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Soul Bound Series
Part III: Lifelines
Hank was safe.
Yet relief didn’t spill forth and soothe Nick’s nerves.
Something wasn’t right. Nick could feel it in his bones. It was dread mixed with confusion, topped with a layer of adrenaline that was doing him no good. Something was happening. Something bad and his mind couldn’t connection the pieces to form a picture. He just couldn’t see it.
“We got the same address from three different sources and there were only two people here guarding Hank.” Eve worked out loud, her eyes staring at nothing.
“Yeah.” Trubel added, her eyes on Hank, “You’re still alive. Why didn’t they kill you?”
“They were waiting for somebody. Who was never going to come.” Nick’s stomach rolled as his brain finally clicked together the final missing pieces of the puzzle, “They were getting rid of us.”
HW’s headquarters were vulnerable. The Black Claw somehow knew that. Meisner was there, nearly alone. He was an incredible warrior but he couldn’t take down an army alone. He was only human. Nick clamped down his panic; Meisner would feel it and it was the last thing he’d need.
“We’re in the wrong place.” Eve pushed off the wall and hurried from the bathroom.
Nick followed, hot on her heels. He could feel Trubel and Hank at his back as they exited the house and stalked across the property. The night air was cool and thick with mist. It added a layer of foreboding, danger. No good would happen this night. Eve pulled her phone from her pocket as they moved and hit a few buttons. She put it on speaker, the line ringing once, twice. Three times. Then Nick heard the voice on the other end and stopped in his tracks, his heart seizing in his chest. Meisner.
“Eve.” Meisner’s voice was as calm as it always was. Like nothing was wrong.
“Are we too late?” She asked.
“Yes. Don’t come back.”
Meisner was never one to mince words and now was no exception. Nick clenched his jaw as tears sprang into his eyes. Bile rose in his throat, sharp and acidic.
“Are you safe?”
“No. I’m with Sean Renard. I think he wants to kill me.” There was no fear, no inflection. Just simple facts.
This couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t lose his soul mate. He couldn’t. Adalind had been taken prisoner, kept captive in Sean’s ivory tower; but she and Kelly were safer that way. Safety was what mattered. And right now, Meisner had none. And they were too far way. They wouldn’t get there in time. Nick ripped the phone from Eve’s hands. “Kill him!” He shouted, his voice raw.
“Nick. He has the upper hand.” Meisner’s voice was quiet, “I’m sorry.”
Tears built in Nick’s eyes, spilling down his cheeks as he squeezed them shut. “Please don’t…”
I love you both.The words whispered at Nick’s ear and his eyes snapped open. It had been as if Meisner had been right beside him. They’d never been able to reach that type of connection before. Not for lack of trying. Instead of being able to marvel over the ability, it made his chest tighter.
The line went dead. The monotone hum of the dial tone lingered in the air.
“No!” Trubel cried, horror, dismay filling her dark eyes.
Nick stared at the phone in his hand, at the black screen reflecting his face. He shoved the device at Eve, his body shaking. This wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be happening. No. No. No. Sean Renard couldn’t take away one more thing from him.
“Nick, we—“ Eve’s voice was last thing Nick heard before pain ripped through his chest.
It was sharp like a blade; his heart might as well be bleeding. He gasped, wheezing as he tried to pull air into his lungs. His knees buckled and he collapsed to the ground. He couldn’t control is heartbeat, couldn’t focus on anything but the singular knowledge that Meisner was dead.
And he was following after him.
Trubel caught Nick before his head could hit the dirt. She didn’t know what was wrong or how to fix it. Something deep down, something ugly, told her the truth she’d rather ignore. Shecouldn’t fix this. She couldn’t help him. She felt the tears on her cheeks and sniffled, looking up to Eve.
“What’s happening?” She had to ask. Had to ask to hear out loud what her brain wouldn’t let her say.
“Meisner is dead.” Eve’s voice was as unchanged, unemotional as always and it was just another twist in her heart, “Nick will be too if we don’t get his heart stabilized.”
