My breath had become ragged, we were wearing each other down. I had managed to get past her a few times and land a few punches, but it was the same case with her.
I glanced at Indy again, she was still lying in the pool of her own dark sticky blood. She wasn’t moving; except for the occasional breath. She wasn’t in good shape and I feared she wasn’t going to make it. I had to get her out of here. Hospital wasn’t an option, but I couldn’t leave her to die on the ground alone.
I had probably one chance to get Indy out of here, I didn’t even know if it would work. We were matched in strength, I would have to play dirty, just the way Indy would.
I ducked as fast as I could, sweeping her leg extremely hard. Her stance buckled just enough to draw her attention away. I kicked her in the knee cap three times, a small pop later she fell to the ground. I jumped up and kicked her as hard as I could in the face, it was the dirtiest move I had ever performed for two reasons; the second was the most important though, because at the end of the day, she was a chick. And you don’t hit girls.
She was down and not getting up. I ran to Indy, lifted her off the ground, and supporting her head, I ran back to the house. I dared not look behind me, I was too afraid that Bernie would be able to run through the pain and tackle us to the ground.
I tried to get home as fast as possible. I tried to fumble with my phone to ring ahead but I just couldn’t manage the call. This would be a great time for it to be voice activated. So I just kept on going and going, the distance really wasn’t far, but carrying a person made it seem like forever.
Connor was waiting out front when I came into view, slumped against the door. The shock was too much for him. I would have done the same if I didn’t have to man up at this precise moment. I had to push Connor out of my way to get inside. Once I was in, Max took control. He cleaned up her head, I tried not to watch. The exposed bone and pieces of her brain was a bit too much. Connor was outside heaving.
Indy moved slightly and a small groan came from her mouth. I sat on the floor, holding her hand in mine. Connor came inside and sat on the corner of the lounge and stroked her face. Given the circumstances, neither of us bothered to get jealous of the other, it wasn’t the time.
This cut was taking a long time to do anything, I hadn’t seen it change much. I wasn’t aware of what happened when someone like me and Bernie hurt an angel or demon, did it heal at the same rate?
For what seemed like hours, we stayed by Indy’s side. Connor moved and fell asleep on the floor. I didn’t dare sleep—what would happen if Bernie came back? I wouldn’t leave her side ever again.
Her moans became more vocal. I thought she was getting better, if she had the energy to show pain now, it was a marked improvement. My logic wasn’t great, but I had to hold onto something.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Indy
I could feel myself being carried home, every time I hit the smallest bump, pain seared through my body. I didn’t have the energy to open my eyes or move my limbs. I felt like I was dying; I think I may have. There were some ugly red flaming gates calling to me and the most horrible sinking feeling as I approached them. Then I was back in my body. I wasn’t going to start cheering yet. I was being carried in a man’s arms, I’m sure it was Nate. Weakness came over me, it was hard to think even in my unconscious state. I couldn’t get it together in any form. A feeling of floating took over my body, then I wasn’t being carried anymore.
I was slipping into blackness again; memories of my old life as an angel flashed in my mind. Minutes slipped away.
I felt soft caresses. My back and head were now properly supported, I felt more at ease with my body dying and going on my final journey. Blackness engulfed me again.
I woke slightly when soft fingers slipped into my hand and comforted me. This small act was so beautiful and caring, it was all I needed.
I opened my eyes and saw my own hero holding my hand. He looked horrible.
More feeling returned to my body. I could feel the numbness I didn’t know was present leave, I tried to not whimper, but the pain was too much. Tears started to fall from my eyes, the throbbing ache I felt was so bad throughout my body. My limbs throbbed and felt heavy. I didn’t have the energy to move them to relieve the feeling.
I whined in agony. My tears fell freely. flourishing my face in wetness, Nate reached up and wiped them away. Who was this caring affectionate man? I looked up at him in a new light.
I attempted to speak, I needed to find out what happened, but he placed his fingers over my lips, hushing me. I squeezed his hand tightly and fell asleep.
The next time I woke, a lot of the pain was gone. My hand still held onto his and didn’t want to let go. I needed this comfort.
No one was paying any attention to me, they were watching some TV show.
“Nate.” I croaked his name as loud as I could, but it was only delivered as a whisper.
All three men looked at me with pity in their eyes.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Shhh, it’s not important, babe,” Connor gently answered.
I focused on Nate, I knew he would give me the truth.
“She knocked you out. I came along, we fought, and I brought you here.” The way Nate said this was factual and not entirely truthful. I knew he wasn’t telling me everything, he felt I still needed his protection.
“Can I go to bed, please?” The thought of my expensive white sheets and feather soft pillow eased my mind, the softness of my mattress would be ten times better than the stiffness of the leather lounge.
The men all looked at each other and nodded. I went to stand up but Nate had me in his arms before I even moved.
“You’re not strong enough to walk.”
He was on his way to my room with me snuggled into his shoulder, I had to support my head somewhere. I owed Nate an apology. He had been trying to protect me and fix some of the damage he had inflicted on the fallen race. I had been stupidly ungrateful.
