A Stitch on Time 5 (4 page)

“Sure you don’t want the rest?” Lavie prompted.

“I’m positive,” I said. “Can it really wipe away grief?”

“It depends. Demonic blood can help with different things—ranging from healing organs, getting rid of disease, and sometimes can even provoke visions. Before you ask, no, it won’t get rid of my demonic seeds.” She shrugged. “But it does help calm your nerves.”

“Only one person can get rid of the seeds,”
Saul said inside my mind.

I already knew who that person was—me. I’d managed to temporarily remove Lavie’s demonic seeds while inside the shadow monsters’ patch.

“Let’s not talk about what the blood can and cannot do,” Lavie said, continuing her line of thought.

A loud boom reverberated around the room, shaking the floor and rattling the windows.

“What the hell was that?” I asked, standing up. That didn’t sound like thunder.

A second boom followed, and then another. The storm was right above us but this sounded like explosions.

“Uh-oh,” Lavie called when she reached the window. “It looks like we’ve got company.”

When the next thump clanged, there was no denying more than one explosion was going off all around us. The beeps and sounds coming from the life-support machines stopped suddenly, leaving us in temporary silence.

“Papan…” I leaned over him and squeezed his hand, wishing for an instant recovery. The heart monitor went blank and the respirator was no longer breathing for him. The overhead lights flickered before leaving us in almost darkness. If it wasn’t for the lightning and the flames outside, there would be no light.

I placed his hand back on the bed and pushed the chair out of my way. “What is going on?” I rushed to Lavie’s side and looked out the window. Several houses were engulfed by fire, giving the werewolf estate an eerie orange glow.

“Don’t worry, the backup generators will kick in,” Saul called loud enough for us to hear.

Just as he spoke, three phantasms plummeted from the night sky like comets turning into fireballs. They impacted with the barn, causing the worst explosion yet. Debris rose into the air, some of it struck the outer walls of the clinic.

“Was that the barn?” Saul asked.

“Sure was,” Lavie answered.

“Then we’ll switch back to the grid—”

“No, if that happens he’ll have total access!” But even as the words slid between my lips, the fluorescent lights flickered on. The machines ticked back into working order, beeping and puffing.

The sound of the next explosion made my heart leap inside my chest and forced my limbs into action. I tackled Lavie to the floor just as the window we’d been looking through shattered.

My ears buzzed as I rolled off her to make sure she was all right. Since she always dressed in long sleeves and garments that covered her legs, the glass hadn’t struck her skin. There was some stuck in her red curls, which she shook off.

“Wow, that was fast,” she said. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.” I got to my feet and offered her a hand. She took it and together we headed back to the window. Most of the grounds were on fire, and phantasms of different colors whirled around the area. I’d been stupid to assume Mace couldn’t reach me here. He was making a mess outside, hurting people who had nothing to do with our personal conflict.

“Phantasms,” Lavie whispered.

The thunderstorm helped them get here. There hadn’t been anything normal about the approaching storm, and now I knew why. These bastards had somehow used their electrical charge to travel via lightning to reach this place. It had to take a tremendous amount of strength, but Mace’s demonic influence would be enough of a push.

Screams and chaos echoed around the formerly peaceful compound. If I didn’t go outside to help catch the phantasms, everyone would be killed.

“I have to go out there.”

“No, Sierra, you’re bleeding!” Lavie grabbed my hand and pointed at my face.

Funny, I hadn’t felt any pain, but she was right. When I ran my hand over my right cheek I withdrew bloody fingers. “It doesn’t matter—”

“Hold on, let me at least get the shard of glass out.” She snatched it between her fingers and I felt a slight tug on my skin before she showed me the small, sharp slither.

I wiped my cheek with my sleeve and turned to check on Papan. He lay motionless on the bed under a shower of glass. He was also simultaneously standing where I’d sat only seconds ago.

No, no, no, this can’t be happening!

A ragged cough wracked through me as I struggled to keep my composure. This wasn’t like being dragged into a spook’s zone, but I’d been here before. With a fellow spook catcher called Mara. She’d been in a coma—in limbo—when she’d somehow pulled me in. But Papan had been in a coma for days and I hadn’t seen him once. Not until now.

“Hey, Fox,” he said, meeting my eyes. “What’s going on?”

