The Witch's Angel

by Arissa L. Utemark

  Her face folded itself into a comforting smile.

  “We gotta look out for each other, Honey.” Grace told me. “I looked across the way and saw you might need some help.”

  “Thank…thank you.” I whispered to stave off the warble that would come out of my throat.

  “And if you need anything else, my door’s there, or…” She reached into the pocket of her well-worn jeans and dug out a business card. “I volunteer here. They’re good people. I put my cell number on the back.”

  I looked down at the card at saw the insignia of the local women’s shelter along with their address and phone number.

  My hand began to tremble, Grace reached out and steadied it.

  “There ain’t no shame in asking for some help, if you need it.” Grace told me when I tore my watery gaze from the card and looked up at her, her face kind and open.

  I felt something in my chest break apart and come loose, her generosity completely unexpected as it touched the cruelty of the past few hours, the brutality that I had been pulled through in such a short time, soothing the sharp pain to a dull ache.

  Perhaps I wasn’t alone.

  I bit my wobbling lip and wrapped my shaky arms around her. She returned the hug without question, a short chuckle rumbling in her chest as she rubbed my back.

  “Th-I don’t-don’t know how I could ever thank you.” I murmured into her shoulder.

  “You just did, Honey.”

  Chapter 17

  Carl looked down at Luke as the younger man slept fitfully Luke’s skin was shiny with sweat, his body twitching as his muscles strained against some unseen force. It had been a few hours since the young detective had collapsed. Luke still hadn’t woken up and it appeared he wasn’t going to anytime soon. Several ice packs were stacked around his chest, stomach, and thighs, trying to keep his body temperature to a manageable level. The worried wrinkle in Carl’s brow grew deeper.

  Carl was at a loss. As he’d waited for the ambulance to get to their location, he’d checked Luke’s pulse and found it pounding against the artery, checked Luke’s pupils and found them blown as wide as they could get, a the tiniest ring of blue visible, and checked his breathing as his chest heaved, trying to gulp in air. Since he’d come to the hospital, his body temperature had risen and steadfastly stayed high.

  But there wasn’t a mark on him.

  The elder detective’s attention was drawn by the doctor striding into the room with a swish of her white coat.

  “Detective.” The doctor greeted shortly.

  “What’s going on?” Carl immediately asked.

  “I can’t discuss Detective Harper’s condition unless it’s with his family.” The doctor answered apologetically, plucking Luke’s paperwork out of the plastic sleeve attached to his bed.

  “Listen, ma’am, I’m the closest he’s got in town and even if I weren’t, this information pertains to an active investigation of the assault of a police officer.” Carl asserted. “I gotta know what happened to him.”

  The doctor leveled him with a glance before pulling up a few papers clipped to the folder in her hands.

  “Well, to be frank, Detective, we’re not altogether sure. I’ve never seen a full-body reaction like this.” The Doctor admitted with a wince, glancing at a few numbers on Luke’s chart. “His blood tests all came back clean, so no drugs to explain the elevated pulse rate and breathing, there’s no appearance of trauma, and according his family history, there’s no genetic causes.”

  “So what’s that mean? What are you gonna do now?” Carl growled, not liking the doctor’s answer at all.

  “Well, we’re going to put him on some antibiotics to fight off whatever infection might be causing the fever, try to keep him cool and sedated, and run more tests, but…” The doctor hesitated.

  “But, what?” Carl pressed.

  “If we can’t figure out what’s doing this and stop it, the strain his body is going through will cause serious damage.” The doctor said simply. “It might even kill him.”

  Carl clenched his jaw, but nodded.

  “I’ll go check on those tests and be back to check on him in a bit.” The doctor nodded back before she dropped Luke’s chart into its holder and left. Carl turned back toward Luke and sank into the chair next to his bed with a sigh.

  “If I find the punk that did this, I’m gonna put her in the ocean.” Carl grumbled softly before looking at Luke as his body gave another pained jerk. Carl hesitated for a brief moment before he put a comforting hand on Luke’s shoulder.

