by Mason Sabre
With his shoulders slumped and his head down, Aiden slid from Stephen and all the way to the floor instead of sitting back in his chair. "I didn't mean to make you sad."
Eden turned her back to him, but Helena went to her, as best as she could with her baby bump. “It’s okay. Eden is just tired,” she said to Aiden to reassure him.
“Maybe she needs to go to bed early.”
“Yes.”
Eden didn’t cry against Helena, or sob, or anything other than just stand there and let Helena hold her for a moment while she gathered her strength and pulled on her fighting face again. When she was ready, she took a deep breath and came out of Helena's hold. "I'm okay. It just wasn't meant to be like this. I've got a bag ready for you. Do you want to sit in the chair again or be mobile?”
Darkness flushed Helena's face. "I don't want it. I told you."
Eden sighed. “It’s the only chance you have. The only chance those babies have.” Even from where Stephen stood, he could see the set of Helena’s jaw said Eden was waiting for her breath. He didn't know what this was about.
“I can’t kill him for this.”
“It’s the only chance those children have. You’re carrying shifter kids.”
“I know.”
“If you die, they die too.”
Helena rubbed both hands across the swell of her belly. “I can get them through without it.”
Whatever it was Eden needed her to do, she had to do it. “Do it for the children,” he said, trying to will his words and emotions to her.
Eden went to the IV bag she had hung up. It was filled over halfway with blood … his blood. “You might as well take this one. I’ve flushed out all the silver. If you don’t take it, it’s going down the drain, and then what? Your small chance is gone?”
Helena stepped away as if Eden could somehow make her take it. "It's not right." She went to Stephen’s side and ran her hand along his bare arm. “I can’t. I just …”
“If he were here, he’d make you.”
“He’s …”
“He did this for you. He did this for all of you. We need to give those babies his blood, or they aren't going to make it. Neither will you. You owe it to him.”
The way she squared her jaw and the stubborn angle of her mouth brought the dimple out in her chin. “To kill him?”
Stephen put himself by Helena. If he could have willed her to hear him, he’d have given his life for that. This was what the Humans were going to do, what they had been doing all the times they had taken blood from him. His blood … it had been for the children. “Do it,” he said, forcing air into the words like he could make them float through the worlds to her. “Do whatever it is you need to do." He rested his hand next to hers.
“Aiden,” Eden said. “Go and get Xander.”
Helena pushed back, stepping on the unseen Stephen. “What are you doing?”
Eden fixed her with a glare that was all business, all power. “You’re going to get this blood to those babies even if I have to make you. Even if Xander has to hold you down and make you. I will not stand here and let those two die inside you.”
“What would Nick think if he could hear you?”
Eden shook her head. “What will Nick think when he wakes and finds everything he ever loved is gone? What would you want me to tell him?” She leant in closer to Helena, blocking her in. “You tell me he can hear us. You tell me he knows what’s going on. Give him a reason to fight, Helena. Make him come back to us.”
Chapter 18
For a good hour, Helena stared out into nothing, her mind traumatised and her heart betrayed by the two friends she had trusted. Stephen knew how that felt, but he agreed with them and not her. He didn't want to see her hurt, or want to see her cry, but logic wasn't present in her mind. They'd got the blood bag attached to her, and it was going into her body at a slow rate, but each drop was another blow to her already, unstable mental state, and all Stephen could do was sit in the corner and watch.
“You’re doing the right thing,” he said, needing the sounds, needing to break the silence even though she couldn’t hear him. He hoped with some part of himself that she could feel him with her. That she could feel the truth and he didn’t care what it took to get those babies to live, she had to do it. Even if it meant killing him in the process.
The question loomed … what would be the price for a child’s life? What would one person give for the life of their child? Anything. That was the answer Stephen came to each time he tossed the problem around in his head. Stephen would give anything.
He pulled his knees up and rested his arms across the top of them and leant back, not against the wall, not against anything. Just there, sitting, watching, hoping.
He’d seen first-hand what happened to a person when they lost a child: his sister, his friend. The sounds of Cade’s cries had been the desperate wails of an animal in such pain … more pain than he could ever imagine or ever want to hear again. They’d already lodged in his brain as a memory he would never lose.
The worst part was, the child wasn’t dead. God, he’d almost told them so many times as he’d watched them grieve, feeling no better than those who had told them the lies and stolen their son, but it was for their own good and the child’s, and so was this. No matter how much it hurt, how much it needed to be over, it couldn’t be.
How much was a child’s life worth?
More than anything anyone could ever imagine. If he had to give every last drop of blood to keep those two alive, then so be it. Those children were worth more to him than anything in the entire world. He didn’t care if he ended up stuck in this limbo. He’d do it.
"Kirsty said this is what they did," Eden said. She was sitting on the stool Aiden had used, but she had pulled it against the wall so she could lean back. She had a blanket around her shoulders, and her hair was wet like she'd just had a shower. Stephen didn't remember if she had. He kept dropping in and out of time.
