My gaze came back to Malik, who had pulled off his armor to wash away the blood from a minor bite. Something didn’t feel right.
Caius tensed next to me. “Malik!”
His shouted warning came too late. A seran flashed into the firelight, its mouth closed over Malik’s body. It twisted as it shook him, slamming his head into the ground. It must have managed to dodge my frisbee and bided its time. Only a second had passed before I bolted across the meadow. Caius was already there with Dominic at his side; both morphed into their demon forms.
By the time I reached them, the seran was dead, Dominic had pried open the thing’s mouth and Caius was easing Malik’s wounded body away. The teeth left deep, tearing, puncture wounds from neck to thighs. Blood flowed freely from them all, but it was the pulsing flow from the gashes in his neck that worried me.
Caius formed a thick cloth and pressed it to Malik’s throat with both hands. Lilly threw herself next to her wounded brother, tears coursing down her cheeks. “Oh gods! Malik?”
Malik didn’t answer. His teeth gritted together, one hand gripping Caius’s arm, it was obvious he was trying hard to stay conscious. Lilly tried to stem the bleeding from the other wounds, her hands shaking as she sobbed.
“Lilly.” The sharp tone of Caius’s voice cut through her panic. He looked her in the eye. “Stay calm. He’s taken worse than this in the past.” He turned his golden gaze on me. “Jo, I need you to get the replenisher. I can’t let up on the pressure.”
I raced to the leather bags the traveling food was kept in. The vials of demonborn replenisher had been transferred to the bags after we left Nyx’s. My own hands trembled as I worked the buckles loose on one and dug inside. Despite telling Lilly their brother had taken worse, I hadn’t missed the grave worry in Caius’s eyes. My hand closed around several of the vials and I ran back to where Caius was doing his best to save Malik’s life.
When I reached them, the cloth Caius held against his brother’s throat was already soaked. I twisted the cork out of the first one and tipped it against Malik’s lips waiting for some response, afraid to dump it in his mouth if he had passed out. I’d taken a chance I wouldn’t drown Caius when I did it back in the mortal world. If I’d been more with it at the time, I might have second guessed my actions then.
I gave the side of Malik’s face a smack. He groaned but didn’t seem aware. I leaned close to his ear and said, “Damn it, Malik! I swear to Charon if you try to die, I will come after your soul. Immortals may not need a guide, but I’m still a reaper and I will find you. Trust me; you do not want to make me have to hunt you down.”
His eyes barely opened and he tried to say something. I put the vial against his lips. “Just shut up and drink this.”
I tipped it up, letting the dark fluid flow into his mouth. He swallowed it weakly.
“Give him another, Jo.” Caius remained calm, though I knew he had to be freaking out on the inside.
Hell, I was freaking out, even if I was doing a pretty good job keeping it under control. Lilly continued to hold pressure on the wounds across Malik’s chest. Bethany, white as a sheet and with as many tears flowing down her face as Lilly, James, looking shaken, and Rowen, who was as steady as Caius, were right there, each putting pressure on as many wounds as they could.
I uncorked another vial and dumped the contents into Malik’s mouth. He had an ashen cast to his skin that didn’t bode well. I put two more vials down him. He wasn’t healing fast enough.
As if his thoughts were on the same track as mine, Caius said, “He needs blood. Jo, I need you to take over holding pressure on his neck so I can give him mine.”
“Your blood will help, but it would be better if it was a different kind of immortal blood,” Rowen said.
He was right. In fact, mine would probably be best given the four-way mix. “I can—”
“No,” Caius said harshly.
“I will give him mine,” Rowen stood and moved to kneel next to me by Malik’s head.
Caius shook his head. “I can’t ask that.”
“You didn’t. I’m offering.” He held out his wrist.
They locked gazes in a battle of wills. Finally, Rowen said, “While you hesitate, your brother continues to bleed.”