“How?” Hank demanded, “We can’t take him to the hospital, we already know Black Claw has infiltrated.”
A noise reached Trubel’s ear. It was soft. It brushed past her on the wind and she shivered. She looked around for the source and startled as a child appeared out of thin air before them. She was a small thing, dressed in a nightgown, tears streaming down her face.
“Diana.” Eve said softly.
“Something is happening to my mommy.” A broken sob left the girl’s mouth, “I can’t stop it. She needs help, Not-Mommy.”
“Are you alone?” Eve asked her.
Diana nodded. “It’s just me, Kelly, and Mommy. I don’t know where my Daddy and his friend went.”
“Stay close to your mother and brother. We’re on our way.”
“Please hurry.” Diana sniffled and vanished as quick as she appeared.
“That was unnerving.” Hank stated into the night.
“That’s Diana.” Eve sighed, “We have to go. Hank, can you call Monroe and Rosalee and have them meet us?”
“Yeah.” Hank pulled out his phone and was already dialing as Eve knelt beside Trubel, “What’s the address?”
Eve rattled it off and met Trubel’s eyes. “Can you help me get him to his feet?”
She knew her Grimm abilities blessed her with a powerful strength outside of the human realm but she hadn’t tested its limits. “Maybe? Got a spell in case we can’t?”
“Maybe.” She echoed without a trace of humor.
Trubel let Eve take Nick’s right side and prop him as upright as she could manage, grunting under her breath as Nick’s body moved bonelessly. They hauled him up to his feet but his body was useless, head lolling to the side. She could still feel him breathing; the only comfort she had.
They piled into the car. Eve slid into the driver seat while Hank helped Trubel get Nick into the backseat. Trubel cradled Nick’s head in her lap while Hank folded in Nick’s long legs as best he could before he climbed into the passenger seat. The engine roared to life but Trubel couldn’t tear her focus from Nick.
His eyes were closed and he was mumbling something softly. It was a faint and when they registered, tears sprang anew. Come back. Over and over again, the anguished words fell off his lips. Trubel stroked his hair, feeling adrift.
It wasn’t a new feeling. Not by a long shot. For years she had felt that way; before Nick, her life had been a waking nightmare. Then he gave her the knowledge, the lineage of their family, what she was. Then he gave her something more. A family: Him. His friends. They opened up their lives and treated her as if she had been there all along. As cliché as it was, they opened up her heart. They loved her, cared for her and wanted nothing in return but for her to be happy. She hadn’t believed it possible; people giving a shit about her. Having a solid world, a real life.
And now it was coming apart, unraveling thread by thread. Meisner was dead. Nick was following. HW was destroyed. The Black Claw was landing brutal attack after brutal attack.
“Stay with us, Nick.” She whispered, hoping some sort of encouraging words might reach him, might give him something to cling to, “Kelly needs his Dad...I need my cousin. Please hold on.”
The car jerked to a sudden and quick stop, sending Trubel lurching forward. She held tight to Nick with one arm and braced herself against the back of the passenger seat with the other. Hank opened the door at her back and after she climbed out, helped get Nick out. Between the two of them, they maneuvered Nick upstairs. Eve darted ahead of them but paused at the sound of tires screeching behind them drew her attention. Trubel readied herself to pass Nick over to Hank and start attacking.
Everything in her settled at the sight of Monroe’s yellow beetle. The Blutbad and Fuchsbau spilled out of the car at a run, climbing the steps two by two to join them.
“Oh God, Nick.” Monroe’s voice was dismayed, his dark eyes glimmering.
Eve lifted her hand to knock but the door creeped open and Diana appeared. Her eyes were rimmed with red and there were tears on her cheeks.
“Mommy’s upstairs.” She said without permeable and turned on her heel, slippered feet soundless as she ascended the staircase.