Helena only blinked slowly and stared out, not looking at Eden. She was lying in a bed now, one like Stephen’s, a hospital-style bed that had been pushed next to his. Wires spread out from under her shirt “I don’t care.” The bag of blood hung on a hook behind her, almost like she couldn’t look at it, couldn’t accept it was there, but she needed to. She needed to be selfish on behalf of those children. If she were like the others of her race, she’d have not given it a second thought.
Blood dripped into the tube that ran down from the back and then into a cannula in her hand. Stephen pushed himself up and allowed a quick look at his own pathetic body, and then he moved to Helena. “If I could make this better for you, I would.” He hovered next to her and willed his body to feel her closeness, to feel something other than the dark empty gap between himself and his body. “I want you to do this no matter how wrong it feels.”
When she closed her eyes again, the heaviness inside pulled like a pit in his gut, but he stayed with her and begged her to do all she needed to do to get through this. Helena’s breathing eventually dropped into slow breaths. She was asleep. Eden was still on the stool, and she tilted her head back to gaze up. Maybe she was hoping that someone, somewhere could feel the weight she was carrying on her shoulders. It was drowning her. With Helena asleep, Eden slipped off the stool and took a moment to stretch her legs and bow her back, then she went to her things, took out a needle and eased it into Stephen’s arm to take more blood.
So much as he was resigned to giving his life for the children. He hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Perhaps he could get back to his body before that happened. Maybe he could watch his children grow.
“Thank—” His words cut off when the bite of pain seared through his chest and knocked him off his feet. One moment he was standing, and the next he was on the floor, breathless. His legs had buckled, and he tried to suck air into his lungs, but all that did was make him cough and splutter.
His pulse throbbed in his ears, and he scrambled back, trying to stand, but he only mad
e it to one knee when the room spun, and everything went sideways, but he couldn't let himself go down. He knew with everything if he went down, he was going to pass out, and who knew what would happen to him then. This was what it had been in the yard, Eden, the blood. She had been taking it from him then. Good. Even though it hurt. Even though death seemed to be knocking at the side of his head, he was happy about this.
He wheezed and dragged himself back to the corner. He had no choice then but to lie back and pant. A sheen of sweat covered his body, and his temperature soared like his body was fighting it, but this wasn't a body.
Helena woke again, and it took all the effort in his body just to raise his head and look at her. If he was going to die, he wanted her to be the last thing he saw. The only thing … he was doing this for her. He was dying for her. She was beautiful and perfect. She was his.
He stretched a hand out toward her, almost as if he pushed his body enough, he could touch her, hold her hand. “I love you,” he said, and his life echoed in his ears. He was sure it was seeping out with each breath he took.
“What are you doing?” Helena pushed herself to the edge of the chair, as far as the IV would allow. “Eden?”
“You need more.”
“No.”
“Yes. I need time to take it and cleanse it. I can’t give it to you with all the silver in it.”
“Please stop. I can’t I …” Helena could barely move, but she tried. The tube attached to her made it hard, with that and the weight she carried with two children at the front. She lifted her arm, pulling the tube around and then swung her legs down at the side of the bed, but she was in the middle of it.
“What are you doing?” Eden dashed to her before Helena could get down and she lifted Helena’s legs back and then yanked up the rail and locked it into place.
Helena gripped the rail and rattled it. “Eden?”
“It’s for your own good. I can’t stay here and let you kill the babies. I can’t.”
Helena tried to lean over the side of the bed, but the lock to the rail was too low down, and with her baby bump and lack of movement, she couldn't reach it. Good, Stephen thought. He didn't want her to get down and away. If they had to tie her down, then so be it. "Let me out."
“No.”
“What if I pull this out?” She placed her hand over the cannula.
Eden met her fierce gaze with an equal glare. “Then you waste his blood. I will still take it, Helena. I will make the damn concoction for you, and you can waste it if you like. That’s your choice.”
Helena’s eyes shone with tears, and she gripped onto the rail. “I can’t do this.”
"You can," Stephen rasped from the floor. He was half on his back and half on his side, trying to push himself back up. "I promise you, you can." He managed to get himself to the wall, and he almost made it to an upright position but winced at the last pull and let his heart beat without fighting it in some weird afterlife heart attack.
“You can,” Eden said, mirroring his words.
Helena went for the bag hanging from the frame above her head, and Eden dashed around the bed. At first, Stephen thought she was going to make a grab for Helena's hand, but instead, she switched on the machine Helena was wired to, and the whole room held its breath, making time stop.
Stephen had never heard such an amazing sound, as it filled the room and froze them all in place. The wires that ran under Helena's top and wrapped around her belly allowed the sounds of a baby's heartbeat to echo through the room from the machine. It made Stephen's breath catch just hearing it.
"Listen to that. That is what you're doing this for." She moved the monitor a little, and a quieter beat came into focus, the whoosh, whoosh of a tiny train. "Listen to them. You're all they have right now." She took hold of Helena's hand. "I know it's hard. I do. But you have to do this. Nick would want you to give them the best chance they have. He would. I promise you with every breath." She met Helena's gaze, let go of her hand and cupped her face. "All those letters he wrote to us, to Aiden … when he talked about you and those babies …" She trailed off, her words catching. "I promise. He'd give everything for you. I'm not just saying that. It's in his words. He didn't care about getting himself out. Just you … just you and them."
