Page 9 of A Spark Of Revenge

“Fine. But can we find somewhere warmer? I’m freezing, and I’m worried about how much you're shaking,” I point out, wanting him to physically evaluate himself since all he seems to be doing is making sure I’m okay. I mean, sure, I have a raging headache, and my hand is sore from falling and cutting it open during my frantic escape to the church, but besides that, I’m A-okay. Valen, on the other hand, is the one who was dead less than an hour ago. He’s the one who is flinging around magic even though he’s low on energy. Shit, what if he hurts himself? There is no way for me to help him here.

Something jerks inside me; a weird need to take care of him the way he is of me, and suddenly, I can't ignore it any longer. “Come on,” I soothe, voice gentle as I smile at him, and in this moment, everything suddenly feels right. Something shifts deep down, like a piece of myself snapping into place, and Valen sighs like he can feel it too, his eyes flutter shut as I encourage whatever I feel to grow. My rapid pulse slows, and for the first time since running into Razar tonight, I feel an odd sense of calm.

I need this as much as he does.

Placing my hand on Valen’s cheek, I slowly sit up as his hand moves from where it was resting on my belly to cover my much smaller hand on his face. I keep my palm pressed to his warm skin, our eyes locked as I crawl to my feet. Valen leans back, allowing me the space to stand as my free hand moves to help him stand with me. Our fingers interlock, and I nod when Valen takes a deep shuddering breath, his eyes softening, the color slowly fading back to the pale green I’m so fond of.

“Let's find shelter. Then you can make sure I’m alright,” I whisper, the wind moving strands of my hair into my face as the snow drifts around us on the dark mountainside. What I don't tell him is that I plan on checking him over and hopefully convincing him to rest a little. Maybe suck the life out of a few more trees, since that seemed to help last time. My dream guy’s complexion is far too pale for my liking. More so than normal, and I can't stand the sight of it.

Valen nods, his fingers squeezing mine so tight that I almost wince in pain as I look around us, desperate to find shelter. It's cold, and I wish more than anything to be back in our little cave from my dreams where Valen and I could build a fire and talk about everything going on in our lives. But unfortunately, I’m not dreaming. This is real life, and if I don't do something quickly, we could freeze, or worse, be discovered by Demons.

”Are we still in Canada?” I ask, then sigh in relief when I make out a familiar peak of a mountain ahead. As much as I hate it here, I have people I need to help and some Demon ass I need to kick.

“Yes. I didn't have enough magic to bring us far. My ultimate goal was to evade the enemy until I could regroup and bring you somewhere safe,” Valen whispers, his eyes still on me, not blinking once. Huh, that's weird.

I pull on Valen's hand, leading him through the thick snow, cursing as my feet sink several inches with each step. My thighs are starting to burn from the effort it takes to stomp through the snow, and I want to kick my feet and cross my arms like a damn toddler. I hate the snow! I never want to see another flake of this shit!

Growling in frustration, I look at Valen, who is watching me closely, before glancing to where his feet rest on top of the snow, not sinking in at all. “How!?” I almost shout, waving at his magic feet and scowling at mine, which are entirely covered. “Teach me how you do that. Is there some spell? One of the weird Umbra Hunters symbols the old dudes like to carve into everything?” I humph in annoyance when Valen smirks, finally moving his eyes from my face to my feet.

“No, you have to balance your weight and lightly walk. Not barrel through the snow like a feral Therion.” He chuckles, amusement heavy in his voice, then frowns down at the dust and snow on his outfit and tries to brush them away.

“A what?” I wrinkle my nose at the name Valen just used, then make a mental note to sit him down and ask him all the questions I have about being an Umbra Hunter. I know he’ll answer them and possibly give me the information I need. Valen laughs, and I scowl at him.

