Between the Bleeding Willows (The Demon Hunters Series Book 1) (22 page)

“Rya, wait!” Tegan yelled. “The Demon Hunters were not what I planned to offer.” The gathered group turned toward Tegan, curious of his next move. Tegan held out his hand to Tyler. “Tyler, the ring please.”

Tyler rummaged through his pockets, turning them inside out. “I must have dropped it near the car. I can go look for it.” Tyler started down the path.

Tegan turned back, embarrassed that he was emptyhanded at the moment. “Just a moment…”

The out-of-shape guy, who looked like an ordinary middle aged man wearing a flannel and jeans, held up his hands. They glowed as blue as mine had when I’d burned those demons and when I’d healed Lena.

“Let her go, Rya,” he commanded.

“Who and what are you?” she asked, eyes narrowed as she stared at his blue hands.

“The name’s Hank. I’m the surviving Demon Hunter from the Great Battle. Let her go.”

“Demon Hunters don’t have that kind of power.” Rya looked shocked and worried with this turn of events.

Hank shot a blue pulse at Jace, who held up his hands in defense, but the fireball made contact and a pained scream escaped his demonic lips.

Rya’s eyes opened wide. Hank shot another pulse at Jace, dropping him to the ground.

“Enough!” Rya pulled me closer to her, holding Jackson’s knife to my throat.

“Last chance, cupcake. Release her or your little servant dies.” Jace lay on the ground several feet away, crumpled from the pain. Smoke rose from his chest.

Rya’s face contorted as her jaw opened wide. With an ear-piercing shriek, she shoved me out of her grasp. “Keep your little pet. We are even for now, Killian. And Tegan, your debt remains.” She grabbed Jace and flew them toward the gate, furious that she had to leave me behind.

Jace. Killian was right. He was completely gone. He’d chose power over compassion, and there was no coming back from that.

Tyler ran into the clearing. “Cops are headed this way. Better clear out.” Tegan retreated down a narrow path near the lagoon with Tyler and his thugs. Tyler looked back at me and nodded before disappearing in the trees.

Once the clearing held only Clan members, the older man approached Killian. He removed the ring, my ring, and placed it on Killian’s finger. I ran over. Killian had lost a lot of blood. His face was whiter than normal. Casper took off his shirt and ripped a long thick strip to wrap around his arm.

“The ring will help, but he isn’t well enough to crossover, especially without his tattoo. It would be his end. He’ll need to stay in the Human Realm till he’s healed up and gets more angel blood in him,” the out-of-shape new guy said to me as he helped Killian up.

Who was this guy?

Casper must have read my facial expression. He put his arm around me, guiding me toward the awaiting cars, and said, “Don’t worry about it, I’ll catch you up on everything.”

“No!” Killian’s voice sounded angry and full of pain. “Casper, I order you to crossover.” Casper’s body tensed in protest, but he said nothing. Killian explained, “I need you to go with the others and start clearing debris and getting our colony in livable conditions.” I looked at Casper and saw the frustration in his face.

“Come on, Casper. The compound’s in bad shape. Cassidy and Killian will be fine. Let’s go help the rest of our Clan.” Jackson tried to nudge Casper in the shoulder, but he dodged, leaving Jackson moving air.

“Sorry, Cass. Gotta’ go,” he said quietly, then he released me and walked toward the gate.

Lena crossed at that moment and met Jackson and Casper in the clearing. They talked for a brief moment before she ran toward Killian. “I felt something was wrong. What the hell did she do to you?”

“Nice to see you too, Sis.” Killian stood with the help of Lena. “Why aren’t you back at the Clan?”

“Everyone is stable and Sean has the med unit, so don’t worry about that.”

Hank, Lena, Killian, and myself loaded into one of the cars and headed to my house. “I’ll arrange the car pickup with the Junctures,” Lena informed Killian.

“Who are the Junctures?” I asked.

Lena opened the passenger door for Killian and began explaining, “They are former Clan members who either lost their powers or chose to stay in the Human Realm. They help connect us with things we need…medicines, cars, weapons. In exchange, we offer some of our reserved angel blood for spells and potions. We’ll need to get a few items after we get Killian situated. You can come meet a Juncture if you’d like.”