  “C’mon, Kid.” Carl urged quietly. “C’mon.”

  Chapter 18

  Okay, so assessing my situation, things weren’t exactly looking up, but they were a few steps better than the shit sandwich they were a few hours ago.

  What a difference a well-loved pair of jeans can make.

  I’d said a reluctant goodbye to Grace with a promise that I would check back to assure her I was okay and found a park bathroom to change clothes in. The park was still mostly deserted with the early hour and it was nice not to have to explain my bleeding wound and odd choice of attire to anyone else.

  The lock on the bathroom stall slid shut and I carefully peeled off my pajama top and pulled it over my head - with minimal whimpering, if I do say so myself - and examined the lesion in my side.

  It was a gash, scabbed over but still incredibly tender to the touch, the skin around it rimmed with an angry red. I blotted up the blood and cleaned the wound the best I could with the stiff paper towels from the dispenser next to the sink while I tried to plan my next move.

  Luke would be in really bad shape by now.

  There are two ways an Angel can be made: either they’re born that way, or they’re born human, their Angelic DNA dormant until it’s awakened by their Witch. It makes a lot of evolutionary sense because that Witch will, in turn, soothe the pain of the change with Earthly magic until the Angel is done cooking, so to speak.

  But if, for some reason, the Angel goes through the change without their Witch because, say, that Witch is a dumbass and in a fit of sheer dumbassery ran away to draw knightmares from the vulnerable first stages of the change from Human to Angel, for example, well...

  …the change burns the Angel alive.

  I pulled on the clothes from the bag: camisole, t-shirt, jeans, socks. Grace was right; they did fit pretty well. The sneakers were a bit big, but I didn’t really notice if I laced them tightly. I pulled on the jacket as I searched my brain for the name of the hospital on the side of the ambulance. I threw away my bloody pajamas, pocketed the twenty, grabbed the tin foil, and pushed the door open.

  Metropolitan Medical Center.

  I remembered where it was. It wasn’t too far from the Beacon, but where it was in relation to the park I was in right now, I had no idea. As I jogged through the twilight-lit park, I spotted a reasonably pocket-sized sturdy stick and scooped it up, tucking it into my inside jacket pocket, sending a silent thanks to the large tree it had fallen from.

  You’re in an alley just off 4th.

  Yes! Luke had told me where I was when we spoke before. 4th wouldn’t put me too far from downtown, and if I remember right, there should be a train station nearby that I can use to get there. The hospital would be close to the Beacon, which did not make me feel comfortable at all, but as far as I knew, neither Cale nor the knightmares knew of Luke’s Angelic existence yet. The longer I could keep him under their radar, the better.

  I just had to make sure the change didn’t kill him first.

  The train ride was short, but it seemed longer since I was carefully avoiding odd looks from morning commuters staring at the crazy woman with a stick jutting out of her jacket wolfing down a delicious homemade breakfast sandwich. I quickly made my escape before anyone could ask me any questions.

  I dodged busy city traffic as I made my way toward the large, squat, unassuming Metropolitan Medical Center and narrowly avoided being run over by an ambulance that screamed out of the driv
eway. Relief flooded me when I saw that it was of the same kind that had picked up Luke. I shuddered to think what the last few hours would have been like for him and urged my exhausted legs to go faster.

  It was a busy hospital; plunked right in the middle of the city. Sneaking in with the cloud of frantic people coming in and out of the emergency room was easy.

  I paused in front of the locked doors to the ICU before I reached into my jacket and gripped the wood I had lifted from the park, using a strand of my power to reach under the door and press down the release switch on the other side. I shouldered the door open just wide enough to slip inside, letting it close behind me.

  It’s been said that the partnership of a Witch or an Angel is powerful enough that one member can sense the presence of the other, the urge to be together strong enough to draw them toward each other.

  Personally, I always thought that was a bunch of bullshit. I know I don’t speak from a lot of experience, but I do know Pat loses Theo in the grocery store all the fucking time. I also remember laughing with Talia when she would take me to go to the candy store down the street from the Beacon and hide from a hilariously frustrated Cale.

