Blade Song - By J.C. Daniels Page 0,53
you.”
Chapter Twelve
Es was speaking.
I barely heard her.
I was cold. All over cold.
A hand came over the back of my neck and shoved my head down between my knees. “Breathe, kitten,” somebody rumbled, a familiar voice.
It tickled something in my memory. Kitten. Didn’t like that.
“…something for her hand…”
Voices roared around me, echoing in my ears.
A softer one, that didn’t make much sense. Then his. Damon. Demonic Damon. Pain in my ass.
“I don’t care. You’re going to either heal her hand yourself, or you’re going to get somebody in here to do it for you, or I’ll take it personally.”
A soft laugh tinkled through the room. Dimly, I realized this wasn’t good. I needed to think past the pain that seemed to be snaking up my entire arm. It was a burn. I’d been burned before. Granted, never this bad. And shit, I had to get it healed, but I could call Colleen and she’d help me. Somehow. She’d help.
I made myself sit up, staring at the black and red meat that made up my hand.
“Calm down, Damon,” I said. The thin, high sound of my voice didn’t sound very reassuring. Clearing my voice, I tried again. “I’m fine.”
“Your hand looks like a Texas barbecue gone bad. You’re not fine.”
“No. No, you’re not,” Es murmured. “Child, you suffer from an excess of great stupidity or great bravery. I’m not sure which.”
She came around to me and nudged Damon aside. “Move over, cat. I’ll fix her.”
He glared at the back of her head but fell silent.
She settled in the chair next to me. “You know, we’ve measured her ability to generate heat…for short periods of time, she can put out over fifteen hundred degrees. You understand how dangerous that was?”
“My blade can take it.”
“Humph. The blade, yes.” She caught my hand and turned it, forcing the cooked meat of my palm upright. “But look at what it did to you.”
“Hey, it got me the information I wanted.”
“Silly child…I could have gotten you that, if you’d given me time,” she murmured. Her fingers were cool on my wrist.
“But Doyle might not have time. And the next time I need to ask her something, maybe she’ll be a little more likely to give it to me if she views me as more than just dirt on her boots.” I groaned as I felt the first brush of her magic. “I may not be her equal, but she knows I won’t roll over like a dog for her, either. Her kind respects strength.”
“True enough. But you took pain…and Tate isn’t capable of that. I don’t know if she’ll respect you for that, or hate you.” She deepened her hold and then looked at Damon. “You might want to hold her shoulders.”
My breath started to come in harsh, heavy pants. “This is going to hurt, isn’t it?”
“Yes. You may scream. Nobody will hear you but us.”
“No.” I scrambled at my waist for my belt but pain and panic made me clumsy.
“Child, we need to hurry. The longer we delay, the more risk there is for permanent damage.”
I nodded jerkily, still clawing at my belt.
“Shit,” Damon muttered, hauling me back from the table.
He crouched in front of me, trying to see what I was doing. “Why are you messing with your belt, Kit?”
“Knife.” My teeth were chattering now. Shock? The pain? I didn’t know.
“Bad time to decide to stab me,” he said. “You couldn’t fight off a puppy right now.”
“Knife…”
“Okay, okay…” He worked the knife sheath off my belt and pulled out the knife, but I knocked it aside and reached for the sheath.
His face tightened in a scowl and he held it for a second. Finally, though, he let it go.
As he eased me back to the table, I shoved the leather between my teeth.
In the back of my mind, I could hear the echo of a laugh. Scream for me, granddaughter. It’s the only time I enjoy hearing your voice. Scream…let me know how easily you break.
As the bright edge of pain broke through me, I bit the leather and struggled to hold back the screams.
Scream…you useless waste.
I woke to darkness.
Cool, complete darkness.
My body felt too heavy to move and I groaned, struggling to lift a hand to my face, but even that took too much energy.
Groaning, I muttered, “Great. Just great.”
“Tell me about it.”
Gurgling out a yelp, I tried to scramble out of the bed, but I couldn’t even move. A full-fledged healing wasn’t much different than coming off a bad case of the flu.