“Shouldn’t we take him to the hospital?”

“They ask too many questions and we are not supposed to draw attention to our kind. Besides, we’ve treated wounds like this in the Clan before. The main thing is trying to keep it from getting infected.”

Lena handed me the keys to the car as she and Hank piled into the back.

At home, we helped Killian inside. “Do you want him in a bedroom or the couch?”

“Couch,” Killian groaned.

Lena went to the main level bedroom and grabbed two pillows from the bed while Hank searched for drinks in the fridge and poured some orange juice for everyone. I sat in the wingback next to the couch Killian lay on. His face was whiter than usual. He’d lost a lot of blood along with his layer of arm skin, and he shifted uncomfortably in pain.

“Hey, how did you know I was in trouble?” I asked him curiously, but also hoping to distract him from his pain.

Killian turned his head to face me. “I felt something was wrong. I didn’t feel bonded to you anymore.”

I pulled my sleeve up to reveal the faded tattoo. My fingers trailed along the inked skin. Killian watched me with sad eyes.

“What happened to it? Did you do something to make it fade…break our bond?”

“No. Tyler did it. He covered it with his blood and the bond broke.” He looked away, irritated by my story. “Wait, he did it because I was dying, Killian. He said he had no other choice.”

Killian turned back and grabbed my other wrist firmly with his good hand. While holding me, he used a finger to peek beneath my sleeve cuff. “And this? You’re bonded to him now?” He released my arm and pinned me with his intense stare. Was I supposed to feel bad that I bore a new tattoo from Tyler? “What kind of magic is in you? Do you even know? Think about it, Cass, his dad hangs around with Rya…which would make Tyler a…?”

Killian was pissing me off. Was he suggesting Tyler was a demon? Tyler had saved me from death and helped us in the cemetery. How dare Killian act like he was something evil! “Why does this bother you?”

“Because I care about you.” He held my gaze a moment longer and I could see what he meant in his eyes. Then he closed them and turned away.

Lena returned with the pillows and a blanket. “We better head out, Cass, you should change. And if you have a spare hoodie I could borrow, that’d be great.”

I changed and grabbed the hoodie for Lena. When I returned, Lena encouraged Killian to be nice to the person caring for him. I figured she sensed the tension between us. He grumbled in protest but then quieted.

“Here, Lena.” Tossing the navy blue hoodie at her, I grabbed my car keys and purse so we could leave.

Lena navigated, taking me through neighborhoods and side streets till she finally parked in front of a tall narrow three-flat. She opened the door to an entryway, then walked to a wood door and pushed the decrepit doorbell. The sound of heels clicking on wood flooring grew louder as they approached, followed by a series of clicks and clacks as various locks opened.

The door opened, and there stood a woman in her mid-forties with blonde, curly hair, heavy makeup, and bangles covering her wrists. She wore a gauzy white shirt that sat at her shoulders with a short brown pleated miniskirt and brown tights. Her high-heeled boots came to her knees. She looked exotic, like a modern day gypsy.

“Serena, good to see you again.” Lena gave the woman a hug.

“Lena, you look great! Fully healed?”

“Yes, thank you for asking. By the way, this is Cassidy. She has recently been introduced to the Demon Realm.”

Serena smiled a warm smile, then took my hand in hers and lifted both my sleeves. Her fingers traced the edges of both tattoos. “Bound to both Heaven and Hell—yet not at the same time. Interesting.” Her eyes met mine. I could tell she was reading my energy. Her gaze was intense, and I struggled to not look away. “Very good energy.” She turned toward Lena and said, “She’s a keeper. Be sure she’s on your side when the final battle comes.”

“We’ll do our best. Anyway, Serena, Killian was injured. Rya pulled off his tattoo.”

“Skin only or did she get the tissue beneath as well?”

“Skin. I’ll need you to come tattoo his other arm or lend me the equipment to help him heal. Also, we’ll need tinctures and herbs to heal his arm and fight infection.”

“I’ll send my tattoo kit with you. Just let me know when it’s ready for pickup, and we’ll arrange things.”

“Thank you, Serena,” Lena said.

