Doubtful. Wasn’t the first lesson do no harm?
“If you’re about to tell me that isn’t the first lesson, you’re probably right because it’sso obviousthat you shouldn’t be up and about after involuntary participation in ritual bloodletting. Even med students who don’t believe in the occult know that on their first day, so they don’t bother teaching it.”
I sighed and stopped trying to get up.
I hated resting when we needed to figure out our next move. Rob, however, knew exactly what he wanted to do. He tucked the blankets in tighter around me and fussed with the pillows propping me up.
"We tried, Orion. We gave it all we had, and we failed. That’s it."
"Are you saying you’re out?"
Rob sighed. "I’m currently on team you and I stay alive. Right now that doesn’t seem too likely if we go looking for a rematch."
"Well, he can’t surprise us again."
"No, but he can and will summon backup from Hell as soon as he’s able."
"That makes it two vs. two."
"That doesn’t guarantee an even fight,” Rob argued. “We have no idea what new tricks your brother learned in Hell. And we lost the teammate who knows the most about the other planet."
I scowled at the reminder of the demonic mercenary who left us high and dry but didn’t have enough energy to argue with Rob. Absolutely everything he said was true and I couldn’t dispute it. He was right. I wouldn’t call my positionwrong,seeing as I wished to stop killers and prevent future loss of life, but our chances of succeeding weren’t looking very good.
And Rob had been fussing over me ever since we dragged ourselves out of the club. When I felt unsteady on my feet, Rob told me to put my weight on him. I did not as he hadn’t grown capable of supporting my weight in the last few days and was still less than half my size. But his actions made it clear that he was worried about me.
I was worried about everyone else.
Taryn was so close to coming back and wreaking havoc all over again. Taryn alone had been enough last time. Lex had been bad enough this time. Together…
"We can’t quit," I insisted.
Rob slumped near the edge of the bed. “Then come up with a plan that’s better than our last one.”
"Don’t want people to get hurt," I whispered.
“I know. Me neither. But how is adding two more casualties helpful?” Rob sounded as tired as me and finally joined me on the bed. “And let’s face it,” he continued. “I wasn’t much help. He baited me and I fell for it."
I spent most of the fight trapped inside a freaking circle and was then magically held down and forced to donate a few pints of blood against my will, so he fared considerably better than me, but I understood the sentiment. Neither of us felt like we did our best or did enough. Rob was hesitant to try again, especially when we were at a worse disadvantage.
But it sounded like he didn’t love the idea of quitting any more than me. He just needed some hope. We both did.
"Can’t you just make yourself better?" he asked.
"No."
Not as intimidating as usual, my attempt to stop the conversation failed and Rob carried on.
"You can heal if you feed."
"Not on you." Not again.
"Then should I, I don’t know, call someone?” Rob began getting up, looking for his cell phone. “Don’t look at me like that. I don’t mean a hooker. Is there a friend or companion who fulfills your particular needs? If you don’t have one of those, Icouldcall a hooker—"
"No."
"Dude, you need to heal."
"We can’t risk it," I said quietly.
