“He’s fine,” I assured her.
I refused to tell her what I suspected wasgoing on within his body and that he may have to be destroyed, notafter what she’d gone through to get him back. Hawk had been dyingwhen Lilitu had fallen on top of him. When her blood had mixed withhis…Shit!
I should have suspected it when Corson saidit was his blood and hers, but Hawk hadn’t appeared to be dyingwhen Corson said it. Lilitu’s blood must have already worked itsway into him while he’d been lying in the building.
Only time would tell if he would completethis change without dying or having to be destroyed. If he didsurvive it, it would become impossible to keep what had happened tohim from River, and she would learn immortality could be possiblefor her, which was something I didnotwant.
I craved an eternity with her, but I couldn’tbe the one who destroyed her if she didn’t survive the change, orif it broke her bond with the life around her and destroyed her. Itwas a choice I didn’t want her to have to make, not with everythingelse she had to deal with.
River turned to focus on me. “You keep sayinghe’s fine, but don’t you think he’s a littletoofine already for having been sliced to thebone just yesterday?”
Beside her, I could feel Bale’s inquisitiveand pitying gaze on me. I had no idea how to avoid this questioningand Bale knew it. “I do,” I admitted.
“What is going on with him?”
“Lilitu’s blood has helped him heal,” Ireplied.
Her hand flew to her mouth. “That canhappen?”
“Yes, sometimes.”
“Will he be okay?”
“Time will tell.”
It may not have been the entire truth, but Ihadn’t lied to her either. The idea of possibly having to lie to myChosen made my fangs prick. The discontent of the hounds, the mostloyal creatures in the world, could be felt as they stirred beneathmy skin. They would not take the chance of losing her, but theycouldn’t understand the tenuous position I now found myself in withher.
If I killed Hawk before he completed thetransformation, she’d hate me forever. If I told her the truth, shemay choose to accept eternal life and possible damnation with me,or she could reject it and embrace her inevitable death. I didn’tknow which was worse.
I could make Hawk’s death look like anaccident, a result of his injuries. I glanced at the young soldierin the mirror. He had no idea what awaited him. It may be a mercyto end his life before he realized what had happened to him. Butcould I look River in the face again after if I killed him? Could Isleep beside her, be within her, knowing what I had done and howmuch she would hate me if she knew the truth?
The simple and only answer was no. I’d onlygrow to hate myself over time and it would never be the samebetween us again.
The realization made me take hold of herhand. She stared at me, her fingers winding around mine as sherested her head on my shoulder. “Should we tell him?” sheinquired.
“Maybe later. For now, let him heal some morefirst.”
***
Kobal
The setting sun lit the building in thecenter of the clearing in hues of red and orange that made italmost impossible to read the sign hanging over the gothic, doublefront door. I shook my head at the building, one that hadn’t beenthere the last time I’d come through this area. The skelleins hadbeen busy since I’d last seen them and I’d be willing to bet moneythat the group of skelleins on the other side of the gateway, theone in Europe, had erected something on their side too.
The last time I’d been here, nearly fiveyears ago, the area had still been littered with rubble from theexplosion the humans had caused when they tore through the veilseparating their world from ours. The remains of those humans whohad been killed in the original explosion, and those slaughtered bythe first wave of confused and infuriated demons who had spilledforth, had still been here. I saw no sign of their remains now asgreen grass had grown forth to overtake the charred patch of brokenand bloody land that had been here not so long ago.
At one time, the remains of the windinggovernment laboratory that had once sat here had still been risinginto the day. Now, any sign of it was gone and there were actuallypatches of flowers in the beds in front of the building. Not onlyhad they been busy building, but the skelleins had also beenplanting fucking flowers.
If I had one guess, I would bet this wasn’t ahome either, but something far more in line with the drink-loving,unpredictable, inquisitive natures of the skelleins.
“What is that?” River asked when she liftedher head from my shoulder.
“This is it,” I told her.
She glanced at me, her eyes wide.“Thisis the gateway to Hell?”
“The building is new, but the gateway is inthere.”
Waiting forRiver.
