The White Room
11.
The Spirit Bond
“Yes my Queen?” Bernard asked. The frail butler vampire was standing at rapt attention.
“Ready our armies, we strike at the vampire stronghold.” Easton said commandingly.
“My lady?”
“Now. We don’t have much time. The King is in danger.”
“Right away, my Queen.” Bernard said with a flamboyant bow.
The girls screamed. Easton could see from her vantage point that she had arrived a second too late. A second to late to see that Borealis had the upper hand. The deadly shield had embedded itself right into Kyle’s stomach. Something was different about the shield, she could tell. Made of silver no doubt, but some strange energy seemed to emanate from it as well. January, Dakota, and Austen were in shock and a look of despair was rapidly spreading across their faces. She acted fast, appearing behind Borealis and made a stab at his head.
The werewolf king was quick however and he avoided her strike just in time, spinning around and catching her arm as he transformed into a wolf, raking her side with his newly transformed claws. The blow was unexpected and it sent pain rippling through her body. With a powerful kick she sent the werewolf back two steps as she disappeared once again.
Reappearing once more, she was able to successfully stab the werewolf in his back shoulder. The wolf howled in pain as Easton looked at the three girls, crouching over Kyle’s body.
“Run! Get him to safety!” She yelled.
As soon as she said it, Borealis was back on her as she narrowly ducked a swipe of his claws and teleported behind him and made another stab at him, but it was in vain. She was all alone as more and more werewolves began to crowd around her.
“Leave her!” Borealis said, “This one is mine! Go capture the others!”
The wolves looked at each other and then with a howl took off after Easton’s fleeing friends.
Bernard better have mustered those armies by now she thought.
As if on cue, she heard a whimpering cry only made by dogs and werewolves as several vampires emerged from a magical portal rushing onto the field and stopping the werewolves in their tracks. Borealis looked at her in shock and then snarled. She looked at him with a smirk of confidence.
“Come on wolfy-king, I think it’s time for a good shaving for you.”
They arrived back at Waterfield manor and set Kyle on the master bedroom bed as fast as they could. Gingerly placing his body and propping his head up, they had removed the shield from his gut before they had ran back. January had used her powers to stop the bleeding and blood loss, and they had thrown him onto Dakota’s werecat back and rode back to the house.
“What do we do?” January asked.
“I don’t know.” Austen said.
“This is usually where Kyle or Jason made decisions.” Dakota said begrudgingly.
January placed her head against Kyle’s chest, his heart was beating, rapidly, trying to compensate for the intense amount of pain his body was undoubtedly feeling. She held his body against hers and she could feel the lack of warmth coming from his body.
“He’s cold.” January observed.
“That’s odd.” Austen said.
All three girls touched Kyle’s forehead which was notably absent of heat.
“Oh no.” Austen said in a whisper, and then louder again, “Oh no!”
“What! What!?!” January and Dakota asked.
“Borealis—Lycaon’s shield. It drains souls.”
“What!?”
“Lycaon, when I learned under him, would use his shield to capture demon souls. He could only capture one at a time. Anything he ever wounded with it would lose its soul. Demons were the fastest, but he said he had taken a human soul before.”
January eyes began to water as she became even more distraught.
“How long do we have?” Dakota asked.
“Maybe a day or two.” Austen said.
“If Jason were here…” Dakota said.
“We could call him here.” Austen said.
“How?”
“That’s my power.” Austen said, “To commune with spirits. It’s dangerous, but possible.”
“Who’s your patron then?”
“Thanatos. God of Death.”
“Call Jason then.”
“It’ll take me a day to prepare.” Austen said.
“Do it then.” Dakota said, “But don’t take too long.”
Austen nodded looking visibly paler, and then exited the room. Dakota tried to pull January away from Kyle but she wouldn’t budge. She didn’t really want to leave his side either. She lay next to him, protectively and whispered in his ear.
“Kyle, you can’t die. I love you.”
“Where am I?” Kyle asked.
He looked around to see that he was in the same castle room that he had been a few days, was it weeks ago? He spied Kate there, she didn’t look any different, but when she opened her eyes in recognition of his presence, they looked older and tired.
“Kate.” He said.
“Hey Kyle.” She said with a weak smile.
“Am I dead?”
“No. I can sense your spirit. It’s fading, but still there.”
“Oh.” He said, “Good I think.”
“You’ve fought so hard.” She said her smile never wavering.
“I have to save the damsel in distress don’t I?”
She let out a huff of feigned annoyance. Kate had never wanted anyone’s help really. Sure she accepted it sometimes, but if it was up to her, she’d do everything herself.
“I guess I don’t have a choice at this point.”
“Why am I here?”
“I don’t know.” Kate said, “Are you asleep?”
“Probably.” Kyle said thinking, “Ah right. I was stabbed.”
“Stabbed?”
He lifted up his shirt to see reveal a big scar on his gut.
“You must have reacted naturally to the shock of being stabbed and sent your consciousness here.” Kate said.
“Can I—stay here with you?”
“Sure.” She said.
He walked, and stopped at the crystalline structure that separated the two of them, and then passed right through. He wrapped his arms around her, but they passed right through her so he settled for the appearance of things instead.
“Kate. I’m so tired.”