Caius grabbed Rowen’s wrist and tore it open. Rowen pressed it against Malik’s mouth. At first, weak swallows were the only sign Malik was still conscious enough to take it in. The change came quickly. One moment, he was lying limp and the next he’d seized Rowen’s arm, holding it in place while he drank heavily. Rowen grimaced but made no complaint as Malik’s injuries healed at an astronomical rate.
Caius gripped Malik’s jaw with one hand while taking hold of Rowen’s arm with the other as he gently, but firmly, forced Malik to release Rowen. “Not so much, brother.”
Rowen tried to move away, took a handful of steps, staggered and fell. With Malik’s neck no longer needing my attention, I quickly went to Rowen. Kneeling, I laid his head on my knees. “What’s wrong with him?”
“Malik isn’t with it enough yet to know what he’s doing,” Lilly answered as she came to sit next to Rowen. “He took far too much.”
It disturbed me more than a little to see my guide so weak. Like Caius, he’d always seemed so strong and constant. “He has replenisher.”
“Which heals wounds. It doesn’t put blood back in the veins as you well know. And we don’t have the several hours it will take for him to gain it back on his own.” Lilly tore her own wrist open and pressed it to Rowen’s mouth. He tried to fight it, but she made him take some. “That will help him recover faster.”
Rowen groaned, his hands going to his stomach as he rolled away from me and onto his side. His muscles jerked and seized and he breathed in pants. Remembering the first time the fireball of straight demonborn blood had hit me, I could sympathize completely. After a minute, Rowen relaxed with a groan. Lilly stood, wiped the tears still clinging to her face and went to her brothers.
With Rowen more comfortable, I twisted to check on Malik who now sat upright. “I’m sorry, Rowen. Draining that much from you wasn’t my plan.”
After he managed a sitting position on his own, Rowen said, “Don’t worry over it. I offered, knowing the condition you were in.”
“Thank you,” Malik said, gratitude plain on his face.
Rowen glanced at Caius. “It was no less than what was once offered me.”
Okay, so there was some sort of specific event in the past that applied to this moment. Caius was busy helping Malik, so I turned to Rowen. “What does that mean?”
“It was a long time ago.” He got slowly to his feet.
I stood as well, staying close in case the infusion of Lilly’s blood took a bit to help him fully. “Yeah, I kind of get that.”
“Do you remember when I told Nyx that I was taken?” Sadness crept into his dark eyes. When I nodded, he continued, “My mate was killed in the war in Midtween. We’d been together for over three hundred years. For us, those bonds are unbreakable, even by death. I’m as much in love with her now as I was five hundred years ago even though she is gone. Most don’t survive the death of a mate, but by then I was the oldest Child left. The responsibility of all the younger Children of Morrigan rested on me. I couldn’t abandon them.”
He fell silent for a long moment. I didn’t say anything or ask questions. Instead, I waited patiently for him to collect himself, to the find the words. His voice was quiet when he finally spoke again. “Caius tried to help her. When he found us, he didn’t hesitate to tear open his own arm and try to get his blood into her fast enough. Unfortunately, it was too late. His blood is powerful and can recover those who shouldn’t be recoverable. Even so, there is a point when the injured person simply can’t take it in, or if they do, their body can’t absorb it fast enough to repair the damage.”
“So that’s why you offered to help Malik?” I glanced at Caius. The man continued to surprise me.
Rowen smiled slightly. “Caius did every
thing he could to save Alanna. How could I not do the same for his brother?”
I nodded and swept my gaze over everyone in the meadow, mentally logging them all. We’d been lucky we didn’t lose anyone. Wait, where was…? My heart jumped as I scanned the area for Amisi. To my relief, I found her sitting a distance away from the mess of serans, washing her paw while glaring at the dead demons as if completely offended she’d had to soil her claws in them.
The sky was already lighter with the coming of dawn. I sighed, knowing another long day of walking was ahead. Oh well, it wasn’t like we could stay here any longer. Not with seran carcasses scattered all over the place.
