The Claimed (31 page)

So many
, she thought, and realized there might be too many to save. Both she and Christopher had expended too much energy during the battle to do much healing, but they tried anyway.

Victoria went first to those who would immediately expire without help, but who could be healed, unlike the near-dead Hunters from the surf and others who possessed only the barest trace of life force.

She kneeled by one Hunter whose body had been nearly sliced in half by pieces of wood and vinyl, likely from what had once been the balcony above him. He was bleeding badly, but conscious, leaning up against the back of the house as he pressed his hands against his midsection. As she touched his bloodied arm, he looked up at her, eyes pleading. Gently she eased away his hands to gauge the extent of his injuries.

The debris had bit deep, tearing open his abdominal wall. There were burn marks along his skin in various spots from where the energy orb had struck him and the building. His loss of energy was also causing the emergence of a rash along that area, a precursor to the pox pustules. That they hadn’t already formed was possible
proof that remaining pure had done some good against the contagion.

“You need to lie down,” she said, and helped him to his back. She tenderly drew his hands away as he feebly attempted to hold in his guts. Summoning her energy, a glimmer began at the palms of her hands, and she ran that over his injuries, visualizing sealing any tears in his intestine and then the abdominal wall. She brought the skin of his abdomen together and sent another surge to knit it closed. He would still need to heal more from such injuries, but what she had done would save his life.

A soft sigh of relief came from the man and as she met his gaze, a good deal of the pain had left. “Rest here. There is still much healing for your body to do, but that will take time.”

She turned to another Hunter and saw Christopher at work on one of her people, drawing away a blast of Shadow power that had been interfering with his natural energy processes. He faltered for a bit as he broke the connection, but her cadre member was restored. The man reached up and laid his hand on Christopher’s arm in a gesture of thanks.

Christopher smiled and clasped the man’s arm warmly, then rose and searched out another Hunter to help. Victoria did the same, working from one to another, until the only ones left were the dead who had lost all traces of Hunter energy.

She and Christopher stood in front of three Shadow Hunters, all from Alexander’s cadre. It would take a great deal of energy to revive them, but she was weak, her core almost depleted from dealing with the wounded. As she
met Christopher’s gaze, it was clear he also lacked the power, but he seemed determined.

“Maybe together,
warmi
,” he said and gently grasped her hand.

“Together, Christopher,” she agreed. They selected the Hunter with the most remaining energy and kneeled beside her. Already weeping pustules had formed along the side of her face from the lack of energy to contain them. But Victoria and Christopher didn’t hesitate at the sight. Hands intertwined, they placed them over the young woman’s chest. Her heartbeat was long gone, but the vessel at her center was still alive, flickering with threads of energy, the potential for life remaining.

There was no need for words with Christopher, they were growing so attuned to each other. As if one mind, one body, they sent a blast of power straight down into her Hunter core. Her body jumped and the flicker kindled to a stronger glow. With a second surge, their energy took even greater hold and the woman’s eyelids flickered open.

“Rest. You are still weak,” Christopher said as she looked at them in confusion and made to rise.

“The battle,” she said weakly, and stared at the bodies closest to her, before peering back up at Christopher and Victoria. “You saved me? You’re the enemy.” She grew even more confused as she realized something else. “You’re a Light One.”

“All Hunter life is precious,” Victoria said, and she had never meant it more. Whether Light or Shadow, every ion of Hunter energy had to be preserved for the good of their race. The loss of life tonight only reinforced that belief.

“Rest,” Christopher repeated, but the woman said, “I want to help.”

“As soon as your core has balanced itself,” Victoria said.

The woman nodded and closed her eyes while she allowed her body to accept the energy from Victoria and Christopher. Before their eyes the rash from the pox retreated slowly as her energy strengthened from their sharing.

They moved to the second Hunter, but lacked the strength to revive him, although he had shown promise. They had used too much of their energy on the others.

“Can I help?” someone asked, and Victoria looked up from where she was kneeling.

Adam stood there, Bobbie beside him. They were flanked by Rafael and Catalina as well as Kellen and Selina, Adam’s Quinchu parents.

“We felt a tremendous disturbance and had to come to help,” Selina explained, and hesitated for a moment as she realized the two left to assist were Shadows. But then she and Kellen were urging her and Christopher away to take up spots next to the fallen Hunters.

As they revived them with two quick blasts, Victoria understood better where Adam had gotten his strength. Both Kellen and Selina possessed great power. They had revived the Hunter without a dent to the vitality within them.

With those Hunters recharged, the new Quinchu arrivals set to work on finishing the healing that she and Christopher had begun as well as uniting Alexander’s people into a group along the dunes. More than a dozen had been saved or captured, but Victoria suspected that many more had perished. She had seen Alexander retreating into the house with only about eight or nine men.

As she walked with Christopher, checking on his people and the damage done to the house, she sensed his growing disturbance. He swiveled his head back and forth, searching both the fallen and those who had come out to help.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, taking hold of his hand to calm his agitation.

“Ryan. I saw him wounded and crawling toward the house, but he is not here,” Christopher said, peering around the grounds at the various Hunters gathered there. Still no sign of Ryan and his gut tightened at the thought that his friend had been vaporized during the battle.

But he had seen him alive and heading for shelter at the far side of the home. Then it occurred to him.

Tugging on her hand, he said, “Come with me.”

