by Lisa Sanchez
Blood boiled beneath the surface of my skin and I gripped my weapon tighter in my hand. The jagged glass sliced through my palm, sending sharp, stinging pain pulsating up my arm. I didn’t care. The pain energized me, cleared my thoughts and fueled my rage. Pure undiluted fury flowed through me, and I flew at the demon, burying the shard of glass deep into its neck.
Howling in pain, the Zmeu released its hold on Quinn and, with a flash of light, transformed into a large dragon-like creature.
“Get out of the way,” Quinn shouted and shoved me to the side as he leaped up from the floor to face the deadly beast.
I fell to the floor, inches away from Quinn’s dagger. Without hesitation, I grabbed hold of the knife and screamed. “Quinn! Your dagger!”
Shooting up from the floor, I threw the dagger as hard as I could toward Quinn, who cloaked himself with invisibility and caught the deadly blade midair. As if by magic, using his supernatural speed, he appeared in front of the large beast and sank the blade into its middle, gutting it from navel to neck in one powerful slice. The beast made a horrible gurgling noise, shifting its form several times, before dropping like a stone to the floor, in its true form, that of the dark stalker from my dream.
It was over. I’d never have to fear my demon stalker again. There would be no more nightmares, no need to look over my shoulder every time I left my dorm room to venture outside. Quinn had defeated the Zmeu.
I was safe. My other half, my love—Quinn—came for me, saved me. The adrenaline that pulsed through me earlier ebbed, and the reality of all that had happened hit me like a powerful blow to the face. I broke.
“Quinn.” I reached for him, my voice ragged and strained as I cried. My knees gave out as I desperately gasped for air in between the uncontrollable sobs that took over my body.
Quinn stood before me in an instant. He dropped to his knees and held me by my arms to keep me from falling.
“You’re bleeding.” He grimaced as he held the hand I’d used to grasp the shard of glass.
Bleeding? I glanced down at my hand to see a deep diagonal gash running the length of my palm. I vaguely remembered cutting myself when I went after the demon, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. Quinn had rescued me and my nightmare was over.
In that moment, I felt no pain. It didn’t matter that our skin made contact where he held me. The effects of his curse took a distant back seat to the effusion of love that flowed between us.
“You came for me.” My voice was barely audible, as I looked up into the face of my hero, my love.
“I will always come for you, a ghrá. You are my life, the very air I breathe, and I cannot be without you. Táim I ngrá leat. Is tú mo shonuachar. I love you. You’re my soul mate.”
Chapter 20
“NO, NO. I DON’T WANT to get up, too tired.” A faint beeping sound tore me from my hazy sleep. I moved my hand to shut the annoying alarm clock going off.
“Oh, God. She’s waking up.”
Jess?
My mouth felt dry, like someone had shoved an entire bag of cotton in it. When I went to swallow, my throat burned and ached all the way down into my chest. I moaned, trying to reach for it, but my left arm felt weighted down and I could barely move it.
“No, honey. Leave it be.” I felt a warm hand on my forehead, and the soothing sound of Jessica’s mother, Karen, filled my ears.
A thick fog clouded my head and the right side of my face felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to it and it was ten times its normal size. It took a few tries, but I finally managed to open my eyes. The bright fluorescent lights of the room stung them and caused me to blink rapidly. “Where am I?” The last thing I remembered was Quinn kneeling before me in the center of the abandoned warehouse, finally confessing his love.
His love? He’d finally admitted his feelings for me. Oh, God.
“Quinn.” I sat bolt upright, immediately feeling dizzy.
“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Take it easy, Ryann.” Karen’s voice rang out in alarm. She gently guided my back and shoulders down to the pillows I’d been laying against.
“Quinn,” I shouted, feeling out of breath. “I need to see Quinn. I have to go to him.”
“Honey, you can’t go anywhere. You’re in the hospital. Who’s Quinn?” Karen asked with a puzzled look on her face.
“He’s a friend, Mom,” Jessica said, stepping in front of her mother. “Can we have a few minutes alone?”
