Three: Dark Fate
Icarus got me out of there before I saw what happened to Michael.
I couldn’t explain the sensation I felt.
Something felt wrong.
“Sunny?”
My gaze went to Icarus.
He stood in front of me with a frown on his face.
The wings on his back were gone.
Did I imagine them?
“Show me what happened.”
He moved me closer to the desk, so I could lean against it.
He opened up a panel at my back to get the proper cable.
I watched as he plugged it into the monitor.
I sat there as he went through weeks’ worth of footage.
A lot of it was skipped because it had nothing to do with Michael.
“The woman,” Icarus said, “Who is she?”
“May,” I said, “A Werewolf.”
His gaze went to me.
“You spent a lot of time with her,” he said, “Was she the one in Michael’s arms?”
I nodded.
His attention went back to the monitor.
He watched all of it.
Every agonizing second of the day I just had.
I had to watch it again as if I wasn’t just there.
“The Beta,” Icarus said, “He wanted you.”
That’s the first thing he says after watching all of it?
“Did he?” I asked.
I wasn’t sure why I bothered to feign ignorance.
I saw it in Cain’s eyes, and I felt it in his gesture.
“The stuff Michael said,” Icarus said, “That is not what you are here for.”
“I know.”
There was no doubt in my mind about that.
I expected him to ask me more questions.
He didn’t speak, and neither did I.
My gaze went to Icarus because he had been quiet for too long.
His eyes were blank.
His pupils were gone.
He was talking to the council.
They pulled him away like this sometimes.
I’ve seen it a couple of times already.
He usually has more of a heads up on a meeting, though.
I watched him for a while.
He was under for a long time.
I disconnected myself from the monitor and made my way to the kitchen.
When he came out of it, he would be famished.
It took a lot out of him, being ripped from his own body to meet in another place.
He once told me it was like his soul was forced from his body so that he could journey to the place the council dwells.
What kind of place wouldn’t allow your body to visit?
According to most of the things I’ve read, it was usually an afterlife.
When your body dies, your spirit passes on.
Was that what the council was?
As my mind worked, so did my hands.
I made stew.
Thick-cut vegetables and smaller cuts of beef.
When I walked back into the study, Icarus was slumped in his chair.
He looked drained of color.
“Icarus?” I asked, “Are you alright?”
He tiredly nodded.
I noticed him perk up once he realized what I had in my hands.
“For me?” he asked.
I nodded before setting the bowl in front of him.
He smiled as he stared down at the food.
He didn’t eat.
“Icarus?”
His smile faded.
“It’s far worse than I thought,” he said.
His gaze never left the stew.
“Explain.”
“Something extraordinary happened today,” he said, “And something profoundly sad.”
Yes. It was.
“Sunny,” Icarus said, “I have heard stories about multiple soul mates before, but this….”
Multiple soul mates?
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“They say that in your life, you are fated to only be with one person,” Icarus stated, “And in some rare cases, there are two.”
I only stared at him as he stirred his spoon, pushing the vegetables around.
“They aren’t supposed to occur in the same lifetime,” Icarus stated, “But then there is another type of soulmate.”
“Another type?”
He finally looked up to meet my gaze.
“The bad kind,” he said, “A mate that brings death and misfortune.”
I never heard of that before.
“What do you mean?”
“A true soulmate will bring joy, love, and prosperity,” Icarus stated, “A dark mate will bring the exact opposite.”
“A dark mate?”
“It feels like the same thing in the moment,” he stated, “But in the end, it’s never good.”
“What does this have to do with Michael?” I asked.
“The wolf,” he said, “His soul reached for hers, correct?”
I nodded, “That is what he told me.”
“He is her dark mate,” Icarus stated.
“So he was meant to kill her?” I asked.
“Not necessarily,” he said, “There is love between them. It just manifests in the wrong way.”
How can love manifest the wrong way?
If it’s consensual and genuine?
“A dark mate brings a dark fate,” Icarus stated, “Today, you witnessed something truly horrific.”
I nodded.
“Sunny,” Icarus said, “It’s worse than you think.”
How could it possibly be worse?
“The Alpha that died,” he said, “Was May’s true soulmate.”
“He was?” I asked.
She watched him die.
He nodded.
“A soulmate will find you in another lifetime,” Icarus stated, “Usually.”
“Usually?” I asked.
