"Anti mage?" Signus cocked his head to the side. "Doesn't matter. Nobody can save you."

Syryn knew Rowan would find him soon. He just had to talk a little more, delay his death by a minute or so.

"I have a last wish," Syryn held onto Signus' arm to support the weight that his neck was bearing. They were floating a few metres off the ground and the added pull of gravity was stressing his neck.

"What wish?"

"I think we should have sex, Signus."

Syryn's ridiculous wish gave the demon pause. It was wild, the wildest that any of his victims behaved. Usually, they begged for mercy and that bored him. Signus would have snuffed out Syryn's life immediately if he had done something as silly as begging for his life.

"I can fulfil your last wish," the fire filled mouth gaped with sadistic delight. "My fire will consume you from the inside."

And that scared Syryn's balls into retreating back inside him. He was done for if Rowan didnt show up before Signus f*cked him to a fiery death. What a terrible way to die. Why did he have to bring up sex? If Syryn was being honest, he had been thinking about how he didn't want to die a virgin again. And the rest of it was his mouth taking liberties.

"No-" as soon as Syryn said the word, he felt a shift of pressure in the air. Signus suddenly turned into a mist of blood and flesh. Through the spray of gore, the teen saw a blond man heading towards him.

God damn, Rowan - he thought with a heart full of relief. When had his anti mage gotten so hot?

Syryn fell back towards the ground the moment Signus exploded. The demon's hand was severed from the now aerosolised body and it was still holding onto his neck in a tight grip. The teen was braced for a hard fall but it didn't happen.

"Syryn," Rowan's voice floated into his mind, a place that was feeling like it had been stuffed with cotton. The anti mage had caught him mid-fall and was cradling him to the wide chest that Syryn loved. The thread of worry in Rowan's voice was like nectar to the teen who had taken a harsh beating. His hero had saved him.

"I'm fine Ro. Help Riaku," Syryn told the anti mage.

"Artemus and Sebastian are already on it," Rowan's gentle hands eased off the torn fabric that covered Syryn. Blood and gore were soaked into his tunic but it was mostly Signus'.

"You killed him so easily," Syryn said in a pensive tone. Rowan hadn't been honest with him. The teen looked into Rowan's unreadable blue eyes. The anti mage had been so transparent in their old life. When had Rowan learnt to hide his thoughts from Syryn?

"I had no choice, Ryn. He was about to kill you."

"And if he wasn't, you'd have kept your strength hidden?" Syryn asked.

The anti mage slowly nodded. "It's for the best."

As much as Syryn wanted to get mad at Rowan, he couldn't argue with the blond about it. Too much power attracted too much attention. People interpreted the world according to what they wanted to see. One had to manufacture a reality to match their expectations because that was the way to control one's enemies.

"I dont want to know then," Syryn replied. "Keep your secrets."

"Syryn-" Rowan appeared discomforted by the teen's reply.

"I almost died a virgin again, Ro. Can't we just get this done with so that the next time I'm in a life and death situation, I won't have any regrets?" Syryn said it to ease the heaviness that had taken over their moods.

The anti mage smiled and it was breathtaking. Syryn's overworked heart stuttered and he knew that Rowan would always have this effect on him. It wasn't fair. Did Rowan's heart also beat for him as his did for Rowan?

"I missed you so much, Ryn. Every single day," Rowan confessed. It hadn't been half a month but the separation had felt like forever to the anti mage.

"I know. That's why I asked you in the letter-" Syryn stopped himself too late. He had forgotten that the letters hadn't been rewritten. He had been meaning to omit the messy lines that he'd crossed out.

"What letters?" Rowan's attention was suddenly and completely hooked to it.

Syryn blamed his tired mind for the mistake of mentioning the letters to Rowan. Panic gripped him and his mind was now as blank as a clean slate.

"What letters?" Rowan asked again. "You wrote to me?" The smile was suffused with pleasure and Syryn felt sweat beading his neck. His stress levels soared.

"It hurts all over," Syryn piteously complained. "Rowan, only your kisses can heal me."

"I'll do more than kiss you, Ryn. But you have to show me those letters." The blond's astute eyes drifted to the satchel that had survived the fight. The money Syryn spent had been worth the quality of his satchel. Fireproof leather wasn't just an added bonus in Syryn's line of work as a danger magnet. A part of him wished that the satchel was destroyed by fire.

"Why don't you check on Art and Seb? They could use a strong anti mage like yourself." Syryn wanted time to rewrite the letters. Even two minutes was enough.

"They can handle themselves." Rowan's suspicions had been stoked now. Syryn didn't want him to see the letters for some reason. "Let's get you patched up, Ryn. Hand me some potions."

"I need a bath first," Syryn clutched Rowan's chest and acted pitifully. "You sprayed Signus all over me."

"I'm sorry. I hated that bastard," Rowan replied. "He killed Vince in the last timeline."

Rowan placed the battered satchel on Syryn's lap and watched the teen remove a few bottles. "I just need rest and some restorative potions," Syryn told the anti mage as he uncorked a bottle. "But it would be nice if I could get some ichor."

"I'll get it for you," Rowan adjusted Syryn's weight so the boy was in a more comfortable position.

"You'll do everything but sleep with me."

-----

"A-mu, yer so rough," Sebastian complained when he was nearly hit by the waves generated from Artemus' divine staff.

"Get out of my way then, Sebastian." Artemus' field was strangling the magic that powered the thousands of puppets around them.

The duo had safely secured the prince who was still alive but in a bad shape. Riaku had injured Julie before the arrival of Zerhen who had shot him out of the sky. Now the demons were on the defensive end, fighting against the heavy suppression that reduced their firepower.

"Yer the one that came in my direction!" Sebastian snapped back at the cool anti mage. "Are ya tryin' ta kill me??"

"If you die in the line of fire then it'll be your own fault." Artemus was just making Sebastian's life harder and they both knew it. The mage had been flirting with the disgruntled anti mage at every opportunity that presented itself. Artemus' non-response was like a block of stone that Sebastian had been chipping away at.

"So mean.." Sebastian countered Julie's sound waves with his wall of compressed wind. The mage could change the density of the wind and use it in both offensive and defensive ways.

Scores of lethal wind blades that could tear through boulders like paper materialised and sped towards the demons.

"Clear a path for me," Artemus told the mage. "I'm gonna catch that one."

Zerhen had cut his losses and was in the midst of abandoning Julie. He was already spreading his wings to escape.

Sebastian conjured a tornado of wind that tossed the demon back onto the ground.

Artemus sent an annoyed look at Sebastian. If it was anyone else, the anti mage would have commended them for the move. But with Sebastian, it was a competition, a vestige of the grudge that had grown between them over the years.

"Don't make that face, A-mu. Ya know it just makes you look even cuter." Sebastian had realised that his flirtatious remarks annoyed the anti mage. And it was the biggest reason he kept hitting on him. Annoy the fuck out of Artemus was his motto.

The anti mage ignored him. There were enemies to be killed before Artemus would teach Sebastian a lesson.