by Laura Emmons
Madison swayed with confidence and maybe a bit of mania as she walked toward us. My eyes didn’t register the expression on her face. They were riveted on the semi-automatic pistol in her right hand. The firm voices of Officer Sophie and Officer Dave echoed in my head. Do the math. You can move at least as fast as your opponent. If they’re brandishing a knife or similar weapon, the weapon will only move as fast as they can swing their arm. Besides, it’s much less likely you would die of a stab wound than a bullet wound.
You will never outrun a speeding bullet. If faced with an enemy armed with a firearm, quit. Don’t fight back and hope against all hope you survive the ordeal. I couldn’t fathom Madison’s intentions, but I knew what my response would be. Corey needed to understood, too.
He’d started inching closer to me as soon as he saw the gun. We had both instinctively put the car between us and Madison. It wouldn’t protect us, but we’d both been compelled to move behind it anyway.
I whispered to him, since he now stood next to me, shoulder to shoulder. “Remember what Officer Dave said…do what she says.”
“But…” he started to argue.
I cut him off, hissing, “No! She might be hypnotized again. Besides, you can’t kill a human, or you’d be no better than them.” Madison had reached us and there was no opportunity to say anything else.
“Let’s go for a ride, shall we?” She definitely had a crazed look about her.
“Where are we going?” I didn’t get in the car…not yet.
“…To visit a friend, she’s been waiting to meet him for a long time.”
Madison had been the creature lurking in the woods, but while we ran toward them, she ran away and hid on the porch. She knew Fiona’s work schedule as well as I did. We were completely isolated out here, and she wanted us to go to the sacred meadow, where we’d be even more alone.
“Corey, get in the back seat…and don’t fidget.” It was the only instruction I could give him without openly revealing the mysterious power in his hands. As soon as we were all crammed into the sub-compact vehicle, he’d have a hard time refraining from placing hands on her and microwaving off her face. If microwaving was what his hands did, I still wasn’t sure. Until I believed she wasn’t being compelled to behave this way, I wouldn’t bear the responsibility of taking her life.
Besides, she’d seen his aura without the stone bracelets, but she might not have seen what he did to the gnome. It happened so very fast. Corey hesitated for a moment, but then flipped the passenger seat forward and climbed into the back seat. Madison pushed the seat back and got in the car, so I did, too. I drove it to the parking lot we always used. Still being urged by the gun in her hand, we all got out and started to walk along the path toward the sacred temple.
It occurred to me that anything I said might send her off the deep end, but when the opening for the clearing was just ahead, I had to ask. “Madison, the curse Arianrhod placed on you was lifted. Why are you doing this?”
She cackled. Her big toothy grin made her look even more insane. “I don’t need to be compelled by her Grace to kill you, Margaret MacDougall.” She shook her head at the idea. “You ruined any hope I had of improving my pathetic life. Before he met you, I had a chance with him. The Queen urged me to pursue a union with the Great Seer. She said my genes would complement his and create a powerful new line of Great Seers in the clan. All I had to do was get him into bed; the Queen would make sure our union bore fruit. Once you came to town, I lost my chance. Buach told me about the two of you. Perfect Harmony, as if! He could have had perfect harmony with me. I went to the Queen and told her what the two of you had done. Do you know what she said?”
I shook my head.
“She said she didn’t care. She said the continuation of the Stewart line was just as good as a merger between Keach and McLoed! It’s all about the gene pool with her. Then I saw what he did today.” She indicated Corey. “He really is the Destroyer. I realized a way to salvage my plans. She wants his head more than anything else. She’s been trying to keep him from being born for over a hundred years! Of course, she’s been around for more than 5,000 so…” Madison started to rant in a shrieking, maniacal voice. “So I’ll make a deal. If I give her your brother’s corpse, she’ll grant me what I want.”
“What is that?” I hated to ask because I really didn’t want to know how her mind worked.
“She’ll compel Evan to come back. She’ll make him want to be with me, and when I carry the next generation of the Great Seer line, everyone will respect me. They’ll care for me. I’ll have status in this dump…the biggest fish in the tiniest pond. Eventually I’ll even have a child to love me. All I have to do is get rid of you two…”
I scanned her aura one more time to make sure no dark walnut brown haze existed. Nope, Madison really was this crazy. Now what? I certainly couldn’t mention how Brandon would father the next line of Great Seers, not Evan. She’d really go off the deep end if I recited clan law about how the Great Seer couldn’t have children, and how his oldest sibling would father the next generation. We emerged into the clearing and she skipped behind us, waving the gun around her head.
“We’re here! We’re here!” she exclaimed in a sing-song voice.
She pulled an amulet out from under her shirt. She clasped it with the hand which didn’t hold the gun, and started to chant. She’s calling the goddess, it’s now or never.
She stopped chanting. “She’s on her way. There’s only one thing left to do.” She raised the gun up to shoulder height. She aimed it directly at me. I had no brilliant ideas for escape, so I faced death instead. I raised my chin in defiance, but then, at the last second, she turned the gun on Corey, and all thoughts flew out of my head.
“NNNOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!” I threw my body sideways to place it between my brother and the trajectory of the fired bullet. Before I could reach him, something else reached me. It felt like being smashed by a truck. In a classic football tackle, Evan had come running from out of thin air to tackle both Corey and me, simultaneously. I landed awkwardly on Corey and the breath whooshed out of me. For a moment, my lungs wouldn’t expand. Dark spots grew in front of me, but mercifully, I gasped a breath, vaguely aware of Madison shrieking and screaming as if she’d been the one shot.
She smacked both sides of her head with flat palms in a vicious self-attack and screamed, “No…not you!” She’d stopped firing the gun and that was all I needed.
I checked on Corey first. He started to move around on his own so he was okay. I looked to discover what had knocked me to the ground.
My heart shattered into a million pieces. I refused to take another breath.
Gravity pulled Evan off me, because he couldn’t move under his own power. He’d saved us both. From the amount of blood gushing from his chest, he’d clearly given his own life to do it, and suddenly, Madison’s screams echoed in my head, as if they’d come from my mouth. One of the millions of thoughts bombarding me in that fraction of a second wanted to scream at him for not contacting me for two weeks. Another one wanted to yell at him for always running to my rescue. A lot of them just wanted me to hold him in my arms. Thankfully, the thought which won my internal battle was the one that wanted, no, needed, to heal him.
I pushed Corey the rest of the way away from me to scramble over to where Evan lay and assess the situation. The bullet had missed the heart but had torn a major artery. Blood spewed out of the wound like a fountain. The bullet had entered the body at a weird angle, probably because Evan was in motion at the time of impact. After tearing the artery and traveling through the right lung it had lodged itself under the right collarbone. Unfortunately, it nicked the jugular vein and was still there, forcing the tear to remain open.
I’d never studied anything remotely like this. Whenever new blood needed to be generated, Fiona took over the case. Blood regeneration was such a complicated process: white cells, red cells, platelets, plasma, proteins, clotting agents and other things I couldn’t even name make up bl
ood cells. I might be able to force the torn flesh to repair itself, but would that be enough? He’d already lost so much blood. He’d fallen into unconsciousness and his face was drained of color. Don’t think about that, I scolded myself. Get to work, I ordered. Do what you can.
Corey will undoubtedly be calling Fiona as soon as he extricates himself from the grass. I needed to calm down and focus. What had the three ancestors told me? Sing, a little voice said…and love, said another. I drew a deep breath and began to sing. As I did I used my gift to save my mate. I was the eagle, soaring on the wind of the music in my head and clasping onto him for all I was worth.
“Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.” Start with the artery closest to the heart. Save my heart first. “I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see…” Is it possible to build a new tube of flesh to go around the bullet so the circulatory network remains intact? “…was blind, but now I see…Amazing Grace…” Don’t think about how bad this is, just keep singing.
***
Corey was up on his feet. Thank Goddess. Instead of pulling out his phone, he issued a primal battle scream and charged the still frantic Madison. She took off running. He followed her. Okay, I’ve got no support. I’m gonna have to do this by myself. I couldn’t stop to make the call, or even stop to shout at Corey, Evan was too critical.
***
I had no idea how much time had passed. Shaking with the effort, and feeling like I could lie down next to Evan and sleep for a week, I’d stopped the bleeding and repaired the lung. He was taking shallow breaths on his own. Darkness had settled over the meadow. I reached for my phone and called Fiona, explaining the situation in detail, one Healer to another.
“He needs a transfusion.”
“I think that’s the only way,” I concurred, settling his head on my lap and brushing the hair out of his closed eyes. Would I ever see them again? He hadn’t regained consciousness and I figured that was just as well, without any way to give him blood.
“I’m on my way.”
***
There was movement up ahead. My head snapped up to face the noise. I hadn’t given a thought to the danger of remaining unprotected in the meadow after dark. It didn’t matter; Evan couldn’t be moved right now.
Within moments, Corey emerged from the trees and into the meadow. He was surrounded by Sidhelas, looking as tired as I felt. He came over to me and plopped down in the grass. I smelled burning flesh again. I took his hands, one at a time, and healed the palms.
“What did you do?”
He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter, she got away.”
“Madison ran away, you say?”
“No, Arianrhod flew away. I couldn’t catch her,” he grumbled.
“So what happened to Madison?”
“She died. She tripped on a root and tumbled over the mountainside. I couldn’t catch her either.”
“How’d you hurt your hands, then?”
“Well, I got one good grab at Arianrhod, but she twisted out of my grasp and, like I said, she flew away.”
“How come you didn’t get killed?” I asked, incredulous that he’d attacked the goddess.
“These guys saved me,” he waved a hand to indicate the fairy lights. “Plus Dariene was the one who really made a difference. She challenged Arianrhod head-to-head. This probably isn’t the time for the story, though. How’s he doing?”
“It’s too soon to say,” I choked back a sob.
Corey took hold of my hand and squeezed it. He had seen Evan and me together in the future, but that was before Evan had taken a bullet for me. The future can always be changed. I had to accept that we might never dance in the grass.
