Love Beyond Sight (22 page)

"Can't see." She screamed, her head flailing back and forth. The red blood that had consumed her eye sockets drained down the sides of her face, leaving crimson trails of sorrow on her face.

But that wasn't what concerned Samuel. No, what made him want to roar was that the color of Eden's eyes had completely altered. Gone were her blue-green depths and in their place were eyes devoid of all color. They almost looked translucent, and as they stared up at his face, he knew without being told that if they remained as they were they would never see anything again.

Calling over his shoulder, he gritted his teeth as he yelled at Leonardo. "Get Jason here. Now."

"He's on his way already. Kal and I managed to communicate telepathically and he relayed to Jason."

Samuel wasn't interested in the ins and outs of what happened. He just wanted Jason there immediately. He turned his attention back to Eden.

"Tell me what it feels like, baby. Tell me what he did to you."

He'd endured nearly dying in a fire and he would do it again a thousand times over rather than have this happen to her.

"I can't. It hurts, Samuel." She gasped. "It feels like he's taken something from me—my soul."

"Not that. Never that."

"I can see him." Marina screeched pointing at the ceiling. "Can you see him, Leonardo?"

"No."

"Marina." Eden jerked upright in his arms. "He is coming for you. Left." Although she couldn't see, Eden pointed across the room. Marina dove to the floor as she'd been instructed, narrowly missing being struck by a ring of fire. "Leonardo, there."

The other man did as he was told and missed an impact as well.

"That's right. You took my sight but I can still see you in my mind." Eden called out behind him. Samuel placed her on the floor and turned around. He couldn't see the demon—not even an inkling of him—but he knew Eden knew where he was.

"You fucker." This was impossible. How was he supposed to fight something that was not even there? "You want someone, you come after me. Not her."

Eden groaned. "He says it's so much more fun tormenting you through me."

"Hold on." A voice he didn't recognize filled the room. Samuel whirled around ready to battle whoever the intruder turned out to be. If he couldn't have Sebastian, he'd gladly take one of his cronies.

But Marina's gasp of, "Drew," prevented him from attacking the newcomer. Apparently, the group knew him. In his life, Samuel had never felt so ineffectual as he did at that moment.

Drew pointed at the ceiling. "Marina and I can see him. Everyone else needs to take directions, got it?"

The other man phrased his words as a question but they were clearly nothing but an order.

"You can see him too?" Marina rushed to Drew's side.

"Yep." Drew pointed at the ceiling with his index finger. "
Ego expello vos. Linque
!"

The room seemed to shudder and groan. Samuel grabbed his head. Was he losing his mind?

"For someone who was once so stupid, you have finally learned something, Drew."

A bright white light filled the room followed by a sonic boom. Eden screamed in Samuel's arms and he held her even tighter.

"What…" Whatever it was Leonardo was going to say got cut off by Jason's arrival. He pushed past Drew and rushed to Eden's side.

"Let me see." Jason's gaze caught his and Samuel knew Jason saw the seriousness of what had happened. The last thing in the world Samuel wanted was to give Eden to anyone but he knew he couldn't fix her on his own. With a nod, he laid Eden into Jason's arms.

"Can you hear me, Eden?" Jason's voice sounded kind but firm.

"I can hear you, Jase. I just can't see you. My ears still work."

Samuel was glad to hear the spunk in her voice. It meant she still held on. His Eden couldn't let go of hope.

This will be fine
. He spoke in her mind, wanting her to hear it.
If he can fix my face, he can fix your eyes
.

I don't know, sweetheart. Something is very wrong. It's not like he injured me—it's like he took away my ability to see altogether. I don't know how else to describe it
.

She might not have the words but he could feel her pain. It wasn't just physical. Eden felt absolutely and completely devastated, like she might never know happiness again.

Eden…

"Damn it." Jason shook his head. "I've got nothing. I can't fix this. It's like my powers don't know she's injured. Maybe we need to try something more conventional. Find an ophthalmologist and…"

The man called Drew interrupted him. "How would we explain it?"

Jason's head shot up. "What?"

