"I don't understand."
"I know."
She knew the moment the second spell hit. His body went rigid, and confusion crossed his features. Xander staggered and dropped to the rooftop, his body convulsing.
Eden flinched. She spent twenty years healing him. Her only solace: the lesson was worth teaching. It was all that might keep him alive. She crouched beside him.
"One day, you'll understand," she said quietly. "It may not feel like it, but you'll survive this. Trust me."
He gave a strangled cry of rage and pain in response. Eden gazed at his writhing body a moment longer before she rose.
This is how you dull a sword after victory.
With another brief hesitation, Eden turned and walked away.
"Watcher," she said, pausing by the stairs. She suspected he was observing what happened.
The Original Watcher appeared, confirming her instinct.
"Tell your kind he is no longer a threat," she directed. "The vamp army I created is gathering at the bridge on the western edge of the city. Send your people there to destroy them, if it pleases you."
His eyes went to Xander, who writhed in pain on the other side of the roof.
"Your allies will. Not. Touch. Him." Eden said sharply. "Do you understand?"
"Provided he poses no danger to us, yes."
"He won't. He is paying the penalty for the loss of a hundred thousand innocent lives. He won't walk for years. That necklace will absorb new magic and prevent him from accessing the depths of his current store."
"It'll make a good target for your enemies. His power will be strong enough to destroy a world soon."
Eden shook her head. "Not unless someone can withstand the release of his mind magic. The gem is protected by it. Even I would fall to his manipulation, if he were to use it on me. No, Watcher, the gem will kill any who touches it."
"You leave him in such pain, destroy your armies and walk away," the Original Watcher summarized. "You alone emerge unscathed."
"Wrong," she said. "I held two things dear: my cause and my Xander. Today, both are gone."
The Watcher studied her and then nodded. "Go in peace, Eden. You will be needed here again one day. I will handle the vamp armies you created."
Eden didn't dwell on the peculiar statement. Watchers shared what they wanted, and she had no desire to find out what that was. Seconds later, she was back in the mortal world, where she belonged. Instead of victorious, she felt only regret.