Bloody Angel: Book 3

For Days Waiting

The moon that night shone bright as blood in its eclipse, bathing the land in its eerie glow as the occupants of the Ministry slept in their beds cocooned and safe from the outside world. They didn’t know of the terrors and dangers that lurked just beyond their walls, beyond the enchantments and borders that kept them blissfully unaware. They didn’t know about the chaotic insanity that threatened their very existence even now as it plotted and schemed. Ignorance was truly bliss in times like these, but for those with the knowledge, with the doubt and fear of what lay out there waiting for its chance to strike, this night was seen only as an omen of things yet to come.

~~~~~

Normalcy had resumed at the Ministry. For the most part. It had been three days since the Ritual had been attacked, and aside from the foreign witch healer and Aether, no one had seen Copia or Annie. Rumors were circulating as they tended to, each more outlandish than the last, but deep down, everyone was concerned about their health and safety. None were more so than the ghouls, Lilit, and Imperator. Whatever had happened to the lovers in their own fights, whatever had affected Annie through her shared bond had left them unconscious and unresponsive with no inclination of either waking any time soon despite a few small moments when it seemed like one or both of them would - a slight shift here, or a whisper of sound there, or when Aether would check on them and find their hands intertwined when they weren’t when he left.   

“I’m worried,” Aether confessed on the fourth day as he and Kiara tended to the couple laying under the covers of the spacious bed. “Wouldn’t one or both show some signs of waking by now?”

“I can not answer that. But based on what you told me about the last time Annie used her powers to such a dangerous level of reserve, she could be asleep for some time yet. It took, what, two weeks or so last time?”

Aether nods and carefully lowers Copia’s arm back to the mattress after completing the exercising of his muscles. He hadn’t anticipated that Copia would be unconscious for this long, and if he had, he would have told Imparator right away instead of lying to her like he had. Surprisingly, she was more concerned about Copia’s health than giving the ghoul any sort of punishment, simply demanding she be alerted the moment the man woke up. 

“She was in a coma for more than two weeks, but it was from more than just overuse of powers. You’ve seen her scars. You can only imagine what she looked like when we found them. When I first tended to her.”

Kiara nods slowly, her eyes sad as she carefully brushes through Annie’s long hair. “Poor dear. To have survived such a tragedy and still be as strong as she is. She’s a force to be reckoned with, I can tell.”

The ghoul lets out a laugh, nodding. “That she certainly is. She’s got a spark within that draws us like a moth to flames, and we don’t care if we get burned. She’s always been special like that.”

“Of course she has been!” Kiara laughs, setting the brush down to smooth the hair back in place with her nimble fingers. “She’s Morrgan’s daughter, after all. Looks so much like her, too.”

“I wish I could have met her. Annie learned most of what she knows from her, and it’s been invaluable having her knowledge around. She’s even started teaching some of the students about herbology. ”

“I’ll have to sit in on that class when they resume. Brush up on my own knowledge.”

Aether nods once more before letting out a soft sigh as he looks at the two. Their faces held more color as each day passed, but neither showed promising signs of waking. The cuts, scrapes, and bruises Annie got from her fight have almost faded entirely, but he could feel her magic was still dangerously low even with him trying to aid in giving her small doses of his energy. Copia’s back was completely healed aside from a long thin scar tracing from his right hip to his left shoulder but when Aether reached his essense out to the man he was met with a chaotic backlash that seemed keen to keep him out. It felt familiar, like something he’d felt back in the pits, but it felt so foreign at the same time.