“She’s Vampire and Mage,” Christian stressed. “I don’t think she’s on the brink of making a trip to the pearly gates just yet.”
Niko’s expression tightened. “And if that were Blue lying there and she wasn’t able to shift to heal, would you just walk away? I can’t say if she’ll die—we have not yet learned enough about her. It’s inhumane to allow someone to suffer a slow healing that could take days or even weeks.”
“Don’t turn this around and make me look like the bad guy. I’m just making an observation.”
Niko turned his head in my direction. “Raven, do you heal naturally fast?”
“I’ve never been this banged up. I heal as fast as a Mage without healing light. Maybe you should just stitch me up.”
“Nyet, nyet,” Viktor grumbled. “You will be no good to us lying in a sickbed. Do not give her too much light, Niko. I may need to question her further, and I don’t want her knocked out for days.”
“I’m not going to use Mage healing light.”
My brows popped up. “Exactly what are you going to use?” Fears of metal instruments without anesthesia popped in my head.
His hair tickled my neck when he leaned over me. “I’m a Healer. That’s my Mage gift. Have you ever heard of one?”
I shook my head, focusing on his eyes, which glimmered like pale blue crystals. I’d never seen eyes like his.
“It means I can heal any Breed except for humans. I don’t transfer energy through our hands like we normally do. It’s a more concentrated energy exchange, and I go straight to the wound.”
Anxious, I peered down as he held his hands over my body until he stopped where my leg was sliced open.
Viktor shook his head, giving me an incensed look. “I’ll leave you alone. I have a bloody car and a dead Mage to dispose of.”
If that didn’t make me feel guilty, nothing would.
Christian rested his forearms on the table to my right, his face close to mine. “He’s not as vexed as all that.”
“I didn’t follow orders.”
Christian touched my cheek with his finger. “Sometimes you have to break rules. He knows that better than anyone. What do you think Keystone is founded on?”
I turned my head away from his touch. “Better stop that. People might think you like me.”
When Niko placed his hands on my leg, my body jerked and I reflexively scooted back.
“Keep her still,” Niko said. “Raven, I promise this won’t hurt. Christian, you didn’t tell me there was a bandage on the wound. It’s better if you remove it.”
Christian moved away, and when I felt a pressure release on my thigh, Niko whispered something in another language.
“Is it bleeding?” I asked.
Christian reappeared with a dark smirk. “Have you ever visited Yellowstone? There’s this grand geyser—”
“In other words, I look like a drinking fountain for Vampires.”
“If you want to know the truth, I don’t think it was the contact lens that cursed you. I’m willing to wager my immortal soul it was the third hot dog.”
A quick burst of light filled the room, and my leg flooded with heat.
“What are you doing?” I exclaimed.
Niko raised both hands. “Turn her over and I’ll do the others.”
“Niko?” I leaned up and gripped his wrist. “Before you finish, can you do me a favor? Take some of his light out of me.”
He shook his head. “It’s better if I don’t.”
“You don’t know what it’s like. I need to get it out of me. Just take a little.”
Christian flicked a hard gaze up at Niko. “What’s she asking you to do?”
“She can pull core light all the way out of a Mage. It’s a rare gift indeed. Any Mage can drain the light of another Mage, but core light is what replenishes our strength. It’s the very essence of immortality. Raven has the ability to make them human again.”
“Jaysus.”
Niko withdrew his arm and stepped back. “It remains in her for a day or two, and she wants me to take some of it out.”
Christian stood up. “And?”
“It makes no sense to do it. Whatever I take will weaken her, and no matter what, it won’t be enough to remove it all. Viktor expressed his concern about sharing—”
“Then don’t. Finish up your magic show. I have to pull my bike out of the back windshield of that fecking car before Viktor drives it to the junkyard.”
I gripped Christian’s pinky finger, pulling it toward me. “I’m not asking for a lobotomy. Maybe it doesn’t make sense, but neither of you are the ones walking around with this poisonous light. Please.”
Christian stepped back and folded his arms.
I turned to Niko, my eyes pleading in vain to a blind man who couldn’t see my pained expression. “Can’t you see his dark light? I’m sick with it. I shouldn’t have taken it all; I made a mistake. His light is so spoiled that it’s crawling through my flesh like a nightmare. Normally I’m strong enough to tolerate it, but my own light is weak and he’s all that I feel. You won’t have to do this again, I swear.” I covered my face, tears battling against my lashes.
“Yes, Raven. I see him. Let me heal you first and then I’ll draw some of it out.”