Void(99)

“You must learn from their powers. Each bonded serves a purpose for teaching you to control.”

“I don’t understand…”

“An elemental, to restore you. Your ability to control powers is similar to theirs. Watch how they weave the elements. It is most similar to yours. They take their power from the earth. Eventually, your bonded will be able to siphon it to you to keep your stores replenished. Always feed the Void, child.” My mind immediately flashed to Quade.

“Okay,” I replied in a hurry.

Emilia started to walk back into the crypt, her skin flaking off with every step, turning to dust in her wake. I followed after her, wishing I had Hyde’s damn notebook to write some of this down. “You will need a necromancer, as I see you already have one. Well, unless you don’t revive him soon. We must make this quick, he’s draining fast.”

My eyes widened in panic as I followed her inside. She turned to look at Hyde, and her right eyeball fell out. I flinched as it bounced off her chest and rolled onto the floor. “The Void can consume you if you aren’t careful. I’ve seen many Voids lose themselves to it. I’m sure you’ve experienced it yourself. It’s like another person, another entity. The necromancer’s magic will always bring you back.”

I turned to look at Hyde, relieved to see the steady rise and fall of his chest.

“You will also be bonded to a vampire, the one who will understand your need to feed. Your blood will give him more than any other, and after one taste, he will crave you.”

My mind flashed to Render, how he’d licked up my wounds and bitten me.

“And lastly, a shifter. A bond as natural as animals rutting in the wild. He will satisfy your animalistic desires. After all, shifters understand the drive to mate and claim more than any supernatural, and they revere mating bonds above all else.”

Four supernatural mates, and in such a short amount of time, I’d found each one. It explained so much. Our connection to each other and the inexplicable draw that was always present. How my power always buzzed when any of them were around, even before I knew any of this. “I’m...scared that I’ll hurt them,” I whispered, saying out loud the worries that had been plaguing me.

“When a Void is settled in her bonds, she can feed freely, as she was meant to, and then use that power to sustain her mates. There is a safeguard in the bond; you can never hurt them, never take too much. You will feel a fierce protectiveness for them like none other.”

She started to climb back into her coffin, and the bones of her foot fell off at the last step, but she didn’t seem to mind at all. She lifted the leg over the edge of her coffin and settled into it like one might get into bed. When she turned to look at me again, her lips had peeled back. Her skin had flaked away in chunks, leaving her face with just bones and a few strips of cartilage and stray muscles. I could see her tongue working behind her jaw and teeth.

My time was almost over, and I still didn’t know what the hell this all meant.

“What does it all mean?” I asked, stopping her before she could lie down. “What am I supposed to do?”

Her head tilted too far again, and the bones on her shoulders started to sag and fall. “You are the balance of power. You can give and take away. You can even switch powers from one to another. I’ll tell you what my elder once told me.” Her other eye rolled away, leaving me to stare blankly at the unseeing, disintegrating woman. “You are more than just your Void. Perhaps it’s time for you to start living that way.”

I stared at her in shock. No one had ever said anything even remotely like that to me before. The Void was all I was. At least, that’s what I’d been taught.

“You will be drawn to the mates that fate chose for you, and they will be drawn to you. The leaders of your world will want to use you as a weapon, but you’re so much more than that. Your Void will reject them. You’re meant to bring balance, as nature intended. Hurry now, save your bonded. He’s expelled too much power. He’ll need you, and I’m so very tired.”

I squeezed my eyes shut as the information assaulted me. It was all too much. “Wait!” I yelled. “How do I help him?” I asked. His lips had turned pale, and I wasn’t sure if I was capable of siphoning power back into him.

Her voice was a lingering whisper in my ear, cold and present. “Instead of feeding, give. Like an exhale,” she said, her voice choppy as her tongue began to wrinkle and pucker. “And now, I...must lay me…down to resttttttt.” The last word was like an exhale, like a breeze slipping through a pane of a window.

She laid back the rest of the way, folding her splintered forearms over her chest. “Emilia?”

When I walked over to look inside, all that was left was her skeleton, and a pair of tiny dandelions held inside her bony hand. She was gone.

I took one steadying breath before turning around and dropping to my knees beside Hyde. With one hand, I unclasped my amulet and let it fall to the ground. My Void barely reacted. It was like there was no power around to tempt it. “Shit!” I cursed before putting my hands on his cold body. I closed my eyes and imagined the smoky Void. “Why did you use so much damn magic?”

I put my hands on his arm, willing him to wake up. My smoke wisped around me, and I forced it to trail over his body. “Come on,” I urged. “Give like a damn exhale!” I yelled at my stubborn Void. “Give, give, give, dammit!” I screamed while forcing the smoke to touch his skin, but it barely reacted.