InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity Redux: Metempsychosis ❯ Animosity ( Chapter 81 )

Ashur stepped off the porch, spotting Jessa over near one of the paddocks, watching the stallion he'd bought for her, and he sighed.  As if she sensed his gaze on her, she turned, smiled, lifted a hand to wave before saying something to Carol and running to intercept him.  He broke into a smile of his own, chuckling softly as he watched the way her hair streamed out behind her, bouncing in a tangle of curls as she drew closer, her skin positively glowing, eyes shining, cheeks pinked slightly from the crisp cool in the air . . .

"Going somewhere, milord?" she asked, cocking her head to the side, a coquettish little smile quirking her rose-rouged lips.

He winced at the way she addressed him.  "I'm so not your lord," he muttered.

She giggled, stepping closer, slipping her arms around his neck.  "I don't mind being your subordinate," she assured him, her voice dropping to a near-purr.  "Would you like to subjugate me again tonight?"

He sighed, slipping his arms around her.  "You make that sound much more sexual than it ought to," he told her.

She nipped at his chin, laughing rather huskily when he shivered.  "That's the idea, Ashur Philips."

He grunted.  "Don't you have a wedding to plan?"

She wrinkled her adorable little nose.  "About that . . ."

"Change your mind about marrying . . . me?"

She shook her head.  "Of course not!  I just . . ." She bit her lip, shot him an almost apologetic little glance.  "I . . . I don't want anything big or fancy," she told him.  "Just you and me and Kells and . . . and a few people that we love . . . and as soon as possible."

He considered that.  "How soon would that be?"

"This weekend?"

He whistled low.  "That is soon . . . But it's your wedding—the only one you'll ever have.  Are you sure that's what you want?"

She nodded.  "I’m sure."

Letting out a deep breath, he scanned the property, his gaze shifting over the grass—now brown and dormant—the gray skies that carried the threat of rain—maybe snow . . .

And he chuckled.  "How about this?  We set a date—maybe the end of November?  Beginning of December?  That gives you a few weeks to plan so you can have the wedding you deserve, and we'll keep the guest list small—really small.  Just friends and family—maybe . . . twenty people?  I mean, I really only care if Ben and Charity and the girls are here . . . Manami . . . We should probably invite Cain and Gin and Bas and Sydnie, at least . . . You'd want Carol and Laith, Myrna, Nora, and Dev and his mother, I assume . . . Would that be more to your liking?"

She considered his offer, and her smile was slow but brilliant.  Maybe she thought that he wouldn't understand, but he had a feeling that he did.  She didn't have that many people in her life that she loved and trusted, and she didn't want an extravagant affair, which was fine with him, too, and the idea that her mother and father were gone had to be weighing heavily in her mind, as well.  Even then, though, he couldn't just let her get married without some sort of ceremony to it.  He wanted her to look back on their wedding in the years—the centuries—to come and to be able to think that she wouldn't have changed a thing . . .

"Thank you," she said, hugging him tight, laying her head against his heart.

He let himself hold her close for a long heartbeat before heaving a sigh and letting his arms drop.  "I have to run over to Dev's," he told her. "I need to talk to him about a few things."

"Can I come along?  Or is it 'man talk'?"

He shrugged, letting go of her but taking her hand in his.  "Some 'man talk' . . ."

She giggled as he stepped around the car to open the door for her.  "Carol's agreed to be my maid of honor."

"That's good," he said as he slipped into the driver's side of the car.  "Dev would look terrible in a dress . . ."

She laughed for a moment.  "I was thinking . . ."

"Hmm?"

"I . . . I don't think I want to have anyone escort me down the aisle.  I mean, without Da, it . . . It wouldn't feel right . . ."

He spared a moment to smile at her as he pulled the car down the long driveway and through the gates that were still being erected.  Following Cain's suggestion, he had hired a local company to build a ten-foot wall around the entire estate with the only actual way in at the beginning of the driveway.  After it was completed, Cain suggested having his grandson-in-law, Kurt embed anchors that would, in effect, create a barrier over the entire estate that could cloak the youkai on the property as well as repel the ones on the outside, should anyone come snooping around again.  He could also program it into the house's central nav so that Ashur could turn it on and off if necessary.  That should be enough protection without compromising the overall privacy of the estate, as well.  "I can understand that," he allowed.  "We'll do whatever you want.  Just tell me when and where to be."