Karen nodded and kissed my forehead before leaving.
“Quinn’s been here every day. He comes and sits with you at night when everyone else leaves,” she whispered. “He has to cloak himself or the nurses go crazy and forget all about their patients.” She brushed a piece of hair from my face and sighed. From the way she spoke, I figured Quinn was now aware that she and Martha both knew of his mythical identity.
Her expression became serious all of a sudden. “I was so scared for you, Ryann. I…I…” Tears filled her eyes as she spoke. “I woke up on the floor near the bathrooms just after you’d been taken. Quinn was…oh, God, Ryann. He went crazy. You should have seen him. He heard you scream right before the demon whisked you away. He came running, but you were already gone. I…I’ve never seen anything like it, Ryann. He ripped the door off the back exit to the club and smashed it into the side of the building. There’s a giant hole there now.” Her eyes grew wide as she recounted the aftermath of my abduction.
She took a deep breath and exhaled heavily. “Thank goodness for Martha. She came racing out and worked her voodoo magic, so Quinn could find you.”
I shook my head. I wasn’t following.
“Martha told Quinn he needed to find a map so she could scry for your location. You know, work her mojo to find you magically. Quinn ran around, ripping doors off cars until he found one. Martha yanked out this weird crystal thingy she wore around her neck and held it over the map. It took a few minutes, and then all of a sudden, the map lit up, and we knew where you were. Before I knew what happened, Quinn was gone.”
“Wow,” I said, in complete awe of my roommate and new friend, Martha.
“So…do you want to talk about what happened?” Jessica’s voice held a cautious tone, and I knew she didn’t want to push me if I didn’t want to talk.
“That thing,” I said hoarsely. “It was awful. It kept changing shape so that it looked like you and—” I winced at the memory. “I couldn’t look at it; I wouldn’t look at it,” I said, desperately trying to keep the awful image from resurfacing. “Quinn, he…oh, God, Jessica. You should have seen him.” Tears streamed down my face as I recounted the deadly fight between Quinn and the Zmeu.
“The way he attacked the demon was so…so…” I couldn’t find the words. Quinn had been heroic and fearless, savage and unrelenting, and entirely lethal. How could I describe all that with just one word? I shook my head. “He practically gutted the thing in one swipe. It was amazing and scary and horrible and—” I broke off. Silent sobs shook through my body as Jessica cradled me in her arms as best she could. “He told me he loves me, Jess.”
Quinn’s declaration of love inundated my thoughts. The memory of him kneeling in front of me, confessing his love, played on a continuous loop, over and over again in my mind. If he admitted his feelings to me verbally, then maybe he’d forgo his stubborn refusal to be intimate with me as well. I could only hope. Our future together depended on it.
“Wait a minute,” I said, panic filling my voice. “How long have I been in the hospital?”
Jessica looked away and then down at the floor.
“Jess, how long?” I pressed.
Her eyes darted about the room and she fiddled with the edge of the hospital blanket. “Ten days.”
“What?” I shouted. “No! There’s not enough time. I need more time. What day is it?”
“Relax, Ryann. You still have time. It’s Tuesday. The doctors said they’d release you on Friday, barring any unforeseen complications.”
“Friday? But that’s the day
before Halloween. The Eve of Samhain. That doesn’t give me enough time, not nearly enough. I need to leave now.”
I tried to sit up, only to fall back against the pillows moments later, woozy and out of it. “Why am I so groggy? I feel like I’ve been drugged.”
Jessica snorted with laughter. “That’s because you have been, silly. You were pretty messed up when Quinn brought you in.”
I looked down at my arm, which I knew had been broken. It was wrapped in a cast from the tip of my fingers to just under my shoulder, a sling carefully cradling it against my body. “Well, I knew my arm was broken,” I said bitterly.
“Not just broken, Ryann. Shattered, and in several places. You’ve had a couple surgeries over the past week to place a metal plate and some pins in your arm.”
I grimaced.
A plate? Pins?