***
When Fiona arrived she was all business. The fairy lights helped us get Evan on the altar so she could use it as a treatment table. I lay down next to him on it with my feet pointing toward his head. I already knew we were the same blood-type, O positive. I wanted to be his donor. Fiona hooked up the tubes. Within minutes, I had joined him in unconsciousness.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Recovery
I woke up in a strange place with an unlikely caregiver watching over me. “Steve?”
He looked up from his Guns and Ammo magazine and grinned at me. “Hey, look who’s awake. How’re you feeling?”
“I’m alive. Where am I? Why are we here?”
Fiona entered the room. I tried sitting up, but a wave of vertigo forced me to lie back. “Thank goddess, both my patients are awake. Let’s find out how you’re doing.” She walked over to the fold-out camp bed and did a cursory scan.
I mentally did the same thing, inventorying my body parts and looking for damage. Physically, I seemed fine.
“You seem okay,” Fiona agreed with my assessment. “Bet you’ve got a heck of a headache, though. I wouldn’t try to sit up yet. Doing that much healing in one sitting and then giving blood, I’m sure it took a lot out of you. I didn’t realize how much energy you’d spent healing him until after you’d passed out. Once I understood the extent of the damage from the gunshot wound…” she shuddered at the thought.
I asked the dreaded question. “Did he make it?”
“Oh yes, thanks to you. He’s stable now…hasn’t stopped asking about you since he woke up two hours ago. I suppose I’ll have to let the two of you sit together just to protect your blood pressures. Too much stress can affect the healing process. Let me finish my exam, first.” She conducted a basic once-over, took temperature and blood pressure, and finished her healing hands scan. She said to Steve, “I don’t want her walking around yet. Can you carry her to the other bed?”
“You people are cruel. You want me to put her in his bed. That’s just wrong.”
I looked pleadingly at him. “Please, Steve…I need to know he’s okay.”
He grumbled something about life not being fair, but he wasn’t really upset. He lifted me as if I weighed no more than a pillow and started walking out of the room.
“Where are we?” I asked, trying to look around the space.
“Keach house…” he said simply.
“Oh,” I hadn’t recognized the room because of the presence of the bed and the absence of the easels. “It’s Jenny’s loft. I recognize it now.”
***
He carried me down the stairs and along the second floor hallway. We entered the messiest bedroom I’d ever seen, and I saw Evan, propped up on pillows in bed. He sighed in relief at seeing me. I felt the same way. He smiled, and waited quietly for me to get close.
“Which side?” Steve asked.
“The left side,” I answered without hesitation.
“Great, they’ve already picked sleeping sides,” he grumbled.
“No, dummy, it’s the uninjured side,” I corrected him. Normally, I’d sleep on the right, but I wasn’t going to share that information with Steve.
“Well, there you go.” He set me down on the bed.
“Thanks, Steve.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Fiona entered the room. Steve turned and addressed her as he walked out the door.
“Hey Fi, Jenny found those keys so I’m gonna check the place out. I’ll call you later.”
“Sounds good, Steve.” She patted his arm. “You’re a good boy. Your dad must be so proud. Thanks for all your help.”
Next to me Evan gave a little cough.
I squeezed his forearm, to keep him from voicing his opinion.
He complied.
“Sure thing, Fi,” Steve gave me a little wave as he left.
“Why’s Steve here?” I asked her.
“He and I were talking when I got your phone call. I needed someone strong to carry bodies, and he’s the strongest man in the clan, so he joined me and he’s been here ever since.”
I sighed and leaned against Evan, deeply relieved.
Fiona checked his vital signs, warned us not to do anything to stretch the fresh, raw skin on his healing wounds, and left
us alone, closing the door behind her.
So many thoughts and emotions warred within me; I didn’t know which one to voice first. For a while, I simply leaned on him, with my hand wrapped around his forearm, and relished the feel of skin on skin.
Eventually he spoke. “Hi.”
I moaned. Raising myself onto my knees, I straddled his legs and sat on his thighs to gaze into his beautiful eyes without making him move a muscle.
A ghost of a knowing smile crossed his face.
I took his wonderful face into my palms and, putting all of the emotion swelling in my heart, I gushed, “I missed you.”
I was angry with him. I was hurt, sad, scared, apprehensive, confused, thrilled and horny all at the same time. Mostly I was happy he was home and safe, so I didn’t give him a chance to say, ‘I missed you, too.’ Those words were swallowed up when I kissed him…hard, possessively and completely. He returned my passion, kiss for kiss until we believed the moment was real. Only then would I let him breathe.
I placed my forehead on his, and touched nose to nose. “I was so scared, Evan,” I whispered. “When you lay there, with so much blood…I thought…” I couldn’t finish the thought. It was too awful to consider.
“I know what you thought,” he whispered back, while running the fingers on his uninjured side through my hair, to push it out of my face. “Fiona said it was touch-and-go for a bit, but you showed extreme power and courage in saving me. Thank you.”
I sat back to look at his face. “You have to stop rushing in to save me every time I get in trouble, Evan.”
