by Joshua King
"I've known a few men who could do that," Aurora said. "It's not nearly as impressive as you think it is."
Even laughing hurt and made my head swim. I drew in a few deep breaths and then climbed back to my feet. Pretending I didn't feel like all the bones throughout my lower body had been replaced with the internal structure of one of those confounding inflatable tube men who are so moved by the deals on used car lots they just have to dance, I walked back to Jaxxim. The glow radiated around him, but he still had his eyes closed.
"Is it working?" I asked.
She looked up at me. Her eyes didn't hold nearly as much optimism as I would have hoped to see.
"It is, but the damage is severe. These healings work best on the Fae."
"What about Erral?"
"There was still so much that could have benefitted him if he had let me keep working on him rather than just going home. I know why he wanted to go, but I'm worried how his body is going to react in the coming days."
"I'm sure the giants have their own healers. They will take care of him."
I reached out to rest a reassuring hand on her back and felt an unexpected sweep of warmth travel through it like water rushing from my fingertips through my palm. Brielle gasped and I saw my hand glowing, the golden light swirling around her hand pressed to Jaxxim now surrounding me. It faded as her hand snapped sharply back.
"Hayden," she whispered.
"Do it again."
Hesitating for a beat, she reached out again and rested her delicate hand on Jaxxim's crushed body. He drew in a tight breath as her healing magic swept through him again and almost instantly the same light began to stream through me as well. The effect of the combined power let me watch as Jaxxim's bones rebuilt themselves and his skin melded back together. Brielle searched my face.
"How is this possible?"
"It's our connection. This is the link I share with you. Since I am a warlock, I can listen to the thoughts of the other women, but I haven't been able to listen to yours. They told me it was because you are Fae. I might not be able to have that link with you, but it seems our link lets us magnify your healing abilities. You are so powerful you can channel your healing through me and use my power to intensify the effect. It might make healing species other than Fae more effective."
"That's incredible," she murmured.
Our mouths touched before she looked down at Jaxxim again.
"I think he's stable enough to move," I said. "We need to get him away from the train and somewhere safe."
Bex helped me lift Jaxxim to minimize how much we jostled him and we carried him into the field to the side of the tracks. By the time he was on the ground again and the healing light had surrounded his body, my vision was blurring. My thoughts swam and I didn't have the strength to hold myself up anymore. My hand fell away from Jaxxim as I sat back hard in the grass. Brielle looked at me with worry in her eyes, but I shook my head.
"Keep going. He needs you."
Aurora and Stephana knelt down beside me, taking me by the arm on either side so they could gently guide me back. I resisted, trying to pull myself back up so I could help Brielle.
"You need to rest, Hayden," Stephana said. "You've pushed your body too far."
"This is ridiculous. The rest of you were fighting right alongside me in there. Why aren't any of you this tired?"
"We were in the train fighting, but none of us did what you did. Remember, you are still learning. You might have always had magical abilities in you, but not knowing about them and not using them regularly means your body still has to get used to the mental and physical energy it takes to use those abilities. It's even more intense when you combine them with your vampire powers."
"You stopped a train, Hayden," Aurora pointed out. "After destroying a large portion of a Shade team by yourself and controlling fire. Besides, none of us know how much it takes out of you to be able to channel healing power. That's something I've never seen. Your body will get even stronger and you will gain more endurance. But only if you give yourself the rest you need, when you need it. The danger is over for now. You need to rest."
"We'll stay here while Brielle continues to work on Jaxxim. He's already doing better. Bex will be the lookout, but I doubt anything else will happen now. Even when Darian finds out what happened, I don't think he will plan another attack so soon. There may not be police and sheriffs like you talked about, but there are vigilantes and the further we get from the heart of Solan City, the more common and unpredictable they are. Lunaris especially is a wild card now. With all the divisions and secret groups within it, there's no telling what they are capable of. Things will hopefully stay calm for at least a little while. For now, get some rest."
A response started to form itself in my mind, but it didn't make it to my mouth before everything around me went dark.
19
It was always an unnerving experience waking up somewhere I didn't recognize and not fully remembering how I got there. Unfortunately, I had a lot of very specific instances in my past I could use to support that assertion. It didn't feel much better waking up in the middle of the field and staring at the sky for a few long seconds without knowing where the hell I was or what had caused the pain radiating up and down my body. That also wasn't unfamiliar. Some of those situations I never figured out. This time, I managed to piece back together within a few seconds, the memories of the incident in the train rushing back.
Jaxxim.