I stepped closer. “You’re hurt, you’re—”

“Yeah, I got that bit.” He took only two strides to reach me. “I’m in a coma, except something’s changed.”

“What do you mean?”

“I think I’m slipping away.”

“You’re in limbo.”

He nodded. “That’s where I was, but I can feel something warm rising up behind me. And it’s getting brighter.”

“Don’t turn around,” I warned. Giving him the opposite advice I’d offered to Ebony seemed bizarre, but he couldn’t go. Not yet. “Whatever you do, don’t turn towards the light.”

His green eyes twinkled. “I’m almost at the end of the line, aren’t I?”

“No, you’re not. Saul’s helping you get better.”

Papan raised his right hand and touched my lips with his fingertips. “It’s all right, Foxy.”

I shook my head and his fingers slipped away. “No, nothing’s going to be all right until you open your eyes and get out of that bed!”

He pulled me into a firm embrace, and all I could do was rub my cheek against his firm chest and wish this wasn’t happening. I wasn’t ready to let him go, I didn’t want to lose someone else. Papan ran a hand over my hair, smoothing it out.

“It’s so great to see you. I didn’t think I’d get to hold you again.” He kissed the top of my head. “At least I can move on peacefully now.”

His words sunk in and I pushed him away. Why did Papan share Ebony’s blasé attitude towards death? “Don’t say that. You’re not going anywhere.”

“But Fox—”

“No!” The scream tore from my throat, hurting so much I closed my eyes to keep the pain at bay. When I opened them, Papan was gone. His motionless body lay still on the bed under the bloody sheet.

Lavie was leaning over Saul, who was slumped onto the bed.

“What happened to him?” I raced over, and his eyes were shut. The demon looked pale. “He’s not chanting anymore, is that going to be a problem?”

Lavie nodded. “If he doesn’t chant, the blood won’t flow like it needs to.”

“Saul, wake up. Damn it, Saul. Don’t do this. Not now!”
When he didn’t respond, I cleared my throat. “We have to do something. We can’t let Papan die.”

Pain glistened in her hazel eyes. “If we don’t rouse Saul back to consciousness, neither is going to make it.”

“What do we do?”

In the distance, something else exploded.

She pressed two fingers to the side of Saul’s neck. “He’s got a strong pulse.”

“Wake him up, then,” I said.

“It’s not going to be that easy.”

I pushed her out of the way, grabbed a hold of Saul’s collar and straightened his body as best as I could. I then slammed my left fist against his cheek once, twice, three times. “Wake up! You promised you wouldn’t let him die.” I hit him again.

“Sierra!”

I shook Lavie off, determined to do anything to wake the demon. When I attempted to hit him a fifth time, his hand shot up and caught my wrist. Saul’s grip was so tight his fingers turned white. Our connection caused a flutter of familiarity to flow between us. The Strophalos on the back of my hand lit up, and I suddenly felt some of my energy pouring into him. The pink outline of his Hecate’s Wheel tattoo shone through his shirt.

“He’s not going to die.”
Saul’s whisper filled my mind. He tilted his head at an unnatural angle and said out loud, “I don’t know how many times I need to tell you that I won’t let him die.”

“I’m sorry I hit you, I didn’t know what else to do.”

He forcibly dragged me by the arm until he was close enough to whisper in my ear. “Striking me is one way to do it, but kissing would’ve done the same.”

I yanked my hand out of his grip and it felt like cutting off a lifeline, leaving my fingertips twitchy. Saul liked to tease and confuse the hell out of me. It seemed to be one of his favorite pastimes. I didn’t care—he was awake now. “Do whatever you have to do to make sure Papan recovers, you got it?”

Saul stared at me blankly, the small cuts on his face glistened with blood. “Thanks for the recharge.”

“I’m serious. I just saw Papan, and the light’s calling him.” Now I knew why he’d slipped away so quickly. With Saul temporarily out of commission, Papan had come too close to death. “He’s almost gone.”

“I’ve got this.” The handsome demon’s features hardened and his chanting quickened.

“Good, because I have to stop the phantasms from causing any more damage than they already have.” I headed for the doorway, but paused to look over my shoulder. “Lavie, aren’t you coming?”

