Two Knights of Indulgence (13 page)

For the first time in his life, his mind had
drifted.
 
He was becoming caught up in
the potential for a future, one filled with love and happiness.
 
One filled with her.
 
Matthias had never thought it possible for a
man such as himself.
 

Guilt filled him as well.
 
He had been suppressing the desires of his
heart since the moment he laid eyes on her.
 
Firstly, he wasn’t accustomed to thinking in terms of the future.
 
Secondly, he wouldn’t let a female come
between him and his brother.
 
Now, he had
to stuff the feelings down.
 
How could he
be considering a future with this woman when he was a hairsbreadth from losing
the one true friend he’d always had?

Britt would save Nicolas.
 
She had to because even though he knew in his
head he had to release Nicolas from the clutches of evil one way or another,
his heart told him he’d struggle to see the job done.
 
All the years of standing at Nicolas’ side
would haunt him.

Matthias had always worried about falling in love,
creating a weakness.
 
He’d had one all
along.
 
Nicolas had to survive, had to
have the evil drawn from him.
 
Britt had
to succeed.
 
Rustling in the underbrush
to their immediate north caught his attention.
 

“What was that?” she whispered just behind him.

“Stay
back
a moment.”
 
He unsheathed his sword and walked forward,
allowing his eyes to slowly accustom themselves to the darkness within the
bosom of the trees.
 
He heard a growl as
he stepped in closer and a second later, he was on his back, Nicolas atop him.

The black mark had grown larger.
 
The tentacles had started to climb up his
neck and onto his face.
 
His light eyes
were now dark as well, the whites completely gone.
 
“I told you … you can’t have him back.”

“I beg to differ!”
 
Britt jumped on his back, wrapping her arms around his neck.
 
Nicolas pushed them both to the ground,
leaving Matthias unpinned.
 
Matthias
jumped to his feet and threw himself against his friend, knocking the man to
the ground and putting him in a headlock.
 
Britt crawled out from below the pair and wrenched open Nicolas’ shirt,
baring his chest.

Her body began to glow with pale blue light as her
palms hovered over his chest, within inches of his skin.
 
“I’ve never sensed anything like this before.”

Matthias saw the hesitancy cross her features.
 
“You’re the strongest woman I’ve ever
met.
 
If anyone can save him, it’s you.”

Her lips twisted in a hint of a smile before
he
saw resolve slide over her face.
 
Nicolas continued to struggle in his grasp
and nearly bucked him off just prior to her placing both palms on the source of
his mark.
 
Britt moved on top of him,
straddling Nicolas’ lap to help hold him down as the light grew brighter.

A deep bellow of animalistic pain came from Nicolas as
the light intensified.
 
Matthias watched
Britt closely, trying to deflect Nicolas’ one free arm as it thrashed out,
punching and slapping Britt.
 
Nicolas
grew slower as the lack of oxygen began to get to him.
 
His movements were sluggish, his bucking less
powerful, yet Matthias refused to lessen his hold.

Matthias didn’t want to asphyxiate Nicolas, so he
turned his gaze to his friend’s face.
 
The mark began to move, back in the opposite direction.
 
Hope flooded him.
 
“Britt!
 
The mark is subsiding!”

He turned to check the female, his smile fading when
he turned.
 
The mark was moving,
alright.
 
It was sliding across her hands
as he watched in horror.
 
She was
sacrificing herself for Nicolas, taking his evil inside her.
 
“No!”

Matthias released Nicolas, twisting to push Britt off
Nicolas.
 
If he severed the tie, perhaps
he could stop the process. He couldn’t let her sacrifice herself.
 
If a life had to be laid down for Nicolas, it
would be his.
 

She wouldn’t budge.
 
No matter how much strength he used, he couldn’t make her stop, couldn’t
make her move a muscle.
 
He watched
helplessly as the mark continued up her hands and wrists, slowly leaving
Nicolas’ body.
 
The blue light grew even
brighter, even more so than when they’d been in the hospital.
 
Matthias shielded his eyes and thrust himself
at her once more, trying to tackle her to the ground.

When he was mere millimeters from her, he hit an
invisible wall and was thrown ten feet away.
 
His bulky body crashed into the snow and slid another few feet.
 
He ignored the pain wracking his body and
rushed to her once more, only to hit a force field surrounding the pair.
 
He couldn’t get more than a foot away from
the two of them.

He dropped to his knees, anger and powerlessness
filling him and feeding the beast within.
 
When she had touched him at the cabin, he had felt her need, her desire
to save Nicolas.
 
Never had he imagined
she would go to such extremes to fulfill that desire.
 
He was incapable of doing anything but sit
there and
watch
Britt lay down her life for his friend.

Rustling sounded to his left.
 
He rose, slowly pulling his sword from its
sheath as his gaze sought the reason in the darkness.
 
Five Illuminati ghouls bounded from the
forest, swords raised.
 
Matthias felt the
smile form across his face, stretching his muscles as they appeared.
 
He no longer felt helpless.
 
These five would bear the brunt of his frustration,
and he would make them pay for their situation.

The first goon ran straight into his sword, Matthias
quickly chopping the man’s head off at the neck, blood shooting out across his
chest as electricity struck him in a bolt.
 
