Shadow Guardians: The Beast
Chapter 25

Katherine had never seen a light so bright as when her eyes opened. Valleys and rivers, endless gardens, and mighty mountains lay before her. She stood on the edge of one of those mountains, looking over the hazy landscape. The sun was so bright here, the colors impossibly vivid, almost dreamlike. She had never seen a place like this in her life.

The air she breathed was pure serenity. She felt invigorated and stronger by the second as she took it into her body.

As she turned back towards the path that brought her to the edge, she saw an elder woman of mesmerizing beauty behind her. Dressed in a long, flowy white dress, she had long, wavy gray hair cascading down to her waist. Her eyes were extraordinary. The irises were silver. Her light was so intense that Katherine felt compelled to look down, away from her face, perhaps even go down on her knees.

“It is wise to act upon your instincts, but I will excuse your inexperience, child.” She said in a melodic voice.

Katherine lowered her head. But it didn’t seem right. She went down on her knees. Something told her that it was very important to treat this woman with the utmost respect.

“Where am I?” She asked quietly, scared that she might offend her somehow. The last thing she remembered was that she was in a dark cell. She became so very tired that she had no choice but to doze off.

“You are in the Light Realm, daughter of mine, for the moment. You are on the precipice of a decision.”

Katherine’s eyes widened. Oh, Gods...

The woman laughed softly with her mouth closed. “Yes. Indeed. Goddess, in this case. I will not offer you my name. But I will offer you a choice. Rise now, and behold my face, daughter.”

Katherine slowly rose and looked at the woman. She had to make a plea. She couldn’t be dead. What about Magnus? But she was torn between begging and the fear of disrespecting the goddess.

“What about him, indeed.” The goddess said. “His fate lies in your hands. I offer you two choices. Stay here, he will join you very soon if you do. Live in peace and freedom for all eternity. Or go back to him, to the mortal world. If you choose the latter, I must place a terrible burden on your shoulders. I must ask you to fight in the war.”

Katherine’s mouth went agape. “You’re offering me the chance to go back?”

She gave a gracious nod. “Indeed. Choose quickly. His soul fades with every minute he believes you are gone. A weak soul is an easy target for the enemy. And I won’t be able to pull him back this time.”

It was already a done deal, as far as she was concerned. There was no way she was leaving him behind. There was no way she was letting the scourge go free on Earth.

“I am glad that you have chosen thus. You are important to our quest. I bless your mating with the warrior, daughter of mine. It is a wonderful match.”

With a wave of her hand, Katherine was blinded by white light and felt herself falling—through the ground, it seemed, through clouds and realms—faster and faster.

Magnus was a wreck. His body wouldn’t work, his heart was ripped to shreds. He felt himself disconnect from reality. Warm trickles of blood ran down his back as he held the lifeless body of the woman he loved. He might as well bleed out himself. Everything was forgotten. Pain, thirst. There was nothing now.

He stared with dull, teared eyes ahead of him. He wasn’t even sure what he was seeing. Vaguely, he thought he heard his brothers call to him from somewhere in the chapel. For a moment, he thought he felt a small sucking sensation at his neck.

He brushed it off as his imagination, created by the last dying sliver of hope in him.

Then he felt it again. Stronger this time. It jolted his mind out of his apathy. “Katherine?” He breathed, ”Meeran?"

He abruptly became aware of her fingertips digging slightly into his shoulders. He hadn’t even felt her hands come up to his back. He cried again, with joy this time, and held her tighter. With a pained groan, he laid down on his back, bringing her with him so his blood would flow more freely.

All the sensation came back to his body with a vengeance. His skin was major sensitive, and her slight weight on top of him felt like an excavator had driven over him, reversed, and driven over him again. He gritted his teeth and clamped his eyes shut. He would not push her away, no way. He’d just have to deal.

“Take all you need,” he heard himself say to her. She was sucking in earnest now, which left him feeling languid and wonderfully high. But he knew it wouldn’t last much longer before the transition hit.

In his mind’s eye, he saw the goddess Astera, with her gray hair and silver eyes.

“I will give you relief this once, Warrior. A singular gift, so you may tend to your beloved. My powers are required in the war.”

He silently mouthed his answer in the old language. Thank you, goddess, for your graciousness.

His pain faded, and his body healed within minutes. Of a sudden, his bloodlust vanished. Katherine suddenly stopped sucking, and her body began shaking. He held her tightly.

