Born By Moonlight by Krista Street
Chapter 23
~ AVERY ~
An ear-splitting roar filled with pain, anguish, and gut-wrenching sorrow lashed through my senses.
That roar. That never-ending, aching roar. All I could hear was that agonizing sound.
Unparalleled pain ripped at my soul as that roar screamed at the world, striking through everyone’s heart, as though the sound could tear off the flesh of anyone nearby.
I tried to open my eyes, to see what had happened, to run, or soothe, but the world was darkness. Nothing touched my skin or awakened my senses, only that desperate cry of never-ending pain that shattered my heart and squeezed the life from my breath.
And then . . .
Weightlessness.
An image appeared in front of me. A field. Wildflowers. Night-kissed wind. Me lying on my back surrounded by tall stalks of swaying grass and fragrant flowers.
Wyatt crouched at my side, kneeling over me, his body rocking as sobs heaved his chest and shattered his large frame.
Nicholas sat at my other side. The vampire’s eyes were bright, his face haunted, his body absolutely still.
What’s happening?
I floated above them, but I tried to reach for Wyatt. The urge to comfort and console him pulled at my soul like an anchor, demanding that I return to his side and trace my palms over his cheeks and wipe the tears from his eyes.
But I couldn’t move.
I kept floating and floating, moving higher and higher.
Terror seized me. I couldn’t return. I pushed and fought the tether that stuck to my back, yanking and maneuvering me in a dance of empty acrobatics as wind and air filled my being, ebbing and flowing, forcing me to rise higher and drift faster.
No!
Wyatt!
But he disappeared beneath me. Not seeing me. Not seeking me.
That’s when it hit me.
I’m dead.
Oh gods! The Safrinite comet killed me!
I floated toward the stars, that tether robbing me of choice or rights. The ground disappeared beneath me. The sky was alive, glowing.
Millions of stars filled the vast galaxy, but I didn’t want that.
I wanted to live.
To be with Wyatt. To live.
I lunged for the ground again, desperately trying to claw my way back to him, but a lone celestial event demanded my attention. The aligning planets shone brighter than the moon, forcing my eyes to pry away from the meaning to my soul, to the man that cradled my body and mourned my loss to the depths of his being.
I gasped. The planets were inches away from a perfect sphere, their celestial bodies universally circular and filled with great power—immense magic.
Clouds drifted around me, wispy yet vacant. I saw them but didn’t feel them as I rose higher and flew faster.
No! I have to get back!
A burst of shining light abruptly filled the sky. Blinding moonlight bathed the atmosphere. Power rippled through the heavens as magic burst forth from the celestial miracle.
The alignment had formed—a perfect body in the vast galaxy as magic erupted throughout the solar system, blazing through everything in its path, invigorating the stars, and drenching this realm in a cloak of new power.
Cheers and applause rose from the ground, the fae and supernaturals clapping in delight.
My spectral form slammed into a wall, jolting in space as the tether snapped.
I cried out in surprise, but no sound came from my lips, and then . . . a fracture. A crack. A fissure along the fabric of space and time continuum.
I screamed as the world plummeted past me. Fire coursed through my veins, heating my mind as the fae world pulled at me like a magnet, yanking, ripping, and refusing to let me go.
I was falling back to the ground.
Spiraling.
Descending at a speed greater than sound.
The clouds disappeared above me.
Air rushed past me.
My vision blurred in and out of focus.
A castle.
Fireworks.
The field.
A forest. I squinted. In the forest stood a circular group of robed men. Watching. Waiting.
But waiting for what?
What’s happening?
Agony ripped through my limbs as the ground came at me faster and faster until the world became a kaleidoscope of blurred colors, vibrant scents, and fire licking the center of my being.
My body appeared in front of me a millisecond before I slammed into it.
The power of being jolted back into my corporeal self and made me scream.
Blackness.
I screamed again.
Fire.
I ripped and clawed, trying to get to the surface of the thick tide that pulled me under by an unseen force, a powerful current that robbed me of breath and sight. Fiery light suddenly burst along my limbs, and then finally I broke through. I surfaced to the feel and sight of my hands and legs radiating with liquid mercury.
I screamed again.
Power. Ungodly power blazed along my limbs and vibrated through my senses.
I shrieked from the unbearable pain.
Someone cried out.
Another yell.
Scorching heat.
I was dying again, being flayed alive.
Blazing light. So bright it felt as if my eyes were melting, and the sun had touched my soul.
Chaos. Death. Life.
What’s happening? Dear gods, what’s happening?
A nuclear reaction detonated. Atoms split. Elements formed. The universe tilted and expanded like a cosmic rubber band in reaction to the creature, the being, that was being born inside me.
I screamed again as ancient magic coursed through my body, twining around my nerves, consuming my cells, and devouring everything in its path.
Oh fuck, it burns!
I was dying.
Dying again.
A breath filled my lungs. So sweet, so pure. A waterfall of fragrances filled my senses—juniper, pine, jasmine, oak.
No. This wasn’t death.
It was life. Soul-shattering life.
The essence of organic matter, the well of knowledge, the foundation that created and destroyed everything on this plane of existence.
The center of my soul fused with that great power.
Another yell came from someone beside me.
A rush of magic skittered over my skin like lightning on water. Electric currents jolted my limbs. My body spasmed, rising, hovering above the world as this thing I was becoming defied all odds.
And then . . .
Silence.
