Read Online Release (The Protector Book 3) by M.R. Merrick - Free Book Online Page B

closed with freshly made skin and the blood to wash itself away.
    A tingle of influence moved through the water and sent chills down my arms. It sparked to life in a mystic hum that beat like a drum in my ear.
    My element didn’t come to the surface. Instead, the water animated itself and pushed into me. Its vitality moved beneath my skin, sloshing back and forth over battered muscles and beneath deep cuts. All the wounds closed, except the long cut along my chest. It remained open, raw, and filled with dirt.
    Balls of melted fabric curled to the sides where the fire had burst through my t-shirt. Small flickers of blue flame bubbled inside the wound, and trickles of blood disappeared in the fabric of my shirt.
    I scooped water into my hand and poured it over my chest. It stung at first, washing away the dirt and blood. After a few splashes of water, the wound was clean and had stopped bleeding, but it was still wide open, running from the middle of my chest to the top of my belly button.
    “Chase Williams, are you alright?”
    “I’m—” I began coughing, and it made my chest throb. I turned onto my side and sucked some of the water into my mouth. “I’m okay. I just need a minute.”
    Tiki watched me from the bank of the creek. His skin looked darker in the shade of the forest, and his shaggy, black hair fell in front of his eyes.
    “Where’s Vincent?” I asked.
    “He is here. Or rather, there.” Tiki pointed towards the other end of the creek. “I fear something is wrong. He is still unconscious after many attempts to wake him.”
    “This gets worse every time we travel through a portal.”
    Tiki smiled. “I will help you next time and give you some…instructions to make it easier. Now come, Vincent needs you.”
    Vincent needs me? Those were three words I never thought I’d hear in the same sentence.
    My waterlogged clothes were heavy and my foot slipped as I crawled up the muddy slope. Skid marks trailed in the dirt from the bushes to where Vincent’s body lay crumpled and beaten on a path not far from the creek. When I rolled him over, I could hardly recognize the creature in front of me.
    His black hair was dry and full of small twigs and broken leaves. His pale skin was no longer flawless but covered in dirt, bruises, and dried blood. The large claw wound on his chest and throat had stopped bleeding, but thick black scabs covered the wounds. Dirt, blood, and destroyed plant life clung to his body, which was now covered in small red scratches just like my arms. I’d seen Vincent heal a deep knife wound in seconds. He shouldn’t be this injured.
    “Help him!” Tiki said with an urgency I hadn’t expected.
    “What do you want me to do? He’s a vampire.”
    “I don’t know…can’t you heal him or something?”
    “I don’t have the energy to heal myself, let alone him. Even if I did, I’m not sure it would work. My water element seems to have a mind of its own.”
    Tiki looked back at Vincent and slapped his face. “Wake up!” he shouted, but Vincent lay unmoving in the dirt.
    “He’s a vampire, he just needs some time to recuperate,” I said. “Maybe—” my thought was cut off by the faint chirping of what sounded like a bird, and panic set in. “Have you seen Rai?” I asked, my eyes panning from tree to tree.
    “I have not. Once we arrived, I immediately tended to Vincent. He was stuck in a Whisper Bush.”
    “A what?” I asked. “Never mind, we need to find her.” I started off down the path, but Tiki didn’t follow.
    “Are you coming?”
    “We cannot leave him here, Chase Williams. He is hurt and unfamiliar with this world. It is not safe.”
    I looked down at the limp body of Vincent and shuddered. To think he needed us to keep him safe was an idea I wasn’t sure I could get used to. I called out to Rai, my voice echoing off the high tops of the trees and coming back at me, but she didn’t appear.
    “Come, Chase Williams. You too need to sit and rest. If you pass out