hands.

"We are going to be Dads?" He asks, awestruck.

"Only if we can get her vitals up and running," Sirus snaps at him. "Right, run your hand over. Tell me if you can detect any iron shards." Acassus does as told and directs the frantic vampire to the remaining shards, before checking again. Once the hound has given the all-clear, Sirus slices his own hand open and squeezes blood onto the shredded heart. We sit there in silence, waiting for the impossible to happen. But there is no new sound of a pulse or a breath. Sirus does it again, re-slicing his hand deeper and squeezing it into the gaping hole. More silence ensues. Sirus snatches my phone from Acassus and peers into the hole. He nods, "It's pulling together, but we've just got to keep the blood flow going, as the baby is trying to pull on it too." Acassus leans over and looks.

"Holy shit!" He slices his own hand and the two of them alternate slicing themselves to repair Eve's heart. Out of the blue, I hear a hesitant thump. Then silence. Another thump and a pause follows seconds later.

"Is that...?" I ask cautiously. Sirus nods, blinking back tears as he strokes his daughter's dry hair and bites his wrist, lowering it to her slightly parted mouth. Acassus continues to repair the heart with his blood. A harsh sound like a crumpled paper bag inflating reaches my ears. Dry leathery fingers twitch and a flash of fang has Sirus sighing in relief.

"Good girl, take whatever you need. Daddy's got you," he croons. "Acassus pull that skin together tight, so it knits together tidily." Acassus swiftly lines up the skin over the now quickly healing heart and drips blood over it. I watch as it knits back together. Her skin starts to look more supple and begins to fill out. Color finds its way to her face. Her hands reach up to grab her father's wrist and she re-bites, gulping fast. As soon as Sirus starts to sway, Acassus shoves his wrist at her, using his other hand to free Sirus from her bite. She gulps eagerly at the new food source, looking more and more like herself. At last, she opens her eyes and those beautiful chocolate brown irises stare at me, while her father hugs her and her hound feeds her. Those eyes stare into what is left of my soul and reality hits.

Our girl is alive.

I see Sirus duck his head down towards her stomach and give us a quick thumbs up. The baby has stabilized. The crazy fucker has done it, he's saved them both. Eve pulls away from Acassus's wrist and reaches her arms out to him. He lifts her up into his lap and holds her with such gentle intensity. Kissing her now silky hair.

"So did we win the battle?" She asks, looking at her father who is staring at her as if she is the holy grail.

"No sweet heart, but you're going to kick their asses soon," he replies, his voice husky with emotion. "The others are waging war on the vampire kingdom as we speak, to avenge your death. We, on the other hand, came to waken you from your limbo. I knew you weren't dead but it took a while for me to find someone to believe me and convince them to set me free, so we could rescue you." Eve stares at him confused and looks up at her hound.

"You died Eve. They sent an exploding iron shard into your heart, shredding it and they broke your neck. We didn't know, so we buried you. You had no signs of life." Acassus holds her a little bit tighter. She is silent for a moment, then seems to shake it off.

"I mated the Demon." She states as she carefully gets to her feet aided by the Fae and steps toward me. She looks healthy and vibrant, bursting with life. She kneels in front of me. "Max, you don't look so well, are you injured?" She asks, stroking my cheek. I lean into the touch of her, feeling the tingles of the bond on my skin and her scent calls to me.

"In a way - yes," I answer reluctantly. "But we are working on fixing it." Her eyes narrow.

"Lie," she states and I sigh. Fucking empath shit. I forgot she's a human lie detector like Mikyda.

"Belestine was harvesting his soul when you shoved him through the portal. He got half of it," Sirus says. "He's dying Eve. Carino is hoping if you mate, it might be enough to anchor what's left."

"Truth," Eve says, nodding while glaring at me.

"I don't want you mating me to save me. I just pray you'll want to do it, because you want me," I admit.

