Double Alchemy: Climax (22 page)

Daniel looked at him curiously. “That sounds intriguing. Care to share?”

Quinn looked down at the ground, uncomfortable with how to broach with his uncle the subject he’d had brewing in his head for a while now. “Uhmm, not just yet. It’s too early. I really need to speak to Cade about it before I tell anyone else.”

“Wow. I’ve never seen you so ill at ease talking about something. This is a first. Fine, I’ll let my curiosity rest. For now.” Daniel grinned. “Are you sure it’s a good idea having another witch meet Cade? Your track record with them hasn’t been so good to date—Mary-Sophie, Valensia…” He chuckled at the expression on Quinn’s face. “Come on, don’t look so stricken. I’m joking.” He grinned slyly. “Of course, Cade still has a bug up his arse about Valensia and you working together. I mean, she does seem to have a real yen for you still. Cade isn’t happy, I can tell you.” Daniel’s voice was amused.

Quinn shrugged. “Cade knows the history we have, but I can promise you, Cade is more than enough for me.” He watched as Cade started his swim back and he closed his eyes, lying back on the grass, appreciating the solitude of the pond. The night birds called loudly in the trees above and in the distance he could hear what he thought was a badger snorting. Daniel did the same, lying back with his hands behind his head and looking up into the clear night sky.

Quinn felt a strange sense of peace flood his body. He hadn’t wanted to tell Daniel about his reason for inviting Misty over. In one of their lunch conversations, Misty had quietly asked him how the Fairmont line was to be continued if Quinn wasn’t going to marry a woman and let her bear his children. To be honest, it had always been a concern in Quinn’s mind but nothing that he believed he could solve easily. He’d been completely floored when Misty had said quietly that if he and Cade wanted, she was quite happy to be a surrogate for him and carry his child. The blood had rushed to Quinn’s head and he had gaped at the witch. It was an offer beyond his wildest expectations—to have a renowned witch and someone he liked and trusted be the mother of any future children. He’d stammered and stuttered his thanks and appreciation at Misty’s offer and she’d laughed gently, saying she knew it was early days but he and Cade must remember she was there if they needed her. Of course it was something Quinn needed to talk to his future husband about. He knew Cade loved kids but this offer was something else altogether.

They were both dozing when there was the sound of someone coming out of the water. He heard a sudden gasp, almost a deep sigh and he sat up, opening his eyes. He reached for Cade’s towel, ready to take it to him. It was dim and as Quinn’s eyes focused on the scene in front of him, his animal instincts kicked in and he leapt to his feet. Rowan Kirkpatrick stood over Cade, who was hunched on the ground near the steel steps, holding his hands to his chest.

Quinn rushed towards him, his heart beating wildly with fear. “Cade! Are you all right?”

Daniel sat up in alarm and scrambled to his feet. Quinn reached Rowan in seconds. He was trying to run away but had somehow got tangled up in Cade’s swimming bag, the handle of which had snaked around his foot. Rowan cursed as he tried to free himself, but he was too slow. Quinn’s palm connected flat against the other man’s chest in a burst of energy that threw Kirkpatrick almost twenty feet away. He landed in a heap on the grass, where he lay still, his sunglasses broken beside him.

Quinn knelt down beside Cade, his face grey as he tried to see what had happened. Cade sat on the grass, hands clutching the left side of his chest. Blood gushed out of a wound that yawned open at least two inches. Quinn could see the white tissue and slowly pulsing blood as it oozed from Cade’s body. It was reminiscent of the last one he’d seen on his Cade’s body when Andrew de Vere had sliced him open. But this wound went much deeper, mortally so, he feared. Quinn laid Cade down on the grass, his heart pounding. Daniel stood over him in horror.

“Hang on, Cade. I’m going to try and heal that. Just hold on for me.” His whole being went cold with dread. There was a terrible sense of déjà vu as he held his hands over Cade’s body, his mind already chanting the words to heal him. Cade gazed up at him with pain-filled eyes and reached out a blood-covered hand to his.

“Quinn?” he whispered. His face was white, lips already paling.

Quinn clasped Cade’s hand to his chest as he closed his eyes and desperately summoned the energy he needed into Cade’s body, his Withinner adding to the power. When Quinn opened his eyes, the wound was just as bad as it had been. His heart froze as he closed his eyes and chanted again, laying his hands on the open wound. Cade’s eyes were closed and Quinn could hardly sense his heartbeat.

“Dan, it’s not working!” Quinn whispered agonisingly. “Why isn’t he healing? Cade, open your eyes. Please, honey, open your eyes.”

