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Authors: A. J. Rand
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awareness of my surroundings. I let go of the energy
slowly, letting the warmth fade with the subsiding glow. Exhausted, I pulled my
hands back and let them drop in my lap while I waited for enough of the
tingling to go away that I could feel my fingers again. I leaned back into
Chaz’s body and let him help me to my feet and over to the chair at the foot of
the bed.
“Are you okay?”
I nodded.
“Well, whatever you did, it
worked. The bleeding has stopped.”
My eyes went to the man on the
bed. Chaz was right. No more blood was coming from his back.
I shook my head. “It’s only
temporary. I need to go back in for a more permanent fix––I just haven’t
figured out how yet.”
“What do you mean by temporary?”
“The whole thing with this guy is
strange, Chaz. It’s as though he is two completely separate people on the
inside, crammed into a single body. That separation is what’s causing the
bleeding, and his pain, for that matter.”
“Like a demon possession or
something?”
“Something like that––only it
doesn’t have that wrong feeling like a demon possession. It’s more like the two
separate parts need to come together, but there’s a big gap missing in the
middle to make the pieces fit right.”
“So what did you do?”
“I put a bandage on it.”
I had to chuckle at his look of
confusion. I didn’t have enough energy to laugh.
“You know––like those butterfly
bandages that doctors use to hold the pieces of skin together long enough to
heal, or until they can get the stitches in.”
“Oh. I get it.”
“The problem is that I don’t think
it will hold for very long. Stitches are what is needed, so to speak, but I
haven’t figured out how to go about it yet.”
An image of Ithane flashed through
my mind, and of how she wove the energy she had drawn, as though knitting a
blanket. “Hey––from the dream––”
“Not now, Yesh. There’s not enough
time. You have to hop in the shower and get to Pietra’s.”
A glance out the bedroom window
told me that the kid was right. The sky was taking on that late afternoon tint
that meant dusk wasn’t far behind.
“You’re right. I have to get
moving.” I winked at him while pushing to my feet. “What would I do without
you?”
He grinned at the compliment.
“Your own cleaning, for starters.”
I looked around the bedroom, and
then peered out into the living room. While I had been working on Mister
Mysterious, Chaz had cleaned up the mess we had dragged through the apartment.
He had even washed down the walls inside the bedroom door where I had propped
Ke up for the time it had taken him to run to the bathroom and back. Even my
leather was cleaned and softened, the blood gone.
I was amazed, and turned to let
him know how grateful I was. “Chaz––”
He held up a hand to stop me.
“Time, Yesh. You don’t have any. Besides, I still have the hallway to take care
of, and I couldn’t get the blood completely out of the living room rug.”
A better look at the faint,
stained outline on the rug showed the truth of his words.
I shrugged. “Nothing to be done
about it. It’s just one more reminder of what our lives have become.”
Chaz grinned and sat down to take
up watch duty over Ke, while I got ready to hop in the shower and head out.
Chapter 9
By the time I pulled up to
Pietra’s house, dusk was just starting to settle. That was good. It meant a lot
less time to deal with small talk. It also meant a lot less time to play a role
I wasn’t well suited for––that of a woman who was less than sure of herself.
Maybe it wasn’t such a far
stretch, considering what I was dealing with back at my apartment. But I had to
be convincing in a more general way and that was a little tough for me to
swallow. What I really wanted to do was to go in there, kick the guy’s ass and
then go back and deal with the other stuff.
Careful . Morpheus’ warning
echoed in my head. I wanted to scream. So be
slowly, letting the warmth fade with the subsiding glow. Exhausted, I pulled my
hands back and let them drop in my lap while I waited for enough of the
tingling to go away that I could feel my fingers again. I leaned back into
Chaz’s body and let him help me to my feet and over to the chair at the foot of
the bed.
“Are you okay?”
I nodded.
“Well, whatever you did, it
worked. The bleeding has stopped.”
My eyes went to the man on the
bed. Chaz was right. No more blood was coming from his back.
I shook my head. “It’s only
temporary. I need to go back in for a more permanent fix––I just haven’t
figured out how yet.”
“What do you mean by temporary?”
“The whole thing with this guy is
strange, Chaz. It’s as though he is two completely separate people on the
inside, crammed into a single body. That separation is what’s causing the
bleeding, and his pain, for that matter.”
“Like a demon possession or
something?”
“Something like that––only it
doesn’t have that wrong feeling like a demon possession. It’s more like the two
separate parts need to come together, but there’s a big gap missing in the
middle to make the pieces fit right.”
“So what did you do?”
“I put a bandage on it.”
I had to chuckle at his look of
confusion. I didn’t have enough energy to laugh.
“You know––like those butterfly
bandages that doctors use to hold the pieces of skin together long enough to
heal, or until they can get the stitches in.”
“Oh. I get it.”
“The problem is that I don’t think
it will hold for very long. Stitches are what is needed, so to speak, but I
haven’t figured out how to go about it yet.”
An image of Ithane flashed through
my mind, and of how she wove the energy she had drawn, as though knitting a
blanket. “Hey––from the dream––”
“Not now, Yesh. There’s not enough
time. You have to hop in the shower and get to Pietra’s.”
A glance out the bedroom window
told me that the kid was right. The sky was taking on that late afternoon tint
that meant dusk wasn’t far behind.
“You’re right. I have to get
moving.” I winked at him while pushing to my feet. “What would I do without
you?”
He grinned at the compliment.
“Your own cleaning, for starters.”
I looked around the bedroom, and
then peered out into the living room. While I had been working on Mister
Mysterious, Chaz had cleaned up the mess we had dragged through the apartment.
He had even washed down the walls inside the bedroom door where I had propped
Ke up for the time it had taken him to run to the bathroom and back. Even my
leather was cleaned and softened, the blood gone.
I was amazed, and turned to let
him know how grateful I was. “Chaz––”
He held up a hand to stop me.
“Time, Yesh. You don’t have any. Besides, I still have the hallway to take care
of, and I couldn’t get the blood completely out of the living room rug.”
A better look at the faint,
stained outline on the rug showed the truth of his words.
I shrugged. “Nothing to be done
about it. It’s just one more reminder of what our lives have become.”
Chaz grinned and sat down to take
up watch duty over Ke, while I got ready to hop in the shower and head out.
Chapter 9
By the time I pulled up to
Pietra’s house, dusk was just starting to settle. That was good. It meant a lot
less time to deal with small talk. It also meant a lot less time to play a role
I wasn’t well suited for––that of a woman who was less than sure of herself.
Maybe it wasn’t such a far
stretch, considering what I was dealing with back at my apartment. But I had to
be convincing in a more general way and that was a little tough for me to
swallow. What I really wanted to do was to go in there, kick the guy’s ass and
then go back and deal with the other stuff.
Careful . Morpheus’ warning
echoed in my head. I wanted to scream. So be
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