CHAPTER NINETEEN

 

 

JONATHAN SHADE

 

I left Mike a message, and as we carried Kelly to a Mercedes parked in the circular drive, my phone rang. Brand and I loaded Kelly into the backseat; then I answered.

“Thanks for calling me back,” I said.

“What do you need, Shade? Your message was practically incoherent.”

“We’re on our way to DGI, but we’re a good forty-five minutes to an hour away. I need you to have someone there to let us in, and I’ll need healers ready with type O blood. Kelly’s been injured. She’s stable at the moment, but she needs help.”

Rayna moved up beside me and shouted into the phone, “This is Rayna Noble. Get your best healers there. Price is not an issue.” She put a hand on my arm, gave me a nod, then climbed into the front passenger seat. Esther was already in the car, but she didn’t take up any space.

“I’ll meet you there personally,” Mike said. “I want to know what could have possibly injured Kelly.”

I moved around the car to the driver’s side. “If you send a team to Boulder, they can have the corpses of the destroyers who did a number on her. See you soon.” I disconnected the call.

Brand stood on the driver’s side. “Want me to drive?” he asked.

“No. You and Ophelia stay in the back with Kelly.”

Ophelia slid into the back and let Kelly’s legs rest on her lap.

I opened the door to get into the car, and an arrow flashed by over my shoulder. It plunged into Brand’s upper arm. He cried out in pain, which shocked me. Brand never felt pain. I couldn’t believe we’d dropped our guard. My gun was in my hand in a heartbeat. We took cover behind the car door, and I searched for a target.

“You all right?” I asked.

“I’ll live,” Brand said. “I forgot what pain felt like.”

The ramifications hit me. Brand was no longer a Sekutar. He’d given more of his life to save Kelly than I’d realized. He yanked the arrow from his arm and winced.

“Get in. We’ll just run over anyone who tries to come at us.”

Brand crawled into the backseat with Kelly and Ophelia. He rested Kelly’s head on his lap then held his arm.

I searched the night for the archer but didn’t see him. I slid into the driver’s seat and closed the door. I started the car, flipped on the headlights and for a moment saw one of the Marshall Clan, but he was running to get out of the light. I wanted to jump out of the car and shoot him, but Kelly’s life was more important, so I threw the car into gear and raced toward the road.

***

“How’s your arm, Brand?” I asked once we were on Highway 36.

“It hurts.”

“I can heal it for you,” Ophelia said.

“No. I want to feel the pain. It’s been years since anything hurt.”

“If I’d known you were giving so much,” Ophelia said, “I’d have stopped sooner.”

“And Kelly might not be stable.”

“You could have died.”

“Without her, I have no reason to live.”

“And if she never comes out of the coma?”

Brand shook his head. “She’ll come out of it.”

“But what if she doesn’t?”

“She will. Don’t even think anything else.”

He was silent for the rest of the trip.

***

As promised, Mike was waiting for us at the doors to the DGI building. He had a gurney and two healers with him. When I pulled up in front of the doors, the healers helped Ophelia out of the car then carefully loaded Kelly onto the gurney. Brand climbed out and went with them, leaving a body-shaped bloody print on the backseat of the car. He held his arm, and I could see a little blood seeping between his fingers. Esther accompanied them too. Rayna didn’t open her car door.

“You should go up with them,” I said. “I’ll go park the car.”

Rayna shook her head. “I’m staying with you, Jonathan. You saved me where even Kelly couldn’t.”

“Kelly didn’t have a gun. Normally she wouldn’t need one.” I gave Mike a nod and pulled away from the curb.

“If not for you, I’d be dead right now. I know it and you know it.”

“I was hired to protect you.”

“Yes, just doing your job. What if the destroyers weren’t bothered by bullets?”

“Then we’d both be dead right now.”

“How did you know that would work?”

“I didn’t.”

“But you shot them like you knew it was the thing to do.”

I pulled into the parking lot and found a space. “It’s not like I had other options. Let’s go. I need to be with Kelly.”

She didn’t move.

“Are you all right?”