Diana led them up two flights of stairs and into what had to be the most obscenely fancy room Trubel had ever seen. The stark difference between the room and Nick’s loft was a smack in the face. Two lives that battled for Adalind. And speaking of Adalind…
She was sprawled on the floor, blond hair haloed out around her head. The blue silk nightgown fanned out where she lay. The quick image of Sleeping Beauty laying on the floor after she pricked her finger on the spindle flashed through Trubel’s mind as they settled Nick up on the sleigh bed. Monroe gathered Adalind up and laid her beside Nick.
A wail rose up from the old school looking cradle close to the bed and Rosalee moved into action, scooping up Kelly into her arms and rocking him gently.
“What do we do?” Trubel asked, lifting her eyes from Nick and Adalind, searching the others for some sort of direction.
“Their hearts are out of sync.” Eve’s voice was that same hollow tone, “If they don’t find a balance on their own they will die.”
Diana gasped, the sound high and sharp. “My mommy can’t die!”
Monroe fixed Eve with a disapproving look. “Can you watch what you say around her? She’s still just a kid.”
“She can handle it.” Eve shrugged and turned to Diana, “We need to monitor Nick and your mom’s hearts. We can’t take them to a hospital. Do you know a way—“
Before she could finish the question, Diana’s eyes changed from blue to a glowing amethyst. She flipped her hand in the air and two, pink cartoonish looking hearts hovered in the air above Nick and Adalind. They were beating two separate, frantic beats.
“Whoa.” Trubel breathed and pressed her fingers to Nick’s wrist, finding his pulse. She watched the heart above him; the beat matched what was happening to the heart. “Holy shit.”
“Trubel!” Rosalee admonished but her tone was gentle.
“What? She just conjured up a heart monitor like it was nothing. With no spell!”
Diana shrugged, her expression nonchalant. “I can just…do things.” Her eyes faded back to blue and her mouth turned down into a frown, “Did someone do this to them?”
Trubel glanced at Monroe, who glanced at Rosalee, who sighed. She cuddled Kelly closer and knelt down in front of Diana.
“Sort of. Your mom and Nick, they were in love with someone and their hearts were bound…”
A little furrow appeared between Diana’s brows. “It’s not Daddy.” Her tone was certain.
“No.”
She was quiet a moment, watching the beating hearts. “They’re chasing each other. Trying to catch up but they can’t. Not without the third person…”
“Yes.” Eve nodded.
“Was it Meisner?” Diana asked.
Damn. Diana was much more aware than Trubel realized. But then again, the girl was special; she wasn’t even a year old and yet she had aged at least seven. And her magic? Beyond a normal hexenbeist. Beyond anything anyone had recorded seeing. The rebellion had regarded her as something that could turn the tides of the world. Seeing Diana’s abilities and knowledge first hand was chilling.
Rosalee took a breath. “It was and he…died tonight.”
“What?” Diana squeaked.
“I’m sorry, sweetie.” Rosalee reached out and touched her shoulder in sympathetic gesture, “When he died, your mom and Nick’s hearts, their bond shattered.”
“They’re dying because their hearts are broken?” Diana’s voice was quiet.
Slowly, Rosalee nodded. “Yes.”
Diana’s gaze jumped from her mother’s heart to Eve. “But that’s not possible.”
“It is.”
Diana whirled on her. “No, it’s not!” She cried and the house rattled.
Beneath Trubel’s boots, the hardwood vibrated with the force. She swallowed hard. She didn’t want the child to destroy the house because she was angry. She spoke up, trying to deflect what Eve had done. “Why isn’t it possible? He was only human.”
Purple eyes found hers and Trubel tried not to flinch. “He wasn’t human.”
The ground might as well have swallowed her, her stomach dropping to her feet. “What are you talking about? He wasn’t wesen.”
A tiny golden eyebrow arched. “I didn’t say he was.”
Had she not been on the verge of freaking out, Trubel would have laughed. That look was exactly like her mother. There was no denying that she was Adalind Schade’s child.
“If he wasn’t human and he wasn’t wesen, what was he?” Eve demanded.
Diana blinked and frowned. “…old.”
“Old?” Monroe echoed.
“Do you guys know of anything other than wesen out there?” Hank asked the room.
