Between the Bleeding Willows (The Demon Hunters Series Book 1) (16 page)

“Come on, I think you should come with me so Angeline can examine you. Since you are tattooed you should cross without any injuries.” He grabbed his dagger and kicked the blue powder away with his boot.

“Right now?”

He nodded but didn’t wait for my answer. At the willow, Killian coated his dagger blade in the blood oozing from the willow trunk and then drew a line in the ground where the gate existed. He wiped the blade clean in the grass, then dragged it across his chest wound, coating the blade in his own blood. The dagger glowed bright. Using the blade, he traced the line he drew with the willow tree blood, then he sheathed his dagger and extended his hand toward me.

“Ready?” He picked up the bag of medicines and extended his other hand to me.

Yes, I was. I had wanted to crossover for so long and see Killian and Casper again, and here it was, happening to me. It felt unreal. I placed my hand in his strong, calloused one and looked up at him. His face was serious, perhaps weighing whether this was the right thing to do. Then he took a breath and pulled me toward him. And we began falling…

Chapter Fifteen

Angeline was in the Center, expecting our arrival.

“Cassidy, what a pleasant surprise. Let’s get you both to the med unit.” She walked with us through the halls. A few Clan members waved as I passed. Rounding the corner, we entered the dim room, where someone lay under covers in the back. Killian moved quickly to her side.

“Lena, I’m back and I have the ingredients. Now Angeline can make the medicines needed. God, you’re burning up.” He ran to the washbasin, grabbed a clean towel, and began soaking it in the water. “Dammit, I’m too bloody and dirty.”

Angeline came to his side and urged him to step aside. She took out a fresh towel and soaked it in a fresh basin of water, then squeezed it out and placed it on Lena’s head.

“Killian, let’s look after your wounds.” Angeline collected some supplies in preparation to doctor him.

“I can wait. I need you to work on Lena.”

She looked at him and read his energy.

“Fine, but you need to wash those wounds now. Cassidy, help him.”

I nodded and went to the basin where I scrubbed my hands and got a towel coated in a thin layer of tiny bubbles. “Shirt off.”

Killian obeyed and pulled it over his head. He had strong shoulders and upper arms—not lumpy like bodybuilders’, but athletically fit. My breathing hitched, and I quickly sucked my lips in to disguise the audible response my body made. “Face first.” I needed to calm down and focus. The cut on his cheek was not very deep. I gently cleaned the skin around the wound and then rinsed the towel thoroughly.

Angeline was busy in the background using a mortar and pestle to crush ingredients together.

Killian glanced in her direction too and said quietly, “Lena looks awful. I hope this medicine helps.” Despite the tension I’d seen between them, it was obvious they had a strong bond as brother and sister.

Nodding in agreement, I said, “Me too.” He and Lena fought but they were brother and sister—there was a love there, a bond—he couldn’t lose her.

Using a newly soaped cloth, I began cleaning his chest wounds. He winced as I ensured each stripe the demons gave him was clean. He grabbed my hand as I touched the last claw laceration.

“Cass, it’s really good seeing you again. I forgot how much better everything seems in your presence.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know; there’s something about you. It feels like hope. Strange way to describe it, but it feels different with you here. It feels better.”

I let that soak in, and was reminded of the kiss we shared after he returned from the Grove. He seemed as emotionally vulnerable then as he seemed now.

With no words coming to mind, I finished tending his wounds—cleaning and steri-stripping the gashes.

Angeline had a tray with a bowl of something resembling pesto and two potions. “We are ready over here. Grab a bowl in case she gets sick.”

Killian and I headed toward Lena. I grabbed a clean bowl from the cabinet and took a spot next to the withered-looking demon fighter.

Angeline unwrapped the bandages and began washing the area. It looked so much worse. Her entire leg was hot and inflamed, and it reeked. Killian took her hand even though she was out cold. I held the bowl near her head in case she vomited.

“This ointment will help heal and disinfect the wound, but it will also wake her up. It stings a bit.” She used a small spatula to spread it along the open wound. Lena’s leg muscles clenched in pain, and she let out a scream. Her eyes opened—half-lidded and bloodshot with tears trailing down her cheek.

