Page 57 of Resurrection
I glance quickly at Marcus and Andrei, who are choking and coughing to cover their laughter. I think these two will eventually swallow their tongues with all the times they are suppressing their laughter. All my thoughts disappear when I see the dark sky above our heads.
“How long was I under the rubble?”
“A few hours.” Scooping me up, Sebastian stands. “It took a while to come around. Then we had to wait for the sun to go down before crawling out from under the wreckage.”
“Did the mages kill the humans?” I flop around, trying to look around us, and Sebastian almost drops me.
“Calm down, April. Only a few were lost.” Squeezing the words through clenched teeth, he tightens his hands around me, trapping me to his chest.
“You really need to stop telling me to calm down when I’m angry.” Snapping at him, I shake with the urge to slap him. “It pisses me off more.”
“Let’s move away from the open, shall we?” Ignoring my outburst, he turns, walking over broken pieces of the hotel. “You can be as angry with me as you’d like as long as we are away from prying eyes.”
“Did we get them?” Deciding it’s not worth it to argue with his stubborn ass, I stare at the broken lobby. “The magic assholes, I mean. Did we kick their ass?”
“No,” he snarls, pulling my attention to his face. “After they brought half of the building down, they must’ve left. The humans were guarding the destroyed lobby while we recovered. No one attacked after that.”
“Humph…”
“What?” At my huff, he looks down at me.
“It just sounds stupid.” Shrugging a shoulder, I turn to see Marcus and Andrei, who are walking next to us. They climb over bricks and furniture with thoughtful expressions on theirsmudged faces. “All that hassle so they can leave when most of us are incapacitated. It’s not what I would’ve done, but I’m not a mage so…”
“And what would you have done, my redemption?” Sebastian moves like a goat over everything, not taking his eyes off me.
“I would’ve dug them all out to kill them.” I’m surprised to feel that I actually spoke the truth. I’ll feel no remorse killing those idiots. “Or…” When I trail off, he nudges me with his chest in a silent demand to keep talking. “If I couldn’t do that, or I didn’t have time, I would try to hide close by so I can do it the first chance I get.”
“Precisely.” He smiles at me proudly.
“If I had any doubt these two are a perfect match, I don’t have it anymore,” Marcus tells Andrei conversationally, like we are not even here.
“Ha, ha,” I tell him blandly before ignoring their chuckling. “So, what’s the plan? We search for them?”
“I find it peculiar that you are your normal self.” Sebastian grouses, dismissing my question.
My entire body freezes, realizing how right his words are. It’s nighttime, the crescent moon the only light in the dark, cloudless sky. And I’m me, April I mean. I’m not angry, nor do I see through a red haze. Is it possible that I somehow returned to normal? Then I remember my rapidly healing bones, and I throw that stupid idea out of my mind. Grinning as wide as my mouth can stretch, I look at all three of them.
“I’m me! You guys, I’m not a crazy, murderous monster anymore.” If I expected cheering, I was disappointed.
Ignoring my excitement and pooping on my parade, the three of them talk like I’m not there. I so want to scratch both their eyes out, but then I remind myself I’m not a crazy monster anymore, so I keep grinning like an idiot, tuning them outcompletely. That’s until the asshole carrying me kills my smile, as per usual.
“I have a theory. And we are just about to test it.”
He stops walking, and I see we are halfway through the hotel. The destroyed part is at our back. In front of us is the still standing end of the building. Large pieces of the broken walls have been dragged and propped up to cover the open part like a fence around a house. Cracks between them are left open, wide enough for one person to walk through. After Sebastian’s statement about having a theory, anxiety gnaws in my stomach, and I want to jump out of his arms and bolt back the way I came.
“This theory of yours…” I keep staring at the gap between the propped walls like I’m expecting something to jump at me. “Is it me turning into a monster as soon as we enter the standing part of the hotel?”
“No.” I release the breath that I was holding way too soon. “It’s anger turning you irrational when the blood of the others is within sniffing distance.”
‘I’m not a dog!” Snapping at him, my eyes widen. “Dog! Where is my dog? Mutt!” A scream is ripped from my chest, scenarios of the poor dog being crushed under the rubble playing in my head and going from bad to worse.
“He is alive, April.” Marcus hurries to reassure me. “I went to fetch him while Andrei helped Sebastian search for you. He wasn’t in the room I left him in, or under any rubble in that area. My guess is he somehow snuck out and will return at any moment.”
“Unless he is crushed under something.” My chest feels too tight.
I can’t feel him around the building, my redemption.” Sebastian gets my attention, and I watch him, praying he is right. “That creature is too smart for his own good. I don’t doubt he sensed something isn’t right and broke free to investigate.He’s done it before, once or twice during the nights.” His mouth twists unhappily.
“You better be right. I’m going to destroy everything if something happens to my mutt.” If they thought I was a bloodthirsty monster before, they don’t know what’s coming if I don’t find mutt.
