Pulling her hands free of his, she sighed at the sight of her shirt and how difficult it was going to be to get on.
Without a word, Uzo picked it up and held it out, helping her into it and as he tugged it down over her arms, he kept a tight grip on her.
"He loves you. And you love him. Accept it and embrace it. It will make someone like you stronger."
"What is that supposed to mean?" she hissed, trying to wriggle herself free of him but he only tightened his grip.
"You are a dangerously powerful creature who has little compassion for humans and many of the beings of this world. You need someone who has those things you lack and Jaia is that someone."
She didn't want to listen but when she tried to drop her legs, he only heaved her up against him in a bear hug, her feet unable to reach the ground.
"Put me down!" she cried, his hand coming up over her mouth and she was furious to see just how strong he actually was.
"Listen to me. You need someone who will love you like that, or we will all be doomed. Don't let your fear and resentment cloud you to the fact that you need love. Our entire existence needs you to love or we'll all be destroyed."
She shook her head furiously, refusing to accept that he might be right. She wasn't that cold, was she?
"If it is a choice between you destroying us all or you being trapped in this state and us all in Faerie, I will drag your stubborn arse there right now and let this world be damned. All of those creatures you need to become yourself will be lost and you will never be that Etani you enjoyed for the last nine hundred years. No Letari, no magic, just a sad little vampire demon brat who couldn't handle it,"
He let her go and she landed hard on her knees, falling forward onto her hands.
"Shut up..." she whimpered, hating that his words had left a hole in her stomach that caused her eyes to well with tears.
"I will take you there right now and I will leave all of those you find precious behind. Then you can watch as they are all vanished from this world," he said cruelly, leaning over her to speak into her ear.
"Shut up!" she screamed, turning on him and slapping him across the face. "I won't let you kill them!"
He only smiled at her, grim and satisfied.
"No Etani, it will be you killing them," he breathed and walked away from her, taking Kai's clothes with him.
Looking down, she picked up a shoe that had fallen from the rock and she found the other, sitting against the rock and hugging them to her chest.
She knew he was right; she had survived by putting only two things before her own survival and that had been her two sisters. Without them, she had nothing left and had considered letting that world be destroyed because it was easier. She was cold and indifferent to the humans unless it was as something she could eat.
Bowing her head over the shoes, she rested her chin against the soles, watching a tear rolling off her arm. Her hair formed a perfect curtain around her head, shielding her and her traitor tears from the world.
When had she become so cold, or had she always been like that? She had loved her sisters or else she wouldn't have bothered keeping Cain distracted. But that was the love of family and that was entirely different to the kind of love Uzo was talking about.
Did she love Jaia? She didn't know, she had never experienced that kind of love before. But when she thought of Kai being vanished, she felt a terrible pang in her heart, and she gritted her teeth to keep from giving a sob.
She loved Kai, but what kind of love was that? It was like the love she had for her sisters but still different. She had essentially adopted him as her sibling, but no, that still wasn't it. She loved Kai like she had loved that little ball of light that had grown inside her. He was more like her child than her brother, it was the same with Nayishma.
She considered that and frowned, clinging to something that wasn't her fear and confusion over Jaia.
Kai and Nayishma were both a result of her bringing them back to life, she had to suppose that meant she had created them in a weird way. They were her children.
Chewing on the inside of her cheek, she contemplated the two and then snorted, realising why they had so disliked each other. They were siblings trying to fight over the attention of their mother.
The thought amused her greatly, and she looked up in the direction of the camp. Daemon was watching her from a distance, but he left her be. She didn't doubt he knew the topic of their conversation, if he hadn't been listening in and didn't know every word that had been spoken.
Dropping her eyes back to the sand, she tried to turn her attention to the problem that was Jaia, and immediately shied away from the subject.
No, she wouldn't go there, not yet anyway.
Pushing herself to her feet, she made her way back to the camp and dropped the shoes down beside Kai. Wrapping her arms tightly around his shoulders, she rested her cheek atop his head. He looked up at her with a wide smile. Kissing his hair gently, she sighed and let go of him, pausing when he took a gentle hold of her arms and held her there.
Leaning his head back against her stomach, he closed his eyes and simply enjoyed being close to her again.
They remained like that as the night passed and she found herself absently combing her fingers through his hair, something he seemed to find immensely enjoyable and she found him and Daemon exchanging glares. Kai was smug and Daemon was irritable, but she decided it was good that the demon should remember his place in her life.
Turning her attention to the passage, they were left waiting.
The night passed and finally she had to move, folding herself down onto a patch of grass beside Kai and unable to help a smile when the sleepy vampire rested his head against her shoulder and had fallen asleep in less than a minute. Versalis had returned and been sprawled out for hours, Daemon moodily staring out at the ocean and Uzo had wandered off to explore the beach. Shifting Kai from her shoulder, she stretched her legs out in front of her and rested his head in her lap.
He nuzzled her thigh in his sleep and she smiled, watching him but remaining alert to any sounds around them.
By the time Uzo had returned it was almost dawn and he sat down at her side, her head immediately finding his shoulder and her eyes sliding shut.
She was exhausted but hadn't wanted to risk disturbing Kai by moving him again and Uzo wrapped his arm tightly around her.
It was almost noon by the time she woke, finding herself wrapped up in Uzo's arms and resting in his lap. Kai had vanished but she knew he would be around somewhere.