She held her hands palms down in front of her. They were shaking. Tears welled up in her eyes. “I don’t know. I’m sorry, I know Kelly needs you. I’ll hold it together.”

I turned in the seat to face her, and I took her hands in mine to steady them. My right hand was still stained with Kelly’s blood. As I gazed into her eyes, I said, “You’ve been through a traumatic experience, Rayna. I know you’re a bit freaked out. It’s all right. I’m here for you.”

“You’re as calm as you ever were. How do you do it?”

“This isn’t my first rodeo.”

“How can you get used to something like this?”

“You’d be amazed what you can get used to, but I hope you never learn that firsthand. Listen to me.”

She kept staring out the window.

“Look at me, Rayna.”

She met my gaze but clearly didn’t want to hold it.

“Listen and hear me. Are you listening?”

She blinked a few times, and a tear rolled down her cheek. I kept hold of her hands in a firm but gentle grip. She sniffed and bit her lip then finally nodded.

“I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“But now it’s just you. Brand is a normal person now. He won’t be able to help. Kelly might not recover. I know you have the ghost, but she can’t do anything. So it’s just you standing between me and the surviving Marshalls. And they have more destroyers. How can you protect me from all of that when you’re alone? What can we do? Where can we go?”

I just held her hands and stared into her face. Every once in a while, she’d meet my eyes, but mostly she looked elsewhere. When she finally stopped to take a breath, I said, “You done?”

She took a few deep breaths then gave me a nod. “I’m sorry.”

“You’re in shock. It’s all right. I won’t let anything bad happen to you, Rayna. I don’t care what they send at us, I will keep you safe.”

“But who’s going to keep you safe?”

I forced a smile for her. “That’s not going to be an issue.”

The Marshall Clan didn’t know it yet, but they were all dead. I was going to kill every last one of them.

***

Rayna and I met Mike on the thirteenth floor. “Destroyers?” he asked. “Care to elaborate?”

“In my world they’re called bolons,” Rayna said. “They’re raised to serve one master, and when they go after a target, they will kill anything and everything that gets in the way.”

“Fortunately for us, a few bullets in the head puts them down,” I said.

“I can’t wait to see what they look like. I’ll send a team to retrieve the bodies in the morning. Where is Graham? Is he dead?”

“He’s at the hotel in Boulder. He decided to stay there and work since there’s nothing he can do to help here. Update on Kelly?”

“No news. They’re doing the transfusion now. I had a healer take care of Brand’s injury. Speaking of which, you want to explain that to me?”

“Short version? He’s no longer a Sekutar.”

“They’re going to be a few hours doing the transfusion, so I’d love details. I understood Brand had ten years before the magic would fade. We created the second generation of Sekutar with a definite shelf life.”

“He gave up those years to save Kelly. If you don’t mind, I want to check on her.”

“Of course.” He led us to the room where the healers were working their magic. I’d been there before, so I knew the setup. Kelly was stretched out on a bed, and they had tubes hooked to her along with plasma and platelets. Energy lines hung from the ceiling, so the healers could recharge. They gave of themselves to heal, so they needed a way to regain their lost strength. Tapping into the energy lines took care of that issue. Ophelia held one of the lines and had her head tilted back as she filled herself to the brim. I knew that, even holding some of Brand’s energy for herself during the transfer, she was still exhausted.

Kelly wasn’t moving at all. Two healers worked on her injuries. They’d cut her clothes off; they lay in bloody tatters on a counter off to the side. Now she wore an ugly green hospital gown, though it folded down at her waist.

Ophelia looked over and saw me as I entered the room. Esther stood behind the bed, looking concerned.

“They’re doing all they can for her,” Ophelia said without releasing the energy line. “The transfusion will take about ninety minutes. An hour for the actual transfusion plus another thirty minutes to make sure it’s all right. We could speed that along with magic, but as her injuries were so extensive, we felt it was best to do it slowly in order to avoid further shock to her system.”

“What are they doing?” I asked.

The healers were placing their hands on Kelly’s chest and stomach.