It took a little over an hour for everyone to recover from their various injuries and clean their armor so we could resume our journey. The armor made a big difference in how this fight went. If Malik had been wearing his, the injury to his neck would have still posed a problem, but the armor would have mostly stopped the rest of it. I would have to remember to thank Nyx if I ever saw her again.
We were a slower moving group when we followed the new path as it wound down the steep slope accompanied by the brook that flowed out from the spring in the meadow. Except for Malik, who was pumped and ready to go and almost impatient with the slower pace. It was out of character for him to be so hyped up. The way Caius and Lilly both kept a careful eye on him worried me. Was he okay?
When I asked Lilly, she answered, “The blood of immortals helps us heal faster than we already do. It also gives demonborn a high. It usually affects younger demonborn more. As we age, it affects us less and less.”
“Malik isn’t a young demonborn,” I pointed out.
“No, but Rowen is older than both of them and has a pretty high concentration of Morrigan blood. Not near as much as you do, obviously, but the combination of the two will impact even one as old as Malik.” Lilly shrugged like it was no big deal.
In the mess everything had become, I’d completely forgotten about the high reaper blood gave demonborn. I hadn’t realized it would heal them faster as well. “How long will the high last?”
Lilly watched her older brother for a moment before answering. “His age will mitigate the effects fairly quickly. I would say by tomorrow he will be back to his normal self.”
Probably because he would walk it right out of his system, I thought sourly as I gazed down the long, twisting trail. We hadn’t had any time to really rest since all of this started, and frankly, I was about sick of hiking all over the place. This side of the veil really needed cars, or trains, or something. Our time in the Between was taking entirely too long and I shuddered at the thought of all the souls Lost.
***
“My gratitude to Rowen was beyond expression.” ~Caius
Chapter 27
The next five days passed in peaceful travel as we followed the winding trail down the mountain slope and when we settled down at night, the various angels and demonborn regaled us with stories of the hijinks they’d gotten into. I even had several quiet conversations with Elijah. I continued to work with both Malik and Lilly as well, but Caius kept the length of the lessons shorter.
The morning of the sixth day, we came to the end of the trees. A sharp curve in the path presented us with the mouth of a canyon, where a tall waterfall spilled over from the mesa above and created another stream that converged with the one we’d been following before their merged waters curved away on their journey to the sea. At some point in the past, another stream that was now long lost to history had carved out the canyon. But it wasn’t the scenery that held my attention. It was yet another group blocking our way that pulled me from my thoughts. This one was more welcome than I’d ever thought it would be. Seeing the odd mix of Children of Morrigan and demonborn standing there instantly lifted my spirits and brought a smile to my face.
Aaron was quick to embrace James as Caius’s siblings moved to greet him. Ryan and Chelsea gave me quick hugs. Ryan stepped back first. “I’m glad we finally found you, it took us forever.”
“I thought you guys were all hanging out at Lilly’s safe house,” I said as Chelsea released me.
Ryan rolled his eyes. “Please, like we were actually going to be left behind. As soon as Malik, Rowen, and the others were gone through that portal, we all followed. Except none of them were to be found when we came through. It was only then Zane bothered to tell us that without a physical link or a Finding Stone we’d end up wherever the portal decided to drop us.”
“Well, at least you finally found us. I’ve missed all of you guys.”
“Speaking of missing us,” Chelsea gave me stern look, “maybe you should think about that the next time you decide to just up and disappear and worry everyone half to death.”
“I’m sorry.” Guilt filled me. “I thought it was better not to involve any of you anymore.”
Ryan gave my shoulder a squeeze. “Next time, let us decide that for ourselves.”
Although I still didn’t completely regret trying to leave them all behind, trying to spare them the craziness that my life had become, I realized they were right. Bryson had forced himself on me, feeding off my memories and emotions without permission. I’d even yelled at Caius once about not giving me a choice when it came to taking blood.