“Maybe an occasional ghost or ghoul…” Rosalee got to her feet and moved to Monroe, passing Kelly to him, “Old doesn’t tell me much.” She turned back to face Diana, “What do you mean by old?”
It appeared that Diana wasn’t paying attention to them anymore. Her eyes were back to blue, staring at the ceiling. She tilted her head to the side, a look of concentration on her face.
“He’s coming.”
He covered a lot of ground. Too much ground. From Sean to Bonaparte to the entirety of the Black Claw army. Trubel drew her machete from the sheath at her spine. She strained to hear beyond the confines of the room but could only here a distant rumbling from overhead.
“Who’s coming?” She asked the girl.
Diana looked at her, seemingly unfazed by the fact she drew her blade. “That’s not necessary.”
The words didn’t bring any comfort. “I’d rather be safe than sorry.”
“Do you know what she’s talking about?” Hank asked Eve.
“No.” Eve shook her head, “I didn’t read Meisner as anything but human.”
“We need to go outside.” Diana’s voice interjected, “All of us.”
“How are we going to get them—“ Monroe started before the room vanished around them.
Trubel’s stomach lurched like she was on a rollercoaster and her lungs squeezed, stealing her breath. When the world came back into focus, they were all outside. Magic lingered around in the air and she struggled to keep the contents of her stomach inside. She vaguely heard Hank vomiting and was grateful she wasn’t the only one feeling it.
“I may vomit…” Monroe groaned and passed Kelly back to Rosalee, who was looking a little paler than normal, and braces his hands on his knees.
Looking around, Diana had transferred all of them, the bed, and Kelly’s cradle outside on a lavish patio. A full moon hung in night sky above them, occasionally covered by thick clouds that drifted by. Beyond the moon, the clouds sometimes sparked with light, lightning moving from cloud to cloud. Thunder followed, rumbling deep; almost menacing. The hairs on her arm, the back of her neck stood on edge.
“Should we be out here?” She asked, eyeing the sky.
“We’ll be fine.” Diana’s glowing eyes stood out in the relative darkness.
Eve moved and brought her lips together, blowing towards the tiki torches that outlined the boundary of the patio. Trubel felt the energy, the magic crackle past her and the torch closest to her came to life, flame dancing. One by one, they lit and lighted the space, banishing the darkness away.
The hearts that monitored Nick and Adalind drew Trubel’s attention. They were slowing down. Both of them. “Uh, guys? Their hearts…”
Everyone’s attention shifted and Monroe cursed softly. “What do we do?” He demanded, “Would CPR even help?”
“No.” Diana’s eyes were up on the sky. “Only he can.”
“Who, sweetie?” Rosalee asked.
Before the child could respond, a lightning bolt hit the ground just beyond the patio. It was blinding and Trubel threw her hand in front of her eyes, shielding vision as much as she could. When she could see again, she blinked a few times to make sure she wasn’t just seeing things. The bolt was still there, like it solid instead of electricity. Four more bolts spiked down from the clouds and channeled into it. At the base, a form appeared. It was humanoid: a head, body, two arms, two legs. But it was made of that energy, bright and charged. Thunder erupted above them, sounding like a roar and the bolts vanished, leaving behind a man.
Meisner.
Trubel’s heart leapt. She was torn between joy and confusion. He stepped forward and opened his arms. In the clouds, lightning built until he brought it down, crashing two bolts into Nick and Adalind’s chests. Their bodies jerked on the bed, arching up in unison off the mattress.
Their hearts stopped beating.
So did Trubel’s.
Then they began to beat, the rhythm in sync once more. Trubel let out a breath, her own heart hammering. They were okay. Her gaze drifted her Meisner. The man she called her best friend. But he wasn’t truly a man, after all. Lightning filled his eyes, dancing through his veins, visible through his skin.
“Who are you?” She demanded, swallowing thickly.
“I have may names.” His voice sounded like it always had, a mix of something European but nothing defining, “Þórrbeing the oldest.”
