CONSUMED

CHAPTER TWENTY

I hadn't slept properly for the last three nights, even wrapped up in Sairen's arms my nerves just wouldn't ease enough for me to get proper rest.

The night of the eleventh had come and gone, and as dawn broke so did the last of my composure. I sat on the bed watching as the sky came alight in faint hues of blues and yellows, no sign of the foreboding red clouds I saw from the skyscraper a few days ago. Sairen stirred on the bed beside me and I wondered if come tonight, we would be like this again or if we'd be resting in the dirt instead.

"You're going to go bald if you keep pulling at your hair like that," Sai's groggy half sleep voice made me look back at him and I smiled; his arm was slung over his eyes to block the light that was brightening at the window.

I dusted off the stray hairs that had collected on my lap and leaned back onto the headboard next to him. "Did I wake you?"

"No, " He yawned, stretching slightly, and draped his arm across my thighs. "I should have been up earlier but I guess I needed the extra hours I missed yesterday when I stayed up going over the plan." He brushed his palm over my leg, inciting shivers across my skin. " You're supposed to wake me when you can't sleep, remember?"

"You needed the rest; you haven't been sleeping well these past few days either."

"You know," Sairen started, feeling for my fingers to entwine them with his. He placed our joined hands on his chest as he laid on my lap. " A battle never phased me. Unlike the other trainees I wasn't nervous or scared on my first assignment or even when I took down the demon that killed my uncle. I'd never felt anything other than a sense of clarity knowing that it had to be done– that it was what I was trained to do, but that's just it; this isn't a battle. It's war." Sairen always seemed a whole lot calmer about the impending doom than I did, but maybe he was just better at hiding his nerves than I was.

"You're scared?" I whispered in the silence of our room as doom peeked through our curtains and disguised itself as the sun.

A shadow of a smile touched his lips. "I'm terrified, but not for myself,"

"Because you're special?" I joked, but the intensity of his stare had my smile dimming.

"Because you're special." He answered, pulling me down so that we laid side by side and my arms instinctively wrapped around him. "And I don't know what I'd do if I lost you again."

His fingers threaded through my hair as he held me, his touch was soft, gentle, not at all like the careless way Achar held it before.

I rested my head on his chest and we laid in comfortable silence for a while as the sun crept higher, just waiting, I guess. Waiting out whatever time we had before we got that call and we had to face whatever waited for us.

I sat up a bit, steadying myself on my arm and brushed a black-blue strand away from his eyes, my hand lingering on his cheek for a bit before making its way to his chin. "I'm grateful for you, you know. I really am. "

His mouth pulled up slightly as his hand covered mine on his cheek. "I'm grateful for you too Sol. When this is all over, come with me to Eçalis—"

I swallowed the rest of his sentence with my lips, and his told me everything he needed to say as we kissed. My hands found their way into his thick hair and he pulled me down more so that I rested directly on top of him. His grip on my waist tightened as the kiss deepened, his fingers leaving scorching shivers as they slipped beneath my shirt and trailed up my back until he had my neck clutched softly in his hand. Our mouths never left each other even when our shirts did, only releasing shortly to explore somewhere else.

Sai rose, taking me with him, and laid me on my back. He came up on his elbows so that he was looking down at me and ran his thumb along the surface of my lips, then along my jaw, and finally down my neck, following the line from the hollow of my collarbone to the swell of my breasts where his lips brushed ever so slightly over the fabric of my bra. His dark gaze fixated on me from under his thick lashes. "Do you think this is a good time princess?"

"Tomorrow may never come, Sairen. I want you."

When his lips found mine again, I felt like I were on fire; my entire body hummed from the taste and feel of him and I leaned further in, wrapping my hands around his neck to deepen our kiss even more. Sairen always left me wanting, wanting more even though I was filled with him, even though his very being consumed me.

His kisses found their way to the swell of my breast, feather light on the skin as he unclasped the barrier between us, but a soft, rhythmic alarm stopped him from kissing me where I needed it most.

Sairen groaned as he untangled himself so he could reach for his phone and squinted as the bright light invaded his eyes, his brows furrowing as he looked at what was on the screen.

''What is it?''

"A portal alert. They're back.'' He laid the phone back on the table and crawled over to me again, his long hair falling in my face as he hovered above me.

"It's a good thing that we got interrupted," he said, feathering a kiss on my collar bone as he re-clasped my bra. "Because when I do take you, I want you bedridden for days. A few hours isn't going to be enough for me to have you how I want you." He planted a firm kiss on my lips before standing, his teeth grazing my lip as he pulled away, and handed me my shirt before pulling on his.

Matt was sharpening his sword when we made our way down to the training room, his back tense as he worked. He didn't hear us as we entered, or if he did he didn't acknowledge our presence.

''Matty?" He flinched at my voice but he didn't turn around instantly, instead, he placed the weapon down and took a few seconds before facing us and smiling slightly.

Matt had been crying. His eyes were dry and clear but his ears were beet red, they always were when he cried. "Hey, what's up?'

"I should be asking you that question."

He smiled again, feigning ignorance, "What do you mean?"

Sai's hand brushed mine, telling me to drop it. He walked over to where Matt stood and picked up the sword, inspecting it. "How was Eçalis?"

The others went yesterday evening to see the family before we left today. The only reason I stayed behind was that if I went with them I couldn't promise myself that I'd come back to fight, and Sairen stayed even though I knew he wanted to see everyone as well because he was Sairen.

"Everyone's fine," Matt said. " a little worried, but okay. Kali has said more prayers yesterday than in all the years I've known her. "

I smiled. She had called me every day this week to pray with me, though I had been praying constantly myself.

