The Sight Seer (17 page)

Chapter
Thirty-one

My Boneless let out a heartless chuckle, probably already imagining how good Rafe and I would taste. “Rafe,” I whimpered, willing him to get up.

He didn’t move.

Oh god. Why was this happening? My Boneless grabbed me by my hair and threw me to the ground next to Rafe, still chuckling. The other one, its twin, joined in, the two of them surrounding us as they laughed cruelly. How heartless, how…evil. I trembled, wishing they would shut up and get on with it.

“What should I do, Rafe?” I whispered, but he didn’t answer.
Hugging myself, I searched the ground for a weapon of any kind. Rafe’s sword was out of reach, and the second Boneless still gripped the knife tightly in its hand. There was a tree branch close to my leg; I picked it up, knowing it would do little good against the two demons, but its weight was comforting in my hands.

I stood on shaky legs, surprised they allowed me to.
I was even more surprised when I slammed the stick against my Boneless’s chest and it didn’t even bother to move. Judging from its reaction, I hadn’t hurt it one bit, but it felt good, let me tell you. The stick had broken in two, and I used the shorter piece still in my hands to hit it again and again until Boneless apparently had enough and grabbed me by the arm. I hollered, kicking it in the shin, but this act of bravery went unnoticed when Boneless number two suddenly started screaming. My Boneless dropped my arm and I turned around to see a knife protruding from the second demon’s eye. Thick rivers of inky-black blood flowed down the thing’s face as it screamed in absolute
pain
. It was the worst noise I had ever heard, and I knew if I lived through the night, I would have nightmares for the next year.

My Boneless shoved me roughly aside and I fell to the ground, skimming my knees.
It went to its twin, supporting the other as it began leading the wounded demon away. As they passed me, my Boneless stopped, pure murder flashing in its yellow eyes. “Revenge,” it hissed. “We
will
have revenge.”

I let them walk away.
I mean, I’m sure I could have come up with something extra snarky to say, but I don’t think the timing would have been appropriate. God forbid Boneless the first came back to finish the job.

I blew out a sigh of relief as I watched them retreat, knowing we had gotten out of a horrible fate by the skin of our teeth.
Turning to Rafe, I was about to say something sarcastic (with him, I could without fear of repercussion), but the words died on my lips when I got my first good look at him.

He was visibly shaking, his face paler than I had ever seen it.
His left arm was wrapped around the wound on his right side, while his right hand still gripped the knife. His entire body gave one giant shudder and then he fell to his knees, gasping from the pain. The knife slid from his hand, landing on the ground with a small clang. He would have fallen onto his face if I hadn’t rushed over and caught him.

“Rafe!”
I helped him lean back so he was supported by a tree. Every little movement made him cry out in pain and I started panicking, badly. What was I supposed to do?

I quickly ripped off my cardigan, bundling it up into a ball and pressing it against his wound.
Rafe hissed in pain, his green eyes fluttering open. “Gabi,” he croaked.

“It’s alright, it’s alright,” I chanted.
“Tell me you have some of that magic stuff on you, Rafe. The stuff to heal your wounds.”

He shook his head slightly.
“Left it home.” Because he didn’t expect to fight demons tonight. Tears pricked my eyes and I swallowed painfully a few times. Dammit, this was all my fault!

“Tell me what to do,” I pleaded.
“I know; I’ll call Evan!” I reached for my phone, only to realize too late that I had left my bag back in Pierce’s house. I looked at Rafe; he seemed to be drifting off, so I shook him gently. “Rafe! Your phone! Do you have it?”

“P-Pocket
…”

Heart lifting, I reached into his front pocket and pulled out the phone, knowing Evan would fix everything.
But my feelings of hope evaporated when I saw a giant crack running down the screen like a spider web. The phone was dead.

“No,” I moaned.

“Gabi,” Rafe said again. He put his hand on top of mine as I held the cardigan in place. His skin was ice cold—not a good sign. Rafe was
always
warm. Tears began running down my cheeks and I made no move to hide them. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“What the hell are you apologizing for?” I demanded.
“It’s my fault, Rafe! You got distracted because of
me
; you got stabbed because of
me
! I didn’t warn you fast enough…” I hung my head, ashamed at myself. “I’m so sorry!”

“No.”
He tried to push himself up and groaned in pain. “No, Gabi, no. Don’t apologize. I—” He choked on his words, looking like it hurt him too much to speak.

