Secrets From the Grave (The Veil Diaries Book 6)

by B. L. Brunnemer

  It wasn’t long before she snapped back. “Can we go in yet?”

  I shared a look with Asher.

  “I’ll go check.” Asher shifted her further into my lap before getting up and going through the glass sliding doors.

  She looked up at me with wide eyes. “His heart is beating?”

  “Yes.” I brushed a stray hair off her face. “He wasn’t even down a minute.”

  She nodded. “How’s Isaac?”

  My chest grew tight. “Zeke is with him.”

  Her eyes moved to meet mine. “You didn’t answer.”

  “He’s not talking, Angel.” It was all I had to say.

  She climbed out of my lap. By the time I got to my feet, she was starting for the doors. I stayed with her, took her hand and led her back to his bed. The entire clinic was one large room with beds curtained off. The flurry of activity was around only one bed. There really wasn’t a lot of room, a couple of beds were shoved out of the way. The guys stood back as much as they could against the opposite wall.

  Isaac was pale, hugging himself and rocking from foot to foot. She let go of my hand and went to him. He pulled her into a tight hug, burying his face into her neck. She whispered something to him that had him nodding and holding tighter. She ran her hands up and down his back in a soothing pattern. I waited for jealousy to hit me, only it didn’t. Isaac almost lost his other half, he needed to hold onto someone like her right now. And I didn’t begrudge him that. I raised my eyes to meet Zeke’s over their heads. His eyes were calm, accepting even.

  Asher finished talking to the doctor then brought him back to the group. His eyes ran over Lexie and Isaac who didn’t seem to notice anyone else in the room. Thankfully, they were also calm.

  The doctor turned to Isaac as he and Lexie turned to him, still holding hands. “Ethan is stable. We’re going to run some tests but it seems the strain he was under for the last couple of days was too much for his heart. Honestly, we barely got the defibrillator charged when his heart started again so the chance of brain damage is extremely limited.” His eyes narrowed on Isaac. “Now, his forearms are covered in needle marks at the moment. We’re running a tox screen now to find out what they gave him and what they used to sedate him.”

  “When do you think he’ll wake up?” Isaac rasped, his eyes bloodshot. The crowd around Ethan broke up.

  “I have to get his tox screen back before I could say,” the doctor replied. “For now, he’s going to rest and that’s what he needs.”

  “What did they do to him?” she asked, her voice hard.

  “His heart rate was elevated, he’s sweating and has a fever as if he has an infection…” The doctor shook his head. “There’s no other severe physical damage that I can see, no burns telling of electrocution, no bruises or lacerations, no clear signs of torture but his heart reacted as if he had been under extreme stress for a prolonged period of time. I need the test results to tell you more. In the meantime, we’ll have several witches look him over for remnants of any spell they might have used on him. We’re covering all our bases on this one.”

  “Thank you, doctor.” I glanced at Lexie and Isaac, both were staring at Ethan in the bed. “We’ll be staying until he wakes up.”

  The doctor nodded then signaled a nurse and headed across the room toward the glass wall that looked in at a medical lab. Isaac and Lexie both went to Ethan’s bedside. I picked up a chair and set it there for her while Asher did the same for Isaac. We settled in for the long haul.

  Lexie

  Ethan didn’t wake up. An hour later, we learned that there were no drugs in his system to explain why he was unconscious. All we could do was wait and hope he would wake up in the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours. After that… it wasn’t good.

  It was around midnight when Asher brought in some food. Mine was still sitting on the empty bedside table. Miles kept bringing me water and reminding me to drink every so often, but mostly I sat holding Ethan’s hand while watching him breathe.

  Ethan’s face wasn’t as pale as he was when he came in. The sweating had finally stopped a couple of hours ago, his temp dropping back down to normal. The dark brown bags under his eyes were getting lighter. His hair was an oily mess, he’d hate it like that. I clung to his hand through every agonizing slow minute. Every flicker of his eyelids sent my heart careening out of control.

