Love Is in the Air (30 page)

Worse, the hunter was trapped under there.

CHAPTER 106

Could the tunnel have survived? Why hadn’t she placed a protection Praxis over Tyr before she left? If he died, and she lived…

Sal wouldn’t think about that. She had to get back in there. Find him. Following the line of the wall, Sal tried to find another entry point. The one she had escaped from was closed off by about a ton of debris.

If Sal knew Maria—and right now, still hearing her friend’s laughter ringing in her ears—she felt supremely confident that she did, Maria would have protected Tyr as best she could. If there was any way, she would have left Sal a path to him.

Going around a huge chunk of toppled roof, Sal tripped. Figuring it was just more rebar, she untangled her legs from a steel contraption. It wasn’t until Sal freed herself that she realized her error. This was no stray metal.

This machine had purpose. The four-barreled mechanism was the fireworks launcher. But it looked modified.

The Crusader’s work. He and the beast had quadrupled the payload, from the looks of it. The tubes were crammed with explosives—the weapon they intended to murder Tyr with.

Sal gained her feet. They needn’t have bothered. She was doing a fine job all by herself. Shaking off any doubt that Tyr was nothing but alive and healing, Sal went to move on, then noticed a small defect about halfway up the pile. Was that a way in?

About to climb the debris, Sal froze. The white light had died, leaving only a subliminal glow that was now tainted red. Not from the fire, but the beast. Not only had he survived the collapse, but he was near.

Reluctantly raising her eyes, she found him cresting the pile of rubble. He was now the sight of a new horror. No longer majestic, the beast had been burnt nearly to the bone. Red, oozing wounds stood out starkly against his black, charred skin.

With no fur, the beast’s face took on an eerie human quality. His tender pink ear looked not unlike her own. But those glistening fangs didn’t resemble anything remotely human.

No matter his injuries, rage kept his tail lashing violently side to side. Although one eye was swollen shut, there was no doubt that the beast knew her location exactly.

Then why hadn’t he launched at her? He’d made a leap even greater back at the de Young. Had he also consumed all of his healing elixir? Did he now have to fear death as she did? Could she use it to her advantage?

“Go home.”

A low growl rumbled from his throat. “Not without your thoughts.”

Panic welded her feet in place. She knew what happened when the beast sought anyone’s thoughts. She’d seen the autopsy reports. And what did she have to fight him with? The knife was lost in the rubble. She had no more blood for Praxis. How could she survive against even an injured beast?

A strange thumping filled the air. Was that a rotor wash she heard?

Were the helicopters on their way? Carefully, she backed up a step.

“More men come with weapons. Can you survive another assault?”

His tail swished. His growl was so deep it masked whatever words he meant to speak. The beast’s muscles bunched, rippling. She’d seen it too many times before. The helicopter would never make it in time.

Sal took another stride back, though. Maybe there was another way.

“You’ve got the heartbroken blood from the statue. Just go home.”

As the beast roared so loudly that the sound obliterated all else, Sal didn’t bother to mask her goal any longer as she bolted for the fireworks launcher.

CHAPTER 107

Sal placed her hands on the cool steel of the launcher. The beast leapt. Her mind whirled. To use foul intent to protect herself would result in nothing more than her own descent.

She had to think of another way. She needed to think like Tyr.

What was the fireworks’ intent? Not fear or harm, but beauty.

What did the fireworks want more than anything?

As the beast’s bulk fell toward her, Sal closed her eyes.

“Release,” she whispered.

Not until she felt the vibration of the steel as the wicks lighted did she aim the launcher into the beast’s path. The four rockets blasted from their base, loaded with enough gunpowder to level the island.

The beast flailed, trying to avoid the collision, but the entire complement of the explosives hit him in the gut, propelling him up into the sky, far above the island.

The brilliant explosion forced Sal to shield her eyes. When she opened them again, the sky was filled with fireworks.

Glittering, twinkling sparkles, but all red.

No matter how hard she searched, though, there was no sign of the beast.

CHAPTER 108

The dazzling display of scarlet fireworks was scattered as a helicopter swept in from the west. Sal waved as she watched the skies for any remnant of the beast.