Rolling her eyes, she slowly shook her head, tucking her hair behind her ear.  "You're being awfully agreeable, Ashur," she mused.  "Why is that?"

"Should I be arguing with you?  I mean, I'd be happy to do that, I guess.  The makeup sex would be phenomenal . . ."

She wrinkled her nose.  "You're incorrigible . . ."

"Hmm . . . Well, I'll agree to anything you want if you wake me up like you did this morning, every morning," he couldn't resist teasing her.

She blushed at the reminder.  "It took you long enough to wake up," she reminded him.

He chuckled.  "I was awake the moment you touched me.  I just thought I'd let you have your moment of exploration."

She snorted, and he wasn't surprised to see that her blush had darkened when he glanced at her.  "You're a terrible man, you know," she pointed out.

His grin widened.  "Maybe, but you're stuck with me, aren't you?"

"For now," she shot back sweetly, leaning over to kiss his cheek.

"Seatbelt, Jessa," he scolded, though his tone held very little, if any, real censure.

She complied with a laugh.  "We're almost there, so it seems a little pointless."

"And if Kells were in the car?  You'd be setting a terrible example . . ."

"But he isn't, so it's a moot point."

He shook his head, but chuckled again, just the same.  His amusement, however, was short-lived as he pulled into Devlin's driveway.  There was a strange car, which wasn't the problem, but even through the careful construction of the automobile, he could feel the brush of a strange youki—an almost malevolent sort of abrasiveness . . .

"Jessa, stay in the car," he said as he slipped the vehicle into park and reached for the door handle.

She shook her head stubbornly, releasing her seatbelt, hopping out before he could stop her.

"Damn it," he grumbled, hurrying to catch up with her.  He couldn't see anything amiss, but then, Jessa wasn't waiting, either.  Breaking into a sprint as he uttered a terse growl, he closed the distance she'd already covered as she dashed around the mansion.

He heard her gasp as he skidded to a halt, her hands flashing up to cover her mouth as her eyes widened.  A strange youkai held Devlin by the throat, choking the very life out of him as his face mottled into a sickening grayish hue.  Even as they watched, Devlin's mother ran at the man, only to yelp when he backhanded her hard enough to send her flying.  Ashur sprinted forward to catch her before she hit the low stone fence surrounding the veranda.  Catching her with a grunt, he quickly set her aside and started to dash toward the youkai, intent upon breaking his hold on Devlin.

Skidding to a stop when the small ball of flame shot past him, he blinked in surprise as it collided with Devlin, as his entire body exploded with a flash of flames that seemed to envelop him in the space of a heartbeat.  The foreign youkai grunted in pain, releasing his hold on the light-youkai almost instantly, shaking his arm in an attempt to put out the flaming sleeve of his shirt, grunting and growling in anger, in complete irritation, as he quickly tore the sleeve away and tossed it aside.

Stomping the ground, unleashing a furrow of earth that shot from his foot and straight toward the youkai, only to pull his feet down a good foot into the ground, Ashur held out a hand, instantly solidifying the earth around the man's feet to hold him still.  "Who are you, and what the hell are you doing?" he demanded, lifting a hand, allowing the earth to spiral upward, to close around the stranger's wrists to keep him from unleashing any more attacks.

In a blur of motion, Jessa dashed past Ashur, giving the strange youkai a wide berth as she hurried to Devlin's side.  His mother was fast on Jessa's heels, and Ashur glanced over just long enough to see the flames die away from Devlin's horribly still body.

The youkai yanked against the earth restraints, his gaze lighting on Jessa, his eyes flaring wide, his face darkening to a ruddy shade as absolute rage seethed in his aura.  "You!" he blasted, shifting his eyes to lock with Ashur's.  "You sullied her!  My prize!"

Narrowing his gaze, Ashur shook his head.  "My mate is nothing to you.  Just who the hell—?" Eyes flaring wide as understanding dawned on him, Ashur snorted indelicately.  "Portsmouth . . ."