“A dark mate is not supposed to show up in the lifetimes you find your true mate,” Icarus stated, “That’s probably why the shades only got darker and darker the longer you were there.”
I was confused.
“Does that mean that Michael has another mate as well?” I asked.
He nodded.
It still lingered in my mind.
A dark mate brings a dark fate.
“Then they will be happy in another lifetime,” I said.
Icarus frowned.
“What is it?”
“Michael killed the Alpha Brian,” Icarus stated, “But he didn’t just kill him.”
“Phoenix fire?” I asked.
“Phoenix fire has killed thousands of people before,” he stated, “Michael erased Brian.”
Wait, what?
“Erased?” I asked, “How?”
Icarus looked just as unsure.
“I don’t know,” he stated, “But they say each Phoenix has their own power in their fire.”
“Their own power?”
He nodded.
“Explain.”
“It’s like an ability hidden in an ability,” he stated, “Fire is hot. Phoenix fire can burn either hot or cold.”
I nodded.
“Michael somehow burned Brian’s soul,” he stated, “He erased him.”
That couldn’t be possible.
It didn’t work like that, right?
“How do you know for sure?” I asked.
“The council,” he stated, “After Michael burned him, Brian died.”
I nodded.
“And when you die, your soul passes on,” he stated, “The council has more knowledge on the afterlife than I do.”
“His soul never moved on?” I asked, “What if he stayed for his mate?”
He shook his head.
“His soul was burned,” Icarus said, “There is no record of another reoccurrence of Brian.”
“Reoccurrence?” I asked.
“Reincarnation,” Icarus stated, “Michael erased him.”
I shook my head, “That isn’t possible.”
“It is now,” he said.
Does that mean that May is gone forever too?
He erased the woman he loved?
I had to sit down.
She was such a beautiful existence.
“What is it?” Icarus asked.
“Erased?” I asked, just to make sure, “Never coming back, ever?”
“That is correct,” he said.
I heard his chair move back so that he could stand up.
He stood in front of me.
“Oh Sunny,” he said softly, “You’re grieving.”
That’s what this was?
Icarus took my hand and pulled forward until I was on my feet too.
He wrapped his arms around me, and he held me close.
He embraced me.
Despite how muddled my mind was, it was comforting.
“I am so very sorry for your loss,” he said.
His tone was genuine.
Sorry for my loss?
I have no soul. How could I possibly be grieving?
“Do you think it was painful?” I asked.
He moved back a little to look at me.
“Phoenix fire?” he asked.
“To have your soul burned,” I stated.
“I don’t know,” he admitted, “I hope not, for his sake.”
His sake?
“Isn’t May gone too?” I asked.
He looked confused, “No, May is only gone from this lifetime.”
“But he burned her too,” I stated, “I watched it.”
“She is born again,” he said, “May is still alive.”
I was relieved.
“That is who you were worried about?” he asked.
I nodded.
“I’m sorry,” he said, “I thought I was more clear. Brian is the only one that is gone forever.”
“What does that mean?” I asked, “For May?”
He frowned, “It means that her soul will always be searching for something that she’ll never find.”
“He can’t come back at all?” I asked, “Not even in another dimension?”
He shook his head.
“So she’ll never be happy?” I asked.
“She can still be happy,” Icarus said, “But she will never know true love.”
“Not even with Michael?” I asked.
He made a face.
“No,” he said, “He is not good for her. Any time he shows up in her life, there will be love, but it will never last.”
“Never?” I asked.
“You know that expression ‘one in a million,’” he asked.
I nodded.
“In their case, it would be one is a trillion.”
No.
She deserved so much better than that.
“From what the council has said,” he said, “Every time they find each other, May suffers.”
“Every time?”
“And almost every time,” Icarus said, “May dies not too long after they’re together.”
That couldn’t be true.
“Why?” I asked.
“A dark mate means a dark fate,” he said.
“I get that,” I said, “But why? Isn’t there something we can do?”
He shook his head, “Fate is not something we can meddle with.”
I watched as everything in her life was taken.
Her soulmate burned right in front of her.
She’ll never know true love or happiness as long as her soul exists.
“Does he know what he did?” I asked.
“Michael?” Icarus asked, “I doubt it.”
I remember it clearly, the words he said.
“If I could,” Michael said, “I would erase you.”
He did precisely that.
“And Michael’s true soulmate?” I asked, “He gets to be happy with her?”