Daniel knelt down beside Cade, his face grave. He leaned in and listened to his breath, his face turning white as he realised Cade was hardly breathing.

“Quinn, I can hardly hear anything,” he said falteringly. “Can you sense any heartbeat at all?”

Quinn shook his head, his eyes dazed. “My magyck isn’t working, I can’t heal him. We need to call 999.”

His Withinner’s voice echoed urgently in his ears.

Quinn, Cade will never make it. He is grievously injured. The wound has gone deep and he is bleeding inside. You have to lay him in the water. Let the Sprites take him.

“I’m not putting him in the fucking water to be taken!” Quinn spat out in agony. “He needs a hospital.” He reached into his jacket pocket and took out his phone with trembling hands.

Daniel laid a cold hand on his and spoke softly. “If Taliesin is telling you to put Cade in the water, do it, son. An ambulance will never get here in time. Your Withinner knows what he’s doing. Trust him.”

Quinn’s eyes flashed violently at his uncle. “I am not fucking losing him to the depths of a bloody Hampstead Heath pond.”

He knelt down beside Cade again, closing his eyes as he tried once more to heal, but the wound just kept seeping blood, now at a much slower rate than before. Cade’s face was ash white, his dark hair standing out starkly against the deathly pallor of his face.

Quinn. Your Cade is nearly gone. You have to put him in the water now before it is too late. There is no time for your modern medicine. He will not survive unless you do it now. The Water Sprites will take him and heal him as long as there is still a spark of life left in him.

“I can’t. Don’t ask me to do that. I can’t.” Quinn’s voice was strangled as he struggled to compose himself. His body was cold, his mind sluggish and he had never felt so desperate.

Daniel strode forward and despite his small and wiry frame, he picked Cade up in his arms. He looked at Quinn, his voice resolute. “He’s dying. This may be the only way to save him.”

Quinn growled and reached out with a hand to hold him back. Daniel sidestepped him and looked at him with a resolute expression. “You can hurt me if you want but it won’t help Cade. This is all we have left to try before he dies.”

Quinn’s hand still gripped him tightly and the older man winced.

“If anyone is going to do this, it’s going to be me.” Quinn’s voice cracked and he held out his arms. Wordlessly, Daniel placed Cade in Quinn’s outstretched arms and Quinn pulled his lover closer to his body. He walked down to the water’s edge and waded in as Daniel watched helplessly from the bank, his face stark. Quinn gently laid Cade down in the water. He seemed to float for a while, hair spreading about in the water like black smoke. His face was still, eyes closed as Quinn held tightly onto his cold hand, rubbing his thumb over the engagement ring. Quinn’s vision blurred as tears filled his eyes.

You need to let Cade go. Let him join his kind below the water. Trust me.

Taliesin’s voice was soft, compassionate. Quinn heaved a shuddering sigh as Daniel joined him in the water, laying a comforting arm on his.

“I can’t—” Quinn shook his head in grief, his heart breaking.

His uncle took hold of his shoulders, firmly holding him back. “There’s no other way, son. Let him go.”

Quinn relinquished his grip on Cade’s hand, standing there as he heard a soft splash and saw the water rippling around them. As they watched, two sets of pale hands emerged out of the water, and slowly, lovingly, Cade was dragged gently beneath the dark waters of the pond. Quinn saw the hand with his ring on it slowly disappear under the water. It was the last glimpse he had of the man he loved.

His heart wrenched inside him, the pain impossible to bear. His life blood was being sucked from him and it hurt so much. His eyes flooded with tears and he blinked them back furiously. The water flattened as the two men stood in complete silence looking at the pond where Cade had been, its smooth surface belying what had just taken place.

Daniel reached out to Quinn. “Son, we have to have faith he’ll find his way back.”

Quinn shook his head, unable to speak. He looked down at the water again, hoping to see Cade suddenly appear. When he finally realised he was definitely gone, he turned and waded out of the water, toward the now-moving figure of Rowan Kirkpatrick.

Daniel shouted behind him. “Quinn. Don’t do anything stupid. Remember he’s human, not Fey.”

“Too fucking late.” Quinn muttered between clenched teeth. “I don’t give a monkey’s ass what he is, he’s going to die right here, right now.”

His vision was blurred with both tears and fury and the shifting lights of the auras of everything around him. He knew his eyes had turned black again. He reached the fallen man and violently yanked him to his feet then let him go. Rowan Kirkpatrick was unsteady on his feet, his body badly burnt, his shirt charred and sticking to his skin. His black eyes were full of pain but as he saw Quinn, his mouth formed a grotesque, blood-stained smile.