If he were dead, shouldn’t there be bits of him everywhere? Fur, claws, fangs? Instead, there was nothing. In that last moment, he must have used the girl’s heartbroken blood to guide him home.

Sal felt tears of relief sting. He had left this dimension. He was gone.

She was safe. But Tyr might not be. As the helicopter set down, Sal couldn’t have been happier when Paul, in full flight suit, exited.

“Dr. Calon!” They met in an embrace. “What are you doing here?”

“We’ve got to get in there!” She pointed to the decimated prison.

The nurse’s brows tugged together until they met. “Look at it. It’s not stable. We’re going to have to wait until—”

“Tyr… I mean, a performer’s been badly injured in the fire. He’s down in the tunnel.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t see how—”

Paul was right. It was crazy to head back into that precarious pile. It was one of those really bad ideas that Maria would have embraced. Sal still had a “protect” edict. Would it be strong enough?

“I’m going in,” Sal said as she scrambled up the debris toward the breach she’d seen before the beast interrupted her.

To her surprise, the nurse wasn’t far behind her. “Damn, girl. At least tell me what the hell happened.”

“Once we get him out.”

Clinging to the Hello Kitty choker, Sal squeezed her way through the narrow opening between a concrete block and a fragmented cell door. As if Maria had used force of will to create a passage, they made their way to the tunnel door.

“Oh, my God,” Paul whispered as they passed through the belly of the wrecked prison. “I don’t see how… Sal, are you sure anyone could have survived?”

Ignoring the nurse, Sal rushed forward. Paul was still thinking as Sal had before, as if the world was not made up of essence and intent. That Praxis could not perform near miracles.

Finally after carefully climbing over a near fence of broken rebar, they came to the door, although you would be hard-pressed to call it a door anymore. The metal was bent and warped, mangled beyond recognition in the fire.

“Open.” The knob turned easily under her palm. While the door might be metal, that word was no request, but an edict.

Relief flooded her as she found the tunnel intact. Within seconds, she dropped to Tyr’s side. She checked his pulse. Fast and shallow. His color was still way too pale, but Sal couldn’t help but notice his burn was half the size it had been when she left him. The injected HeartsBlood must still be doing its job.

Sal held Tyr’s hand as Paul started the IV. “Bolus a gram of Ancef.”

“You weren’t kidding. He really got torched,” the nurse commented as he pushed the antibiotics in.

Paul didn’t know the half of it. Her friend couldn’t realize the extent of damage a burn of intent could inflict. Anything he’d seen before in the ER paled in comparison.

She checked Tyr’s pulse again as they loaded him onto the gurney. Maybe not strong yet, but steady, and his chest wall looked like it was actually making an effort to breathe now.

As they carried Tyr up the steps to the guard shack, Paul asked, “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Long story.”

Unaware of the night’s toll, the nurse chuckled. “Too bad it’s only a short flight back to General.”

Once they loaded Tyr into the helicopter, Paul became too preoccupied with setting up the blood pressure cuff and pulse oximeter to ask any questions.

Lucky for her, because Sal just didn’t think she had it in her to lie anymore. Not while she smoothed the hair back from Tyr’s forehead. After a liter of fluids bloused, his lips lost their grayish tinge and flushed pink. If she didn’t know better, it just looked like he was asleep. Resting.

She should have been delighted. They had both made it. They were both alive, and the beast was no longer a threat. Yet Sal was unable to pat herself on the back.

Would Tyr be so happy when he awoke to know the beast fled? More importantly, how would Tyr feel about being stuck in this time?

Forever?

With her?

CHAPTER 109

By the time the helicopter came to a bumpy landing on the roof of the hospital, Tyr was nearly conscious. Okay, maybe that was a stretch, but he responded to painful stimuli, trying to pull his arm away when Paul put in a second IV catheter.

“It’s all right, babe. Just stay still,” she soothed.

When Tyr immediately quieted, Paul’s eyebrow shot up, but he didn’t ask where this newfound intimacy came from. “Let’s get your man down to the ER.”

After reassuring every person they met on their way down to the ground floor that she was fine, they finally wheeled Tyr into Trauma One. A flurry of activity swirled as the staff stabilized his condition.

