The screams of passengers who heard the commotion pierced the air, mixing with Serena’s bellow of fury as she came at Byzamoth, drilling a quick double-tap to his mouth, followed by a hard jab to his throat. Fierce admiration and pride lit Wraith up from the inside. Good girl.
The angel lunged for her, but she swung her elbow into his gut as Wraith put the heel of his hand into Byzamoth’s nose.
“My necklace,” Serena yelled. “Get it!”
“Mine.” Byzamoth spun away, his grayish lips pulling back from sharp, yellowed teeth. “And so is she.” He spun with a lot more grace than he should have had, given that his wing was broken and the passage was so narrow, but in an instant, he was sprinting down the aisle.
Wraith gave chase. At the end of the car, Byzamoth collided with a passenger. With a furious snarl, he hurled the male human at Wraith. They both went down in a heap. Son of a bitch. Wraith untangled himself from the human, who was whimpering, his dark skin turned ashen, his eyes haunted by what he’d seen.
Welcome to my world, buddy. Wraith jumped to his feet and tore off after Byzamoth, though the sense of evil had dissipated. He wasn’t sure what powers the angel had, but he was pretty sure the bastard couldn’t fly off with one wing, and a broken one at that.
Ahead, he found a group of humans gathered around an open door on the side of the train, their excited chatter telling him all he needed to know. They’d seen a guy leap from the train, though apparently Byzamoth had taken human form, because these people weren’t nearly as freaked out as they should have been. But where had he gone?
Wraith sped back to Serena, taking no special care to go around passengers. Their indignant curses followed him, but all that mattered was getting to Serena.
The moment he blew through the twisted door frame, she flew into his arms. “Thank God, you’re okay. Oh, my God, thank you. Thank you.” She was babbling and sobbing, and only a colossal effort kept him from doing the same.
“It’s okay. He’s gone.”
“My necklace—”
“Gone, too.”
She cursed, the first really dirty word he’d heard from her.
“I’m sorry I left,” he said into her hair. “I should have been here.”
She tore out of his arms, and he lurched, had to catch himself on the wall. She’d been holding him up, and a sense of dizziness nearly knocked him over. “Don’t you dare be sorry. I’m the one who should be sorry. I had no right to get mad at you. Or chase you away. God, I’m a fool.” She looked at him through watery eyes. “Josh, are you okay?”
Pain tore through his gut, doubling him over. “No.”
“Are you hurt? Did he do something to you?”
“Need… my… room.” He stumbled toward his cabin, doing his best to hold in the contents of his stomach. Though his room was next door, it felt as though it took about six months to get there, and when he did, he couldn’t open the door. Instead, he sank to the floor, his muscles convulsing and his stomach heaving.
“I’m going to see if there’s a doctor on board,” Serena said.
“No. Need… meds. Inside.”
Her soft curse made him smile despite his misery. Second use of profanity in as many minutes. “Fine, but if it doesn’t help—”
He grabbed her wrist, and when she winced, he kicked himself for being such a brute, and loosened his hold. “No doctors. Promise.”
“I don’t like it… but I promise.”
She opened the door. Gathering what remained of his strength, he dragged himself inside and crawled up on the bed. Soft. Cool. Fuck, he was going to die here, wasn’t he?
“You’re not going to die,” Serena said, and he realized he must have been talking out loud. “Now, what meds do you need? Where are they?”
“Bag. Under bed.”
He heard her rummaging around, but then all sounds faded and the world went black.
Twenty-one
Serena tried to control her fear as she pulled medicine bottles and some ketchup-sized packets filled with a dark red substance from Josh’s bag. But panic had taken root and was growing into something unmanageable. He’d said he was dying, but she’d assumed he had time. This… was looking bad.
A river of tears streamed down her face. She hadn’t cried—truly cried—in years. There had been way too much of that when she’d been sick, and then even more when her mom had died. But this… God, so much had happened since she’d met Josh, both good and bad. On top of losing the necklace, how could she deal with losing Josh, too?
Her hand shook as she gathered the bottles and one of the packets of the red liquid. Josh lay facing her, his breathing labored, sweat beading on his brow.
“Josh.” She smoothed her hand over his cheek. “Josh? Can you hear me?”
No response. She patted his cheek, gently at first, and then with more urgency. “Josh.”
“Mmm?”
Her relief was cut short as he began to convulse, his eyes rolling back in his head. Helplessness made her tears fall faster, and by the time he’d settled down, she was sobbing.
“Josh, I have your medicine.”
His head lolled forward, and he groaned. “T-the packet… pills.”
“Same time?”