  As the night crawled on, the nurses dimmed the lights in the clinic, leaving the light above his bed. It was late when I tore my eyes from him to the others. We had taken over this entire section. Zeke was across from the end of the bed, sitting on the floor with his back to the wall and his eyes glued to the heart monitor. Asher was lying on the bed to my right, he had fallen asleep some time ago. Miles was in another chair next to Isaac. I turned back to Ethan.

  Time marched on. My eyes grew heavier. The steady beat of Ethan’s heartbeat was a soothing rhythm.

  “Put your head down,” Zeke whispered.

  I lifted my head and turned to him. Everyone else was asleep, sitting with their heads hanging, or lying down. But not Zeke. I met his ice-blue eyes. “I’m scared to close my eyes,” My voice was scratchy as I turned back to Ethan.

  “Me too,” he admitted. “But sleeping for a little while isn’t going to kill him. I’ll stay awake.”

  I met his eyes again and nodded. He was right, setting my head down for a few minutes wasn’t going to hurt. Zeke would watch him. I turned back to Ethan and rested my cheek on my forearm on his bed as I kept his hand in mine. I fell fast and deep.

  A change in Ethan’s heartbeat brought me to the surface. I opened my eyes only to find everything blurry. I blinked, trying to clear my eyes of gunk. The scent of rosemary reached my nose, rosemary that wasn’t mine. Huh? I finally cleared my vision. A small, pale, manicured hand lifted from Ethan’s forehead. I lifted my head to find who it was but there was no one there. The clinic was empty except for us. I lowered my head back down to my arm and drifted under again.

  “Lexie…?” Ethan’s smoky rasp snapped my head up.

  His chocolate eyes were tired but open. Relief and light flooded me as tears started falling. I dropped his hand, darted forward and kissed him without thinking. It was a soft, desperate kiss that reassured me that he was alive.

  When I pulled back, his fingers weakly brushed my cheek taking my tears. “Where is he?”

  “Here.” Isaac, tears pouring down his own face as he got to his feet and bent over the bed.

  Ethan turned to him, letting me go. I moved back.

  Isaac pressed his forehead against Ethan’s and closed his eyes. “Lo siento, lo siento muchísimo.”

  Ethan’s hand went to the back of Isaac’s head. “Lo siento, he sido un idiota maldito.”

  Creaking behind me had me turning to find Asher sitting up and pushing a blanket off his shoulder. His eyes found Ethan awake. He swallowed hard and got to his feet.

  I moved out from between the beds. When Ethan and Isaac let go, Asher was there. He bent over the bed and hugged Ethan.

  Ethan weakly patted his back. “I’m okay.”

  Isaac moved out from between the beds and ran across the room, probably to get the doctor.

  When Asher straightened, Miles was in Isaac’s spot. Asher moved out from between the beds. Zeke moved to take his spot.

  “You scared us.” Miles reached out and squeezed his shoulder.

  Ethan gave him an exhausted smile. “Sorry.”

  “As soon as you’re feeling better, you’ve got one hell of a lecture coming,” Zeke growled.

  Ethan turned to him and gave a small barely-there chuckle. He lifted his hand, Zeke took it in that manly fist finger squeeze thing they do.

  When they let go, Ethan’s arm dropped back to the bed. “I’ll clear my schedule.”

  The guys chuckled as I wiped my face. Ethan’s gaze found me again.

  “What do you remember?” Miles asked.

  “Later,” he muttered a heartbeat before he fell back asleep. I ch
ecked the monitors; his heartbeat was strong and steady. Ethan was alive.

  Chapter 16

  July 17th, Tuesday

  We sat with Ethan as he slept. Each of us were dozing on and off through the night and into the next morning. Well, the guys were. I kept running over everything that had happened since we came to New Orleans. All I could think was that we shouldn’t have come. I should have just contacted Louis long distance. Ethan wouldn’t have been tortured, we wouldn’t be in the middle of this fucking fight. I finally came to a conclusion.

  I reached over Ethan and pulled one a red hair off Isaac’s shoulder before catching Miles’ eye. I tilted my chin toward the clinic doors before getting to my feet and heading that way. Miles joined me just past the doors. I waited until they closed behind us.

