Page 106 of Gift from the Nexus

“What does that mean?”

“We’re sending a recon team in to test the strength of the elixir first.”

My head swings around to him rapidly at that. We could be sending in E.F. members to their deaths if we aren’t careful.

“Who? Why haven’t you told me about this?” I ask.

“It wasn’t decided officially until this morning. The remainder of the Duro, Remo, and Hedge Nexuses have asked, volunteered to do this,” he says both reluctantly and pridefully.

Forcing down the saliva collecting in my mouth, all I can do is nod. I can’t, or at least won’t object to that. The Duros, Rems, and Hedges are the men who lost their brothers the day the academy was attacked. From what I’ve been told, they fought viciously that day, letting their grief lead them, and even now, they’ve essentially been signing up and volunteering for the most difficult of missions.

I deeply believe they have a death wish that’s as strong as their need for revenge. I can hardly fault them. I’d be the same way if I lost any of my men or any member of my family.

“Eww, damn, what is that smell?” Oakly gags as we walk into the lab.

“Gingko berries,” Jamie and Nikoli say dreadfully, causing all of us to chuckle.

“Walker brought a damn bushel of them and even though we disposed of the extra, we can’t get rid of the smell. Hopefully, once the elixir is vialed up and we can circulate some air in here, that’ll help,” Jamie continues.

“I really, really hope it doesn’t taste as bad as it smells. Gah, this is awful. And you two have been working in this for a week,” I say with a scrunch to my nose.

The smell of rotting eggs mixed with some other incredibly unfavorable scents is about to cause me and my dragon to upchuck. I don’t believe I’ve ever smelled something so vile in my life.

“They don’t come home smelling this bad, I swear,” Oakly says, smirking at the look on my face. She knows that’s exactly what I was thinking.

“No, the smell is easy enough to get rid of in the open air. We just can’t risk doing anything here that’ll interfere with the fermentation. Also, no, it doesn’t taste bad. Surprisingly, the finished concoction is sweet like nectar.” Nikoli chuckles, pulling Oakly into a hug and kiss.

Thank fuck for that.

“The Duros, Rems, and Hedges will be here in a minute,” Tillman announces, sobering the light and teasing moods.

“Right. Babe, Willow, you two come watch so you know what to do,” Jamie instructs.

“We need a lesson in vialing up elixirs?” Oakly asks, arching a brow.

“Sort of. I guess the tediousness of this task wasn’t explained to you two?”

We both glare over our shoulders at Corentin, who’s not bothering to hide his smirk whatsoever. It’s such a rare public sight that my gaze instantly softens. His happy, teasing mood isvery much welcome and his little purposeful slip of information isn’t harmful in any way. It gets us out of our endless training, so I’ll call this whole thing a win-win for me.

“So what you have to do is each time you vial, you have to stir the mixture clockwise twice beforehand. We’ve tested two already just to see, and if you don’t stir twice before lifting the ladle out of the cauldron, it becomes thick like honey and that’s not the consistency we want.

“As you pour it into the vial, infuse your magic. Protective intentions work best. The ladle is precisely measured out, so one scoop is all each vial takes. No double dipping for the same vial and if you miss pour, dump it back in and start again. Then immediately cap it. We’ve also learned not capping quick enough will disrupt the consistency,” Jamie explains.

“Well, this little Bane seems to have been more difficult than we assumed,” I remark. No wonder people wanted to say it was a myth.

“Hell yeah, it has. We’ve been discovering something new about it at almost every turn. It’s temperamental, to say the least, but if the steps are done correctly, then it comes out perfect to what I’ve tested,” Nikoli says.

Oakly and I stand still, watching Jamie meticulously as he vials up the seven the three Nexuses will need. Although he just explained the process, he repeats each instruction with every move he makes and does this for every vial. Insuring we have the steps memorized.

“We’ll all walk this out. They’re outside, waiting,” Tillman says as Jamie hands him the container he placed the vials in.

Emotion once again clogs my throat as we make our way out of the lab. It may not seem like it to most. I’m sure those who are used to the E.F. and missions such as this are a little desensitized to the situation, but to me this feels like a monumental moment.

We’re sending seven good men, our men, into the trenches, so to speak, to test out whether we’re going to be able to enter the enemy’s territory in a matter of days. In just a few hours, we’ll know if we’ve either successfully created a Bane that’s been believed to be fake, or we’ll have lost three Nexuses.

It’s nerve-wracking, to say the least.

Not only that, but the yet to be nailed down plan of entering the forest, locating the strongest vampire known to us, and then apprehending him makes my stomach turn. I guess adjustments will be made once these three groups return and tell us what they learn.

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