“Cassidy? Am I dreaming?”

“No, I’m here. We got you the medicine you needed.” She nodded and winced again as Angeline applied another coat of it and wrapped the wound.

“Lena, you need to drink these two potions.” Killian helped her sit up just enough to drink the first potion. The second potion looked like iridescent snot—thick and shimmery—and took longer to get it down.

“It’s so bitter.”

“I know, sorry.” Angeline looked at her sympathetically. “Cassidy, hold that bowl close. We don’t want a mess to clean up.” I nodded. “Come on, Killian—I need to check Cassidy’s patch job and we need to put some ointment on your wounds.” He laid Lena back down and kissed her forehead before following Angeline.

“What are you doing back?” Lena asked me quietly.

“I don’t know. Something strange happened in the cemetery. Killian was attacked by four demons, and something weird happened with my hands. Some kind of blue flash shot out that hurt the demons.”

“Let me see.” Lena took my hands and examined them. “They look normal. Your body has reacted so strangely since we tatted you.”

“I know. This felt like an intense power surge, so intense, unlike anything I ever experienced before. Killian asked me to do it again, but I couldn’t, so he brought me here for Angeline to have a look.”

“Well, it’s nice seeing you again. He hasn’t been the same since you left.” A soft smile graced her pale face.

“Who? Killian?” I looked at him; Angeline was applying orange paste to his wounds. “Are you sure he hasn’t seemed different because you’ve been ill?”

“I guess I don’t know, but he seems better with you here.”

Glancing back at him, Killian looked up and locked eyes with me. He was so strong, confident, and powerful, but he was worried for his sister, and my heart ached for him.

The energy began building in my core, just as it had in the cemetery. My hands vibrated and warmed as they glowed blue. I felt the urge to shove them in my pockets, but my body had a mind of its own. My hands, not under my control, wrapped around Lena’s leg. What was happening? Would the blue flames set her on fire?

Her body tensed, eyes rolling back in her head. God, was I killing her? I had to get my hands off. Why was this happening? I closed my eyes, afraid to see what my hands might be doing while trying desperately to release their hold of her. My mouth opened to yell for help, but there was no sound.

Finally, my hands stilled and cooled. My fingers opened as I regained control. What had I done? Lena lay there still…soundless, lifeless.

“No!” My bellow drew Killian and Angeline’s attention.

They ran over to us. What had I done? I sank to the floor, letting the wall of tears fall free. I took away his sister, destroyed his family. I didn’t mean to do it; I couldn’t stop. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry,” I muttered over and over, sobbing.

Killian and Angeline circled around Lena, checking her and talking. While I couldn’t make out their words, my mind was telling me, “You killed her and took her away from Killian” over and over again. The sound of their tones changed to a less hurried pace, acceptance that there was nothing more they could do, I figured. She was gone.

The guilt wrenched my body. What was happening to me? What was wrong with my hands and why did I lose control? Killian’s muscular arms wrapped around me, holding me together so I didn’t shatter into a million pieces. But he shouldn’t comfort me—I didn’t deserve it. He spoke softly near my ear, a soothing hum of indistinct syllables. My stomach felt sick. I was a murderer. I killed my friend.

“It’s okay, Cass, look at me. Look at me!” Killian pulled back and put his hands on each side of my face, holding it firmly. He was going to let me have it. He tilted my chin up and I opened my eyes.

I needed to face this, whatever he wanted to do to me, whatever punishment…

“Cassidy.”

Hot tears fell from my face as I silenced the sobs that wanted to bubble out. He was not crying; he was too strong for that. In my peripheral, a fiery red blur came closer into focus.

“What happened? What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” Killian stared at me, perplexed and worried. He picked up my hands, examining them. He pulled up my sleeve to check my tattoo; a faint blue glow slowly disappeared from the ink edges. He rubbed it with his thumb and looked up at me. “It happened again didn’t it?”

“Cassidy, are you okay?” Lena. The fiery blur was now in focus and squatting near me. But how? “Cassidy, it’s okay. I’m okay. You healed me. Look.” She pulled back the bandage; her skin was healed. It needed washing to remove the ointments, dried blood, and pus, but there was brand new pink skin where her wound had been.