Much as I wished they had stayed safe where they were, I had no right to make their choices for them, even if I didn’t like their decisions. I still thought they would be better off walking away from the storm that was coming for me. “I will, I promise.”
When they moved on to Rowen, Aaron took their place followed by Fran and the others. Aaron, with his arm around James again, asked, “So, you still having an affair with my man?”
I laughed, feeling good despite the fact they’d thrown themselves into danger. “Absolutely.”
James whispered something in Aaron’s ear. Shock replaced the amusement on Aaron’s face and he raised his eyebrows at me. “Sounds like James lost your favor.”
I blushed and couldn’t help looking toward Caius. The warmth in his golden orbs only increased my happiness. As sucky as parts of this journey through the Between had been, having all of my friends back more than made up for it. I was even happy to see Zane. Compared to carnivorous trees, Sentinels, and Bryson, he was a saint. And really, how could I blame him for wanting to do anything, sacrifice anything, to keep Caius safe. Although the words he’d spoken still stung, I couldn’t deny the truth of them. Nor could I deny that my mother’s choice had been hers to make. She had kept everything from me and I couldn’t take the blame for something I had no choice in.
I tensed, a little nervous as Zane headed toward me. I wasn’t afraid of him, just afraid he would have more angry words for me. With my emotions all jacked up, I wasn’t sure I could deal with a repeat of what happened at Lilly’s safe house in the mortal world. He looked uncomfortable as he stopped in front of me. “I must apologize for the things I said to you. Caius made his choice, it isn’t my place to question it or try to change his mind. I may not agree with him, but it’s even clearer now which course he intends to take.”
Caius must have told him that we were more than just a pair of partially bound people now. I relaxed slightly. “You are forgiven. I don’t blame you for trying to protect him.”
Zane just nodded and walked away. As I watched the large group milling about and greeting each other, I realized how many there were. There were thirteen Children including Rowen and at least thirty more demonborn. The demonborn number of Caius’s siblings had increased in the time we were gone from them. More of them must have joined up for this crazy adventure.
After almost an hour of everyone catching up, we got moving again. Caius and I walked at the front, the Children mixing easily with the demonborn as they followed behind us. Elijah and his little band of Fallen trailed behind them with Dominic and his group bringing up the rear.
Stark, vertical walls of turquois-streaked, rose-colored stone towered high on either side of us as we entered the canyon and left the stream beh
ind. The tall grass that bordered either side of the path waved in the breeze that drifted through the natural alley. Each bright green stem was topped with a wide blade of brilliant yellow that was bent to the side. It was beautiful.
“They are so pretty,” Bethany said as she started to reach her hand toward one of the yellow tops.
“Look but don’t touch.” Lilly swatted Bethany’s hand away. “This is one case where ‘blade of grass’ is literal. Their edges are sharper than any sword and can even cut right through our armor.”
Bethany’s look of delight faded as Lilly’s words sunk in. Tucking her hands close, Bethany walked closer to the center of the path. Suddenly, the canyon seemed to stretch on forever. There would be no stopping for rest in here, no stepping off the path for any reason. Without anyone suggesting it, we picked up our pace, anxious to get beyond the razor-topped grass and the walls that hemmed us in. At least the path was fairly wide.
Quiet conversations among the group accompanied the sound of the breeze whispering through the canyon. Despite the danger of the vegetation, the mood was still light. I listened to Bethany and James tell the rest of the Children about the night spent at Nyx’s. It was interesting how different their perspective of the visit had been. Marked mainly by wonder at seeing mermaids and a goddess in person, of enjoying the strange food and the accommodations, their time hadn’t been marred by Bryson. I wasn’t sure I would ever be able to think of Nyx’s as the safe haven she wanted it to be.
When their conversation turned to our new armor, it made me realize that a good chunk of my friends were lacking essential protection. I would have to find a way to rectify that, though I wasn’t sure how. Nyx had been more than generous already and I had no idea what kind of payment she usually took.
Betrayed (Raven Daughter Book 2) Page 20