“You are using ‘the Force’, aren't you? You know, that would make sense. Razar is always running around the Castle with his hood up like some kind of evil Sith Lord. Umbra Hunters are secretly Jedis in disguise. Only our weapons aren’t as cool, and we don't get spaceships,” I mutter more to myself, ignoring the confused look Valen sends me at my weird nerd idea.

“What's a Jedi?”

“You haven’t watched Star Wars?” Valen shakes his head at my question, and I gape at him before turning and walking in a random direction. I angle myself so we go down the mountain rather than up. From what I can tell, we are close to the Castle, maybe an hour or two hike away from it. I don't necessarily want to get close to it, but I know I can’t leave the mountain without Jordan.

“That's rather tragic. Tell you what, if we make it off this mountain alive, we can do a Star Wars movie-thon. It’ll probably take a few days to watch them all, though,” I warn as I start walking again, ignoring the snow making its way into my boots and how my toes are going numb.

“Oh, we will,” Valen mutters, his step wavering for a moment, tugging on my arm as he sways to the side and sinking an inch or two in the snow before he rights himself, and we keep walking.

I can’t help but smirk as he regains his lithe footing along the top of the snow. Squinting, I strain my eyes for a place we can shelter in, and smile when I see a marker near a tree in front of me. It’s similar to the markers used during the relay race the Seniors made us do a while back. I step toward it, knowing from the survival courses Creed taught that Umbra Hunters have several bad weather shacks near the mountain just in case one of them needed to take shelter during patrol. I haven’t seen one of them, so I keep my eyes peeled for something resembling some kind of shelter.

“We will what?” I ask as I tug Valen along with me. Warmth is still present in my chest and belly, but my limbs are quickly becoming numb, and I look up into the cloudless sky, cursing the stars I see. They may be pretty, but a clear night sky means the temperatures will plummet even more than usual, and our risk of frostbite and exposure will double.

“Get off this mountain alive. I’ll make sure of it,” Valen says so matter-of-factly that I smile at him over my shoulder.

“I wish I had your confidence. Now, look for some kind of shelter. That was a marker back there, and there should be something that we can weather tonight out in,” I instruct, moving to turn back around, pausing when Valen points to his right.

“You mean that?” he asks, and I twist, trying to see the outline of something through the dark, but I can't see anything.

“You see something?”

“You can’t?” he asks, frowning when I shake my head. “That doesn't make me feel better. How are you supposed to navigate at night? Your night vision should be excellent as a Dream Walker,” Valen grumbles, grabbing my chin and tilting my face up, staring into my eyes like he will be able to figure out what's wrong with them.

Shrugging out of his hold, I sigh in annoyance. “I should be able to do a lot of things, remember? I’m Fracti,” I sneer, hating how utterly useless I am. “Come on. You’ll have to lead since I can't see anything,” I mutter bitterly, stepping to the side so that Valen can pass by me.

A low, almost animal-like growl erupts from Valen's chest, making my eyes widen in surprise as he steps directly in front of me. His chest pressing against mine, forces me to crane my neck back to look at him. “You are not broken. I refuse to let you believe the lies the Seniorem spew. They are the ones who are broken. They are the ones who have warped the Umbra Hunters’ organization so much that it’s in a state of upheaval. You are not the broken one here,” Valen says firmly, pale eyes brightening with a hint of magic as he lowers his face slightly toward mine.

I nod, my eyes slowly moving to his lips, and I have to physically hold myself back from climbing him like a damn tree and kissing the shit out of him. Valen's expression darkens a little when I don’t verbally respond to him, and I open my mouth to agree, but he beats me to it.

“Are you Fracti?” he asks and I shake my head. “Who are the broken ones?”

“The Seniorem,” I parrot back, earning a panty-melting smile in response, and for the first time, I notice the smallest dimple on his left cheek, making his reaction even hotter for some strange reason.

Curse this man and his sexy cute dimples, now I’m going to be hiking with damp underwear. Valen nods in approval and grabs my hand, turning to lead, then promptly falling forward in the snow.

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