"I wanted to before this, remember? Luka interrupted." I laugh as the memory flits into my head. That seems like a lifetime ago. "Daddy-O, go top yourself up. Acassus will assist me with Max." Sirus nods.

"Sorry sweetheart you will have to make this a quickie, you can indulge yourself with him properly next time. I'll be back soon." He blurs away. The next thing I know Acassus is helping me undress and I watch my fated mate reveal the rest of her body. I feel my body coming to attention, as it takes in her perfect curves.

"I'm going to give you a little bit of my blood Max. It has healing properties and will give your energy and strength a much-needed boost." I nod. She can do whatever she likes. She bites her wrist and puts it to my mouth instructing me to suck. As I suck on her wrist, I gasp as she sucks on my cock. She moans around my now rock-hard member and I hear an answering groan. Glancing to the side I see Acassus has his face buried in her pussy as she sucks my erection with vigor. He licks and sucks her to orgasm and I fight not to blow my load. He lifts her mouth off me and instead positions her above my painfully hard member before easing her down and impaling her on me, making us both groan.

"Ride him gentle but fast beautiful, then mark him as yours," Acassus murmurs in her ear and shoots me a wink. And that is exactly what she does. She rides me slowly at first and then gains speed. She takes me with a smooth rolling motion, so she doesn't jar me. Her inner walls squeezing and rippling around me. Acassus plucks at her nipples and strokes at her clit. To help hurry her along. My hands slide up to grab her ass and pull her down harder, as her vampire blood hits my system. I feel so much better, but also so incredibly ready to blow my load. I've had sex before, but sex with your fated mate is next level. I feel like she's touching me everywhere. Acassus sucks on his mark on her neck and she squeezes my dick to death as she cums again. I let myself go and bite her neck at the same time she bites mine. The bond clicks into place. I feel her soul wrap around and add some stability to what's left of mine. Her relief and love flow through me. I release my fangs from her neck as hers also slide away. I look up and smile as Acassus lifts her from me to help her dress. She steps into the offered pants he has ready.

"It's strange, I feel great but I don't hear angels singing or some amazing power surging through my veins. Maybe we need to do it again," she suggests, coyly glancing over her shoulder at me. The view of her ass is spectacular from this angle.

"I have no complaints," I say smugly, throwing my arms open in offering. Sirus blurs back to us.

"Fantastic, let's get going!" He says throwing my pants at me and grabbing the rest of his daughter's clothing to help dress her, while I'm left to shimmy my ass back into my track pants. Her knees buckle suddenly and Sirus grabs her as her head tips back and she screams. Her eyes turn white and her body glows.

"The circle is complete, the kingdom is yours. Bring the races to heel and create the new world as it was meant to be." Eve's voice speaks - powerful, yet layered in the voices of many others. Her back bows painfully, then the glow cuts out and she flops back into her father's arms.

"What the fuck was that!" I exclaim, hurriedly pulling my pants the rest of the way up. Eve pants heavily and looks disoriented.

"That was the angels singing and the amazing power surge going through her veins that she was waiting for," Acassus chuckles. "Are you ready to kick some ass now my warrior Queen?"

"Fuck yes," Eve gasps, a wild grin stretching over her face. She pulls out of her father's grasp and steps away. "Everybody climb aboard the 'fuck shit up' express. We need to shift our asses." She morphs into her beautiful dragon and crouches low, offering a wing for us to climb up. I feel my bond with Eve teaming with energy and excitement. We climb up and I ask Acassus if his link to her is repaired. He cocks his head as he looks internally and then grins.

"Everything is back to normal, it's strong and full of energy," he says joyfully, as Eve's wings lift us into the air. She flies up and into a giant portal, bringing us out high above the burning buildings, the screams, and the chaos of the vampire realm.

Eve surveys the carnage for a moment and then heads away to a distant huge field swarming with the Legion. My heart sinks seeing the sheer amount. We had sorely underestimated their number and I pray our people are still alive under the moving river of monsters.

Hell on earth indeed.