“Shh,” I told him, putting a finger on his lip.
“Save your strength. You’re going to be fine. Everything is going to be fine, Rafe.” I tried to smile through my tears for him.

What were my options?
Leave him there and race for the nearest house? And then wait until the ambulance came before leading everyone back to Rafe? No, how could I leave him like that? Alone? I knew if I were in his place, I wouldn’t have wanted to be alone.

“I don’t regret
…any of this,” he told me, his green eyes boring into mine. There was an intense, frantic look in his eyes, like he wanted to tell me so much but couldn’t because his strength was failing him.

It could not end like this.
It could
not
.

When Rafe’s eyes fluttered closed, a little sigh escaping his lips,
I leaned forward so I could grab him by the shoulders and shake him until he woke up again. But before I could touch him, a new feeling surfaced, threatening to overtake me. A deep vibration, rumbling in my chest and humming loudly in my ears, consumed me. I looked at Rafe’s wound and knew what I had to do.

I removed the cardigan, peeling back the shredded pieces of his blue shirt to see the gaping hole Boneless had made.
Holding my hands in the air above his wound, I took a deep breath and concentrated.

The humming in my ears intensified, now accompanied with a fierce, burning feeling that ran from my elbows to my fingertips.
My hands and arms began glowing blindingly white—my initial reaction should have been to start screaming, but I regarded the light calmly. I was in control. I knew what I was doing.

I closed my eyes, took another breath, and focused on the wound that I could still see behind my shut lids.
Piece by piece, I stitched it back together, all the while willing Rafe to
live
.

Something flowed through me and out my fingertips, leaving me gasping and shaking with fatigue.
I didn’t know what it was. My energy? My soul? Whatever it was, it went straight to Rafe and he let out a gasp of surprise.

I was sluggish, as if I had just woken from a dream.
I tried to pry open my eyes to see what I had done, but before I could, I felt myself falling as the world faded to black.

Chapter
Thirty-two

“Gabi.”

I ignored Dad, burrowing deeper under my blankets as I tried to steal a few more precious moments of sleep.
I was tired, so tired and not ready to face the day. Maybe Dad would let me stay home from school again.

“Gabi.”
The voice was insistent and I mentally sighed (I was too exhausted to actually produce a real sigh, how scary was that?), wishing he would get the hint and go away. And why was my bed so hard? And what was that steady thumping sound resounding directly under my ear? My pillows had a heartbeat?

Heartbeat?
Why was that—

Rafe!
My eyes flew open, and I tried to sit up, but found I didn’t have the strength to do so. The thing that I thought was a blanket gripped me tighter, pulling me closer, and I realized, belatedly, that I was wrapped in Rafe’s arms, lying on Rafe’s chest.

The close contact should have made me blush, but I was more confused as to what the hell was going on.
Rafe had been on the ground, his life slowly bleeding out as I helplessly stood by and watched. And now? Now he was holding me, his thumb gently stroking my bare arm, his heart beating strong and steady under my ear. What had happened?

I lifted my head as far as I could manage, nearly weeping in relief when I saw his green eyes bright and brimming with life once more.
They had been glazed over when I last saw them, reflecting the pain that threatened to consume him. A smile stretched across his face, growing even wider when our eyes met.

“You’re awake!” he said happily.
We were propped up against the same tree as before, with me tucked safely in his warm embrace.
I could stay like this forever
, I thought lazily, not looking forward to that feeling of disappointment I knew would hit me when he let go.

“You’re amazing, do you know that, Gabi?
Do you know what you did tonight?”
              He continued talking, but I had trouble keeping up. It was like Rafe was stuck on fast forward while I had hit the pause button. Everything took an extreme amount of effort, but eventually I was able to reach forward and move aside the torn and bloody shirt from his wound.

Except there was no wound there.

I sucked in a breath, prodding the smooth skin with my fingers. No, this couldn’t be. The knife had gone all the way through, probably damaging any number of organs in the process. Blood had spilled from this wound, staining Rafe, staining me, staining the ground. But there was nothing there. The skin was unbroken.

“How?” I asked Rafe, looking up at him in amazement.

“It was you,” he said. He pulled me even closer so he could rest his forehead against mine. “You saved me, Gabi.” His warm breath washed over me like a gentle breeze.

“Me?”
What the hell was he talking about? I had sat there and cried. Unless my tears had magical healing properties I was unaware of, I hadn’t done a thing to help him.

