Mark of Cain (Immortal Mercenary Book 1)
Page 23
“What did you do?” Merry asked, looking up at me.
“Magic,” I said.
“Magic doesn’t cure sickness,” she shook her head. “You told me as much.”
“And I was being truthful with you, but I didn’t cure it. I just transferred it.”
Merry’s eyes got wide and I felt a smug smile appear on my lips.
“You took it from her?” she asked, letting tears roll down her face.
“Yeah, why not?” I shrugged. “It’ll run its course. And besides, it’s not like it’s going to kill me.”
Merry flung herself forward, wrapping her arms around me and pressing her lips hard against mine. My hands traveled up her back and wrapped around her.
Then, a beeping sound from one of the machines jolted us away from each other.
“Sorry,” I muttered. “I must have been pressing down on something. I’m-are you okay?”
“I’m perfect,” she said. “Thanks to you, I’m just perfect.”
“Okay,” I said, swallowing hard and pulling back. “That’s good.”
“Cai-Callum,” she corrected herself, remembering that the curse and its rules applied to me again. “Your mother said something back in the maze. Something about the way you felt about me. Was she-”
“She was crazy,” I answered quickly, standing and stuffing my hands into my pockets. “Obviously, she was insane.”
“Right,” Merry answered, blinking hard. “Right. That’s what I thought.”
I looked at her for a long time after that, before finally shuffling and saying, “Well, I’ll let you two get some rest. I’ll check back in on you soon, okay.”
“Okay,” Merry said softly. “And, Callum. Thank you so much.”
I nodded and walked out.
Andy was in the waiting room, nursing a cup of coffee and finishing off what I would conservatively guess was his fourth doughnut.
“She okay?” he asked, standing as he saw me enter the room.
“She’s good,” I said.
“You okay?” he added. “You know, aside from the cancer.”
“I’ll be fine,” I said, brushing it off. “I’ve got some chemotherapy set up for next week. It can’t grow in my system any more than it already is. So, being stagnant, it’ll be gone in a few months.”
“Gotta love the mark of-well, of you,” he answered. Walking toward me, Andy said, “That was a good thing you did back there, Uncle C. Saving that girl, I didn’t know you had it in you.”
“Neither did I,” I answered, keeping my eyes pinned to the ground. “It was Gabriel. He did-he did something for me, and in return, he told me what I would need to do to save the girl. I didn’t know why he was telling me that. We had Patrick at the time, after all. And even after he died, I couldn’t wrap my head around why an Archangel was concerning himself with the life of some little girl.” I shook my head. “And my mother, she kept saying something was coming. Even Abel told me that there was a storm brewing. I didn’t know what any of it meant.”
“And you do now?” Andy asked, settling in front of me. “I’m sorry, Uncle C. I’m not following. What does any of this have to do with Merry’s daughter?”
“When I was taking the cancer away from her, when I was saving that girl’s life, I saw things. Touching her, I got visions of the future, of her future.” My eyes stayed trained on the floor. “There was death and destruction. There was torment and evil on a planetary level, Andy.” Finally, I looked up at him. “I think that girl is what my mother and Abel were warning me about.” My jaw set horribly. “I think Merry’s daughter is the Antichrist.”
The End
35
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