“I know what you’re thinking, Ryann. I can see it on your face. Don’t worry about what you will or won’t be able to do with your arm right now. Just be happy you’re alive. That demon could have killed you.”
She was right. With everything else going on in my life, worrying about what I may or may not be able to do with my arm seemed pointless.
“So I’ve been holed up in the hospital for ten days for a broken arm?” It seemed a bit excessive.
“And your head,” she said grimly.
“My head? What’s wrong with my head? Did they shave my hair off?” My pulse thrummed in my ears and my stomach rolled as visions of Mr. Clean and his shiny chrome dome clouded my vision. Whimpering, I lifted my gauze wrapped hand and sighed in relief when my fingers gripped a handful of hair.
“Well, I don’t really understand all the doctor lingo and jargon, but I think they said something about multiple contusions and possible swelling. You were coming in and out of consciousness for a few days. Then, with the surgeries for your arm, they’ve kept you pretty drugged up and out of it. This has been your longest wakeful period since you’ve been here.”
I cried like a baby again. Yeah, I was relieved, hell, overjoyed that my days of being tormented by the Zmeu were over. But lying strapped to a hospital bed, unconscious and helpless, I’d lost precious time with Quinn. Time I’d never get back. Time I desperately needed to save him. I was despondent.
The door to my room breezed open and a short, stout nurse bustled over to the opposite side of my bed.
“You’re awake.” She smiled brightly as she checked my vitals and fiddled with my IV bag. “Are you in pain? Is there anything I can get for you?”
I shook my head, wincing from the movement. I was in pain, but I didn’t care. Unless she could produce a time machine that allowed me to procure more time with Quinn, there was nothing she could get for me.
“A stubborn one, I see,” she said and stuck something into my IV. “Time for you to rest, dear. Your friend can come back later.” She ushered Jessica toward the door.
“Wait. I—”
“You’ll see her later. Trust me. In about ten seconds, you are going to get real sleepy and you won’t be up for conversation.” With that, the portly nurse laughed and exited the room.
I was out before I had a chance to protest.
***
I woke to the same incessant beeping that plagued me before. It was nighttime and the room was dark, the only light, aside from the machinery, coming from the small window at the far side of the room. Using my bandaged hand, I searched for the remote that controlled the bed and TV, chucking it at the source of my irritation. I missed, and the beeping continued as the remote clattered onto the floor, skidding across the room.
“Ugh,” I groaned and yanked a pillow over my head.
“You’re cranky when you wake up.” A deep, velvety smooth voice chuckled as it moved toward my bed.
“Quinn,” I said breathlessly. My throat still felt raw from being intubated. My voice strained as I spoke, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. “You’re here.” I reached for him. The air filled with an electric charge and my body came alive. My breath caught and my heartbeat kicked up a notch, causing the machines that monitored me to beep even louder.
“Aye, love. I’m here,” he said, taking my hand in his own. The effect was instantaneous. Warmth radiated throughout me the moment our skin touched, and an all-encompassing sense of comfort and security came over me. I felt the effect of his curse as well, but it took a distant back seat to the intense outpouring of love that flowed freely between us. My body eased, and all traces of tension and worry vanished. His touch was truly magical.
Quinn leaned over me, and cradled my head with his free hand. Resting his forehead against my own, he breathed me in, relishing our nearness. He pulled back slightly and placed a gentle kiss on my forehead before sweeping a stray lock of hair out of my face.
“You gave me quite a scare, a ghrá.” It was dark in the room, but I made out the features of his perfectly sculpted face. His eyes were tired and his jaw slack. He’d been worrying over me.
“I’m so sorry, Quinn.” I couldn’t bear to see him upset and wished there was a way I could magically take his pain from him and give us more time together. As far as he knew, he’d be dying on Friday, and the majority of our few remaining days, I’d spent lying unconscious in a hospital bed.
“We have so little time left, and here I am strapped to a frigging hospital bed,” I whispered hoarsely. “This is all my fault. We never should have gone out. I never should have gone off without you.”