Helena flopped back into the bed and listened to the sounds in the room. They couldn’t see Stephen, but he was paused, held motionless by those sounds because he had never heard them before. If Helena could have seen him, she would have seen every ounce of love bursting from him right then. She would have seen him, sitting on the floor, with his mouth wide open and his heart firmly in his throat. He pressed his hand to his chest, and the monitor attached to his actual body bleeped twice, and then the beat fell in line with the baby’s. Helena frowned; Eden turned.
“Nick?”
Eden angled the screen of Stephen's monitor, so Helena could see it, then she turned the volume up on the babies' machine, and his heart jumped. "He heard that."
Helena covered her mouth with one hand, and the other, she reached for Eden. “Oh, God.”
Eden reached out then and turned the valve on the pump for his blood, so it opened more and took the blood from him faster. He braced himself on the floor and had to pull his knees up again to try and quash the agony rippling through his body. He breathed in short, sharp breaths. He was dying, but he didn’t care. “Take it,” he said, putting his head back. “Take all of it. Just take it, Helena. Take it.”
Helena froze, and she sat up again to turn the volume down on the machine. “Did you hear that?”
Eden frowned. “What?”
“Nick,” she said. “I heard Nick.”
Chapter 19
Hope was a cruel creature, some could say vicious even. She was a beast who flew in on swift wings and landed in the centre of Stephen’s chest with a thump that knocked the wind out of him and left him with nothing more than an icy blast of air that rocked his body and sent him falling.
“Helena?”
He couldn't even catch himself, and when his head bounced against the floor, he had to blink hard to fight to hold onto any conscious thought. The darkness wanted to claim him. It was teasing, enticing. It was somewhere he knew he could go and be at peace. Every sound in the room vanished, and the pressure in his head built until he was sure blood would pour from his ears, just to get a release. His mind tried to grasp onto what had just happened, but the second he was close to logical thought, his mind wandered, and he was lost again.
"Helena …." His voice was a harsh wind that hardly came from his mouth. Like a sheet on the wind, the sound was dried out, and it vanished before it could reach her. "I'm here. I'm right here." His entire body was weak; his arms and legs had turned to jelly, and they shook when he moved, but he had to. He had to reach her. He crawled toward her bed and fell when he tried to use the bars to get himself up. Eden walked through him without even noticing. He felt the wind rush through him with her steps, and he clenched his entire body against it, trying to force himself into a solid form. "Just once. Just fucking once." If he could just let her know he was there. Let her know he was okay.
His body gave out, and he could do nothing to keep himself propped up. He had to let his eyes close, but he swore as he did it, as he settled into himself; a melted mess on the floor. This was useless, all of it was. Somewhere, someone was laughing at him.
“I’ll just lie here a second, then.”
The sounds in the room moved like waves he could have reached for and pulled to him, but he let them flow over his body. It was about the only thing that didn't hurt to be near him. He didn't even bother to move when the bed skidded into him, and one of the wheels lodged in his invisible side as Helena got herself down off the bed, rail locked in place or not. She was determined.
“Shit,” Eden cursed as the rail dropped and she snapped her hand back. Blood rolled down her pale skin instantly. Helena didn’t seem to notice it. She’d caught it on the rail, trying to help Helena, but Helena’s foc
us was lost, gone. She ran to Stephen … ran to the useless body on the bed and not the useless ghost on the floor.
“Nick?” she said, her voice edging around the tone of desperate. “Nick. It’s me.” She paused and waited for him. “Speak to me.” She cupped his face and angled his head towards her. It made the oxygen tube that was under his nose move. “Please say something.”
Her bottom lip trembled as she stared at him. Every wish, every dream rested in her watery eyes, and she didn't flinch when those tears fell from her eyes and landed on his cheek. She put both hands to either side of his face and pressed her lips to his. "Please. I know you can hear me. I just know it. Please come back."
Behind her, Stephen fought to get to his feet. His body was weaker than it had ever been, but this was the chance they had. He got to one side and managed to get himself part way up, but then his ankle gave way when he tried to use it to stand, and he went crashing to the floor again. “I’m here. I’m right here.” His voice held no substance, not even a whisper she might have picked up if the room could go silent. His body rocked when he coughed, but fuck that. He was getting up. He was getting up and going over to her. He got to his feet, and his legs gave a wobble, and he put his hands out to gain some balance, but he remained upright. "I'm here," he tried again, clearing his throat.
Eden had wrapped her hand with a piece of white towelling. Well maybe it had been white once, it was sort of tinged with grey, but she held her hand to her chest and moved around the bed to get to Helena.
“I heard him. I really did.”
Eden hadn’t even said a word, but what she thought was clear in her mind, on her expression. “Maybe you just thought you did. You were upset. I …”