Worry burst through me and I looked around, trying to find him. I remembered getting him into the field with Bex, but now I didn't know where he was or what had happened to him in the time I'd been unconscious. I didn't even know how long I had been out or the extent of my own injuries, but all I could think about was the former Shade guard. He had put his life at risk by agreeing to go on this mission, and I hoped Brielle was able to help him. The last time I saw him his head was still intact, which was a good thing, but just because the damage of the train running over him couldn't kill him didn't mean it wouldn't cause lasting injuries. I hated to think of him suffering, but injuries he couldn't recover from would also put him at more serious risk during the rest of the war. Joining this mission and defecting from the Shades in the middle of the battle was the final step in totally separating himself from the Prime and his reign. Jaxxim didn't just draw a line in the sand. He jumped over the moat and stomped up and down on the sandcastle. He could officially be considered burned, and that meant he was coming along for the ride. If he was seriously injured, protecting him would become another challenge during battle. I was willing to do it and would put everything into keeping him safe just like I would with any of the rest of my crew, but I hoped it wouldn't come to that. I needed him. All of us did.
The ground beneath me was uncomfortably damp as I pushed my hands against it to sit up, but at least it was warm. I looked around and saw Bex several yards away sitting on the grass with Jaxxim stretched out beside him. He didn't seem to be moving and I couldn't see any of the women. I was terrified something else had happened while I was unconscious. We thought we had killed the Shades who attacked on the train, but it was possible someone had survived and come after us. It didn't seem likely I would just lay there in the grass and sleep my way through another attack, but stranger things had happened in the last two weeks. Scrambling to my feet, I ran over to them. Just as I got to within a few steps, Jaxxim's body shot up to sit bolt upright. He was gagging, but I was too startled to care.
"What the fuck!" I shouted as I stumbled backward and landed on the grass again.
I was back to staring up at the sky, but at least I remembered clearly how I got there.
"Hayden? Are you alright?" Bex asked.
I crawled back up and stared over at them.
"I thought Jaxxim was dead."
"There were a few moments there when I kind of hoped I was," Jaxxim admitted. "Mostly when the fairy woman was shoving this concoction down my throat. And yet, here I am."
"I told you i
t was going to help heal you from your injuries, not that it was going to taste good." Brielle and the other women walked toward us from the woods several yards away, their arms filled with plants and rocks. "It's doing what it's supposed to do, isn't it?"
"I don't know," Jaxxim said.
"Is more than half of your body essentially a skin bag filled with goo made of pulverized bone and internal organs?" Ashe asked.
My face contorted as I turned my eyes to her.
"That seems a little needlessly graphic."
"The man got run over by a train. I don't think that there is any such thing as needlessly graphic in this situation."
"Fair enough."
She turned her attention back to Jaxxim.
"So?"
"No, I'm pretty much back to being a regular body that just hurts like hell and is now full of disgusting plant and powder mush."
"Then it did what it was supposed to do. Now lay down so Brielle can do another healing on you."
"I'm really getting tired of these near-death experiences," Jaxxim complained as he lowered himself back down.
"And I'm really getting tired of getting captured," Ashe said.
"Yeah, that sounds like it sucks, too. Why don't we make a pact to not do either of those anymore?"
"I'll agree to that."
Jaxxim's hand shot up in the air and Ashe walked around beside him to shake it. Brielle put the plants she was carrying down on the grass, near where Aurora and Stephana had settled to the ground. She knelt down beside Jaxxim and he closed his eyes before she rested her hands on him. Remembering what happened beside the train, I walked over to them.
"Do you need my help?" I asked.
She nodded.
"That might be a good idea. It's taking much more of my powers to try to heal him and it's exhausting. Having you help might make it go faster and conserve some of my energy."
I nodded and rested my hand on her back the way I had earlier. Instantly the beam of golden light moved through her body and down my arm so it flowed out of my hand. She gestured with her head for me to touch Jaxxim and I rested my hand on his chest closer to the arm I knew had been severely mangled. Brielle drew in a breath and let it out slowly, like she was trying to keep pushing through the healing.
"Why is this harder on you?" I asked. "You're a healer."
She looked at me like I had just said something along the lines of 'Why can't you build this four-level apartment complex? You made a treehouse.’
Probably rightfully so.
"I'm a Fae healer. Like I told you with Erral, the powers of a Fae healer are most effective on the Fae. It can work on other species, but it is more difficult. It was very difficult for me to heal Erral, but giants are a mortal species. They are much easier to heal than someone who is immortal. When I am trying to heal an immortal species, I am contending not just with the injury itself, but also with the systems already within their body trying to heal them."
"I would think it would help having two systems trying to save the person."
"Not when each perceive the other as a threat."
"Okay, Hayden, think of it this way. Humans in the other world have organ transplants, right? People will chop an organ out of one person and stick it into someone else who needs it."
"I mean... in essence. There are medical degrees and specialized practices and boards of ethics involved, but for the most part you have the idea."
"And sometimes it doesn't work. The organ goes in, but the body doesn't want to deal with it and totally freaks out."
I stared at her and blinked a few times, trying to wrap my head around both the reality that she and the others had almost as much trouble with the human world as I did with the Underworld, and the completely cavalier way she was able to throw around her haphazard knowledge.
"Sometimes the immune system thinks that the new organ is a threat and attacks it, and the body may end up rejecting it. Most of the time they have to use antibiotics and other drugs to help the body hang on to it."
