Page 70 of Commanding Flame and Shield
Please let this be a blood bank.
I knew the thought was futile, but I sent it out anyway. I just wanted one God damned night to relax into August. To soak him in. Was that too much to ask?
Evidently so.
As I opened the door, I immediately spotted smears of blood lining away from the doorway. A metal table was overturned, a myriad of items across the floor. My stomach turned precariously, and I desperately regretted accepting that bottle of Moscato. Demon shit never got any easier.
Electricity popped between August’s fingers as alarm crept down the group. His arms seemed to flicker with it. The energy in the room was vile, weighty, and as sinister as the demon that had attacked Aren, if not more menacing. Death hid in the shadows, and we could feel his icy tendrils in the air, creeping into our mouths and lungs. The lingering taste was of someone like us. Sweet, like summer, and my heart thundered against my ribs. A braid. The blood smelled like a braid.
I spun on my heel, frantic, eyes scouring the darkness as my hand flew out to ignite the lights. Their fluorescent glow was momentarily blinding, the soft flicker immediately making my eyes ache. But they illuminated the room enough to see the horrors within it. Fae let out a shriek, spinning herself into Alec’s chest. He slowly let his arms wrap around her, his eyes frantically going from the upside-down body to the pool of red below her, to the bloody symbols on the wall.
The braid is dead.The message was meant for Aren.This is ten kinds of fucked up.
The energy around us swelled immensely, and Ansel and Lana came bursting around the corner, swords drawn. There was no hesitation in getting back up to us.
“Do we need more?” Ansel asked, eyes warily locked on my face as Lana took in the nightmare behind us. I shook my head slowly, entirely unsure for myself. But I pushed my energy into every nook and cranny and found no living or undead being within it. Only the fragmented trace of the soul, in shock of the desecration of her body.
“I think they’re gone.”
“What the fuck?” August shook his head, his pallor ghastly, as though he might vomit. He stepped forward and scooped the body of the young woman into his arms, cradling her to him. “Ansel!” He snapped, as he telekinetically brought the stainless-steel exam table back onto its feet. We were in the morgue.
A message on the pulse of the air reached my senses, and I looked up to August. “Her name was Sarah. I can still feel her. She’s in soul shock.”
Ansel lunged forward as the words left my lips, drawing his dagger in the same motion.
“She belonged to Saraya?” There was a knowing in his question as he pressed his hand against the wound on her neck.
Ansel easily reached above her feet and sliced through the rope in a single swing. The weight of the woman fell into August’s arms, and he brought her to the table in the same motion. Holding his hand out over her, head still shaking, he furrowed his brow.
Looking to me, August’s voice came out just above a growl, “Her body isn’t even cold. Thisjusthappened. How far gone can they be for us to still save them? She’s kind. Can’t youfeelthat? She deserves more than this.”
“They all do. Only moments, not really much time at all once the heart stops,” Ansel shook his head. “Besides, August. Her throat was slit. We’d need to heal both to save her, and we’re out of time.”
A low growl rumbled in August’s chest and his words came through gritted teeth, “So do it.”
In unison, we rolled back our sleeves, and moved forward. Hands levitating above her body, we all closed our eyes, and summoned the life force back into her soul case. Blood trickled its way backwards, like water without gravity, glittering on the air as it flowed back into her throat. When enough had made its way into her veins, August laid his hand over her neck with a divine determination, and he closed his eyes.
The entire room was illuminated in light brighter than Grayshell, and a deep vibration filled the air. I stared in astonishment between August’s hands against her neck, and Alec’s awestruck expression beside me. We both returned our energy to lending her all the light we had.
“More,” August’s voice was still seething and guttural. “Give her more!” There was a certain knowing in his energy that made me think perhaps he’d seen this before. Done this before. And I poured my energy into it, drawing from the very depths of my soul. Together we began to recite our prayers through Raphael. Again and again, we recited each word of the memorized prayer, and the energy seemed to swell more and more powerful as it surged between us. Without warning, August pulled his hand away from her throat, revealing that only a fine scar remained. He abruptly pushed us all aside telekinetically. My boots squealed against the tile, and I threw my arms out to steady myself, head spinning with exhaustion, and alcohol.
Eyes wide, the rest of us exchanged confused glances, and then August slammed his hand onto her chest with enough force to break her ribs. He growled, “Fuck!”
I lunged forward, but Alec caught me around the wrist. I about burned his fingers off me in a moment of outrage, but the shocked explanation was written all over within Alec’s mind.
August was channeling his lightning into her heart. A supernatural, breathing defibrillator.
Sudden as a macabre jack-in-the-box, Sarah sprang upright away from him, and we all jumped back, throwing up shields. A scream ripped through her throat as August dropped his electric charge. His eyes full of tears, he caught her frantic gaze.
“You’re okay! You’re okay. We’ve got you.”
The woman’s eyes filled with water, and I stared at her in disbelief. Over the years, I had witnessed many miraculous healings. Been on the giving and receiving end of incredible gifts of a second chance. But never in my life, had I witnessed the dead brought back to life through the hands of a soul.
Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.The passage was only a whisper in the far corner of my mind. An overwhelming chill wrapped around my muscles, and I stared at August in disbelief. Aren always said we were destined to perform the same miracles of Christ—that humanity could, if they were enlightened. But I’d never seen it come to pass.
August wrapped his arms around Sarah, and she collapsed into his chest in sobs, an uncanny familiarity to their embrace.
I don’t know how, but I know her.His pained eyes were only for me as he thought it.
