Page 97 of Resurrection
An ear-bursting roar shakes me out of my numbness, and Marcus jerks his arms away from Andrei, almost dropping him on the ground. April moves in a blur, catching the unconscious male before his body touches the floor, pulling him to her chest like he weighs nothing. Before I know I’ve moved, I’m trying to take him from her, but she takes a step back and shakes her head.
“‘The chains are spelled; it hurts like a bitch when you touch them.” I don’t think she is aware that the spelled chains are flattened all over her body as she cradles Andrei like a babe.
She must’ve seen where I was looking, because her eyebrows pull low over her eyes. She blinks at herself before her gaze snaps back to my face.
“Huh.” It’s just a soft, unimpressed huff.
Gently, she lowers Andrei to the ground, and with no warning at all, she grabs the chain closest to her, snapping it in half. Just the metal cuff tight around Andrei’s wrist is left on his body. Marcus and I loom over her petite form while she does the same to the other three before sitting back on her haunches and inspecting her handiwork with a tilt of her head.
“We need to go.” Marcus is still jittery from whatever spell is attached to the metal, rolling his shoulders as he speaks.
“Yes, you need to leave and take Andrei with you.” Not looking away from the male at our feet, April sighs. “I’m not sure I can remove it all without hurting him.”
“We can cut the rest out when we get him out of here. Let us go, Tesoro.”
“‘Umm, I’m staying here for a while.”
“What?” Marcus beats me to it, his shout echoing off the underground walls.
April looks up, turning her gaze from him to me and back, no expression on her face. She almost looks serene. A fist clenches around my lungs, shriveling them into husks.
“You can’t think there are no consequences to those that did this to him, Marcus. Someone needs to pay for it now. And again, and again, and again, don’t you think?” She sounds so calm, so reasonable that I have to shake my head to clear it. Her voice is weaving through my mind, clouding it and pushing me to do everything she asks.
“They will pay.” When I have full control of my own mind, I reach for her. “We will make sure they pay, but first we need to take you and Andrei out of here. We have a plan, remember?”
With just one stern look, she stills my hand.
I drop it to my side.
“Oh Sebastian.” She sighs. “Always one step ahead. Always planning, playing games to keep your head above the water.”One side of her lips curls slightly at the corner, and it looks almost sheepish. “That doesn’t work anymore, lover. The more we plan, the faster they win. It’s enough.”
She gently brushes the matted hair from Andrei’s face, her fingertips barely touching his skin. I wait for jealousy to surge forward, the need to remove any male who threatens my bond with her, but it never comes. The way she is watching him, her eyes scanning every inch of his face and body, the way she is touching him … it’s not in any personal, sexual manner.
She is displaying all the signs of a mother faced with her gravely-injured child, wanting to ease his pain. My skin prickles, gooseflesh raising every hair on my body to attention. She always cared for Marcus and Andrei, from the very beginning, even when she didn’t want to admit it to herself.
But this is different.
In the belly of the city, in these underground tunnels with their rancid stench and murky walls, something changed. Some loose piece clicked together, finally completing the transformation I thought was long behind us. So I stand and watch, dare I say in awe, when she brings her wrist to her mouth, ripping it open and pressing it to Andrei’s lips. The alluring scent of her blood disperses the odor around us, washing over every inch of our bodies like holy water over a baptized babe.
The cloying sweetness of the magic penetrating the walls in this dump disappears, and I watch transfixed as dark red, coppery droplets slowly run from one corner of Andrei’s lips over his cheek, vanishing around his ear and soaking into his hair.
I hold my breath.
Marcus is tense too, his upper body stiff and leaning forward as he watches our friend, unblinking.
“Drink,” April urges Andrei, and his eyes flick back and forth behind his closed eyelids.
Voices float to my ears from somewhere in the tunnels, and my head snaps in that direction.
April doesn’t look away from Andrei’s face.
“Someone is coming.” When I turn back to her, she has her gaze on my face, and my lips part when she brings her shredded knuckles to her mouth and her tongue darts out to lick the blood off it.
“I know.” She smiles, the white dust breaking on her face and forming deep lines over her cheeks making her look like a statue cracking open so she can come alive. “It is about time.”
At that moment, Andrei comes to, his hands snatching her wrist as he starts drinking from her in large gulps like his life depends on it. A low, growling sound begins deep in his chest, a warning to anyone who’s near not to interrupt his feeding. It’s so animalistic, so feral, that I have to hold myself back from ripping him away from her.
“That’s it,” April whispers to soothe him, or maybe to calm me. I’m not sure which, though her other hand is cupping his cheek firmly. “Drink.”