“Thor.” Monroe whispered, awed.
Thor…Wait. “T-Thor?” Trubel stumbled over the name in shock, “You’re a God?!”
“Yes.” Meisner, Thor, whatever nodded and stepped towards the bed, studying Nick and Adalind’s unconscious forms.
“You did good getting them here, little witch.” He said to Diana, the lightning fading until he looked like a mere mortal again.
She beamed up at him and took off at a run, bounding into his arms. “Thanks.” She hugged his thick neck, “It’s good to see you again.”
“Been a while.”
Trubel sheathed her machete and sat down heavily in one of the high back chairs. Hearing those two make small talk was as strange as the fact her best friend was a God. Hank, Monroe, and Rosalee joined her, their expressions looking as stunned as she felt. Eve remained standing, remained her blank-slate self. Normally, it would send annoyance, even anger through her veins but right now, Trubel welcomed the sight. It was the only thing normal.
“Will they be okay?” Hank asked.
Meisner turned, nodded. “They should regain consciousness soon.”
A loud groan came from the bed and Nick sat up, rubbing his chest. A small flicker of humor crossed Monroe’s face. “Soon, said the God.”
Meisner shrugged the shoulder Diana wasn’t occupying. “I’m the God of Thunder, not Time.”
“You’re the what now?” Nick demanded.
His chest hurt. Nick rubbed at it through his shirt, which accomplished nothing. Didn’t relieve the ache that gripped his heart and radiated out to his shoulders. The others were talking but he couldn’t focus on their words. But he did catch one of the voices belong to Meisner.
Meisner!
“I’m the God of Thunder, not Time.”
God of Thunder.
God.
Of.
Thunder.
What?!
“You’re the what now?” Nick demanded, confusion choking him. Surely he hadn’t heard that right.
Meisner turned back to him, setting Diana down on the ground. She skipped off, settling on a stone bench. “Maybe we should wait until Adalind wakes.”
“Uh.” Nick cleared his throat, “You’re here.”
A small smile played on Meisner’s lips. “I am, meine liebe.”
My love. Nick had heard him say it a few times; enough that he had googled it. Tears stung at his eyes. “I felt you die.”
Meisner sat on the end of the bed. “I did die.”
“Then how—“
Nick’s words were cut off with a pained gasp. Adalind bolted upright, a soft keen in her throat. Her eyes went wide at the sight of Meisner at the foot of the bed.
“How?” She breathed.
“I’m not human.” Meisner answered, “I am a God.”
Adalind blinked at him. “Come again?”
“My body can die but I will always be reborn. I’m not mortal. I am Þórr.”
“Thor.” She said softly, apparently recognizing the name, “You’re Thor.”
He nodded. “I’m sorry for not telling you sooner. Human and wesen tend to react to the news terribly.”
“But we’re soul bound.” Nick frowned at him.
“I know.” Meisner dropped his gaze, “I was going to tell you soon. I didn’t plan on dying today.” There was a touch of irritation to his words.
“Why are we outside?” Adalind asked as a breeze picked up, wrapping her arms around herself.
“I’m always reborn in the heart of a storm. You two needed to be outside so I could restart your hearts.” Meisner answered.
Adalind straightened. “Where’s Diana?! Kelly?!” There was an edge of panic in her voice, her fear evident.
“I’m here, Mommy.” Diana hopped off the bench and made her way over to the bed, climbing onto it. Adalind wrapped her arms around her as Diana snuggled close, “I’m okay and so is Kelly. That nice lady has him.”
Nick’s eyes sought out Rosalee and found her smiling. She got to her feet and carried his son over to him. Once Kelly was settled into his arms, Nick relaxed. Rosalee brushed kiss to his cheek.
“Welcome back.” She murmured.
“Thank you.” Nick looked to the others, “Thank all of you.”
“A hexenbeist, a God, and a Grimm are soul bound in the middle of a war.” Adalind murmured, “Now what?”
Nick looked at his soul mates, his friends, at Diana and Kelly. “We finish this fight.”