"What would we tell the ophthalmologist happened to Eden?"

Samuel stood up. He'd had an unreasonable need to pound on Drew since he'd arrived in the middle of the situation. "I'm not going to concern myself with what we do or don't tell the doctor. If Jason says we need to see one, then we need to see one. Charma can erase his or her mind afterward."

Jason cursed. "I didn't say we needed to see one. I don't know if it'll help or not."

Drew shook his head. "No human doctor can undo what happened. Sebastian has taken her sight. The source of her powers is her eyes. Eden can see what's going to happen before it does. Sometimes. He tapped into her power and took it."

Drew's words made Samuel want to slam into something. "Why are we taking this guy's word on this? What makes you such an expert on what Sebastian can and can't do?"

"Because for a long time I followed him."

"You what?"

Drew shrugged. "Not going there with you tonight, man. Right now I think you have other things to focus on than the residual anger Sebastian's presence has left in the room, don't you?"

Samuel realized his hands were fisted at his side. Residual anger? Yes. That had to be it. The demon had messed with the room when he'd been in it. As he forced his hands to unclench, he prayed for patience. At that moment he wasn't sure anyone listened—or ever had. But his desperate plea wasn't for himself, it was for Eden. They could give him back his destroyed face if only they would heal Eden.

"Drew." Eden spoke from where she lay still held tightly by Jason who looked like he wanted to vomit. "Are you saying I'm going to spend the rest of my life in the dark?"

Silence stretched out across the room, filling the space and making everything that had, for a few minutes, been light and full of promise become dark, unhappy.

"I'm not sure, Eden. It could be if we actually manage to fulfill our destiny of destroying Sebastian that it will come back. But I don't know. I'm sorry."

A thought dawned on Samuel and he rushed to Eden to take her from Jason. He felt better when she was in his arms, her strawberry essence making him feel complete again. "Eden, you knew where Sebastian was like you could see him. How did you do that?"

"I had a vision. I knew it was a sample of what was about to happen. So I spoke aloud and used my instincts."

"It was the most accurate you have ever been. Period."

Jason nodded. "People always say that when they lose a sensory ability—like sight—the other ones get stronger, more intense. Maybe that's what has happened. You can't see. So your prophetic drive has gotten stronger."

"Great." She sighed. "I'll never again see but I'll be forever swarmed with my cursed visions that I can't control."

"You did control them." He stroked the hair off her sweaty forehead as he wiped away the few tears that had slipped down her cheeks. "Better than you ever have before. You ran that show, it didn't run you."

"Well, you were here."

Samuel shook his head. He wished that he could take credit for it. At the moment, he felt the most ineffectual he had ever been in his life except for the time he'd been nearly burned to death. "I wasn't in your head. I wasn't open."

Eden grabbed at her face like she wanted to claw her eyes out and he pulled her hands away before she could do any damage. "I don't care about the premonitions right now, Samuel. I don't want to spend my life in the dark. Doesn't anybody hear me?"

He could hear her. He just couldn't do anything about it except wrap her up in his arms.

As if by silent agreement, the group that had formed in the room started to leave. Marina bent over to stroke Eden's head before she left.

"I'm going to set wards. I don't know if they'll still work or not against him but they'll be set."

"Thanks, Marina." Eden sounded so defeated that Samuel wanted to throw something and he didn't think it had anything to do with any leftover evil in the room. This was all him and the fact that he had completely failed to save the woman he loved from danger. God, he was so useless.

Jason paused by the door. "I'm going to talk to Charma. We'll figure something out, Eden."

"Thanks, Jason."

The door clicked behind the others, leaving Eden and Samuel alone. Eden struggled in his embrace but he wouldn't let her go. Mostly because she couldn't see and he didn't want her hurting herself. But also because he felt like releasing her from his embrace might rip his heart right from his chest.

"Am I going to spend the rest of eternity like this?"

He rubbed her forehead before planting a kiss on it. "What does it feel like?"