Surprisingly, Sal didn’t feel the urge to help out. Sure, she trusted the resident on duty, Limely, but she trusted the HeartsBlood more.

Even Paul noticed the difference in the burn. “Wow, it doesn’t look nearly as bad as I thought. Must have been the crappy lighting down there.”

Dr. Limely nodded as she draped her stethoscope around her neck. “I’d knock it down to a second degree on his leg and first degrees on his side and arm.”

Which would soon be first degree, and then no degree burns. Sal was sure that they would have a new problem once his skin healed within the hour.

Limely was going to want to publish this case of spontaneously healing burns. Any other time, Sal would be happy to co-author such a paper, but now she’d have to figure out a way—

“Sal!” Richard called out.

Before she could stop him, her fiancé barreled into the room and pulled her into a hug. “I came as soon as I heard you were on the island.”

Paul raised his eyebrow as Sal put some distance between Richard and herself. “I’m
fine
.”

“We’ve got to get you—”

“I said, I’m fine.” Sal said loudly enough and sharply enough that the entire staff paused in their tasks to look up at the tension between the couple. “Let’s take this outside.”

She set a pace quickly enough that Richard had to trot to keep up. Sal stepped out of the automatic doors and into the cool San Francisco evening.

The horror of Alcatraz might be over, but there was one last casualty.

“Look, Richard, I’m sorry, but—”

He grabbed her shoulders. “Don’t say anything right now, Sal. I know I’ve been a smothering presence the last few days, and now rushing in like this, I can imagine—”

“Don’t,” she said as she pulled from his grasp. “Don’t try to ‘process’ your way out of this, Richard.”

“You have been through unimaginable—”

“Stop!”

Her fiancé’s lips snapped closed. She wasn’t sure whether she’d issued an edict, or her harsh tone alone had gotten the job done.

Sal softened and took his hand in hers. “We both know things haven’t been good for a long time…” Was she really going to speak the truth to him? It seemed almost cruel. But if Richard didn’t have her love, didn’t he at least deserve her honesty? “Even before the engagement.”

He tried to argue, but she gripped his hand. “You sensed it. It’s why you proposed, Richard.”

“I think… I know that…” He stammered.

“Please don’t stop me from saying what needs to be said.” Sal took a huge breath before she admitted something that she’d hidden—even from herself. It took her love blood to fail for her to come to terms with it. “You know I don’t love you the way you love me.”

“That doesn’t mean I don’t want to be with you. These things take time, and—”

“No. No, they don’t, Richard. They take an instant.”

Sal pulled the diamond off her finger and placed it in his palm. She didn’t realize how heavy that ring had felt. Even with the ring in his hand, he didn’t seem to comprehend her sincerity. “Give yourself overnight, or—”

“It’s over. Time won’t change my mind.”

“But—”

She closed his fingers over the ring. “I know you’ll need closure, and I owe it to you, but not now. Not tonight.”

Not waiting for an answer, she headed into the ER. The sliding doors whooshed shut behind her as she headed to Tyr.

This time, as she crossed through the triage area, Sal realized the magnitude of the injuries that resulted from Alcatraz. All the curtains were filled, and patients were lined up on gurneys along the halls, waiting to be admitted. She knew that most of them hadn’t encountered the beast, but the mob riot to get down to the docks had caused most of the suffering.

A left at the nurses’ station, and her first right brought her back to Trauma One. Exactly where she’d left Tyr, only he wasn’t here.

“Where’s Tyr?” she asked Paul, who was restocking a shelf.

“Who?”

“The patient?” Sal pointed to the blood-smeared sheets and IV antibiotics hanging above the bed. “The burn patient?”

The nurse looked at Limely, who shrugged as well. “We’re getting ready for a car accident on I-80.”

They all seemed to realize that something was wrong, but couldn’t vocalize it.

A classic “forget” edict.

Sal might have been worried, but since Tyr couldn’t get back to his own time, she knew right where he’d gone.

CHAPTER 110

Sal entered her darkened apartment, already aware that Tyr was present. He stood silhouetted in the window, watching the City beneath him. She swallowed hard as he turned, uncertain of her reception.

“Thanks be to you,” he whispered as he opened his arms, inviting her into his embrace.