She blinked against the cloying darkness and recoiled when a cool hand rested on her forehead.
“It’s okay,” Zina murmured. “You’re safe.”
Brie tried to take in her surroundings, but moving her head was as difficult as flying would have been. Closing her eyes, she strained to recall the events that brought her here.
It took a few minutes before memories of the cave flooded back to her. She was still conscious when Cabo found them, but her last memory was of him opening the passenger door and tenderly removing her wrist from Asher’s mouth.
“Was it enough?” she slurred. “If it wasn’t enough, please give him more.”
“You worry about you,” Cabo said.
She didn’t have a chance to reply before she passed out. And now she was somewhere she didn’t recognize, but wherever it was held the faint aroma of stale cigarettes and cheap beer. Her nose wrinkled as she finally managed to turn her head and search for Asher.
“Where’s Asher?” she whispered.
“He’s on the other bed. He’s okay.”
“Did he get enough blood to make the change?”
“Cabo gave him more just to make sure, but yes, he’s started changing.”
“Where’s Cabo?”
“He went out to get blood for both of you. You’re both in pretty rough shape.”
She didn’t need to be told that; she could feel it in every fiber of her being. Her hand fell to her belly, but her bloodstained clothes were gone, and all she encountered was bare, battered flesh beneath a new shirt.
“The pellets made their way out of you,” Zina said. “You’re healing slower than normal, but more blood will help. You lost an awful lot of it between your wound and what you gave Asher.”
Brie closed her eyes again and, gathering what little strength she had, winced as she tried pushing herself into a seated position.
“Don’t do that,” Zina urged as she rested her hand on Brie’s shoulder. “You’ll reopen your wound and cause it to bleed again. I’m not sure you have enough blood left in you for that.”
“I have to see him.”
“You don’t have to sit up to do that.”
Zina moved out of the way, and as she did so, she turned on the lamp next to the bed. The light was dim, but Brie winced when it burned her irises. As she blinked against it, she was reminded of stepping out of the cave and into the flood of sunlight.
She instantly shut down the memory. Over her many,manyyears, she’d acquired more bad memories than she would have liked, but what happened in that cave was easily in her top five.
She hoped never to encounter anything like it again, but it was inevitable. Once they went up against the demons and Savages, they would face far worse things.
Finally, her vision cleared enough to make out Asher lying on the other bed, as still as stone. His good hand twisted in the blankets and sheets. Sweat beaded his brow, and he was deathly pale.
Having never gone through the change, she only knew it was painful from what she’d witnessed over the years. Cabo and Zina had thrashed, whimpered, and cried during their transitions.
She’d sat by their sides the entire time, hoping she hadn’t made a huge mistake. Just because her vision showed her this path, it didn’t make their suffering right.
Not everything she envisioned was right or fair. Sometimes, it was simply the way of things.
“How’s his arm?” she asked.
“Cabo and I set it the best we could and splinted it to keep it in place while it heals. He’s already healed well enough to remove the splint and it should finish healing once he gets through the transition and receives blood, but he’s healing far slower than you. Blood will help with that too.”
“He has to wait until after the transition to feed.”
“I know, and it will probably take time for his arm to heal completely. It was really bad.”