With a nod, Serena gestured we follow her. “This way, loves. I need to make an herb paste for Killian’s arm. I won’t be but a moment.”

There were two oversized chairs near the large floor to ceiling bay window. Serena had a bar at the opposite side of the room with shelves of herbs and bottles of different sizes and labels. She was like a backwoods pharmacist.

“She’s like you,” I whispered to Lena.

“No, she is a pro. I am a novice.”

“The Clan could use someone like her.”

Lena looked at me. “You know, at this point in time, we really could.”

Serena added an ingredient to what looked like Crisco with herbs and berries in it. Next, she added a powder as black as soot and sprinkled it along the ingredients lying before her. Smoke rose from the paste, and a campfire smell filled the air. With a small spatula, she incorporated the ingredients together. When she finished, she grabbed a white plastic jar, scooped the concoction in, and replaced the lid.

She held up a vial of green opaque liquid. “Two teaspoons twice a day with this one, by mouth. Change his dressings, apply a single layer of new gauze.” She held up a roll wrapped in yellow packaging. “This one first because we don’t want it to stick to the wound. Then, apply the paste on top of that, then wrap with the other gauze. A saline rinse once a day is fine, but no washing the wound until we have some skin growing on there. Everything else I give you is once a day. Oh, and if he gets a fever, you must call me right away.”

I nodded in understanding.

“Good.” She put all our goods in a bag along with extra gauze and walked us to the door. “Lena, good seeing you again. Don’t worry about settling up until your colony is back in order and you are not in battle or on the run.”

“Thank you. You know, Serena, the Clan could really use someone with your expertise.”

“Thank you for the kind compliment, Lena, but you understand why I left years ago.”

“I do. Just know that you are always welcome to return.” Lena hugged her and started toward the car.

Serena grabbed my hand. “Cassidy, wait…your ring…” I wasn’t wearing it; how did she know about my ring? In fact, Killian had it and I didn’t recall telling Serena about it. She continued, “It has great power, whether you know it or not. It will save lives and maybe even win the war…but it will also make you the most hunted person. You need to be strong if you chose to wear it. But beware, if you wear a Clan or demon tattoo along with the ring, your body will become gravely ill in the Human Realm, as it has once before. The potent healing properties of the combined magic will continue making new cells, and…like a cancer, it will eventually kill you. You must only wear it for short increments here. But in the other realm, it will give you great powers—powers of necromancy, the ability to control life and death, with no negative consequence.” She put so many puzzle pieces together for me. She released my hand. “I shall see you again, Cassidy. Well wishes to you and Killian.”

“Nice to meet you, and thank you, Serena.” She hugged me tight before closing the doors and setting the locks. Lena was already in the car looking through the bag of goodies.

Taking a deep, calming breath I asked, “Are all Junctures like her?”

“What? Intense?” Lena turned to me and smiled. “Some are. She is pretty powerful though, maybe more intense than most.”

“She mentioned leaving the Clan years ago, what made her leave?”

“She had a little boy who died when two demons breached the Center. She crossed over after his celebration ceremony and has been a Juncture ever since.”

“Think she’d ever come back to help?” It would be advantageous to have Serena helping.

“I think we’d have to have worse odds before that would ever happen.”

I couldn’t imagine it getting much worse.

We made a stop for some groceries so I wouldn’t have to leave Killian alone in the first few days. Then we headed home and brought in our bags.

Hank was put to the task of putting the groceries away and preparing a meal of soup and sandwiches. Lena asked me to boil two cups of water. When the microwave finished, Lena added salt to the hot water and stirred the mixture, then set it in the refrigerator.

Lena and I washed our hands, then retrieved the salty water and returned to Killian. She helped me take off the makeshift dressing of Casper’s shirt, which I tossed into a grocery sack to throw out later. Next, Lena laid out the gauze, jar of ointment, and a towel. “Hold this towel under his arm, Cass.” I did as she instructed. “This saline solution is just two cups boiling water plus one teaspoon of table salt, make sure it’s cooled enough and use a spoon to drizzle it over the wound. Got that?” Rya only removed the outermost layer of skin, but the bloody tissues beneath were gory, and I felt my stomach turn.