“What can I do against these spooks?” She frowned, regarding me with a hard expression I’d never seen before.

She was probably angry about what I’d done to Saul, or maybe she’d heard what he said to me, which the moron should’ve said psychically. Either way, we didn’t have time to waste. “You’re in luck, because these particular assholes have been touched by the demonic so I’m pretty sure you can help.”

“Sounds good to me,” she said as she grabbed her backpack and slung the straps over one shoulder. “You’ll be all right on your own?”

Saul nodded. “Go and save the wolves, and keep an eye on the crazy woman.”

I took one last look at Papan and waited for Lavie to reach me before running into the corridor with her on my heels. Seeing him this close to death shook me to the core, especially after Ebony.

The overhead lights were even brighter here, which meant every building and house left in this area was now powered by the electric grid. So no one was safe. Mace and his army of phantasms were going to level the place if I didn’t stop them.

When we reached the clinic’s front door, Lavie and I paused. The undeniable sound of sniffling was coming from the other side of the reception desk. I gave her a quizzical look and she shrugged, so I made my way around. The nurse was hunched underneath the desk with her head resting on her knees. I touched her shoulder and she screamed.

“It’s just me,” I said.

She raised her head and looked at me with wide-eyed terror.

“Michelle, you have to get out of here, okay?”

She shook her head.

“You have no choice,” I said, holding my hand out. “Come on.”

Michelle hesitated for a few moments but eventually slipped her hand into mine and I helped her to her feet. Lavie stood beside us, watching and waiting for my lead.

“Are you ready?” I asked.

“As ready as I’m ever going to be,” Lavie said with a small nod.

I wasn’t sure how she was going to battle these bastards, but a simple touch from me was all it took to immobilize spooks. During my crazed spook-catching binge, I hadn’t needed a single canister. I’d collected them like balloons on a single string, then carried their energy around with me until I could banish them inside Grandma’s inscribed circle.

The spook catcher circle with a triangle inside was used to summon and banish evil spirits. Thanks to Grandma’s journal, I now knew the circle was called
The Ecliptic
.

“Let’s go!” I didn’t wait for Lavie, just ran out into the street with Michelle tagging along beside me. Well, calling it a street was an exaggeration because the way this compound was built consisted mostly of grassy slopes with houses situated at certain intervals, and bigger buildings interspersed in the middle.

The majority of the houses were on fire, while the remaining ones were covered in phantasms. The spooks’ entire mass was made of electricity, buzzing in different colored arcs and travelling over the cables connecting to each home. A few people lay dead and glassy-eyed, but others were running around lost. I approached a woman, and grabbed her forearm until she stopped screaming. I didn’t recognize her and she stared at me with the same wide, frightened eyes Michelle had.

“Listen to me,” I said. “You need to leave the estate right now!”

“No, I have to find my children.”

“Listen to me,” I said, more forceful, while dragging Michelle forward until she stood next to the woman. “You both have to shift and run as far away as you can.”

“No. I can’t.” The woman attempted to pull her arm away so I tightened my grip.

“You have to.”

“Let me go.”

“Beryl, listen to her.”

I turned to find a woman I recognized approaching. She seemed too calm for this crazed scene, but she’d been the same way when Papan was injured. I’d had several disagreements with Martha already.

“Get them to change and run. Surely you have a rendezvous point,” I snapped.

Martha nodded. “Leave them with me. I’ll help find Beryl’s children and we’ll leave.”

“Why are we taking orders from her?” Beryl asked, dismayed.

“We have to listen because she’s the alpha’s chosen mate. Don’t pretend you don’t know. It’s as clear as daylight.”

The woman named Beryl growled, but it was shortly silenced by another explosion. The phantasms were shorting out all the circuits and making the houses go up in flames. I had to stop them before they burned everything to the ground.

“Just go, I’ll take care of these monsters.” No point in waiting for a response. I’d handed out my instructions—it was up to the pack if they chose to listen or ignore them. I wasn’t a figurehead, just wanted to save as many people as I could.

I ran into the middle of the estate and swiveled around in a circle. The colorful phantasms were everywhere, but I couldn’t find Mace. Strange thing was the phantasms all seemed to be ignoring me. Or were they avoiding me? Whatever it was, if they wouldn’t come willingly, I would force them.