  The memories dug into me sharply. I buried them.

  What the hell did I know?

  I began to walk, my steps sure on the tile floor despite not having any idea where I was going, compelled to move forward.

  I heard him crying out with the pain.

  I began to run.

  The sharp pain in my side told me that my speed had opened the knightmare’s wound, but I couldn’t be bothered with it. I dodged around doctors, nurses and technicians, all of who barely acknowledged my presence. I imagine I wasn’t the first person they’d ever seen running desperately toward a loved one.

  I skidded to a halt outside a door and I knew it was the right one. I paused when I heard voices on the other side.

  “-unless he fights it off on his own, there’s nothing more we can do.” A woman’s voice was saying. “We’ll keep him comfortable, keep up the ice packs and the antibiotics, but other than that…I’m sorry.”

  A deep, world-weary sigh followed the doctor’s statement and a man cleared his throat.

  “I gotta go check in to the precinct.” A man’s thick voice answered finally. I recognized it as Carl’s, Luke’s partner. I felt a flash of thankfulness that Luke hadn’t been completely alone.

  “Okay, we’ll give you a call if anything changes.”

  The swish of a curtain and footsteps coming toward the door made me scramble backward and face away from the door, hoping I blended in enough for Carl to walk away and not notice me. I don’t think ‘Please don’t arrest me! I have to help Luke with the healing force of my Witchy powers!’ was going to fly after spending most of the night by his obviously suffering partner’s bedside. I beat myself over the head with the guilt one more time, and then got back to business.

  Thankfully, my foolproof plan of facing the wall like a crazy person worked like a fucking charm and I heard the doctor’s soft rubber shoes retreat back down the hallway while Carl’s hard sole dress shoes went the opposite direction. With one last, cursory glance to make sure the coast was clear and their backs were turned, I slipped into Luke’s room.

  I was just thinking about how troublingly easy it was to break into someone’s hospital room when I laid eyes on the figure in the bed.

  He had grown even paler than the last time I saw him, his whole body covered in sweat despite the ice packs he was surrounded with. His muscles contracted painfully, making him twitch. Three different IV bags were seeping into his veins via the needle in his arm. He looked like he was in so much pain.

  I felt overwhelming guilt once again and mashed it down. It wasn’t the time for that.

  “Hey.” I croaked lamely. He didn’t respond.

  I took carefully steps toward him. What I was afraid of, I wasn’t sure. I was so far into uncharted territory if someone had drawn me a map it would have just been “Good luck, asshole!” in swirly letters.

  “I hope you don’t mind if I sit.” I settled stiffly into the chair next to his bed, trying to not jostle the wound in my side.

  I ached to reach out to him, but I remembered our last encounter vividly. He had no reason to trust me and every reason not to. I felt as if this contact was important. He might not remember it, but I would.

  I should probably figure it out quick, though, because…you know…he was…dying…and judging by the sharp pain stabbing into my side I wasn’t in such great shape either.

  My trembling hand began to make its way to his creased forehead almost of its own volition. I smoothed a few strands of hair that had fallen onto his forehead back across his scalp and caressed the side of his face before my hand rested against his cheek.

  I sank into the comfort of our contact.

  I felt my powers wrap around him, soothing the burning agony that wracked his body. The crease in his brow released, the twitching of his muscles stopped, and his broad chest inflated to capacity before letting out an enormous sigh of relief as his body relaxed into the mattress and back into the pillows.

  A tingling cool rush tickled my side and I lifted up my jacket and shirts just in time to see the wound in my side knit closed. My hand slipped from Luke’s face and down his arm as my body sagged against the bed; the feeling of finally being without pain was something akin to bliss.

  I found myself suddenly bone crushingly exhausted as I felt my head fall to the bed next to Luke’s hip, my eyes slipping closed.

  The last sensation I felt before I passed out was Luke’s strong fingers wrapping around my hand.

