Enthralled: Tainted Book Four

2. Weak Link

Gemma Shepherd

"Please let me go," I begged for the hundredth time, but Darius just shook his head.

"You are safer with me than anywhere else on Earth right now. Everyone in the Diabolical world is hunting for you, little miracle worker, and no one can find you here unless my master commands it. Besides that, if anyone learns you are Harker's one weakness, they will hunt you down and use you against him."

"Why wouldn't they just kill him? Or me?"

"You know nothing of how the world works. Everyone wants power. Harker has a lot of it. Ergo, everyone wants Harker. Controlling him means you have a weapon you can use over and over again."

"No one can control him," I argued.

"You do." Darius raised one eyebrow and I felt like I'd been punched in the chest as the words hit home. "Look, once your friends tear down the Alchemists, their dark prince will be weakened. The Council will most likely grant you and your friends a boon for your services. Asked to be blessed."

"Blessed?"

I knew what it meant. One who received a blessing could not be touched by evil. It was rare to hear of a nephilim being blessed, though, since it could only come from God himself or an archangel.

"Do you want to be Harker's weak link for the next five hundred years?" Darius smirked, and I wanted to slap him.

"No!"

"So ask for a blessing as your reward and be free of that worry, little miracle worker."

Oh, why did I agree for Amanda Greenaway to put that illusion on me! I groaned, for the first time regretting that I'd volunteered to be the decoy in our goose chase. Then again, how could any of us have predicted it would end up like this?

Amanda had warned me the illusion would wear off eventually, but I still had a few more weeks before it was completely gone. Until then, I needed to figure out how I could use it to my advantage and stop being taken advantage of.

"There is no way the wardens could give me a blessing, if even they wanted to," I told Darius. "It's not theirs to give."

Surprising me, the djinn only laughed.

"They commune with the archangels frequently. There are more dealings between the Council and the heavenly host than you would imagine, snd there will be more than one archangel interested in what you have done. Trust me. They will not deny you what you request."

#

Darius' words about me being Kerry's weak link bothered me.

Long after he'd left to do whatever it was he did during the night, I lay awake on my bed and worried.

I'd always known I was a chink Kerry's armor, but to hear it stated so bluntly that I could be used to hurt others was eye-opening.

And humiliating.

Biting my bottom lip, I remembered Kerry's last words to me. We'd been in the middle of a battle and I had screamed his name, calling for help.

"Hang on, angel," he'd yelled back. "I'm on my way!"

And he was. I knew he was. I only prayed he'd find me while I was still alive. And not only for my sake.

Oh, I didn't want to die. I wouldn't give up, and I'd fight to the end, but if I failed...

If I failed, I feared what he would do. What he'd become.

The others might think he was tamed, or at least tamed enough, but I knew better. He could control the tiger only as long as he was stable. Anytime something shifted in his world, he grew anxious and panicky - and that was with the simple challenges of daily life. Normal high school drama. In our present situation, he would feel far from stable, and I could not imagine him as anything less than lethal right now.

If they kill me— A shudder raced down my spine, but I forced myself to finish the thought. If they kill me, Kerry will slaughter them all, every one of them, and good riddance.

Unfortunately, who knew how high the collateral damage would be? In his rage and grief, he might take out half of the state. Hah. For all I knew, he'd destroy all of New England. The boy was that powerful.

And how would he live with himself afterward? When - if - he ever calmed down, what would it do to him to know he'd killed thousands of innocents? Would he become like Clem, merciless and bitter, and take over as the Council's executioner for the next three or four centuries?

A scalpel of pain sliced down my breastbone.

I could not bear to think of my sweet Kerry carrying such a burden. I wanted him to have centuries and centuries of sunlight and love and laughter. Even more, I wanted to be by his side and experience it all with him.

And I was going to do everything in my power, no matter how weak or limited it might be, to make that future come true for both of us.

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Darius in human form (Whew!🪭🪭🪭 ):

Darius in djinni form: