Page 114 of He Who Sleeps

"And it's not like He doesn't already know your energy," Carter pointed out from behind them. "We've been feeding it to Him for three years."

She nodded. “Still kinda...scary.”

“Nonsense,” Rix said as he walked by and pinched her ass with a wink. “Get to it so we can all turn in.”

She looked to Finn. “Okay, how do we do this?”

"Same as we did when you watched after Black Night," he told her. "Except this time instead of us cutting ourselves, you can dump what's in the bucket in there."

“Okay...”

They set up, them around the perimeter, this time with her at the center. Words were spoken, and she felt the tickle of power at her navel, sighing as it went from a tickle to a blanket, and further, making her body tingle.

“For you,” she heard Finn say, and she stepped forward and tipped the blood into the well.

“For you,” she whispered.

Much as it had the morning after Halloween, tendrils of smoky light began curling up out of the well, reaching toward her. "It's okay," Finn said, steadying her as she automatically backed away. "Let it touch you."

Steeling herself she stood there, waiting. The tingle of magic grew, and as the smoke touched her it turned electric, the air charged around her as if her hair would stand on end from the static. But no static came. The caress of power was innate, and she felt it inside, as well as out, a small moan slipping from her lips as her body thrummed with energy and needed release.

"Just let it roll through you," Finn said gently. "Don't fight it. It's a gift." Tendrils of light started reaching out to the men as well and Finn smiled as he reached out a hand to the one nearest him, letting it curl through him.

"I feel so much better," Carter groaned quietly from behind her. "I didn't realize how tired I was."

“It tingles...” She gasped. “In odd places...”

“Don’t worry, love, we will help with that later,” she heard Jack murmur.

Soon the space was filled with tendrils that glittered and pulsed with unearthly light and she was sighing, allowing it to suffuse her. And then she felt it, a heartbeat, deep and thrumming, off from a human’s, a weird cadence, not a falter but a rhythm that had its own origins.

“I....can you feel that? Is that Him?”

"Yes, it is," Finn confirmed. "He's pleased."

"He should be after all the blood He's had this week," Leo said drily and amusement tingled through them all.

"Joy," Carter realized aloud at the same moment they all felt it. "He's gifting us joy. That's a new one."

"It's a new era," Finn reminded him.

She laughed, feeling a tear run down her face as she did. Joy... Joy never felt this good, this pure. She looked to her guys, and smiled at each one. The tendrils receded from them then, feeling came to her, wrapping her in a thick embrace. She felt the pressure around her heavy but not at all unpleasant, before it pulled back and slithered back into the well.

Falling to her knees, she let the tears fall, happiness and the feeling of being so small in the face of something so awesome coursing through her.

"Kind of overwhelming your first time, huh?" Leo said, coming across to her to help her up.

"I didn't get joy," Easton blurted out. "He spoke to me. I didn't get joy."

"What?" Finn turned to look at him but Carter was closer. "What did He give you instead?"

"I don't know how to explain it." He just stood there, tears pouring down his face as he struggled to find the words. "It just...it doesn't hurt anymore," he stuttered out. "The memories...they don't suck me in. I can... I can..." He broke off again and Carter hugged him, looking over his head at her and the others.

"I think what he's trying to say is that the God has taken the power of his memories to help him heal," he explained, with a meaningful look at her.

She crossed to him and Carter, unsure of what was to happen, how to even approach her sweet Easton, but she wouldn’t let him be there alone. He needed to know she was there, all in, for everything.

"He told me that what stops him from engaging in physical contact is the flashbacks," Carter explained to her quietly. "The moment someone touches him, he gets sucked into the bad memories and he doesn't know how to get out of it. If that's not happening anymore..."

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