  Chapter 19

  I remembered it vividly, which was odd, because judging by the sightline of Cale’s knee, I was quite young. My fingers were skinny and birdlike as I gave a gasping motion up at my towering brother, wordlessly demanding to be picked up. He smiled down at me, a radiant, friendly thing, embracing me gently me under the arms and hefting me into the air. Shrieks of delight bubbled out of me and I looked down to see him chuckling. He brought me down against his chest and hugged me tight.

  “You’ve gotten so big, Little Danny!” He gushed. I felt my heart swell with pride within my small chest.

  “I’m gonna be big and strong just like you, Cale!” I heard a child’s voice, my voice, say as I threw my tiny arms around his broad shoulders. He smiled even more broadly.

  “You will be, Little Sister.” He assured me, putting me back on my feet and stepping backward.

  “Cale?” I asked in a small voice, going to follow him, grabbing at him again. He moved further back from me, seemingly out of my reach.

  “No, Danny.” He told me firmly, moving backwards toward the shadows.

  “Cale!” I cried in terror, toddling after him.

  His face grew tighter as the dark started to take him, wrapping around him like tentacles, his expression was still passive, but his eyes held a desperate panic that was at odds with his calm demeanor. Just before he disappeared, a rip split the thin air next to Cale like a grotesque mouth, grinning with teeth made of flickering purple fire.

  “He’sssss mine…” The ground rumbled as the mouth hissed. Cale’s lips moved in time with the horrifying creature that had him in its clutches, his panicked gaze still locked with mine. “Jussssssst like the Queen’sssss Angel.”

  “Cale…” my lip wobbled and I couldn’t breathe through the terror as my brother disappeared in the shadows. “Cale!”

  “Cale!” I jerked awake against the well-worn sheets of the hospital bed, sucking in desperate breaths to calm the heart pounding against my chest. I blinked, gathering my bearings as the sweat cooled against my skin.

  The room had remained unchanged, but Luke was looking a lot better. The ice packs were gone and the steady beeping of his heart monitor was at a calm, even pace, his chest rising and falling peacefully. His face was serene with a restful sleep. His smooth breaths were escaping through slightly parted pink lips. His eyes were st
ill closed, his long eyelashes resting against the full apples of his cheeks; cheeks sprinkled stubble.

  Not too shabby, as Angels go.

  I felt my heart unclench when I saw the improvement in his condition and looked down to see he had, indeed, wrapped his hand securely around mine in his sleep. I smiled as I felt my chest grow warm.

  Maybe the glass is half full after all.

  “Don’t make any sudden moves, Girly.”

  …half full of piss.

  “Aw, man…” I groaned as I turned to face Luke’s partner, leaning against the doorway, a scowl firmly set on his face. One arm held back the tail of his suit jacket, his hand resting on the holster of the gun clipped to his belt in a silent warning.

  “You slept for a long time.” Carl stated with a raised eyebrow. “Assaulting a police officer hard work?”

  “You’d be surprised.” I answered with equal ease, despite keeping a firm grip on Luke’s hand.

  “You think this is funny?” Carl growled taking a confrontational step toward me. I kept my gaze firmly affixed to his. “He almost died. Do you understand that, Girly?”

  “I do.” I told him evenly and without hesitation, stamping down the guilt that turned my stomach.

  “The only reason you’re not under arrest is because he only got better after you got here.” Carl said. “You wanna tell me why that is? And why I shouldn’t just arrest you right now?”

  “Please.” The word was out of my mouth before I even thought about it. “Please, don’t. I know it’s hard to believe, but I need to be here. He’ll die if I’m not.”

  “You did this to him!” Carl accused, taking another step toward me.

  “I didn’t!” I defended immediately, which was sort of a lie. It might be a lie. Totally a lie. “It’s complicated.”

  “My ass ‘you didn’t’!” Carl thundered. “What’s he in the hospital for, then? The flu? What’d you do to him? And how are you fixing it now?”

  “Everybody calm the fuck down.”

  I turned at the sound of Luke’s weak, scratchy voice. A sliver of his blue eyes could be seen through heavy eyelids, wandering around the room until his gaze fell on me.