“Yes, you.”
He chuckled, the noise vibrating throughout my body. “I was cold, and it hurt so badly, but then you were there, with this white light, and suddenly I was warm again. And healed. No, better than healed.” He cupped one of his warm hands against my cheek. “I feel
alive
, Gabi. Like I could go running for miles without slowing and never tiring. Like I could go hunting and kill an entire nest of demons before they even knew what hit them.” His voice dropped to a whisper, his words shaking with emotion. “You did this. You saved me, Gabi,
you
. You are amazing.”

“I—”

Whatever I was about to say was cut off as he pressed his oh-so-warm lips against mine. My already sluggish brain froze completely, forming such intelligent thoughts as, “Oooh, kissy-kissy” and “Woohoo!” I should have probably been worrying that I was suffering from permanent brain damage, but um…Rafe was kissing me!

It felt good,
real
good, and I tried to show him how much I was enjoying it, but what little strength I had managed to muster was rapidly failing me, and I had to break away to breathe. I was trembling, more from the kiss than the cold, and Rafe chuckled again, tucking me against his chest.

“I’m not sure if I should take you passing out from my kiss as a compliment or not.”

“Idiot,” I managed to say before sleep claimed me again.

* * *

I woke with a start, gasping as I bolted straight up.

“Easy, easy!”
Rafe was there in a flash, gathering me in his arms once more. I threw my arms around his neck as everything came flooding back—confusing and scary images overloading me until I burst into tears. I hugged him tightly, afraid if I let go, I’d lose him all over again. It was a dream, right? There was no way Rafe had been healed by me. We hadn’t kissed, had we?
              “It’s alright Gabi,” he said, rubbing small circles on my back. “I’m fine. I’m right here, and I’m fine.”

It took considerable effort on my part to pull away and rub the back of my hand across my eyes.
Getting my bearings I looked around and saw, with a startled jolt, that we were in my bedroom. One minute we were in the woods, now we were home? I squinted at the clock and discovered it was only 11 PM.

“You passed out and I brought you home,” Rafe explained, still holding me.
We were on my bed, with me sitting in his lap, but neither one of us were complaining. God, he was so warm. I wished I could absorb his warmth. I was wearing his jacket over my party clothes, but it did little to keep away the chills that racked my body.

“I told Penny you weren’t feeling good and she was really worried, so you need to call her tomorrow,” Rafe continued.
My bag, I saw, was sitting on my night table next to my bed. Damn, Rafe was good when it came to priorities. “You were out for about an hour. How do you feel?”

“Better,” I admitted.
I no longer felt like I was going to pass out, which I took to be a good sign. “Cold, though.”

“Do you think you have the energy to take a show
er?” he asked. “You’re covered in my blood; I managed to get most of it off your hands and arms, but it’s on your legs too and…” He started blushing.

He was
so
adorable. I wiggled my eyebrows and said, “You didn’t want to take advantage of me in my unconscious state?”

Rafe laughed, obviously relieve
d that I was making jokes. I was sure I looked like hell and suddenly a shower sounded like the best idea in the world.

But first, I needed to confirm something.

“Did you really kiss me, or was that something my exhausted brain made up?” I blurted before I chickened out.

Instead of answering, h
e leaned forward to kiss me.

Probably not the best idea, kissing on my bed, but we were too gross and covered in his blood to take it much farther than a few deep kisses.
When we broke apart, it was to regard one another curiously. There was a bit of wonder in his eyes, reflecting, I’m sure, something similar in mine.

I’m not sure how long we would have sat there, our lips gently brushing as we stared into one another’s eyes, memorizing every feature on
one another’s face. Finally, I let out a nervous laugh and said, “I guess we’re not just friends anymore.”

“Nope,” he said, grinning.
Rafe was practically buzzing with energy; I wouldn’t be surprised if he started jumping up and down on my bed. “I gotta tell you Gabi, this was one hell of a first date.”

I glared at him.
“This better not become a tradition, Rafe.”

He sobered a bit.
“Yeah, I know. In the morning I have to figure out what’s going on. There’re too many demons here. Way too many.”

I thought of what he had said I had done with my hands.
I couldn’t remember healing Rafe, but the proof was there, sitting on my bed, holding me in his arms. “Maybe it’s me.”

“
No
,” Rafe said quickly. He put his hands on my shoulders and shook his head empathically. “Absolutely not.”