" Everything else is more hectic than I thought it would've been, actually. K.O.A.C takes its job seriously." He clapped Sairen on his shoulder, shaking him softly. "Grandfather's sending troupes our way in case we can't stop the sacrifices in time and he gets out, but let's hope it doesn't reach that far."

"Where's Aunt-Drea?" I asked.

"Looking for you."

I ran into her as she was entering the hall. She had gotten visibly better during the past days; She had regained some of the color in her skin and her movements weren't as strained as before, yet I still didn't believe her when she said that she was perfectly fine. I was practically forcing myself not to put her back in stasis to keep her away from the bloodshed.

"There you are! Jules is waiting for you in your room."

"Jules? Didn't she leave yesterday?" I frowned. "Don't tell me she's insisting on fighting like you are. I swear—"

"No, she wanted to say goodbye again."

"Oh."

She hooked her arm around mine, guiding me down the hall. "Come on.We still have to choose your dress. "

"I forgot I had to dress up," The last time I had gotten dolled up was for my almost-date with Rae, but I'd never shown and that dress was ruined. I owed him that day though, even if it wasn't a date, I'd make it up to him.

"Jules didn't," Aunt-Drea continued, "the prospect of dolling you up is what's keeping her busy. And sane."

I laughed. "At least she can doll me up however she likes for my funeral."

Aunt-Drea's steps halted as she glared firmly at me."Solaure!"

"It was a joke Aunt-Drea, promise. I don't plan on dying tonight, and definitely not to him."

"You don't joke about death Soli, or Death will joke about you." She started walking again and our steps ate up the heavy silence that fell.

Jules stood in front of her bed, separating a few dresses from the colorful pile that had formed there. Her mark was visible today, the intricate lines encircling her thigh under her shorts. The fox's head disappeared to the other side of her leg and only became completely visible when she turned. She engulfed me in a hug the moment she saw me and it was only then that I realized how much I missed her in just the day that she was gone.

"I may have raided the boutique," She handed me a long peach dress with puffed sleeves. "Start trying them on, we have quite a few to go through."

"No need." I had already spotted the one I wanted; it stood out starkly against all the light colors. "I like that one.''

"Well okay, then that just leaves–" The curtains were opened and so were the windows, yet suddenly the brightness of the room had dropped drastically.

There was the clamoring of footsteps up the stairs before the door was swung open. Matt's eyes were crazed as he spoke. "Look outside."

I ran to the window, dreading what was out there but knowing vaguely what I'd find; the sun was being swallowed slowly yet somehow the dark was rising fast, turning the sky the same red as the feeding moon. My scar started burning up again and I pulled my hand away from my body, watching as the last bit of the tattooed sun was covered on my wrist.

"It's starting," Sai didn't have the same crazed look as Matt, or Jules' one of worry, instead, his face was set into hard lines. ''Caspian just called. The wards are down and the first guests are arriving.''

"So early?" Jules sat down and ran her hand through her hair." It's barely even noon."

"I guess this is it then," I took in everyone in the room and remembered those who weren't; they were the ones I was fighting for. I had to win for them, I was doing this for them. " We're saving the world..."

Jules hugged me again, drawing me into her chest that was rising and falling rapidly and she squeezed me tightly and didn't let go for a while. I drew back first and unclasped the necklace that hung around my neck since last week. "I'll see you tonight, but hold onto this for me until then?"

She nodded. "Of course."

It had gotten darker in just the few minutes it took for me to get ready. The light was almost completely gone now, even though the eclipse was yet to cover half of the sun. The red-ish light, however, made the black silk of my dress seem even darker. The neckline plunged deeply, held together by a thin gold chain that went across my back, hooking at my waist to secure the top to the rest of the dress. The dark fabric clung to my waist, flowing loosely down my hips in inky folds that concealed my dagger that was strapped to my thigh.

I secured the last of the gold pins in my hair and took one more look in the mirror before I joined everyone downstairs; white crept from the roots of my hair to the middle, leaving only a few inches my natural brown; my face was slightly sunken and pale, the only color on me came from the bright-red lipstick on my lips. I didn't look like myself, but my appearance didn't matter anyway, since I wasn't leaving with my real face.

Everyone was waiting by the foyer when I came down, dressed nicely in clothes that would be stained in blood by the end of the night and faces that weren't theirs. I was only able to differentiate Sairen from Matt because of the different colors of their ties. They wore matching black suits, but I had picked out the red tie that the man with the red hair wore yesterday night. Only Caspian's appearance remained the same since he would be recognized as the benefactor he was playing.

"Everyone's ready?" I asked as I took the last step.

"Everyone but you," A tall woman with dewy skin and sharp features who looked nothing like my Aunt-Drea walked towards me, her red dress trailing behind her as she strutted. "I still have to hide your pretty face."

Her hand moved in incantation like they did countless times before as she whispered inaudible sentences. My skin started to tingle slightly at first as if thousands of ants were crawling in circles around my body, then came the prickling as my atoms rearranged themselves into the image Aunt-Drea had formed in her head. I felt my limbs grow longer, bending and breaking to how she wanted, and when the pain eased I was able to look Aunt-Drea straight in the eye. My hand, when I tucked a fallen honey-colored strand back into place, was a deep, rich brown the color of coffee beans.

Cas clasped his hands together, striding up to us in a perfectly tailored ivory suit. "Great. Let's get going before the party starts without us," He extended an arm each to Aunt-Drea and me. " Shall we?"