I woke up slowly. Arms were wrapped around me tightly. The scent of limes filled my lungs, relaxing me even more. I reached down and ran my hand over Isaac’s arm around my waist. His face was buried against the back of my neck, his breathing deep and even. I smiled. Isaac was okay. I was tempted to just stay there all day, but I couldn’t. Evelyn was here, and I had questions I needed answers to.
Carefully, I slipped Isaac’s arm from around me and moved out of bed. The lamp was on low near Zeke, who was still out cold. Asher was spread out on the floor. Miles was sleeping deeply in another chair with his arm resting in its sling. Hades was stretched out at the end of the bed. I shook my head and moved quietly through the room to the dresser. I pulled out some clothes, snuck into the bathroom and closed the door behind me. Hoping not to wake anyone up, I cleaned the blood off me and got dressed.
When I peeked out the bathroom door everyone was still asleep. Hades had moved to Isaac’s side and didn’t look like he’d be moving anytime soon. I loved my baby. I put my dirty clothes away and snuck across the room. Amazed that no one woke up, I slipped out of the bedroom. I asked the first Templar I saw on the stairs where Evelyn was. She used her radio to find out she was in the flower garden. I thanked her and hurried outside, following her directions.
Evelyn was sitting on a stone bench next to the rose bushes with a leggy brunette who looked like she should be on a runway. I hesitated at the archway. If she was busy…
Evelyn turned towards me and smiled. “Come on over, Lexie. We’re just having a gripe session.”
The brunette sent a welcoming smile.
I headed over. The brunette got prettier as I got closer. “We have a bitch session every few days; we can pick it up later.”
“Lexie, this is Rina. She’s a human telepath and a friend of mine,” Evelyn introduced us.
“Nice to meet you,” I said.
“Same.” She took a sip of the ginger ale in her hand.
“I know you must have questions,” Evelyn said politely. “That’s one of the reasons we’re still here. Zahur said you were getting to the point you’d need some answers and he doesn’t have the expertise that you need.”
“Yeah…. Wait. What? He?” I asked, not sure I heard her correctly as I sat down on the bench across from them. “Zahur’s a guy?”
Rina chuckled.
Evelyn sighed. “Let me guess, he appeared to you looking like you?”
“Yeah. I actually thought Zahur was a girl or… something,” I admitted. This was so strange.
“That’s Zahur. He’ll take the most efficient path every time.” She shook her head. “Alright, let’s see, where to start?”
“How about with ‘I’m not human?’” Rina offered as she picked up a Saltine from the pack between them and carefully took a small bite out of the corner.
Evelyn nodded. “That’s a good starting point.” She turned to me. “I’m a member of a guardian race of gargoyles. We’ve protected humans from supernatural predators, as well as kept those species in line, for… oh, thousands of years.”
My eyebrows shot up. Guardians? Serena had mentioned something…. “Wait, are you the ones who made a deal with the Witches Council?”
Evelyn grinned with approval. “Yes, we are, though our role has changed in the last year. But that’s another story. So, you’ve met the Witches Council?”
I scoffed. “I met a witch who said she’d help me figure things out, but hasn’t.”
Her eyes narrowed, her lips pressed together. “Really?” She sighed. “We’ll come back to that. But, first, I'll be happy to clear up anything that's confusing you.”
Only a thousand things confused me, but I couldn’t seem to remember them at the moment. “Isaac. How’d the demon get in? We were only in that house for… thirty minutes tops.”
Her eyes grew soft. “When I help someone the way I did with Isaac, I tend to get a feel for their personality.” Her hand started rubbing her stomach gently. “Isaac is self-destructive, it’s like he’s hated himself for years. When you do that, it creates a… weakness in your natural barriers. He’s torn himself down enough to create it. Demons use that weakness to slip in.”
I chewed the corner of my lip. There was one thing I wanted to ask. “You healed us both, I watched those cuts heal right in front of me. Can you heal something else?”
She gave me a small smile. “You mean the lesion of dead tissue in your brain? I’m sorry, I couldn’t help but notice it when I was working on your wounds.”
I let out the breath I was holding. “Yeah. Can you heal that?”
Her face was soft when she shook her head. “I’m sorry, I can’t. I’m able to heal almost anything. I can repair a shattered spine, work down scar tissue even heal brain injuries. But what I’m working with has to be alive. I can’t bring dead tissue back to life.”
I sighed, it figured. I knew there was no point in hoping. “Can you get Francis to give me the Templar tattoos to keep it from growing?” I half expected a no.
She sat up straighter, her eyes narrowed on mine. “He refused?”
I nodded. “He said they are sacred and, if I wanted them, then I had to work for the Templars.”
“Pardon?” she said, her voice hard. “He said that?”
I nodded.
“Uh-oh,” Rina chimed with a grin.
Evelyn muttered under her breath. “Atticus will bring him here in a few minutes,” she said cryptically before meeting my eyes again. “Now, what happened to your voice? I noticed some damage to your throat.”
I explained the abduction and attack to her, glossing over some of the details. Her eyes were watering by the time I was done.
“Sorry, hormones. I cry at the drop of a hat these days.” She wiped under her eyes carefully. Rina pulled tissues out of her jeans and handed them to her. Evelyn dabbed her eyes. “I’m sorry to say I can’t fix your voice. If I had been there before the nerves died off from the damage then I could have fixed it. But… that’s something I can’t heal. I wish I could fix it. And when you can raise the dead, don’t even think about trying it on your vocal cords. That’s just a disaster waiting to happen.”
I shrugged. Wait, she just said... and she didn't sound judgmental. She was matter of fact.
“But I can protect your vocal cords so there won’t be further damage,” she offered. “Though…”
“What?” Anything she could do, I’d be thrilled with.
“Though, your voice will probably stay as it is now,” she explained. “It just won’t get worse.”
“I’ll take it,” I told her. I just wanted to stop having to watch my volume level all the time. I’m a shouter - I shout. She leaned forward and held my throat in her hands as she closed her eyes. My throat grew warm just like my injuries had earlier.
It wasn’t long before she opened her eyes and let go. “That should do it. Try it out.”
I swallowed hard. “Testing.” For the first time since January, I didn’t have to use a slight force to make my voice work. My throat felt fine. It was fucking amazing. “Thank God. That was annoying as hell.”
They chuckled.
Questions finally started coming to me. “Um, there’s this one thing that happened. In April, I was in class when a bunch of souls found me.” I swallowed hard. “I did something. I sent out a blast of light that shoved them out of the room.”
They both stared at me. “Did any of the other humans see it?” Evelyn asked quietly.
“No, just me.” I took a breath. “I also blew every bulb in the room. And fried the backup generator.”
Evelyn started to rub the locket around her neck. “That’s interesting.” She met my eyes. “Like I said, when I heal people I tend to get more information than I’d like. You do seem to have more ability than I would have expected.”
“What did I do?” I asked, scared of the answer.
“It could be that your connection with the Veil is having a few side effects,” Evelyn began. “No one has had this much interaction with it before, but Necromancers don’t normally have that kind of ability, not to that degree. The fact that you do… it can only be because of your connection.” That didn’t sound good. “What you did, I believe, was use your own energy to throw the souls out of the room. Most Necromancers have it to some degree, but what you're describing is a level I've never heard of. You need to be careful with that. As a Necromancer, any energy you use comes from you. If you overdo it…”