He was so accustomed to the hot slide of the coppery liquid on his body
along with the fire of energy that it didn’t bother him any longer.
 
The others circled him and attacked at
once.
 
Two of their swords struck him as
he sliced an arm off his foe.
 
The
attacks upon him only fueled him, and he felt his inner killer come to the
surface.
 
His sword was a blur as he made
quick work of the remaining four, cutting each head off in order.
 
He stood in the center, dark marks of their
blood staining the white snow at his feet as their energy crashed into
him.
 
Matthias dropped to his knees, his
wounds burning as they slowly began to heal, the enemy’s surge of strength
added to his own.

The field exploded, throwing him to his back once
more.
 
When the dust settled, he saw
Britt lying atop Nicolas, their inert forms still as death.
 
Doubt suffocated him.
 
What if they both perished?
 
He would have lost his past and his
future.
 
His chest ached as he stood
there frozen, incapable of going to them and confirming his worst thoughts.

He saw Nicolas shudder and begin to move.
 
Matthias took a few tentative steps, unsure
if the wall had dropped.
 
He forged on
until he was standing over the pair.
 
Nicolas’
eyes were open, and Matthias could see the white reflecting back to him.

“Matthias?
 
What happened?”

Matthias dropped to his knees.
 
One of his fears was allayed.
 
He felt the sting of tears for the first time
since he’d been pulled from his mother’s arms at nine, but he forced the
emotion back, just glad Nicolas lived.
 
His gaze then drifted to Britt.
 
He gathered her into his arms, her head dropping back unfettered.
 
The dark mark had crept up her neck and was
emblazoned on her face.
 
He lifted her,
prepared to take her back to the cabin and help her, somehow, someway.
 
He couldn’t let the evil win within her.

She had known what to do for Nicolas, she had used her
power to heal him, but how did one heal the healer?
 
His only gift was the ability to deliver
death.

Chapter Six

Nicolas trudged behind Matthias, his body weak.
 
None of his limbs wanted to work
properly.
 
His mind was a fog.
 
He had no idea how he’d gotten in the midst
of the wood or why Britt was lying limply in Matthias’ arms.
 
Matthias had seemed to have a mindless
singular focus on the female and had not answered any of his questions.
 
Scattered memories washed through him, an
inward battle with something that tried to overtake him.
 
Had it won?
 
Had he hurt Britt?
 
He was too afraid
to ask those questions, scared he couldn’t accept the answers.

They walked persistently for what felt like
hours.
 
Nicolas’ body was numb by the
time they caught sight of the cabin.
 
It
was only a speck in the distance, but a beacon as he came from the
darkness.
 
The night sky was lightening
as the sun had started its ascent, not quite over the horizon, but it still
proved to be a dreadfully gray day, another of many.

The longer they walked, the more the memories assailed
him.
 
Pieces of the puzzle started to fit
together and the errant thoughts that had plagued him started to filter through
once more.
 
He felt weak.
 
For whatever it was that had been within him
to take over so easily, he wasn’t as strong as he’d thought.

Nicolas saw the tight stretch of Matthias’ shoulders
and sensed his quiet rage.
 
The woman
meant a great deal to him, so much that he’d done everything in his power to
save her.
 
His friend had never shown any
partiality to any female before, so it was a testament to how unique she was.
 

She’d turned the eye of a statue.

Worry filled him with each step.
 
The woman was teeming with whatever had been
inside him.
 
He could now remember the
torturing pain of it being ripped from him, pushing him toward the brink of
madness.
 
Britt had saved him.
  
He would do anything in his power to save
her in return.

Once they reached the house, Nicolas could sense they
weren’t alone.
 
Matthias looked over his
shoulder at Nicolas, his look saying much the same.
 
With Matthias’ hands full, Nicolas took point.
 
His hand went to the front door, but he
tensed and pulled back.
 
The door was in
one piece, not broken as he’d left it.

That spoke of one person, but there was no
definite.
 
Nicolas pressed open the door
a few inches and peek around the edge.
 
Nothing looked out of place and no forms appeared.
 
He took two tentative steps inside, observing
everything.
 
Matthias moved closer behind
him, lurking in the shadows.

“There is no need to hover.
 
Just come.
 
And bring the girl.”

Nicolas rose as he heard
Gaia’s
voice, turning to see a look of relief turn to the normal scorn on Matthias’
face.
 
As they settled into the next
room, Britt still in Matthias’ hold, they saw her sitting in the middle of the
living room’s coffee table.
 
Her forest
green dress
flowed
over one edge of the wood, the
length of it tumbling in moving waves as if it lived.
 
Blues and gold roiled through the deep green
as it stirred.
 
Her normal headdress of
leaves, ivy, and twigs rested on her riotous auburn curls.
 
Flowers sprouted on the table at her feet,
making her appear soft and the goddess was anything but soft.
 
She turned her emerald eyes on them, her bare
arms lifting as she drew herself to her feet.

Nicolas nodded in greeting, unable to meet her
gaze.
 
Matthias only lowered his head as he
normally did.
 
Gaia’s
eyes moved to Britt and then to Matthias.
 
“You’ve allowed her to come to harm?”