  “What’s wrong?” Miles asked.

  “You guys need to leave,” I stated. “As soon as Ethan can fly, you need to take him, and the others, and leave.”

  His eyes flashed cold a heartbeat before he looked over my head at the doors. “Why do you think that?”

  “They only took Ethan because of me. They only tortured him because of me.” My throat grew tight. “If you guys aren’t here, you’ll be safe.”

  He nodded, his jaw clenching and unclenching before he looked down and met my eyes. “No.” His eyes grew colder. “We’ll go home together.”

  “We could have lost Ethan,” I reminded him, trying to keep the emotion out of my voice.

  “I’m aware.” His voice sent chills over my skin.

  “Miles…” I needed him to understand.

  “What about you? Do you really think that I could leave you here with these people? With the Witch’s Council, who are trying to get their hands on you?” His voice dropped the room another ten degrees. It was a voice I’d never heard before. He stepped closer, his voice growing even colder. “In case you haven’t noticed, I care about you and what happens to you. So, there is no way in-” He stopped himself, looked over my head. He took a breath then met my eyes again. “I’m not leaving you here.” He turned and walked away, his shoulders tense.

  I stood there for almost a minute trying to grasp what just happened.

  “Did you really think that would work?” Asher asked as he came from the cafeteria with a tray of food.

  I shrugged. “He’s the most logical one.”

  “Right now, he’s already angry over the Witch’s Council hurting Ethan,” he said as he came closer. “They also seem to want to get their hands on you. And the thought of what could happen if we leave you here…”

  I chewed on the corner of my bottom lip. “I’ve never seen him that angry before.”

  Asher’s gaze went to the door Miles left through. “It doesn’t happen often.” He turned back to me. “He won’t do anything stupid.”

  I nodded.

  “Come on, I’ve got some breakfast for everyone,” Asher said. We started back toward the clinic.

  The runed door burst open. Louis shouldered it open further with an unconscious Uma in his arms.

  “We’ve been hit!” Louis shouted as he carried her into the common room. Asher set the tray down on a chair then ran with me to meet them.

  “What the hell happened?” I asked, looking at Uma. Her skin was ashen, dried blood caked her face and her nightgown.

  “The fucking witches hit us at dawn,” Louis bit out. “If Uma hadn’t been there…”

  Savannah and the kids came in. A couple of them still sniffling. Asher broke off and went to help her and the kids.

  When we reached the clinic doors Louis shot over his shoulder. “Get Willow!”

  I didn’t waste time, I hurried to the conference room and threw open the door. Willow was still in her night clothes with a phone to her ear. “They hit Louis’s house. Uma is unconscious.”

  She hung up the phone and hurried around the table and out the door. We found them a couple of beds down from Ethan. Louis pulled the blankets up to her chest and lovingly tucked her in.

  “Louis?” Willow demanded as we reached him.

  “They planned this out.” Louis tore his gaze from Uma to turn to us. “They surrounded the house, then hit us at dawn.” His eyes grew cold and dark. “They were after Juan.”

  Willow let out a breath. “Calm down, while I check on her.” She went to Uma’s side while I went to Louis.

  “Is he okay?” I asked.

  “If Uma hadn’t been there, if she wasn’t as strong a witch as she is…” He shook his head. “We would have lost him.”

  “They specifically went after him?” I asked, just to be clear.

  His eyes were on mine when he nodded.

  “They’re looking for a Necro they can control,” I muttered.

  “Yeah,” he bit out. His eyes bored into mine. “You’re going to teach me how to get to the Veil.”

  I nodded. “And you’re going to get Juan out of here.”

  He held out his hand. “I’ll call the gargoyles.”

  I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and handed it to him. He moved further down the line of beds for some privacy.

  Willow turned away from Uma and wiped the sweat from her face. “Uma will be fine. She’s just exhausted.”

  I nodded. “Louis is getting sanctuary for Juan and the others.”

  “Good.” Her face grew drawn. “The situation is just escalating. The vampires were hit this morning with the sunrise.”

  “What?” I couldn’t believe it.