He traced what he recollected of Ryan’s path and realized he had been heading toward the house. The easiest place to enter would have been by Maya’s room. Increasing his pace, Christopher hurried to the splintered balcony doors and stepped through the shattered glass and wood. Inside the room the remnants of power were strong, along with several familiar energy signatures.

“This is Maya’s room, but Ryan and my father were both here recently.”

“They did not kill him here. There are not enough traces of scattered energy present,” Victoria said, raising one hand in the air to test the residual forces in the space.

“They didn’t kill him,” he said, but worried that if he had been taken, Ryan might be better off dead.

Thinking out loud, he said, “Jonathan was guarding the halls just past this room. He might have seen if they took Ryan.”

“He’s one of the wounded?” Victoria asked, and at his nod, they walked back outside to where Adam and his people were helping with the injured.

Jonathan was laid out on his back, still recovering from a hit from an orb. Christopher crouched beside his cadre member and laid his hand on the man’s chest. Jonathan roused and offered up a weak smile for his Añaru.

“How are you?” he asked, and Jonathan peered past him to Victoria.

“She helped me. So pure,” he said, still almost delirious from the wounds he had suffered.

“She is wonderful, Jon, but I need you to concentrate. Try to remember what happened in the hall,” he urged, and to help the man, he released more healing power to provide the man strength and focus.

The man smiled with the flow of vitality and then haltingly said, “There were men. A lot. Maya and your father.”

“Was anyone else with them? Ryan?” he pressed, needing to know what had happened to his friend.

The man narrowed his eyes as if seeing the scene once more in his mind’s eye. “They were carrying someone. Ryan, I’m almost certain.”

“Thank you, Jon,” he said and came to his feet, faced Victoria.

As she saw his obviously pained features, she said, “Ryan’s alive. That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

His friend, no, his brother in spirit if not by blood, was in the hands of his father. His blood ran cold at the thought of what they would do to him both for information and after, just for fun.

He shook his head and said, “No, it isn’t.”

Victoria cupped his cheek, offering comfort. “We will find him.”

“Is it a ‘we’?” He covered her hand with his and offered up a hopeful smile.

Victoria glanced past him to where their people were being tended to by the other Quinchus and by fellow Hunters, both Light and Shadow. It was something she had never expected to see in her lifetime, much like the man standing before her.

Honorable.

Handsome.

Loving.

A Shadow.

She met his gaze directly and his dark, nearly black eyes were filled with many emotions. And yet as he focused on her, she was everything to him in that moment. Every breath, every heartbeat, and every particle of his being was hers.

From deep inside her came a vibration like none she had ever experienced. It spread in small degrees, like a slow-moving tide, bringing with it more than just desire. More than just physical want.

It was so powerful a sensation that she had to draw a long breath to steady herself, and as she did, he said, “I feel it, too.”

Almost as proof of that, their auras became visible and grew in strength, so powerfully that the hum of energy became loud enough for all to hear and maybe even feel.

The noise and chatter from those nearby who had been working on the wounded and restoring order to the compound subsided, and as Victoria and Christopher joined
hands and faced them, shock traveled over the people of the various clans.

She steeled herself for condemnation, but from the energy encircling both her and Christopher came the flow of his vitality, seeking to comfort. Being one with her and she with him.

Adam’s mother Selina was the first one to move toward them, one hand covering her mouth and tears in her eyes. But as she stopped a few feet away, Victoria could see that while there was concern there, the tears were tears of joy.

“He is the one,” Selina said.

With a quick tilt of her head upward at Christopher, she said, “Yes, he is. I love him.”

A swell of energy, powerful as a tsunami, crested through her with his joy at her words.

“And I love you, Victoria.” The deep timbre of his voice, like a beautifully played cello, strummed awake every ion of her being. She had no doubt she was glowing this time because she could see it all around him. His aura was an amazing blend of aqua and sapphire, swimming with the gold, silver, and teal tendrils of their combined vitalities.

“It cannot be so pure,” Kellen said as he finally came to stand beside his wife and reached up his hands to test the outermost edges of their bound energies.

“It is pure and it is right, Quinchu. There is no going back from this,” she said, total conviction in her voice.

Christopher was her future and together, they were the hope for their people.

Once again his energy filled her with his happiness and in turn, she sent a wave through him to confirm her love and happiness.

“Go, finish what has started,” Selina commanded, surprising her. But as she glanced at all gathered around, there was no doubting what they, too, wanted. That they understood the bonding that would be forged and could not be broken.

Christopher peered all around, almost unable to believe what he was seeing. Light and Shadow, all offering up their commitment.
All except possibly one
, he thought, as he detected Victoria’s cadre captain slinking away along the far edge of the lawn. He did not trust Rafael one bit, no matter that Victoria had faith in her man.

“Is everything all right?” Victoria squeezed his hand, obviously sensing his discomfort.

He shook off that concern as well as his fears about Ryan. Right now there was something he had to do. No, make that wanted to do with every cell of his body.

Bending, he brought his lips to within an inch of Victoria’s and said, “As long as we are together, nothing is impossible.”

When he closed his mouth over hers, the shape of her smile and lift of her energy within him confirmed her elation.

A cheer rose up from those gathered around, sealing the decision his heart had made.

“Come bond with me,” he whispered against her lips, and at her nod, and the increasingly louder response of their people, they walked together into his home.

C
hristopher walked her through the splintered remains of the doorway into his dining room and then lifted her into his arms, not wanting to waste a millisecond of being with her. In a blur he transported them through the compound to the side of his bed, driven by the energy cycling through their systems and the reality that while the battle might have been won, the war was still not over.