Twenty-Nine
" bothering you?" Kain sat next to Damien on the log next to the main campfire. "You just gave us an amazing plan. It was based on the vision you had, wasn't it?"
"Yeah. You told me to be mindful of signs. When Jill could no longer fight and Lilith named the battleground, it just clicked in my mind. I'm still not sure about so many things, Kain."
"Like what?"
"Like whether or not I can actually handle Lilith? If I can even fight well despite all the training."
"You will do just fine, Damien. You have heart, guts and spirit. Besides, you won't be alone. You have allies ready to back you,” Damien glanced at Kain, swearing he saw him wincing in pain. “I have to go for now but I will see you in the morning."
Damien watched as the alpha walked away, his spirit bothered to the suddenness of his departure. Kain never left with such short advice.
He decided that in the morning he would go see his dad, just in case something did happen to him during the fight with the vampires.
****
Standing in front of his house, Damien took a deep breath and exhaled. His dad’s cruiser was in the driveway. As soon as Damien felt ready, he unlocked the door and walked in.
"Dad?”
“In the living room, come on in.”
Damien walked into the living room to find his dad sitting in his lounge chair.
Charlie looked tired. He'd kept in contact with Damien via text message, working late nights to try and keep the panic from taking hold.
"How have you been, Dame?"
"Busy." Damien hadn't thought about how he was going to tell his dad about Chelsea’s death or how he was going to be a grandpa. "Dad, how would you feel about being a grandpa?"
Charlie's eyes grew as wide as quarters. "Are you kidding me? Damien, that's amazing! Yes! I'm ecstatic! I was beginning to think I'd never get grandkids!"
Damien smiled, sighing since the next bit of news he'd had wasn't that great. " Look uh, about Chelsea, " Damien clenched his teeth, the words still felt so unreal to him.
"What?"
"Chelsea...moved." Damien cursed under his breath at the lie but he couldn't bring himself to say it out loud.
"Ah, well that's too bad. She was a good kid. Hopefully she finds a new love interest considering the one she had here just randomly brought his girlfriend home." Charlie chuckled at his joke.
Damien gagged on the coffee he was drinking. " Yeah, I bet that was odd. It was good to see you again."
"Dame, I hope you and Alex have a plan. I've been working my fingers to the bone to keep folks calm but I can't lie much longer. They're starting to panic."
"I know. We have a plan. It'll all be okay soon. I have to be getting back though."
"Okay. Come back soon, son. I miss having you around. Let me know when the baby is due, I'll get you some diapers." Charlie chuckled, getting up out of his chair to follow Damien to the door.
He placed his hand firmly on his son’s shoulder. "Damien, kids can change a man. Make sure you are more than you ever were as a father. They need you to be at one-hundred-eighty percent."
Damien swallowed hard at the weight of his father's words. He nodded, revving up the engine up his motorcycle.
****
"! Hey, D!"
A familiar voice had Damien nearly dropping the hot tea in his hands. He'd stopped by Rayna and Betsy's coffee shop to get a drink to help him against the cold air and a sense of normalcy.
Rob sat down across from him at the metal table.
"Rob? I thought you couldn't be involved with me anymore." Damien looked away, thinking about Chelsea.
"I was wrong, D. I've missed you, man. We were like bros. I was wrong to bail when you needed me most. If you can forgive me, I'd like to try and help in whatever way I can."
Damien couldn't believe what he was hearing. "I don’t understand, Rob. Why the sudden change of heart?"
"Charlie's been talking to me. Says things are really bad for...you guys," he looked around trying not to mention the lycans. "Look, I can't stay long or Langston will hang me for being late but I wanted you to know, I have your back bro. Whatever it is. By the way, have you seen Chels? Her folks hadn't seen her either. They moved to England of all places."
Damien sighed. There was no way he could lie to Rob knowing he’d spoken to Chelsea's parents. "She's dead, Rob."
The look on his friend's face was a mix of pure terror and sadness. "What? When? How? Was it them?"
Setting his tea on the table, Damien took the blue bird necklace out of his pocket, showing it to Rob. He'd carried it as a reminder of how badly he was going to maim Stoker when they met.
"Christ, D. I... I almost don't..."
"I know. Me neither. I'll make them pay. For myself, Jill and Chelsea. I promise." Damien stood up from the chair, patting Rob's shoulder.
"Be careful man. There've been more disappearances going on. Folks are starting to blame the wolves around here. Something's gotten into them."
Damien winced. Things were getting out of control just as his dad said. The lycans were running out of time. If they were to survive the winter, something had to be done.
"Thanks. I'll be careful. You do the same. It's not the wolves, you know this. Try to keep people from blaming them. Just a few more days."