“Sshhh.” He placed his finger against my lips, silencing me. “Quit trying to take responsibility for things you had no control over. The fault is mine.” He pulled back, his lips drawing thin. “Fuck! I should have been able to pick up on the demon’s presence, to sense that Stan was no good, but I got nothing. Damn fucker must have been really old to be able to mask its identity the way it did.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said, reaching out to comfort him.
“Shhh…It’s over now. You’re safe.” His hand flinched as it traced my cheek where the Zmeu struck me.
“Is it bad?” I asked, turning my head to the side to avoid his gaze. “I must look awful.” I closed my eyes, unable to bear a look of pity from him.
Refusing to let me look away, Quinn held my face gently as he spoke. “Look at me, a ghrá. Don’t hide your eyes from me.”
I felt his gaze and knew he would persist until I gave in to his wishes. I met his stare and was blown away by the tenderness it held.
“In the entirety of my pitiful existence, you, Ryann, are the most beautiful creature I’ve ever had the privilege to look upon. The mere fact that you grace me with your presence makes me the luckiest bastard that ever walked this planet.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but he pressed his fingers to my lips once more.
“The reality that you could love a deplorable creature such as me is beyond anything I can comprehend.” He paused for a moment, shaking his head. “Though I can’t understand it, and I know I don’t deserve it,” he sighed and looked at me intently, an enormous smile creeping across his face. “I’m just so fucking happy that you do.”
His hand moved from my mouth to cradle the side of my face, his thumb gently tracing across my cheekbone. “Thank you, Ryann.”
I should have rejoiced at his words, but I couldn’t. A sick feeling of dread wormed its way into my heart and stomach. The way he spoke felt too much like a goodbye. It wasn’t his words, but the tone of his voice and his eyes. Sadness lay beneath the careful façade he was hiding behind.
I fiddled with the edge of the thin hospital blanket. “You can thank me in person on Friday, when I get out of this place.”
Quinn looked up at the ceiling with a sigh before meeting my gaze once again. He said nothing, leaving my nervous reply unanswered. The atmosphere between us shifted, and an awkward, uncomfortable silence permeated the air.
“Quinn?” My voice broke and the monitors started beeping wildly as my pulse jumped out of control.
He moved to stand in fr
ont of the window, looking out into the night. He ran his hands over his head repeatedly and paced back and forth, giving the impression he was torn over how to answer me.
“I’ll see you Friday when I get out, right?” My body shook as my anxiety escalated. The longer he remained silent, the more concerned I became. “Right?” Warm tears trickled down my face as I waited for him to say the words, to tell me he was leaving.
Quinn moved to my side. He knelt alongside the bed, and cradled my good hand in his own, wiping the tears from my cheeks.
“Sshhh, mo chróí, don’t cry. I’ll see you on Friday. I give you my word.” His voice was tender and soothing. “There’s something I need to take care of so I won’t be able to stay with you the next two nights like I have been. I hate to leave while you’re still recovering, but the matter is pressing and won’t wait.”
“That’s okay. I understand,” I whispered, still anxious about his odd behavior and unwillingness to answer me. His body language conveyed the exact opposite of what he told me. Something was up, and I didn’t like it.
Quinn lay holding me in his arms on the hospital bed for most of the night, taking care not to touch my skin and only leaving my side temporarily when the nurses came in to check my vitals. Though I felt safe and comforted in his embrace, I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that no matter what I did to try and stop his horrible fate, I would fail. The thought that Quinn wouldn’t be with me in two days’ time frightened me more than the Zmeu ever had.
The days that followed dragged on for what seemed like an eternity. A wretched mess, I did nothing but lay silent in my bed, unwilling to speak, eat or cooperate in any way with the nurses. What did I care if they wanted me to eat? I wasn’t hungry. What did I care if they needed a urine sample? My life was ending, and as far as I was concerned, they could take their urine sample and shove it where the sun didn’t shine. My head felt better and my arm would heal eventually, but my heart…well, that was another matter altogether. I shuddered to think of what I’d become if my worst nightmare came true, and I somehow failed to save Quinn from his curse.
