“That’s not going to work this time,” Atticus warned. She giggled as he bent down and swept her up into his arms. He began carrying her toward the door and the large blond man.
“Of course, it will,” Evelyn teased, the smile clear in her voice. “Can we stop by the cafeteria? I’m dying for some pickles and ice cream.”
Atticus sighed. “You need some rest.”
As Atticus carried her through the door, Evelyn looked up at the blond man who was holding the door open. “Ranulf?”
The blond man chuckled, “Aye, I’ll get ye your pickles and ice cream.” He followed them out of the room “What flavor this time?”
“I’m getting the damn pickles and ice cream. I just want you in bed first,” Atticus growled. Evelyn and Ranulf were laughing as the door closed behind.
The steady sound of the heart monitor filled my ears as I turned back to watch Isaac. The blood on him was dry, the cuts scarred over. I got to my feet and moved to the bed.
Isaac looked like himself again. I reached over and held his hand. It was warm. Isaac was going to be okay. Hades moved off Isaac and lay against his side. He closed his eyes and quickly fell asleep.
I was crying when the guys came in with Dr. Zimmer. His gaze went straight to me and assessed. I shook my head. Understanding I was fine, he went straight to Isaac.
Ethan saw me crying first. “They said he was fine!”
I wiped my face quickly as everyone ran in. “He is.” I sniffed.
Everyone surrounded the bed while Dr. Zimmer examined Isaac.
“Then why the hell are you crying?” Zeke snapped.
I wiped my face again. “Happy crying. The demon is dead, Isaac is going to be okay.”
Deep relieved sighs went around the room. At least until Zeke noticed the blood.
“Why the fuck are you both covered in blood?” he demanded at the top of his lungs as he came around the bed. I looked up at his furious face and started laughing.
“It’s a long story.” He was so going to kill us.
Asher
Ally’s room was quiet, well, except for Zeke’s snoring from the chair in the corner. When Dr. Zimmer had decided to move Isaac to a more comfortable room, we agreed immediately to send him to Ally’s. Then none of us left.
Isaac was pale and out cold in the middle of Ally’s bed, lying on his side. His arms held her to him as if she was his security blanket. Ally was on the left while Ethan lay on the right with his back against his brother’s. Hades was curled up at the end of the bed. The dog had refused to leave Isaac’s side.
Dr. Zimmer had suggested that everyone be sedated for a good, long, dreamless sleep. Well, except me and Miles. I caught Miles’ eye in the dim room and tilted my head to the door. He nodded and got to his feet.
We silently left the room and headed upstairs to the cafeteria. I grabbed an orange juice while Miles poured coffee. We sat down at the closest table. We had our choice - the damn cafeteria was empty this time of night.
“Coffee?” I asked.
“Yes, I need to do some thinking,” he admitted.
“Yeah…” I muttered. “A lot has happened. Did you see those scars?"
"Isaac's? Yes. Lexie's..." He met my eyes. "I saw her leg."
I shook my head. "A demon cut them up… Where do we even start trying to understand this?”
“How about with questions?” a woman’s voice asked. We both turned to watch a tall woman, with red streaks in her blonde hair come over with the giant man from earlier. “I’m Astrid.” Her eyes ran over us. “And you boys are friends of that poor kid and the Necro, right?”
“Yeah.” I didn’t know what else to say.
She smiled, grabbed a soda and sat down next to the tall blond. She turned towards us. “So, what do you know? Or want to know?”
I met Miles’ gaze, both of us stunned. We’d been trying to get info out of the Templars, but they hadn’t been willing to explain much.
“First,” Miles turned back to them. “What else exists out there?”
She smirked.
The man behind her started laughing. “Tell ‘em, Goddess.”
Goddess? What?
“Well, I’m a werewolf. My Mate Ranulf, here, is a gargoyle, the same as Evelyn, Atticus, and Falk.” She set her soda down and started listing off on her fingers. “Okay, here’s the big groups that exist. Vampires, shapeshifters like werewolves, witches, demons, angels, and… pretty much another few thousand species of creatures that have lived in secret for thousands of years.”
Stunned, all I could do was stare.
She chuckled. “Okay, too fast.” She opened her soda and took a drink. “Look. What you need to take away from this is that demons are real. They are extremely powerful and are not to be messed with by humans unless they are properly trained.” She took another drink.
Ranulf nodded. “Aye, what that lass did took guts, and it worked, but—”
“It was stupid,” Astrid stated. “They’re both lucky to be alive. And from what Evie told me, it was damn close.”
I shared a look with Miles.
Miles turned back to them. “What did she do?” he asked carefully.
Her eyebrows went up as she slowly put down the soda can. She turned to Ranulf. “It seems she didn’t share.”
“Aye, it does.” Ranulf chuckled. “Ye said it. Ye clean it up.” He got to his feet and headed into the kitchen.
Astrid sighed. “Evie explained it like this. Your friend Lexie, she went into Isaac’s Center.” She eyed us. “Do you know what that is?”
“Yes, we know about a person’s Center,” Miles said carefully.
“Okay, that’ll save time,” she explained. “Your friend Isaac was dying. His center was being filled with the demon. It was wiping him out. She jumped in to help him fight off the demon. They both took heavy injuries. Luckily, Evie was there to heal them both, so they just walked away with scars."
"And with that lass's injuries, it was obvious what she had been doing.” Ranulf came back in with a couple beer bottles and handed her one before sitting down beside her again, facing the outside of the table.
I shared another look with Miles. He didn’t have a clue either.
"What do you mean? What had she been doing?" Miles asked. Ranulf went still.
Astrid smirked at Ranulf. "That one's on you."
“Shite," he muttered as he set down his beer before looking at us. "That puncture on her shoulder? Evie told us it meant Lexie started making a deal with the demon. Probably trading herself for your friend."
My stomach dropped. No.... she... she wouldn't... Shit, I knew damn well that she would do that. I started to rub the tension out of my neck and tried to stay calm.
“Let's put that to the side for now. What can we do to help her deal with these things?” Miles asked.
Astrid gave him an understanding smile. “You can’t.” She said it like it was obvious. “You can’t see these creatures, and even if one was standing in front of you, you wouldn’t be able to tell it wasn’t human.”
“Shit…” I muttered. We had almost lost them both and… I propped my elbows on the table and rubbed my face. “How are we going to be able to help her if we can’t…” I dropped my hand and looked at Miles.
His eyes were unfocused on the table, a wrinkle in between his eyebrows. His eyes refocused before he turned back to Astrid. “Astrid, Ranulf, you obviously know more than we do. Is there a way to keep the dead from attacking Lexie? Or to let us help her?”
Ranulf was suddenly smirking at Miles. He eyed Miles with approval. “Smart lad.”
Astrid grinned. “There could be.”
Chapter 18
Sunday