Page 31 of Darkest Need
I know exactly what it is.
“He…” I can barely breathe as my wife grabs my hand. “He sacrificed.”
Timber collapses into his chair. “He called a star.”
“He’s gone.” Horus’s eyes blaze white. “He’s no longer of this Earth. He’s…” A tear runs down his cheek. “He fulfilled his purpose.”
“No.” Genesis, Ethan’s wife, walks into the kitchen and slams her hands down on the table. She’s been with her children and trying to make sure we remained fed. We attempt to keep everyone away from danger, but she’s always been one to run into it. Maybe that’s why she’s one of my best friends.
“No,” she repeats. “It’s me.”
“Huh?” Alex pipes up. “What’s you?”
“The beginning.” She starts to sob. “I was taking a nap with the kids and…” She starts shaking so hard I’m concerned I need to grab her or have Ethan pull her away from the situation. I stand. “Cassius, I swear, if you touch me or send me back upstairs, I will find a way to murder you.”
I hold up my hands.
Ethan backs away.
All of us are silent as we watch her regain some semblance of calm.
“Lilith is the beginning. Eva saved her—aka Eve. The minute I heard that sound, I had a vision.” She swallows and takes a deep breath as if regaining her composure. “It’s been predestined. We have to go back, all of us. Our entire families and the Council. We need to go back. We have one more task, and it won’t be pretty.” She jerks her head toward Alex and Horus. “Can you still move through time?”
Horus sighs. “I can’t. I used my one-way ticket.”
Alex gulps and raises his hand. “Actually, mine was refundable.” Nobody laughs, but Ethan and Mason moan out loud like he’s the most annoying person in the world, which he is. “Okay, no jokes. Sorry, I thought we were Vikings. Anyway, since I have the blood of Ra…” Nobody says anything. “Wow, still no applause? Okay, right then. I can try, but that won’t help our current situation.”
I hang my head. “We should at least retrieve his body. We owe him that.”
Mason’s quiet.
All of us wait for someone to say something, but then he walks over to Genesis and grabs her by the shoulders. “You’re the beginning. So was Lilith. Your namemeansbeginning. Therefore, I’m going to ask you for a favor.”
“Anything,” Genesis says.
Ethan starts to move, but I grab him by the arm and hold him back. “Let her.”
“She could die.”
“We all could.” I turn to him. “But as one of my oldest friends, I need you to listen. I need you to stay calm. We all need your help. We’ve fought wars. We’ve razed cities. We’ve protected humans for this long. Let this one do what we can’t.”
Ethan turns away from me, his green eyes blazing. “If I lose what I love, I lose it all.”
“Losing”—I put a hand on his shoulder—“is part of life. No immortal can escape it. And even if you could, escaping pain is like ignoring what teaches us to stand back up and fight. Look at it differently. Losing us, all of us in this room, to save the world.” My past comes back to haunt me. “You have to ask yourself, how many could you save? How many? One? Two? Three? How many is enough? If we all sacrifice ourselves, would it be worth it to save ten?”
“Yes,” he chokes out.
“How about nine?”
“Yes.” He starts crying silently next to me.
“Ethan, what if we sacrificed all to save one?”
He leans against my shoulder and looks up, green eyes clear. “Yes, Cassius. Yes.”
“And that”—I nod—”is why we were put here as the Immortal Council. That is why we exist. Because if we can save just one, we have done the job given to us.”
“Okay.” His nostrils flare, and I know he’s annoyed, upset, and frustrated with me. But the rest fall silent, watching our interaction, knowing I’m not wrong.