Rob started to talk but Damien didn't hear him. He'd become too concerned with getting the information Rob and his dad gave him to Holt and Kain. He was just glad that Rob came back. No way did Damien want to lose him like he'd lost Chelsea.
Damien parked and got off his motorcycle to start walking back to the camp, the cool of the night kissing his cheeks. It was nice to have some time to himself to think and enjoy his favorite tea again. It gave him space to destress despite the looming war with the vampires.
He'd reached a small clearing when his chest started burning so badly it forced him to his knees in the snow. Try as he might, he couldn't seem to catch a breath, his lungs seizing with each attempt.
Damien abruptly found himself on his side as though he'd been hit by something. The intense heat inside of him kept him from moving as he got hit again and again by something solid. Something colder than even the winter air around him.
What's going on? It feels like I’m getting hit but I can't see anything. Damien attempted to get on his feet only to have his legs taken back out from underneath him. With each hit, he felt a piece of his strength sucked out of him.
Barely able to move, Damien lay on his stomach. His eyes blurry as he made out a dark shape. The hell is that? A giant, black claw?
A giant claw dangled in front of Damien. Its twisted, blackened shape hung in such a way it was if it dangled from a lamp post. It started speeding towards Damien, kicking up waves of cold snow.
“Damien!” Just as it was about to hit him, he heard a familiar voice call his name prior to sinking into unconsciousness.
****
" waking up! Oh, thank Luna!" Leah, Holt's mate's voice came through the hazy blur of Damien's mind.
"What? What happened?" Damien saw Kyle next to him, putting something into his doctor’s bag and closing it.
Jill hugged her mate close, careful not to hurt his ribs. "You were attacked by something in the forest. We don't know what happened but Lune brought you back here."
Damien rubbed his head. His ribs bandaged from his mid-torso down. He barely remembered what happened and still wasn't sure he believed what he'd seen. Looking around there was one lycan he didn't see.
"Kain. Oh God, Kain!" Damien suddenly remembered the voice that called his name. "Jill, where's Kain?"
Jill looked away from him. "He's not doing so well. He was hurt really bad."
Despite Jill and Kyle's protest, Damien got to his feet, pushing past Gabriel to go find Kain.
The lycan alpha was in his tent, lying on the floor on his side. His breath was heavy against the deep wound now laying across his flesh. It had been bandaged. Blood stained the white padding.
Damien knelt beside him, looking at the still-bleeding wound. “Kain, what was that? What happened?"
Kain clenched his teeth against the pain wracking his body, opening his eyes. "Don't worry...about it. You aren't ready, Damien. Please...just trust me." Exhausted, Kain closed his eyes.
"Don't tell me not to worry about it when you have a gaping gash in your side, you asshole." Damien stayed next to Kain trying to think of a way he could help.
A thought struck him about something Jill had once done. Would that even work? I mean, I can heal myself from wounds like this. "Kain, if you can hear me. Would you lay on your back? I may be able to help."
Struggling, Kain rolled over onto his back. "Don't do anything insane. Not so close to the battle."
"You aren't anyone to order me not to do anything insane. I'm not the one homing crocodiles in the Nile of my own blood." Damien took the knife he’d used to puncture the line of his truck during his fight with Stoker, out of his pocket. God, I hope this works. He cut his finger, flinching at the sting.
If his healing ability transferred through blood, maybe he could heal Kain. He would also be able to talk to him on the battlefield. From what Jill told him, blood was their way of speaking when they were apart.
"Here."
Kain opened his eyes to see Damien holding his hand out to him, his finger bleeding from a fresh cut. "I was right, you are insane."
"Shut up and take it. Don't make this weirder than it already is."
Hesitantly, Kain sat up. Taking Damien's wrist, he lapped up the blood on his finger. "It feels like pure sunlight in my body. There's definitely more to you than any of us can understand." Kain rose to his feet. "It has been so long since I've felt this strong."
"Great. As if you couldn't kick my ass before. Do me a favor and don't tell anyone. The whole blood thing is still so strange to me." Damien got up with Kain, putting his knife back in his pocket.
"Why?”
“Because where I came from, we don’t exactly share blood to talk to each other. As a matter of fact, it’s seen as unsanitary.”
A “tsk” sound came from between Kain’s teeth. “Blood is a bond. Families are bonded by the blood they share. Children connected to their mothers get their blood in the womb. Blood is given to patients of severe trauma to save their lives. It is a powerful life giver. To a lycan there is nothing strange about what happened. I may not have been able to get up if you hadn't thought to act as you did."
Once again, Kain made Damien second guess what he thought was reality. He was right, blood was powerful. Maybe that was why the lycans valued it as much as they did.