"Darkness. Not even a hint of light anywhere, not even lighter shades. Everything is just black, Samuel. Everything." Her voice hitched and he pulled her closer. "I hate the dark. I don't want to be lost in it with the only color I ever see coming from premonitions of death and disaster."

Samuel stood, cradling Eden as he carried her to the bed. Gently, he laid her down. "This can't be permanent. We won't let it be. I promise."

She pushed at his chest. "You can't make that kind of promise."

"Eden, believe me, one way or another we will find a way to end this demon and restore your sight. We'll bring back your blue-green eyes. The world
will
lighten up again."

Eden sat up, scrunching her knees to her chest. "What happened to my eyes? They changed color?" All of the color drained from her face. "What are they now?"

Samuel wished he could cut out his tongue. Why did he have to say that? She never had to know. Or he could have waited. "They're changed… that's all."

"Samuel." Eden grabbed forward flailing her hands in front of her like she wanted to grab him. She couldn't reach so he grabbed them to steady her. "Tell me the truth. What do I look like now?"

"You're beautiful. You've always been gorgeous. Nothing has changed."

"Don't lie," she yelled through gritted teeth.

"I'm not. I never would." He caressed her cheeks. "Look in my mind, see if I'm lying."

She laid her head back on the pillow like her neck couldn't hold up the weight anymore. "I don't have the energy. I can't seem to muster the ability to do anything at all. What do my eyes look like?"

"They're clear. They don't have any color at all."

He watched her swallow, her throat muscles contracting. "I can't even imagine it."

"You won't have to. The next time you look in a mirror, your eyes will be back."

She nodded but he could tell from the way her body shifted on the bed that she didn't believe him. "Until then I wait in the dark."

"But not alone. You're never alone." He kissed her lips. They were sweet and salty, the latter from the taste of her tears. "I'm sorry I failed you, Eden."

"What?" Her question sounded more like a gasp than a word.

"I should have protected you from him." He could barely speak from the pain inside of him. Still, he knew he had to keep it together. Eden couldn't have him falling apart. Not when she needed him so much now.

Samuel could feel her gentle touch in his mind. "Don't do that. I know you said it was too much. You're dealing with enough. Don't go in my mind and use up your energy on me."

"I love you. I don't blame you for this. It could happen to any one of us. The demon wants all of us."

"Oh, Eden. Why are you so good? So kind? So fair? Sebastian went after you because I took away his body. You heard him. He hurt you to hurt me. And I am so, so sorry."

Samuel hadn't cried in years but now the tears welled up in his eyes like he was a child. "I would do anything for you. Anything. You're hurt, you're suffering… you're… blind. I'm cursed, Eden. This is my fault. I'm so sorry."

He stood up. Maybe he should go get someone else. He'd leave; she'd be safer without him.

"Samuel, please come here." She motioned with her hand for him to come back to her. He couldn't leave her there unable to see, unable to know where she had to go so he moved toward her. Taking her hand in his, he kissed her knuckles. Eden's hands weren't smooth. They were the hands of a person who had once had to farm, who had to walk streets passing out pamphlets about people she didn't truly believe in simply to survive. They were the hands of the person he loved more than anything in the world. The person he had failed.

A shudder wracked his body.

"My job in this war is to be a prophet. It was, if Leonardo is correct, what my father did too." She sighed. "I never expected that I would get to have you. That's such a gift to me. It's hard for me to imagine I'll never see your face with my own eyes again."

"You might." He rubbed his nose against hers. "In one of your prophecies. And then you'll get to see me again when Sebastian is gone."

"Maybe."

"Maybe is better than no. Can you get to yes?"

The start of a grin appeared on her face. "Maybe."

"Do you want me to go? Can you forgive me, ever?"

She squeezed his hand. "I keep telling you there is nothing to forgive. I'd rather this happen to me than you."

"Eden…"

She interrupted. "Stop interrupting me. It's disconcerting. I can't see you. I need you to listen when I speak."

He nodded and then he realized she couldn't see him. This was going to take some time to get used to. "Okay."

"I don't even know what I was going to say." She laughed. "Kiss me, Samuel."

"Did I hear you correctly? You just said kiss me?"