“Tell me about it.” She said, “You know how hard it is not being corrupted by a big powerful demon?”
“You know how hard it is trying to save the world?”
They both chuckled at their little joke. Kyle turned to her and kissed her as best as he could as an ethereal object.
“When this is all over.” Kyle said.
“Yeah?”
“Maybe I can actually help you with your math homework.”
“That would be nice.” Kate said with a laugh.
They found Easton in the morning bruised and scarred. She was silently sitting the same room, watching over them. Dakota found Austen meditating in another room.
“Are you ready?” Dakota asked.
Austen looked up, in an odd manner. Her eyes were different, a weird color that wasn’t normal for her, like a stormy grey with flecks of purple.
“Kota.” Austen said, except the voice wasn’t hers.
“Jason?”
“Yeah.” Jason said.
Jason got up and hugged Dakota, tears streaming from “his” face as Dakota hugged him back.
“I’ve missed you so much.” Dakota said.
“You guys look like your doing fine.” He replied.
“What do we do?”
“Let me see Jan, then we can talk. I can’t stay long.”
Dakota nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes. They walked to the master bedroom where January hadn’t let go of Kyle, even though she was awake. Easton was on the far side of the room looking out the window.
“Jan.” Jason said.
January sprung up, looking for her brothers voice.
“Right here babe.” He said.
“Jason! It’s you! In uh— Austen’s body.”
“Yeah. Only way I can talk to you guys.”
“Jason what do we do? We gotta save him.”
“There’s only one option.” Jason said, “A Spirit Bond.”
“Spirit Bond?” January asked.
Easton turned from the window, with a look of concern on her face.
“That is…unprecedented.” She said.
“The art of it is very shaky at best.” Jason said, “But Kyle’s soul is draining fast, I can see it. You need to do it, it’s your only shot.”
“We trust you Jason, what do we do then?”
“A Spirit Bond.” Jason said, “Means that you impart your spirit onto another subject, the two of you effectively becoming one. However you maintain your own consciousness and souls, which can, in theory be separated.”
“However, no one has ever done so.” Easton said.
“Correct.”
“How does that help us?” Dakota asked.
“Lycaon’s shield drains one soul at a time, two souls would be too much.”
“That’s actually ingeniously simple.” Easton said with approval.
“That is if it works.”
“There’s a catch.” Jason said, “Because there always is. Incredibly close physical contact is necessary, as well as love, true love has to be involved.”
“Really?”
“He’s not lying.” Easton said, “The laws of the universe work like that somehow.”
“I’ll do it.” Dakota and Easton said at the same time.
“Only one can do it.” Jason said.
“Which one then?” Dakota asked looking at January.
“Sis I gotta do this.” January said.
“Why?” Dakota asked, “Why not me?”
“Your so strong, you actually fight well. What do I do? I throw a fireball. I used to get us into trouble all the time and you and Jason would have to go save me. We both love him, that’s obvious. But you have so much more to offer to the world then me.”
“That’s not true—”
“Please Kota.” January said.
She looked at Dakota with the most intense eyes Dakota had ever seen.
“Alright.”
“Ok then.” Jason said, “Please everyone clear the room. January, I’m going to need you to remove all your clothes.”
“Jason! I’m your sister.”
“Jan, I’ve been watching over you guys. I’ve seen everything.”
“Ewwwwwwww.” January said, wrinkling her nose. She slapped Jason across the face. “Pervert.”
“Jan.”
“Right. Right. I’m getting to it.”
Dakota and Easton left the room as Jason/Austen and January went about their business.
January pressed her naked body against Kyle’s naked form. Jason/Austen had placed his hand on her back, and one on Kyle’s forehead.
“Are you ready?”
“Yeah.”
January leaned over and kissed Kyle for the last time,
“I love you Kyle.”
And then everything went black. In the darkness she saw Jason, in his tank top and jeans, adjusting his glasses with a smile on his face.
“Jason!”
“I’m proud of you Jan. I really am.”
“What happens now?”
“We walk.”
“To where?”
“Well…I’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”
“Kyle. Kyle. Wake up.”
Kyle’s eyes flickered open. He saw Kate again, they were in the crystal structure, side by side, her naked form next to his.
“I can sense your spirit strengthening, you have to go back.” Kate said.
“I wish I could stay in someways.” Kyle said.
“If you don’t go, you’ll never get to do this in real life.”
“What do you mean?” Kyle asked.
“You won’t actually get to touch these.” Kate said massaging her right breast.
“Well there’s some incentive!” Kyle said.
“Now get going.”
“Right.” Kyle said. “Uh wait. How much longer do you have?”
“A few days at best, but know this, even in the greatest darkness, there is hope.”
Kyle blew her a kiss.
“Goodbye Kyle, I believe in you.”
“I love you Kyle.”
He awoke in bed to January’s voice echoing in his head. He was naked, and he could see Austen, Dakota, and Easton looking at him.
“Hey.” He said, smiling, “What happened.”
“You’re awake!”
The three girls rushed over to him and gave him a big hug telling him how they had been so worried about him.
“Okay! Okay! I get it. You’re glad I’m not dead.”
Kyle looked around the room puzzled.
“Where’s January?”
The girls looked at each other with sudden look of uneasiness on their faces.
“She—sacrificed herself to bring you back.”
“What!?”