  Wintergreen tickled my nose a heartbeat before Miles stepped beside me. “Any survivors?”

  “Yes, all of them in fact. They were expecting an attack and were sleeping in a secure bunker that Samuel had built years ago. So, when they burned down the mansion they were safe. Our people are bringing them in to the safehouse basement in the next couple of hours,” she said.

  “Has anyone called Bella?” I asked, meeting her tired eyes. “They might have hit the shifters too.”

  Her face paled, she pulled out her phone and moved several steps away.

  “Angel…” Miles breathed.

  “It’s okay,” I whispered.

  “No, it’s not.”

  Before I could ask what he meant, Louis came back and handed me my phone. “Savannah, Uma and the kids will be leaving by tonight.”

  “Where are they going?” Miles asked.

  “They’re going to the gargoyles,” Louis sighed.

  My gaze went to Uma then back to him. “You’re in deep shit.”

  “I know,” he said, resigned.

  Willow cursed then hurried back toward us. “The smaller shifters were hit too. They’re bringing the wounded here now.”

  Willow passed me and went to the guys as Asher walked in. “Boys, we have wounded coming in. Do any of you have any first aid training?”

  “I do.” Asher raised his hand.

  “Good, you’ll be with me.” She turned to the others. “We’re going to need your help.”

  The guys had wanted me to stay with Ethan while they helped set up a triage area for the wounded. I didn’t have any medical training, but I was more than willing to help set up. So, Willow sent me up to the dorm on the seventh floor to set up cots and bedding. I found everything at one end of the large room that spanned the entire building. My mind was racing, the council wasn’t even trying to hide this time. They went after Juan. He was only fourteen! It’s obvious at this point they want their hands on a Necromancer. But why? To study one of us? To control us? I didn’t know if I wanted to know anymore. Besides, what did they get out of torturing Ethan?

  I was still setting up the last of the cots an hour later when Asher came up the stairs at the center of the floor.

  He made his way down the row of cots to me. “Want a hand?”

  “A hand, a foot, maybe another arm…” I grinned. “How’s it going downstairs?”

  Asher took a green cot off the stack and went to set it down as I went to get another. “We have the worst cases in the clinic getting
treatment, the lighter injuries were easy to handle.” He set the cot down. “It wasn’t as bad as Willow feared but the common room is packed right now.”

  I hefted a cot up and moved down the row. “Well, after we finish we’ll have somewhere for them.”

  Asher passed me. “Dr. Detes said Ethan was okay to leave the clinic. So, he’s got a room on the fourth floor.”

  I set the cot down and straightened. “How’d he get up the stairs?”

  Asher picked up the last cot. “We walked him up the stairs and to his room. He passed out as soon as he hit the bed.”

  That made sense. “He’s exhausted.”

  “Yeah, but he’s moving around now.” He placed the last cot and straightened. “Is that it?”

  I sighed. “No, there’re blankets folded in those boxes. Including pillows. One set per cot.”

  Asher started to pull out the blankets. I started with the pillows. As we worked my mind went back over everything. The guys, the witches, Serena, everything.

  I dropped the last pillow down and went to look out the window at the end of the room. The city was further out but the sight was rather nice in evening light. Maybe we should leave? Get out of New Orleans. Go home… But I wanted Jadis’s blood for hurting Ethan. I wanted to-

  “You’re quiet.” Asher stepped beside me to look out at the view. “What’s wrong?”

  Different emotions fought it out in my chest, I couldn’t think of what to say. “Nothing.”

  “Talk to me,” he said.

  I turned and looked up at him. “What do you want me to say?”

  “Anything,” he said, his voice growing louder. “You’ve got no problem talking to Miles about everything that’s going on, you have no problem telling Zeke you’re scared. But when it comes to me you can’t even tell me something as simple how you’re feeling.”

  “’Cause I don’t know!” I snapped. “I don’t know how I feel. I don’t know what I want. I’m confused.” Guilt and fear tore through me making my mouth run. “I’ve pulled us into a fucking war-zone that already got Ethan tortured. We’re in a fucking safe-house and it’s all my fault!”