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Chapter Sixteen
Skylar
“We have to get him to a healer,” I said.
“You got someone in mind?” Elias asked.
“Yeah. There’s a healer who works for the guild sometimes. She’ll help without asking questions.”
Elias nodded. “Let’s get him there.”
If anyone else was in the bar, they never showed themselves. Elias and I worked together to get Xander off the floor. I strained under the weight of the shifter. He was a large man but I found out that he was solid. I knew most shifters were strong, they seemed to build muscle easier than humans, but Xander was surprisingly well built. Not that I had many to compare to him. I didn’t get intimate with shifters.
In fact, I hadn’t been intimate with anyone in over a year. My last relationship was with a mage who promptly dumped me when he found out what I did for a living. It was always the same story. If I was up front about what I did, they no longer wanted my number. If I waited to tell them till we got more serious, they left when I let the truth out. I had reluctantly come to terms with the fact that I was going to be single forever unless I wanted to date another hunter.
“Help balance him for a minute,” Elias said.
I shifted my weight so I could support most of Xander. His head lulled forward, his eyes still closed. My face was near his chest and I pressed my ear against him. There was still a faint heartbeat. A tiny bit of the tension I was holding eased. We just needed to keep him alive until we got him to the healer.
Suddenly, the weight released and Xander’s body was no longer resting on me.
“I got him,” Elias said.
I took a step back and looked over at Elias. He was carrying the unconscious shifter like a baby. Or a bride. It was almost comical seeing the huge shifter in Elias’s arms. It wasn’t as if Elias was a small man. He was a few inches shorter than Xander and not as broad. Yet, somehow, he managed to walk forward, injured shifter in his arms.
I ran toward the door and opened it so Elias could pass through. Then I ran ahead to his car and opened the back door. The two of us managed to situate Xander across the back seat. We had to fold his knees to his chest, but we got him in.
Elias and I got into the car and I gave him directions to Shelly Maribel’s house. She was the best healer I knew and she’d helped me out of a few tough spots over the years. Not to mention the regular stitches and patch ups. She was a mage who had specialized in healing magic. You’d be surprised how few mages went down that path. Most of them went for the flashy magic. Especially since they chose their path when they were young and few kids were interested in healing over learning how to blow shit up.
As we sped through the late afternoon traffic, my mind wandered back to what just happened. I’d been so worried about Xander I hadn’t had time to process what David had implied in the bathroom. Okay, he didn’t imply. He flat out told me I was half demon.
I glanced down at my hands. I’d seen the fire with my own eyes, yet I still didn’t believe it. How could I suddenly create fire out of nowhere? It didn’t make sense. It had to be a mistake.
What if David sent the fire my way and then tried to trick me? What if that was part of his whole plan? He sure tried to vilify his brother. What if the whole thing was an elaborate ploy to get me to betray Elias?
I glanced over at the enforcer. He was a demon. It was all coming together. It explained why he never told me what he was. Demons aren’t allowed in our realm.
Knots formed in the pit of my stomach. I was in the car with a demon. I didn’t believe most of what David said, but what if he was right about Elias? What if I’d fled one bad guy only to get in a car with another?
Then again, he was helping me take Xander to a healer. Would a bad guy do that?
But what was he doing with the Vampire Queen? How was she involved in all this?
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. There was too much in my head. Too many unknowns. I was used to being told who the bad guy was. I got a name on a piece of paper with a list of their transgressions and their known abilities. The pay scale was based on how difficult or dangerous the mark was considered. I had the information before I started the hunt.
Now, I was starting to wonder if I was traveling with someone I should be hunting. Instead of hiding and waiting to strike when the time was right, I was letting him learn my weaknesses and I was right out in the open.
Xander moaned and I turned around in my seat to check on him. He was still unconscious but the fact that he’d made a noise seemed promising. I climbed over the center console so I could see the knife wound I’d wrapped with bar towels. They were red, totally bled through.
“Shit.” I’d had to weigh the options between removing the knife and causing him to bleed out over the silver remaining in him. I chose to eliminate the silver but I wasn’t sure I’d made the right call.
“What is it?” Elias asked.
“He’s bled through the bandage,” I said. “Your car is going to be a mess.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time,” he said.
I crawled back to the front seat and looked around to see where we were. We were nearly there. “Turn here.”