"There you go."
"So, let me make sure I'm understanding this. Brielle's healing powers are like an organ transplant. Jaxxim is a vampire, so his immortality is like his immune system. It thinks her healing is actually trying to hurt him worse, so it fights against it."
"Yes."
Now that I had broken it down, I was surprised at how well it actually came together. Aurora actually had something logical happening there. Then something occurred to me.
"Wait. Does that mean I'm the antibiotic?"
Brielle laughed and I followed her lead as she moved her hands over Jaxxim's body. We carried on that way for several minutes before she took her hands away and let out a deep puff of breath. The golden shimmer disappeared from me first, then lingered around her for a fraction of a second before disappearing.
"I'll work on you more later," she assured Jaxxim. "You should be feeling better."
She said it almost like she was trying to convince him. The color in his face had improved and he was moving better, so I knew the healing efforts had made a difference for him. I was glad for the levity that had made what could have been a horrifying experience easier for all of us.
"What is all that?" I asked, looking at the pile of plants on the grass.
"We used Malakan's book again and tried to gather as many of the medicinal plants as we could."
"Did you get any of those ones that look like the good ones but will kill people?"
Stephana glared at me.
"Of course, I did. Because we thought it would be a fun way to wrap up this whole experience. Slash and burn our way through the train and then enjoy a ritual poisoning all together."
I gave her a few seconds, just in case there was something else she wanted to explode about.
"Eating it wasn't exactly what was on my mind. I was thinking more along the lines of turning it into poison for our weapons."
"Oh." She glanced back at the woods. "No. We didn't." Her eyes fell on the stack of plants like she thought any second they might spontaneously change. When they didn't, her shoulders dropped. "Damn it."
She got up and started back toward the woods. Ashe rushed after her and I climbed to my feet.
"I'm going to go with them. I can't just sit around. Too much adrenaline. Jaxxim do you think you can come?"
"I should probably rest for a while. That whole skin bag full of goo comment was a bit eye-opening. I'd rather not stand up and realize parts of me still aren't there."
"I'll stay back with him," Brielle offered. "If anything happens, I'll come for you."
I jogged to catch up with the other women and we walked through the field clustered together. It was reassuring to be able to reach out and touch any of them at any moment and know they were there.
"How are you doing, Hayden?" Stephana asked. "You were pretty out of it when we got to the field."
"I was pretty out of it when I woke up, too. But I'm feeling much better now. I'm needing less and less sleep to completely recharge me."
"That will keep happening," Ashe told me. "Eventually you won't need any sleep at all for days at a time. I've known some men who have gone two weeks without a minute of sleep and were still functioning at a fairly high level when they finally decided to lay down for a rest."
"I'm not sure how I feel about the phrase 'functioning at a fairly high level'," I pointed out.
"Don't worry. You have all of us to keep an eye out for you. We'd stop you and force you into bed long before you reached the level of being a risk to yourself or anyone else."
"But after that, how would you make sure I got enough rest?" I teased.
Aurora shot me a glare, but I could see the combination of hunger and laughter in her eyes.
"You have to remember, though, that you can't necessarily follow what other vampires can do when it comes to your abilities or experiences."
"You sound like an after school special about accepting yourself and not trying to live up to anyone else. What
is that supposed to mean?"
"What is an after school special?" Ashe asked.
That brought up a whole new set of questions I was going to need to ask when the time came.
"Not important. What do you mean I can't follow other vampires?"
"Other vampires are either born into their abilities or they are human and then transformed. You are a warlock as well. I've never known a hybrid of your kind. It could change how you develop. You might always have to have more sleep than other vampires. You might get to the point where you need to sleep every couple of months. You might always crave human food and feel weak if you don't have it. There's a lot that's still kind of up in the air about you."
"You're saying that because I am a warlock who was transformed into a vampire, I might actually be at a disadvantage? I thought I was more powerful. Why would I need more sleep or always need food?"
"It doesn't always work how you'd expect it to. Having both does make you more powerful. Much more powerful. But it's that power that could mean not completely taking on the vampire features of not needing as much sleep or any food. The warlock elements of you are still so strong they resist the full change. They might remain distinct, which could make you sleepy and hungry, but also even more capable of tapping into both sets of powers."
"Isn't that the poisonous plant?"
Aurora and I looked to where Ashe was pointing. We had been so wrapped up in our conversation we'd missed the transition from being in the field to walking through the woods. There was something different about these woods that set them apart from the ones we had gone through in order to get to the portal. They were brighter, the trees set further apart so the space seemed lighter and airier. I had the distinct feeling I'd wandered into the illustration of an elaborate storybook of fairy tales. Any second now we were bound to stumble onto either a house made of gingerbread or a tiny home full of equally tiny men without any understanding of basic household tasks. Somewhere in the distance there just had to be a woman singing her soul out to the animals because her fairy godmothers had raised her totally devoid of social contact.