Chapter Sixteen
Nicole sighed and watched as Joran’s chest rose and fell as he slept. It hadn’t been more than thirty minutes, but she was already starting to worry. The bit of cloth she’d found in the loft hadn’t stopped the bleeding, and although she didn’t know a ton, she had taken first aid courses for the job.
The situation wasn’t good. Just because he was a hybrid didn’t mean he couldn’t bleed out. They needed to get out of there and get to a hospital, but she had no idea how she was going to pull that off with a severely wounded man.
Nicole reached down to pull off the now blood-soaked cloth to look at the jagged wounds again. A small bit of his tattoo peeked from beneath the shirt.
She furrowed her brow and looked down at her hand. When they had touched, there had been a blue light. It was after that she’d noticed her hand was healed. As strange as it might be, instinct was telling her to touch the tattoo again.
Tentatively she reached out but pulled back her fingers just before touching. What if in doing this, she only hurt him more?
Nicole sighed. She just didn’t know what to do.
Joran took in a shallow, shuddering breath, and she knew she couldn’t waste any more time. She either touched his tattoo or risked going to find help outside, and the latter assumed she could even find help.
With renewed resolve, Nicole lifted Joran’s shirt higher and placed the palm of her hand flat over the tattoo.
Bright blue light filled the air. This time she looked straight at it despite the blinding glare. The lacerations on the side of his body started to close. Her own body hummed inside. It was like whatever was inside of her was the force that was healing him.
A warm hand wrapped weakly around her wrist. “Nicole,” Joran whispered.
She only pressed harder as he tried to pull her hand away. “It’s not done yet,” she said through gritted teeth. She could feel her head starting to spin and knew she wouldn’t be able to take much more. But it didn’t matter. She had to save him.
With a grip much stronger than before, Joran pulled her hand from his chest. Nicole collapsed onto him and breathed hard as she tried to regain herself.
Soft warm arms wrapped around her, and she sighed, knowing that she was able to help him recover enough.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” Joran mumbled against her ear.
Nicole rolled her head to the side and looked up to his face. A tear trailed down her cheek, but she was too exhausted to do anything about it.
“You were dying,” she whispered.
Joran leaned down and pressed his mouth to hers. Once again, she found herself safe in his arms. In the blue haze, it was almost easy to forget everything that was going on around them. This wasn’t a dream, but a dangerous nightmarish reality.
Nicole leaned in and deepened the kiss for a moment, swirling her tongue with his, glad to just have him there with her.
When the pair pulled away from one another, each was panting with the passion they had felt earlier in the night.
Nicole tried to sit up but found her muscles shook too much.
Joran helped prop her up against a bale of hay. “You used too much of your energy,” he mumbled.
Nicole frowned at him. “I don’t even know what I did, but it was the only thing I could do, so you’re welcome.”
A small smile played at the corner of his mouth. “Thank you.”
The smile was still in place, but the levity of his look said something entirely different. So much was going on behind the surface, and each time she saw him, Nicole only wanted to learn more.
Joran brought her hand to his lips. “You saved me, in more ways than one. This is what it means. I’m your hybrid, and you’re my Vestal. We were two separated halves of one whole, and now we’re together. I hope you believe that now. I know it seems like a lot, but we were meant to be together.”
Nicole gave him a shallow nod. Her heart thumped so loudly, it was a wonder it didn’t wake the Glycons below them.
Was this love? She couldn’t really say. Never in her life had she felt this way about a man before. Everything he said about being meant for one another made perfect sense. It felt right. When she saw him lying there bleeding out, it had been the scariest moment of her life.
She snorted to herself. Her scariest moment was the chance of him dying, not the frightening monsters down below them or the even more terrifying monster in the woods.
As if right on cue, a scream filled the air around them. Her eyes found his instantly.
Joran frowned. “He found us.”
He knew it was only a matter of time before Erebus healed and found them again. He still wasn’t sure if it would count as good fortune or not that Nicole had saved him. Sure, he’d be able to fight Erebus, but now she was too weak to run, and if his Vestal died, he might as well let the creature kill him.
“Shit,” Joran said.
They needed a plan, but there really wasn’t time to come up with one.
“Stay up here,” he said to her. “I’ll fight him off. When you think you have a clear shot to the door, you run like hell.”
“No.”
Joran clenched his hands into fists. Never before had he wanted to wring Nicole’s neck, but this was one of those moments.
“What the hell do you mean no?”
Nicole shook her head and patted her gun. “No way in hell I’m going to leave you to try and die again.” A hard look settled in her eyes. “I almost lost you once, and I’m not going through that again. I can shoot, and I’ll do whatever I have to in order to keep you alive.”
Joran was stunned.
She wanted him alive. He was important to her. He’d explained it and hoped she would understand, but now she’d proven to him that she truly did feel the connection as he did. He leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on her lips.
“I love that you want to save me, but that’s my job,” Joran whispered. “That’s what it means to be a hybrid to a Vestal.” With one shove, he pushed her back as his other hand unlatched her gun belt. “I’ll be back.”
Nicole blinked.
Without turning to look at her, Joran kicked the ladder to the floor. It clattered down below. He then climbed to the edge and jumped down with a thud. He tucked Nicole’s gun into his pants and tossed the gun belt to the ground.
He glanced around. The Glycons hadn’t even flinched at the sound of him jumping down. Another scream came from near the door.
The air drew cold around him. Frost chilled the glass containers surrounding the Glycons and its icy touch spread like a web up the darkened windows.
Darkness seeped through the door. It almost seemed to ooze around him, and the sight of it made Joran scowl.
“Show yourself like a man,” he shouted.
The darkness stilled, then began to pool itself into one area, building and building until some semblance of a being stood in front of him. Two big blue eyes shined at him through the black.
“Bravery is for the weak.”
The words were spoken in a strange manner, as if they hadn’t even been said aloud but just appeared in his brain. Joran hadn’t heard something, but he understood what Erebus was saying.
A chill passed over the hybrid, and he understood the connection they shared. It was like the two called to one another, urging the beginning of the battle.
Joran growled. “Evil never wins, motherfucker.”