"That girl belongs to me!" he raged.  "She was promised to me!  You—You stole her!"

"She's not property, and she never was 'your' anything," Ashur shot back.  "What's your fixation, anyway?"

"Ashur!" Jessa screamed, and he gritted his teeth as he felt the absolute panic in her youki.

"Do what you can, Jessa," he called back, without taking his gaze off the irate youkai.  As desperately as he might want answers, he honestly didn't know how long Devlin had, but, judging from the panic in her voice, the prognosis wasn't good . . .

Portsmouth snorted, the anger in his aura, growing thicker, more toxic.  "I don't care about her!" he spat.  "It's her child I want!"  Suddenly, he stopped, pinned Ashur with what could only be described as a calculating stare.  "You will give me that child—then I'll consider letting you live."

A million thoughts, half-formed and as fleeting as the wind, flashed through his mind, and Ashur shook his head.  Her child?  His . . . child . . . But . . . "You're hardly in a position to be making threats," he growled.

Portsmouth laughed—a derisive, arrogant sound, and with a grunt, he broke the earthen shackle that bound his right hand before smashing his fist against the left one, breaking through that one, too.  Before Ashur could react, he slammed those fists into the earth, pushing off the ground in one smooth motion, knocking the women aside as he grabbed Devlin by the throat once more, shaking him like he was little more than a rag doll.

Ashur barely had time to react, stomping a foot as the earth broke open, the fissure widening as it shot away from him.  Leaping forward, catching Devlin in one arm, shoving against Portsmouth with the other, Ashur growled low in his throat as the air filling with the sound of the duke's scream as he fell into the crevasse.  Ashur let Devlin down as quickly, but gently as he could before stomping the ground once more.  The fracture that he'd just created rumbled closed with a groan moments after Portsmouth shot out of it.  He unleashed a huge, pulsing energy ball straight at Devlin, and Ashur barely had time to react, to throw himself between the crackling missile and the light-youkai, grunting harshly as his body was tossed back, as he took the blistering explosion of pain as it struck hard, sharp, in the center of his chest.

He smacked hard into the stout trunk of a very old eastern white pine tree, and it was sheer will alone that pushed him back to his feet, that carried him forward as he sprinted to intercept the miscreant.  Rearing back, gathering another huge ball of energy in his hand, the duke's intention was clear: he meant to kill Devlin—his own son—and the why or wherefore didn't matter at all.  Smashing his hands together as he dashed forward, the jagged spike of earth shot out of the ground, impaling Portsmouth's wrist as the ball of energy fizzled and diminished.

Uttering a sound akin to a caterwaul, the youkai yanked his arm free as an arc of blood flew through the air, only to fall down around him.  Launching himself at Ashur instead, the light of insanity, igniting in his eyes, he threw his head back with a shivering laugh, his good arm outstretched.  Ashur caught it, gritting his teeth as he wrenched it back, the sound of shattering bone, drowned out by the duke's enraged shriek as Ashur heaved the miserable wretch back, shoved him away, sending him, bouncing off the ground once, twice, a handful of times, sprawling in the unsettled earth where the fissure had been.  Body broken, twisted at the waist at an incomprehensible angle, he still tried to push himself up, fought against the earth that held him.

"Eva . . . Help . . . me . . ."

The horrified gasp echoed in the air as Devlin's mother shook her head, stubbornly refusing to look at her mate, the light of her healing, glowing a soft and beautiful white that encompassed her son as she leaned over him, as her tears fell like rain . . .

Flicking a hand as he shook his head, furiously trying to clear his slightly-fogged mind, Ashur struggled to breathe as a swell of earth shot up around Portsmouth, furrowing up over his prone body, the mound of earth slowly flattening, groaning, creaking, before dragging him down into the ground.  A moment later, the moan of the land echoed in the air, rumbled under their feet, and Ashur dropped to his knees.  He felt the abrupt shift in the earth as Portsmouth's foul youki diminished.  Only then did he raise a hand, shifting the ground back into its original state . . .

Jessa rushed past him, dropping to the ground beside Devlin as Evalysse's white light faded.  Turning his head when Devlin moaned, he watched in silence as Jessa caught Evalysse by the shoulders when she pitched forward, very nearly collapsing across her son's chest.

