Page 56 of Dark Master's Redemption

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As a hurricane of power explodes in the night, Quinn wastes no time. Seizing the last two Dark Fae in our circle, he thrusts his wrists to their mouths as he hammers them with a command to bite; both do, as the scariest power I’ve ever encountered seethes from Arturos.

As a shimmering, gold-black leviathan of power raises Arturos up high over the field, killing everything it touches and making us all stagger back, I hear Arturos roar in a terrible agony. He’s caught by the Gold Eyes’ Bloodsigns, fighting to stay inside him; Quinn is quick as he kisses and bites the lips of both remaining Dark Fae, his seal of power is complete; a furious rush of magic goes roaring through our group, together at last.

And then Quinn fixes his gaze high above—hurling the entire Dark Haven of Florence’s re-bonded magic up at the churning, blazing thing that is Arturos.

Dark rainbows, seething Night, and bright Summer Fae magic are hurled into the night sky along with Quinn’s intent; we’re joined by Luliana’s watery coils, roaring up to re-seize Arturos and regain control of their ceremony as she struggles to get him back in her grip.

As the Dark Haven of Florence battles the Gold Eyes’ screaming energy devouring the field, my parents, Alleno, and Bello hold the perimeter around this violent, careening magic. Even I see it as the containment sigils on the dome they’ve got locked around us begin to blaze and blister out, though. We’re no match for the tremendous horror that is the Gold Eyes’ power, even wielded from afar.

As we give our all now to stop what’s happening, Quinn wields the entirety of our power through his masterful dominance. But even as he roars with his intense concentration and the diamond-hard focus of his masterful will, I feel how he’s beginning to despair, battling this.

Because no matter how cleverly or hard our power drives into the Gold Eyes’ terrible Bloodsigns, searing Arturos and blazing into him high above, nothing can stop the tirade of diabolical energy pouring out of him. Far above, I see it eat him up; Arturos is desiccated as the battle of magic lights him up in the night sky, brittle and frail like a wraith.

The Gold Eyes’ power devours him as it uses him for fodder; it will not let him go and I feel Quinn understand that, even as I despair and feel fury come from Lucca.

It’s then I feel Quinn open his heart. It’s not just Quinn, but Lucca and me also—everyone from the Dark Haven of Florence who had always known Arturos as a friend.

Because the fact is, Arturos had been a true friend to us, prior to being seduced by the Gold Eyes. As Lucca’s heart blazes for a good warrior to not be taken down by such a fiend, and my soul screams for Arturos’, since he’d always been so kind to me before he made the deal that undid him, others around us echo it.

Curio’s winter winds roar for Arturos to be released, as he fixes his blue-white eyes high above and white auric wings unfurl from his spine in a tirade. The other Dark Fae feel similarly; Arturos saved or rescued many of them in recent battles, helping to heal nearly all of them in the past few days.

Even Devi’s stone-cold heart thaws as Arturos’ wretched thing shrieks far above. I feel her thought, no one should suffer like that, as she gives her all to Quinn now, her crimson-dark aura blazing around her like lances of blood.

But it’s Quinn’s beating heart that yokes us together for the same purpose. As his living Dark Fae blood roars for his brother, I feel Quinn become released from his wrath at Arturos.

Quinn’s heart beats pure and strong now, as forgiveness floods him for the Vampire-Siren. As that forgiveness inundates us, a massive sound thunders through our group in the night.

The Music of the Spheres—roaring as it forms a towering Ascendant Sigil in the air.

That sigil swallows the field as it blasts from the Dark Haven, up into Arturos. His shrieks are cut off as that sound rings the terrible bonds that consume him like a mighty bell—and then they are falling out, raining down to the field like deadly mambas of gold-black flame.

The Music descends, clanging with a terrible sound as it snuffs them all out. That white sigil shines through all worlds now, as an understanding of what it says tunes through my very soul.

Mercy, that sigil reads from the Ascendants. Mercy for the one who was lost.

As the Gold Eyes’ terrible Bloodsigns are finally removed from Arturos, he comes crashing to the earth. Quinn is there to catch him; seizing him in his powerful arms and auric wings, bolstered a thousandfold by our Dark Haven and the Ascendant Sigil still blazing with the Music, Quinn lays Arturos carefully down upon the ground.

As I kneel beside them with Lucca, horror takes me. Because what was once a beautiful, strong man has become reduced to so much bone and sinew; like a mummy, all iota of life has been drained from Arturos as glazed-over cobalt eyes look like dark raisins inside his jutting skull.

It’s beyond awful, as I gaze upon what a Vampire starved for centuries must look like. As Quinn puts his still-bleeding left wrist to Arturos’ mummified lips, I hear the quiet command that rolls all through him.

“I forgive you, my friend. Please, drink… and become one with your real family, at last.”

At first, the mummy does nothing. For a tense moment, I think he must be truly dead; but then Arturos’ blue eyes blaze with a dark, watery power, alive to the blood dripping in through his desiccated lips.

Arturos’ mummified form bites down hard into Quinn’s bleeding wrist; it drinks a long time as Lucca steadies Quinn by the shoulders and I hold his other hand. Arturos drains Quinn hard; as he reels, lightheaded from all the blood loss and power drain we used tonight, I give him my own wrist to drink from.

The Music still sings between us, the Ascendant Sigil bright as it blazes like a beautiful jewel far above. Condensing now as Quinn brings Arturos back to life, it sinks down from the sky, into Arturos’ body.

He gasps; I feel it as his life comes flooding back. As the terrible mummy fills out, flooded with mercy from his entire family tonight, Arturos is suddenly whole, returned to his glorious, beautiful form and face.

As I watch, his full, high cheekbones and kissable lips return, along with his lustrous dark hair and drowning cobalt eyes. As Quinn feeds him and he drinks, the Music revives him completely. When he finally breaks away, Quinn strokes his face and Arturos traps Quinn’s hand to his heart.

Beating now—with life.

“Quindici DaPonti…!” Arturos stares wide-eyed at Quinn as his heart beats steadily beneath Quinn’s hand. “What have you done to me?”

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