“You don’t know that!
They keep appearing whenever we’re together; maybe I’m luring them here, Rafe!” Tears pricked my eyes again as I desperately waited for him to tell me I was wrong. Because why would I want to be right? If I
was
luring the demons here, then something needed to be done to stop me. I shuddered and looked away.

“Hey.”
Rafe tipped my chin up so we were eye to eye. “It’s not you. Demons are evil, intent on destruction. But not you.” He stopped to plant a kiss on my forehead, feather light but still full of tenderness. “What you did tonight was nothing but good. You saved a life.
My
life. How could someone so pure and incredible be bad?”

“But—”

“No,” he repeated, firmly. “There’s a nest, there has to be. I will find it and exterminate it. And then we’ll be able to go on normal dates like normal people and not have to worry about the day ending with me getting stabbed or you getting drenched in blood.” Rafe pulled back to grimace. “I’m really sorry about bleeding all over you, by the way. You looked so good tonight, too.”

“
‘Looked’,” I repeated dully, giving him a stern look. “Past tense. Which means…”

Rafe panicked.
“No, no, don’t put words in my mouth! You always look good, Gabi! I was just saying your clothes looked exceptionally good tonight and it’s a damn shame I had to go and ruin them.”

“Well
…” I held out the word, enjoying torturing him. “I guess you’re forgiven. You did kiss me, after all.”

His lips spread in a slow smile as he leaned c
loser. “If that’s all it takes…”

I shoved a hand between our faces before he could make me lose my mind again.
“I really need to shower, Rafe. Stop distracting me.”

Rafe sighed in disappointment but released me so we could slide off the bed.
I went over to my dresser and pulled out my softest gray sweater and a pair of black sweatpants. Not exactly glamorous, but right now I wanted comfort more than anything. Besides, Rafe said I always looked good (cue me grinning like an idiot!).

“We need to get you a new shirt,” I commented as I took in the massive bloodstain coating nearly half of his shirt.
It was scary, I thought, how close I had come to losing him. I reached for Rafe and he must have seen the change in my expression because he crossed my bedroom in two strides to hug me.

“I’m fine,” he murmured against my hair.
“I’m right here, Gabi, and I’ll still be here when you get out of the shower. Unless you want me to go home?”

“No!”
I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. “No,” I said again, more softly. “Stay. We’ll watch a movie or something. Stay until Dad comes home and kicks you out, alright?”

“Sure.”

“And you can borrow one of Dad’s shirts, and use his shower to clean up. Come on.” I tugged him towards the hallway, leading him to Dad’s bedroom. I opened the door to his closet and surveyed the clothes hanging in there. Rafe was taller than Dad (he was taller than everyone!), so I grabbed one of Dad’s XL shirts he used when he sometimes went jogging. “Here, take this one. It’ll probably be too short since you’re so—” I sucked in my breath when I turned around. Rafe had taken off his shirt, and unlike the time in his apartment, he wasn’t wearing anything underneath.

“So what?” he asked.
“Fat?”

I snorted.
“Yeah, you’re definitely pudgy around here.” I poked his flat, washboard abs, hearing his breath catch. Looking up, our eyes met, and then I was standing on my tiptoes so I could kiss him. His hands snaked around my waist, crushing me to him as we started doing some hardcore making out.

In my dad’s closet.

Part of my brain was telling me this probably wasn’t a good idea, while the other, bigger part, was telling it to shut the hell up and enjoy the feel of Rafe’s lips pressed against mine. And I was, I’d have to be dead not to, but—

“Wait,” I said, pulling away.
Rafe merely moved on to my neck, doing this nuzzling thing that felt
amazing
. “Wait, Rafe, put on the shirt.”

“What?”
He started laughing. “God, I must be the worst kisser in existence. First you pass out on me, now you’re telling me to put my clothes back
on
.”

“It’s because you’re such a good kisser that I’m telling you to!”
I gestured to our surroundings. “We’re kind of making out in my dad’s bedroom here!”

He blinked.
“Oh. Right.” He shook his head a few times for extra measure. “I’m sorry. I’m not usually like this.”
              “Still feeling that rush?” I asked as I reluctantly pulled away so I could show him the bathroom. I flipped on the light and pulled back the shower curtain, pointing out the body wash he could borrow. Getting a clean towel from the closet, I handed it to him while averting my eyes from his still bare chest. I was scared if I looked too closely, I’d end up jumping him.