“I told you I’d get my own back,” he gasped. “You took away my chance for greatness, now I’ve taken away everything you loved, you Warlock bastard.”

Quinn’s face was relentless, his pupils dilating, his eyes as black as onyx. Rowan watched in terrified triumph.

“What did you stab him with?” Quinn’s voice was soft, dangerous. “Why didn’t the healing work? Why didn’t I hear or feel you near him?” He already knew the answer deep in his soul. Dragon’s blood. It had to be dragon’s blood.

Rowan gasped out words with an agonised breath as he held his hands to his stomach. “You stupid witch! I injected myself with dragon’s blood. That cloaks your senses, doesn’t it? I didn’t need much but it did the job.”

Quinn took a stride forward, his jaw clenched. “You laced that athame with dragon’s blood too? That’s why I couldn’t heal him.”

Rowan gave a strangled laugh as blood dribbled from his mouth. “Maybe. Whatever I did, it worked. Your fancy man is gone.”

He grinned through blood-spattered teeth. Quinn had no doubt he was bleeding inside from the energy blow he’d delivered. The man’s insides were probably mush by now.

Rowan spat blood onto the grass beside him. “Jeremy gave that blood to me a long time ago in case I ever encountered one of you. I’m glad it came in handy to kill
your darling lover
.” His words were mocking and Quinn felt another surge of grief.

“You fucking bastard.” Quinn surged forward and heard a satisfying thwack as his fist connected with Rowan’s chin. Rowan staggered and fell onto his back. Quinn relished the physical contact and readied himself for a violent kick to Rowan’s side. Rowan lay on his back, then his arms lifted to the skies as if entreating someone. He was in obvious pain but he cackled loudly.

“I wanted you to suffer, to see your lover die in front of you. I bided my time because I wanted to make this perfect. The perfect judgment for what you did to me.” He laughed, sounding like a loon. “You thought it was over but I showed you it wasn’t.”

Quinn growled loudly and reached down to fist Rowan’s scorched shirt and pull him to standing. With superhuman strength, Quinn drew the man up and against a nearby tree, until Rowan’s legs were dangling a foot from the ground.

Daniel stepped up to Quinn’s side now and was watching the unfolding events with trepidation. “Don’t kill him. Maybe we can get more information. Let the Consortium decide what to do with him. You have enough blood on your hands. He’s dying anyway from the looks of it.”

Quinn shook his head as he regarded Rowan, his face twisted into a snarl. “Fat chance of that. This stupid bastard’s mine.”

He leaned his face in toward Rowan’s and the man flailed wildly, seeing the violence in Quinn’s face. “You got too clever, you fucking retard. You should have come for me first and made sure I was dead. You’re going to join your precious Jeremy and Matthew in whatever hell they went to, so I hope you’re ready. Taliesin, help me. I want to fry this bastard.”

I am here, Quinn. I am ready.

Quinn dropped Rowan to the ground and the man lay groaning on the cold grass. He raised his hands, ready to send a burning blast of energy into the man, just as he’d once done to Adam.

Daniel grabbed hold of his arm.

Quinn turned to him, his face vicious as he violently pushed Daniel’s hands away.

“Leave me be and stay the hell out of this. This is personal.”

“You don’t want to do this, son. Not again.”

Daniel’s voice was full of pain but Quinn didn’t care. He wanted Rowan Kirkpatrick in a smouldering heap on the ground. The man had taken Cade away from him and that was something Quinn could never condone.

Rowan looked at Quinn, his face gloating. “I may be a stupid bastard, but I still killed your little bitch.”

Taliesin surged, his Withinner’s anger at the man’s words combining with Quinn’s. When Quinn was finally able to see through the red mist of hatred in his eyes, he summoned all the strength he and Taliesin had. The energy from their combined power leapt out of his hands and shot into the man lying on the ground.

Rowan screamed in agony as he became engulfed in blue flames. Quinn watched expressionlessly, his eyes sensitive to the burning light, as the man scrabbled on the ground, his body jerking and spasming as the flames took hold. The smell of roasting flesh was vile. Daniel watched in horror, holding his hands over his nose, trying to block out the smell. Quinn himself felt nothing for the man’s death. No guilt, no anger, no emotion at all. All he felt was sense of purpose that he’d killed the man who’d taken Cade and an overwhelming sense of grief for the loss of the man he’d loved more than life itself.