“The beast that slashed her open had unbelievable claws that sliced right through her bones. Her ribs and breastbone were mangled. The healers are guiding the body to heal the breaks.”

“Where’s Brand?” Rayna asked.

Ophelia pointed to a door on the far side of the room. “He’s resting. We healed his wound and took the liberty of easing him into a deep sleep. He needs rest.”

“Rayna,” I said, “you need rest too.”

“Both of you could use some sleep,” Ophelia said. “There are beds in the next room. I promise to wake you if there are any changes in Kelly’s condition.”

“Thank you,” I said.

“You’re welcome.”

“No,” I said and placed a hand on her shoulder. I waited until she met my eyes. “Words can’t relate how much I appreciate what you’ve done.”

“It’s too soon to know if this will work.”

“It doesn’t matter. You came in at a moment’s notice, and you saved her. I know you paid a price for that too.”

She nodded. “It’s what I do.”

“And I doubt you get thanked enough.”

“Having people survive and thrive is all the thanks I need, Mr. Shade. Kelly will survive but unless she thrives, I don’t deserve your thanks.”

“She’ll be on her feet, kicking ass and taking names in no time.”

“I hope you’re right, but you forget, I saw how far gone she was. I don’t want to extinguish your hope, but you need to have realistic expectations here. Even if she recovers enough to be able to walk, she may never be the person she was. There was damage to her spinal cord. She hasn’t moved since I first saw her. It’s possible she’ll be paralyzed. How will you feel then?”

“If that’s the case, I’ll take care of her. She’s the best friend I’ve ever had.”

Ophelia nodded. “Your loyalty is admirable. Now go get some rest.”

“In a minute,” I said and walked over to Kelly’s bedside.

Esther moved over to stand beside me. “I’ll stay with her, Jonathan.”

I took Kelly’s hand in mine. “Thank you, Esther.”

“I hate being so helpless.”

“Me too.”

“I wish I could hug you right now and just hold you. I wish someone could hug me back.”

I didn’t know what to say to her.

The healers stepped back to give me a moment. They were both middle-aged women. I thanked them then leaned over and kissed Kelly on the forehead. I whispered in her ear, “I’m here for you, Kelly. I will always be here for you.”

There was no reaction, but I hadn’t expected one. I’d like to believe that she heard me, though.

I looked at Esther again. “I wish I could hug you too.”

I hadn’t felt much emotion in the past several years. I’d hardened myself to the point where feelings didn’t matter, but now seeing Kelly like this and seeing Esther hurting, I felt emotions well up in me, and I had to fight back tears. If Esther had been alive, I suspect I’d have clung to her and we’d have held each other until we cried out all our tears. But she was a ghost, and in a way, so was I.

Rayna slowly approached me after a time. She took my hand, and we left the room.

In the next room, a line of six beds stood along one wall. Brand slept in the one closest to the door to Kelly’s room. He wore different clothes and had taken the time to wash the blood from his hair and skin.

Rayna nodded toward one of the beds and pulled back the covers. She turned back to me, hesitated, then embraced me.

She didn’t say anything. She just held me.

I wrapped my arms around her and held her tightly. Again, I fought back tears. I knew she was scared both for herself and for me. She thought I was in danger and that the Marshall Clan had the upper hand.

I released her and kissed her on the cheek. When she climbed into bed, I tucked her in. “Rest well,” I said.

I started toward the door.

“Where are you going?” Rayna asked.

“I’m going to wash off some of this blood. I’ll be right back.”

I found a restroom and stared at my haggard face in the mirror. After a minute, I turned on the water, let it run to get nice and hot, then scrubbed my hands. The water turned red as it dripped from my fingers, and Kelly’s blood went down the drain.

When I returned to the room, I took the bed next to Rayna. As I lay there, waiting for sleep to take me away, I thought about the Marshall Clan. As far as I was concerned, they were living on borrowed time and I was going to show up to collect their lives like the Grim Reaper on a mission of vengeance. There wasn’t a goddamn thing any of them could do to stop me.