He used his knee to push open my door. My room was a welcoming sight and my bed looked even better. As carefully as he could, he placed me onto it, and fixed my pillow under my head. Luckily, I had been a slob this morning and hadn’t bothered to make my bed, all he had to was pull my blankets up over me.
I felt comforted when he was around; I didn’t like to admit it, but being up here so far away from the others scared me. I was now understanding that I wasn’t invincible; I could be hurt very badly or worse, killed. How many others like Nate roamed this world, it was a frightening thought. Images from the fight came back to me, replaying over in front of my eyes. I didn’t want to be alone. Max and Connor weren’t too far away, but what would they do to protect me? Until I healed back to my normal self, I had to admit that I was vulnerable. I was an easy target for Bernie in this current state. I might be healed totally by tomorrow or it might take longer. I just know that I don’t want to be alone at least until then.
Nate was nearly at the door.
“Can you stay, do you mind?” I croaked loudly, my throat aching. I had suffered damage to my windpipe from Bernie’s death grip.
Nate turned around and looked at me, adverting his eyes to look at the bed. He was unsure about this decision, I wasn’t asking much. He walked over to the window seat and sat down. He pulled his phone out and started to do something. I had noticed at times that his phone grabbed his attention a lot, maybe it was boredom or habit. I would personally prefer to read a book, not spend hours on some silly site where people pretended to be someone they weren’t.
I dozed on and off, waking frequently as my mind played the fight over and over. I woke at the same point every time: the sickening crack from my skull as my head slammed on the ground. It wasn’t a sound that I was going to forget soon, maybe never.
I woke up sometime in mid-afternoon. It had been a whole day since the attack. The sun had gone down and only minimal light now shone through my window. I glanced at the window seat and no one was there. I
looked around the room searching for Nate. I tried to not panic. I took some deep, even breaths and cleared my mind. The panic was still there but reduced. I would give him a few minutes before yelling out. I was a big sissy and had, in fact, become the person that I normally create through my own interventions. It wasn’t nice tasting my own special dose of medicine, but I do change people lives this way.
I heard footsteps gently ascend the stairs. They had a very natural rhythmic movement to them. He slipped inside the door and looked at me. He had a sandwich on a plate in one hand and a can of lemonade in the other; he held them out to me.
I reached out and took them, something told me they actually weren’t for me. He had been in the room for hours with me, each time I woke briefly, he was there. I suppose the poor boy had to eat and use the toilet. That was a thought I hadn’t considered for myself, I needed to go badly. I pushed off the blankets and stood up—the ground slipped from under me. The hard thump was narrowly missed, I was cradled once again in Nate’s arms.
“Back to bed, you were nearly killed.”
“I need use the toilet.”
That’s all I had to say. Nate had me sailing through the top floor of my house. The bathroom was wide open, Nate stood me near the vanity and helped me grip it. Once he was sure I wasn’t going to fall again, he took a few steps back. I was fine now, I had just stood too fast after lying for so long. I did my business and walked to the door. Nate made a movement to carry me and I shook my head, I could walk back without his help. Like a toddler with their over protective parents, Nate shadowed me to prevent any fall. I made it to my bed, barely. Stars were now starting to dance in my vision, as ungracefully as I could, I plonked myself on the bed and scrambled to the pillows.
“Are you okay, Indy? Do you need me to get Max?”
I didn’t know what Max could do to make me feel physically better and I didn’t want to be raped of my emotions. As much as I didn’t like to feel like this way and wished it would go away, feeling helpless wasn’t something I had ever felt and some crazy part of me wanted to explore this emotion a little more.
“No, don’t get Max, but please don’t leave me, either.” My eyes were struggling to stay awake, the stars which floated in front of me became worse. Exhaustion took me away and brought me limited reassurance while my eye lids closed.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Nate
I sat in Indy’s room and watched her sleep. Every time she woke up, one more scratch was gone and a little more color returned to her skin. I felt that I could nearly start to breathe again. She had been so close to dying it scared me.
We hadn’t left the house since Friday and it was time to go back to school. Connor and myself had come up with a good story to tell our friends. We had been absent from all social activities over the weekend and that wasn’t our style. I had knocked back a skate session and we both turned down greasy burgers. Indy’s phone had rang once; I presume there were plans made during the week for the girls. I went over to Indy’s bedside table and put her phone onto silent. I didn’t bother to check the number at the moment; it wasn’t important.
As I watched Indy sleep, I noticed a new innocence take shape in her face, the same angel quality that I had noticed in Max every time he touched someone to read or adjust their emotions. Indy never had this angelic purity shine through until now. Smelling her scent, the blackness was still present, but I swear it was slightly disturbed. This was a good thing. I hoped this near death experience brought her closer to God and pushed her in the direction in which she could put her old ways behind her and focus on positive interventions which reinforced her own goodness and virtue. But for some reason, I felt a little saddened, the cheeky nasty ways in which Indy preformed her projects had developed her into an independent, strong willed woman. I loved this tough, sassy image which Indy portrayed; it would break my heart to lose that special part of her.