Icarus frowned, “Not exactly.”
I was even more confused now.
“Explain,” I said, “Please.”
I could practically see the gears working in Icarus’s mind.
“Remember how I told you about his name?” he asked.
“King,” I said, “You said that he had yet to earn his last name.”
He nodded.
“You never explained more than that,” I stated.
“In a lot of cases,” he said, “Supernatural creatures just choose the last name that suits them, or they adopt one from where they were born.”
I nodded.
“But there are some,” Icarus stated, “Some of them are given to them, like a curse.”
“A curse?” I asked.
He nodded.
“King is a curse?” I asked.
“For him, it is,” Icarus stated, “For a lot of us, it is.”
For a lot of us?
“How did he get his last name?” I asked.
“That’s where you are going next,” Icarus stated.
“He knows my face,” I stated, “It’s not a good idea.”
“It’s an event you need to see,” he said, “We need it.”
“We need it?” I asked, “Why?”
They clearly already know what happens.
“We need it for them,” he stated, “For Michael, later.”
I frowned.
“He lived it,” I stated, “Why do we have to record it?”
“When a Phoenix dies, sometimes they forget,” he stated, “He might not even remember you.”
I wasn’t so sure about that.
Then as I thought about it, it made sense.
Even for humans, when they experience a traumatic event, they sometimes lose their memories as a defense mechanism.
He didn’t deserve to forget her.
She deserved better.
I definitely hated him.
“Icarus?” I asked.
“Yes, Sunny?”
“With a fated soulmate gone,” I said, “Does that mean that the dark mate is more likely to meet you in your lifetime?”
“Yes,” he said.
“Even with their own soulmate?” I asked.
“It depends,” Icarus stated, “On your soulmates' natural occurrence.”
I suppose that made sense.
“Sunny?” Icarus asked, “You worry about May?”
“I do,” I admitted.
He took in a breath before he moved back to his seat.
“What is it?” I asked.
“She wasn’t completely unscathed,” he admitted, “When she grabbed her mate's arm, when she too caught fire.”
“Her soul was burned too?” I asked.
“It was,” he said, “But not enough to erase her.”
“What does that mean?”
“You wouldn’t recognize her in another life,” he said, “And her burn is physically manifested as something else.”
“It is?”
He nodded.
“Check your database for the term ‘birthmark.’”
I searched the term, and I wasn’t sure what to make of the results.
Some were small and barely looked like a mole.
Other birthmarks occupied more skin.
“You see the images?” he asked.
I nodded.
“You saw her burn?” Icarus asked, “Before Michael took her?”
I nodded.
“Her soul burn is permanently on her skin as well,” he stated, “Nearly half of her body.”
“Is it normal to not look like yourself in a past life?” I asked.
“You usually resemble yourself quite a bit,” Icarus stated, “But in May’s case, the soul burn changed a lot about her.”
“Is she still like she was?” I asked.
He didn’t look like he understood my question.
“Is she still similar,” I hesitated, “Is she still a beautiful person on the inside?”
“I’m not sure,” he admitted, “But like all of us, it could depend on how we are raised.”
How we are raised?
“Get some rest Sunny,” Icarus said, “When you wake up, I’ll have to send you out again.”
I nodded.
He finally started to eat the food I made for him.
“I have another question,” I stated.
His mouth was full, so he only met my eyes.
“Do you have a given last name?” I asked.
He did say a curse for us, not for them.
I watched him finish chewing the food in his mouth.
His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed.
“I do,” he said.
He was cursed too?
“Will you tell me?”
He glanced to the side.
“You do not desire to tell me?” I asked.
He looked torn.
“I understand,” I said.
It hurt a little.
Well, it couldn’t hurt.
That didn’t make sense to even think it.
“Sunny,” he said, “It’s not that I don’t want to tell you.”
“You can’t?”
“You’ll ask questions,” he said, “And I’m not ready to answer them.”
“Then I won’t ask them,” I stated, “But I would like to know your name.”
He nodded before leaning back in his chair.
“Wax.”
Icarus Wax?
It didn’t sound right.
I nodded, “Please finish your meal.”
He stared at me even as I turned and left the study.
Wax.
Wax.
Like the story.
Like the wings on his back.
He told me a name came with a reputation.
Maybe there was more to it than that.
Sometimes a name is a curse.
What did it all mean?
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