My hand reached out to touch it, to be sure it was real.

“Cassidy, did you do this?” Killian asked.

“I don’t know. My hands did the same thing they did in the cemetery, and I felt compelled to touch her leg. I couldn’t stop myself.” Turning toward Lena, I said, “I thought I had killed you.” The tears began to fall again.

Lena was very much alive. Her face had regained some color, and she already looked more vibrant than she had several minutes ago. “But you didn’t, Cass. You saved me.”

Killian looked down at me and wiped away my tears. “There’s nothing to cry over. Everything is fine.”

I pushed out of Killian’s arms and lunged at Lena, wrapping her in a tight hug. She held me and rubbed my back as we stood from the floor.

“I don’t understand what is happening to me.” Sitting back, I stared at my normal, mortal hands that did weird mystical things.

“You have no control over it? You can’t start or stop it?” Killian inquired. I shook my head.

“The first time it happened was in the cemetery.”

“What exactly happened in the cemetery?” Angeline asked as she stood beside Lena.

“I stopped by the cemetery and lay by the gate.”

“Why?” Lena questioned.

“I don’t know. I feel better when I’m there…I’ve only gone there a few times.” She looked at me curiously. “Anyway, I heard a noise and saw Killian approaching the gate. We talked for a moment, and then two demons came out of the gate and attacked him. He had a good handle on them till two more appeared.”

“Four on one? Those are bad odds,” Angeline remarked.

“She wouldn’t listen. I told her to run but she wouldn’t.” Killian looked at me with one eyebrow raised.

“Of course she didn’t listen,” Lena said matter-of-factly, “you were in danger.”

I continued, “So two demons pinned Killian and another approached from behind. Seeing him in danger and outnumbered triggered something in me. I felt compelled to help. Next thing I know, my hands started vibrating and warming. My arms moved on their own, palms pointed toward the demons, and flares of blue shot at them, burning them. Killian got Jackson and Sean to take them to the binding chamber…and here we are.”

“Fascinating,” Angeline said. “I felt a noticeable change in power near the gate…I felt your surge. Looks like you saved both Killian and Lena. Impressive.” Angeline smiled brightly at me as though she were proud. “Come on, Killian and I need to have a look at you and Lena.”

Angeline led us to the exam tables. “Killian, do initial assessments on Cassidy, while I check Lena.”

Killian pulled a tray next to my table and smiled down at me. “Sit on the edge. I need to check reflexes.”

I obeyed and scooched to the edge, dangling my feet.

He pulled off my ankle boots but left my socks. “So…” He tapped the hammer on my inner ankles. “Did you feel anything or think anything before you healed Lena?”

Too embarrassed to confess that I felt sad for him, I shook my head. “Nothing?” I shook my head again.

While his expression suggested he didn’t buy my answer, Killian, surprisingly, did not push the topic. “Look straight ahead.” He shined a light into my eyes. I complied as he thoroughly checked my vitals, levels, and extremities.

“I’ll assess her energies in a moment, Killian,” Angeline called over.

When Killian finished, he set his tray back along the rocky counter and came back over to my table. “Sit tight, almost done. Once Angeline finishes, you’ll be free to go.”

“Are you going to send me away again?” I already knew the answer but wondered…and hoped this energy thing might buy me some time.

He leaned against the side of the table and did not look at me. “Yes. I don’t want you here when that battle starts.”

“Why? I just took out three demons. You could use my help.”

“Cass, you can’t control it. It’s not very helpful if it’s unpredictable.”

“He’s right, Cass. If you had the ability to control this new power, it’d be a different conversation. But as it stands, it’d be too dangerous to have you fighting out there with us,” Lena said with sympathy in her eyes.

“I’d like to see Casper again before I go.” The tattoo began to vibrate like before, giving its green hue. Killian looked at his tattoo and saw the same.

Angeline came closer and said, “I saw that. What’s going on between you two?”

Killian and I both looked at each other, neither willing to talk about our feelings with an outside party.

“You both need to find your voices so we can get to the bottom of this. I have a feeling this energy surge has to do with your bond, but I’ll never know unless you both communicate with me.” She walked back to Lena to finish up.