One moment she was drinking blood, which she never thought would taste so good, and all of a sudden it was like fire coursed through her body, burning into her skull, into her bones, and muscles. She literally heard cracking noises inside her as they broke wide open. She clenched her teeth.

She would not scream in pain. She would not. Instead, she started doing this humming thing, her voice lowering and heightening with every fresh wave of agony. Gods, even her teeth hurt. She broke out in a cold sweat, followed by more fire.

Magnus felt her body change beneath his hands. “Easy,” he spoke softly to her, “Ride it out, let it wash over you.”

In a corner on the opposite side of the chapel, which still had a tiny bit of shade, Zachiel and Draven were stupefied. First, their brother was dying of thirst and a broken heart, and then he was suddenly fine, his blood pumping with vigor. And Katherine was changing while Etheria shielded them from the sun.

Katherine trembled in Magnus’ arms, for what seemed like hours. It was hours. Bones breaking and weaving back together, muscles tearing and repairing, making them bigger and stronger. All through the blistering spasms, he spoke to her softly in that poetic old language of his people. She felt all the courage, vigor, relentlessness, and wrath of his blood course through her, along with centuries of memories. Battles, blood, and hell. Ramona.

A long while later, the trembling had finally stopped. She lay limply in his arms, on top of his naked body. Her clothes had suddenly become too tight and chafed her hypersensitive skin. Somewhere along it all, she came to the realization that this was what he went through every time he transformed. This horrible agony.

She was exhausted. But her body felt changed—stronger and more capable, muscled and lean. And she was thirsty.

“Take more,” Magnus whispered to her, turning his head and baring his neck to her.

She didn’t hesitate. She ran her tongue over her teeth and felt her canines were elongated. Instinct took over. She bit at exactly the right place, through skin that was slightly salty with the mist of sweat, into soft flesh, and a delicious warm sweetness was her reward.

Her body calmed and went languid. She felt Magnus’ do the same, felt his pleasure swell as she took from him.

She stopped minutes later, beat, and closed her eyes. She sank into sleep. Magnus carefully moved with her to a shadowed corner. He was weakened still, now that he had fed her. He would have to feed when they got home. And it would have to be from a bag. Or several. But this would be the last time.

Etheria dematerialized from their dimension, certain that the sun was no longer a threat. It would continue to lower over the horizon until it set. That was only little more than an hour away.

Zachiel and Draven materialized at Magnus’ side. All three of them were flagging as much from the battle as their wound healing. The rest before sundown was welcome, not that it was comfy in a chapel that was overrun with demons just a while ago. The atmosphere was cold and kind of screamed get out. All three of them leaned against the walls, with Magnus buck naked and cradling Katherine in his arms like a child. Her body might’ve set out some, but he was still loads bigger than her.

“How’s she doing?” Zachiel asked.

“Resting. She’ll be fine tomorrow.”

“Man, guess she’s out of my grasp for good now.” Draven said with a sideways smirk.

He expected a flash of anger, but it seemed his brother’s flame had died out. At least for now.

“She was never in your grasp, Cassanova.” Magnus said.

“You know, we were planning on holding you down if you weren’t able to feed her.” Z said, “I’m glad it never came to it.”

Magnus smoothed her dark locks out of her face. Her paleness was slowly being replaced with a beautiful ivory color. Her face was lax and serene as she slept. “It might have. We had some help from the gods.”

Draven raised his brow. “I knew I felt you were dangerously low on plasma,”

“There’s something about her, if they intervened.” Z said.

“Man, when we get home tonight, I’m ordering fifteen jumbo pizzas and a whole lot of brandy.” Draven said, putting his hands behind his head and crossing his feet at the ankles.

“Now you’re talkin’.” Z smirked. “Magnus will just be with his woman all night. We’ll have it all to ourselves.”

“Yeah. Keep dreaming.” Magnus said. “The Abyss will go into an ice age before I give up on pizza. Besides, she might be awake by then. She’ll appreciate the carbs.”

“Ah, the delights of not having to live off sloppy porridge anymore... It’s a wonderful awakening of the senses, as I recall.” Zachiel drawled.

They waited until sunset before hauling themselves out and driving home.

There was still much to do, but they would recuperate for now and prepare themselves to fight another day, joined by new allies and facing new enemies.