"Damn," Devlin groaned, sitting up slowly, catching his mother and gently settling her on his lap.  He still looked weak, shaky, but his coloring was thankfully returning to normal.  "I . . . Damn . . ."

"Dev!" Jessa half-sobbed, half-breathed, reaching out, cupping his face in her hands.  "You're okay?  You are . . ."

"Irish," he breathed, managing a very weak smile.  "I . . . I didn't see you arrive," he tried to joke.

She barked out a choked laugh and then sniffled, which rather abruptly ruined the overall effect, leaning forward, letting her forehead touch Devlin's as she closed her eyes, as she savored the late relief that seemed to roll off of her in waves.

Drawing a deep breath, Ashur pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the incessant ache in his chest.  He shuffled over to them, said nothing as he scooped Evalysse up—she didn't seem to weigh anything at all—and trudged toward the French doors.  She was unconscious, probably from the exertion of healing Devlin, and he carefully laid her on the sofa.

A moment later, Devlin, leaning very heavily on Jessa, stumbled inside, and Ashur stepped forward to help her navigate him into a chair.

Jessa hurried out of the room, and Devlin slowly lifted his gaze to meet Ashur's.  "He was . . . on his way to take Irish," he said, his words slightly slurred.  "Saw . . . Saw me exercising one of the horses . . . Pure, dumb luck . . ."

Ashur nodded.  "And you told him that you refused to marry her," he concluded.

"Close enough," Dev muttered, letting his head fall back, his eyes drifting closed.  "Couldn't . . . do a damn thing . . . Pathetic . . ."

Ashur sighed.  "You're not pathetic," he argued mildly.  "Your kind were never meant to fight . . . And you protected Jessa, just the same . . . Thank you."

Devlin gave his head a slight shake—very likely the best he could muster, given the situation.  "Not . . . worth thanking me," he insisted.

"And I say you're wrong."

He scowled, or tried to.  A moment later, however, he choked out a rasping laugh—a sound that was more rueful than anything.  "So . . . did you come by just to save me?"

Ashur sighed.  On the one hand, he rather didn't want to bring it up.  On the other hand, maybe it was more important than ever, given what had happened.  "I wanted to talk to you.  Ben and I were talking, and we think . . . We think that you need to learn to defend yourself, and we thought that maybe learning to shoot a gun would benefit you more than anything else . . ." he admitted.  "If I hadn't stopped by . . ."

Devlin lifted a couple fingers.  "Guess I owe you one," he mused.  "He . . . He crushed my windpipe . . . I . . . felt it . . . Reached through my barrier, and . . ."

"Barrier?"

Devlin nodded once, eyes slipping closed.  "All light-youkai can . . . But they're usually . . . impenetrable . . ."

Shaking out a throw blanket that was carefully folded over a nearby chair, Ashur slipped it over Evalysse before grabbing another to drop over Devlin, who was already asleep, too.

Jessa hurried back into the room with a few bottles of water in her arms.  Handing them to Ashur, she leaned down to press her hand against Devlin's forehead.  "Should he be sleeping?" she murmured.

Ashur set the bottles on the coffee table and shrugged as he broke the seal on one and swallowed half of it in one long gulp.  "They're exhausted," he told her.  "I think it's fine."

"And you?" she finally asked, crossing her arms over her chest as she peered up at him.

He managed a wan smiled.  "I'm fine," he told her.  "I don't know that we should leave them yet . . ."

She seemed to agree with that, waving a hand at the fireplace to ignite the dormant logs arranged on the hearth.

"I'll give Ben a call.  Let him know that we're going to stay here for a while."

She turned toward him suddenly, slipping her arms around his waist, leaning her head against his heart.  Ignoring the slight twinge of pain, he hugged her back, wincing as she shivered.

It was several minutes before she spoke, and when she did, her words were halted, stuttering.  "What did he mean?" she finally asked.  "The duke . . . Why would he want my child?"

Ashur grimaced since he'd rather hoped that she hadn't heard that.  Of course, she did . . . "I have no idea," he said, brow furrowing as he stared thoughtfully over her head at Devlin's sleeping form.  "But . . . I'm going to find out."