“I have to drink your blood?” I ask, unable to contain the revulsion that takes over my face.
“What?” Medley asks confused. “Eww, no. I just need to put some of my blood on you, or at least, that’s what Delta did. It might be a shot in the dark, but…”
Relief washes through me, and I shoo away my Vampire Diary thoughts. I mean, if Damon was in front of me saying he has to bite me to save me, then I’d definitely take one for the team. But if the roles were reversed and I had to do the vein chomping...well, suffice it to say that salvation may be a long time coming.
Thank goodness we’re not vampires.
A giggle escapes Medley’s mouth, and she points at me as she tries to quiet it. “You should see your face right now,” she exclaims quietly, cracking up. “I should’ve said yes just to mess with you a little.”
I glare at her, but the warning in it is lost when my mouth betrays me and breaks into a smile. I can’t help it, her giggles are contagious.
Medley reaches for her scythe, but once again, she can’t connect with it. She curses in frustration and pulls her hand back. “I was hopin’ his compulsion would wear off by now like Delta said it did for her.” She releases a weary huff and starts to look around. “I need somethin’ sharp so I can cut my hand or arm or somethin’.”
I look around my cell and pick up the metal plate that’s still here, wondering if I can bend it somehow and get it jagged enough to cut. Can half angels, half demons get tetanus?
I wish the tweezer things that Morax forced Medley to use were still in my cell, but as soon as I tossed them away and they clanged to the ground, they somehow disappeared and showed up back on the wall.
“Here,” Toreon announces from behind me.
I turn to see him holding out the onyx tool that Vudu gave him.
I get up and walk over to him, reaching through the bars where his hand is outstretched. “Thank you,” I say just as our hands connect. We both pause for a moment, our fingers touching slightly, and Toreon looks at me, something indiscernible crossing over his face. But then he quickly lets go, and I pull the tool back through the bars with me.
I look down at the file in my hands, noting that it’s lighter than I thought it would be. My eyes flick back up to Toreon’s intense gaze, and there’s still a hint of something unfamiliar in his eyes.
Is that hope?
Just as quickly as I see it, Toreon blinks and shutters the emotion. I’m once again staring into apathetic eyes, and the familiar slump of defeat is back in his shoulders.
I want to rescue him.
That thought pops into my head, startling me, but...it’s true. I do want to rescue him. And maybe that’s ridiculous, considering I’m brand new to this world and I really don’t even know him, but I want to put that hope back on Toreon’s face and take away his despondent surrender. I want us to get out of here. All of us.
With hardening resolve, I move to the other side of my cell and hand Medley the weapon.
She holds the file in her hand and tests the weight for a moment before bringing the tapered end to her palm and slashing her skin with it. She hisses as a gash opens up, and blood pools to the surface.
Medley hands me back the file, and I clutch it in one hand while extending my other to her. With a cupped palm that’s slowly filling with blood, she reaches out to me. I’d be worried about how deeply she cut herself if I didn’t know how quickly we heal.
Our arms meet between the cold bars that separate us, and Medley brings her hand over my forearm and upends her cupped palm. Warm liquid spills over the lean muscles of my arm, and I force myself to focus on the heat and the comfort that it provides, not the color or consistency of Medley’s blood as it coats my arm.
She smears it into my skin, and then we both wait to see if anything will happen. I’m not really sure what to expect. She and I stare at it, and just as one of the drops slips down to the underside of my arm to fall