Weariness took its toll on my body. Every half an hour I looked outside Indy’s windows to see Bernie staring at us. She wasn’t there all the time. I knew she went to sleep in her own safe place, wherever that was.
Indy’s phone flashed a few more times that day. Her friends knew that Indy was the type of person who texted or rang back straightaway. It wouldn’t be long until Nessa found her way over and demanded answers. My phone vibrated in my pocket—it was Brandon. I struggled with the idea to text them back.
Nessa had been persistent and called Indy’s mobile all day, wanting to catch up. Connor had handled the situation and told her that Indy had a virus and was too unwell to get out of bed. We had both agreed that it was better for him to answer her phone, the group would ask questions if I did. Nessa had volunteered to bring over some soup but we had to decline her offer, blood still clung to Indy’s hair in clumps and was all down her back. And the fact remained that Indy was still in bed, very unwell.
The door to Indy’s room opened. Connor stood on the other side of it. I stood up and went over to him. He leaned in to whisper in my ear so as not to wake Indy.
“We need to start training again.”
“I’ll start again soon but not yet. Every time Indy wakes, she frantically searches for me; she’s scared of being alone.”
Connor nodded his head, then turned to walk down the stairs.
“Wait—why don’t you go and train on the punching bag; 100 gabs and 100 double punches. Build up your stamina why we wait for Indy.”
“Good idea.” I went back to the window seat to watch the nightmare which inundated Indy’s dreams. She would wake again soon and seek me out.
The whimpering and crying started minutes later. I sat on the side of the bed and stroked her hair. Golden eyes flashed at me for half a second and disappeared behind her eyelids. This time it wasn’t as bad as the last, her night terrors were improving.
I looked at the clock on the wall some hours later to find it was midnight. My own eyes lids were drooping severely and becoming heavy. I woke with a startle; Indy was out of bed, leaning over me.
“This is a queen-size—I won’t bite. We can share it.”
I didn’t know what to say—this wasn’t the same girl she was last week. I remember her clearly bitching about teenage boys sleeping on the same floor as her. Indy climbed back into her bed and moved all the way over, giving me ample room. She was letting me sleep on the bed but she was going to make sure I was as far away from her as possible. It didn’t quite make sense, but I was tired and felt like I hadn’t slept for days.
I lay on top of the blankets and closed my eyes. I only needed a few hours to remain functional. I set my alarm for 3 a.m. and closed my eyes.
I woke a few hours later; not by my alarm, but by the dogs down the road going crazy, I waited a few seconds to see if they would stop and they didn’t. I got up and went down the stairs, looked out the window, and was thankful to find some drunken idiots walking up the road. I looked everywhere else and found nothing out of place. I headed back up the stairs and went back to the window seat.
“What was it? Must not have been Bernie or you wouldn’t be back so soon.”
“It was just some drunks, that all.”
“Nate, we have to send Connor home and get Max to a safe place. They can’t stay here anymore and we have to run.”
This had come out of nowhere. It wasn’t really the time to discuss this, but I had been playing with this very idea for a day now. I hadn’t wanted to think about it too much or make the suggestion myself. It would be sad to see both of them go, but it was for their own safety. Indy and I needed to leave this town before other people in our life were involved. I had tried to explain to Connor that sometimes you need to run. I believed that was our next course of action.
“We’ll discuss it tomorrow, Indy, it’s 3 a.m. Go back to sleep”.
After a grumble of some smartass words, Indy did as I said, she closed her eyes and went back to sleep. At least she was getting back to her normal self. I can take all the insults she was willing to dish ou
t—as long she was alive, that’s all that mattered to me.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Nate
Monday came around, Connor had made the decision for us all to stay home. Max rang the school to let them know we had gastro and wouldn’t be in today. He only did it so that no one was informed about three minors’ non-attendance. We didn’t need family services knocking on our front door asking questions as to why she was caked in blood. At previous schools, due to Indy’s non-conformity and attitude, they had, on occasions, made further investigation about her home life. Knowing what I do of her, she would have disappeared quickly and started fresh.
This morning Indy was physically her old self again, no scars were visible on her face and she wanted to get out of bed. I wanted her to spend one last day there, but no meant no with Indy. She’d had enough of being a cripple and wanted to talk. We walked down the stairs together to find Max and Connor waiting for us in the kitchen. I had just finished expressing my full concerns with Indy about staying away from school today, she wasn’t going to hear me, though. I was going to drop the discussion.
“I’m fine, Nate. I have you to keep an eye on me if anything happens.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea, babes. Nate is right—another day off won’t hurt,” said Connor.
Indy looked at the ground, guilt written across her features. I knew what was coming, I didn’t know if I should stay by Indy’s side to argue her point or leave the conversation all together. I inched away but Indy’s hand shot out and grabbed me.
“Connor, I think you need to move back home with your family. It’s not safe here anymore.”
“What?” Connor was shocked at Indy’s words.
Heavenly Hunted Page 12