Ascension - Book Eight - Man x Man

Chapter 31

"Caspian-" Verando takes a step past me only to pause, I feel the sharp stab of an internal shock wave wrack through us both. His pain is my pain, with a cough, blood spills from his lips and he drops to his knees. 

I clutch his shirt, attempting to keep him upright. "Lotta!" I call, causing Caspian to wheel around and rush back towards him. 

"What did you do to him?" Caspian snarls at me as Verando coughs and sputters, on his hands and knees. Lotta shoves through the crowded house, through the door, eyes wide as her hand touches her headset. 

"I need a medic to the Mercer household immediately. Get me Landon on the phone, do it now." Bodies begin to circle around the doorway, peering out as murmurs fill the air. I hear the words over and over again, the timeline was being altered. Caspian was never supposed to see this, Caspian was not meant to know that Verando had a preference.  

Cursing under my breath, I glare at the dark-haired boy but find it difficult to blame him for something he couldn't help but see. "You aren't supposed to know about this. It's changing the past."

"Then maybe don't fuck him in public!" Caspian seethes, venom dripping from his words. 

Verando flinches, dropping down onto his elbows with a groan. "Would you two bitches stop fighting?" He manages, stifled with another series of coughing. 

"Daddy!" I hear their voices before I can instruct them away. Darrius squirms his way out the door while Rhea rushes after him, clutching Xaiver in her arms. "Daddy! Your light is going out!" 

Caspian pulls his lips into a thin line. "That's a weird-looking kid, Doe."

"Shut it, Caspian." I spit back. 

Darrius skillfully jogs to us, quicker than any child had a right to move. We were so practiced in our public lives, keeping him still to prevent any sort of suspicion that he was anything but an elf. The pale child throws his arms around his adoptive father's neck, kneeling in the spatter of blood on the floor. His cheeks wet with tears, he buries his face in the crook of Verando's neck as he clings to him. "Turn it back on!" He pleads. 

"I'm fine, Daddy's fine, love." Verando reassures him, giving me a sharp look that I needed to get a grip. I knew better than to let Caspian goad me, I was the older one now in comparison, but it was difficult when something as simple as snoopy was hurting my reason for existing. As he carefully rocks back onto his hip, clutching Darrius to his chest, I see the color returning to his cheeks. 

His breathing steadies, Darrius sniffles and steals a peak. "I don't like when it goes out. I can't see you as well."

"Darling, I don't know what you're talking about. I'm right here." Verando carefully smooths his hair with his clean hand. The two uniformed men jog over, only to slow when they see evidence of an emergency but find a man who looks in good health. Confused, one hands over a cloth for the gray-haired man to wipe his mouth. 

"He's been saying it over and over that he needed to get to you," Rhea tells us, resting Xaiver on her hip. "He said something bad was going to happen."

Concerned, he glances at me and I'm not quite sure what to make of it. 

"Well, you look fine now." The EMT grumbles, appearing reluctant to touch the man given his reputation and his dislike of needles. "I know it's against protocol to not evaluate you but... frankly you scare the hell out of me." He admits, "Do you want me to check you over?"

Opening my mouth to answer for him, he shakes his head. "I'm fine. Tell no one what you saw here." He demands firmly, Darrius waves a hand at them, sniffling as he rubs his eye with the back of his hand. In an instant, the two men vanish, the room erupts in horror at the shocking reveal of ability.