Reap & Repent (29 page)

Nate checked the IV. One of the reasons Kylen hadn’t regained consciousness was undoubtedly the inadequate nutrition he’d been receiving. From his limited experience, an injured reaper needed more than ten times what the doctors had ordered for their patient. Kylen was in a state of suspended animation. Without some serious reaper healing mojo and, oh, about ten thousand calories, he could stay in a coma indefinitely.

The hospital was already making arrangements to transfer Kylen to St. Louis, so they had to act soon.

Nate picked up the bedside phone and called Ruth’s house.

“Hello.”

“Ruth, it’s Nate. Listen, they’re going to transfer Kylen tomorrow. We need to get him out of here tonight if you want to try to heal him. They’ve done all they can for him here, but if he gets transferred, I don’t foresee him improving anytime soon.”

“Stay put. I’ll get there as soon as I can.”

“Bring my car, Ruth. We’re going to need some things.”

Nate hung up the phone, realizing that he was about to kiss his job goodbye and likely become a felon in the process. If they were going to heal Kylen, he’d need to steal supplies from the hospital.

* * *

Ruth parked in the lot at St. Mary’s and made her way to Kylen’s room. Mercifully, no one stopped her, and she didn’t have to answer any questions. She didn’t know if her reaper repellent was working or if everyone was just busy. Either way, she wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Nate was waiting for her when she walked through the door.

They quickly hatched a plan to divide and conquer. Nate would spend the next hour or so gathering and appropriating the necessary hospital equipment to care for Kylen at Ruth’s house. Then he’d drive home, calling Ruth when he was ready for her to flash with Kylen.

Ruth planned to juice him up as much as she could once they got back. But she didn’t dare waste her energy here, where it would be so easy for them to get into trouble. She didn’t know how fast she could heal Kylen, but she was going to give it her all.

Kylen’s injuries were vast even for a reaper, and his physical injuries were the tip of the iceberg. Being possessed by a demon for so long must have poisoned more than just his body. Neither of them knew what the condition of Kylen’s mind would be, or even more importantly, his soul. With a corrupt soul, all the medical care in the world could be for nothing.

* * *

Nate unloaded the last of the supplies from his Honda and carried them into the house. He’d appropriated the junk room, setting it up as the makeshift hospital room. It was full. It was amazing how much stolen hospital equipment he’d been able to jam into the Honda.

The only things missing were paper gowns and the smell of cafeteria food. It was nearly 5:00 a.m. and would be light in an hour. He called Ruth.

“How did it go?” she asked.

“I don’t hear any sirens or see any flashing lights, so I’m basically hoping for the best.”

“That is good news. Wish me the same from my end. Are you ready for us?”

“As ready as I’m ever going to be.”

* * *

Ruth deactivated the machines and monitors connected to Kylen with a jolt of OJ, and then removed the lines, including the IVs, just like Nate had shown her earlier. No telling what the staff would think when they came in for rounds and their second John Doe in a week had vanished. Ruth was grateful she wasn’t the one who would have to try to explain it to them. It would probably become hospital legend.

Nate had surreptitiously managed to consecrate the room, which was a small miracle in and of itself. That man was amazing.

She slid her arms under Kylen’s shoulders and knees and snugged up as close to him as she could without reopening his wounds. Then she began to pull them home.

They landed in a pile on Ruth’s living room floor. Of course. Rookie landings were the worst. Landings with unconscious passengers? Impossible.

Nate scrambled to Kylen’s side.

He was pale and seizing on the floor, going into shock.

“Help me get him to the bed,” Nate cried out, grabbing his shoulders. Ruth lifted his feet, and they maneuvered his herky-jerky body onto the futon bed.

“Get more blankets. Now!”

Ruth scrambled to follow his instructions.

“You’re going to have to calm him down so that I can get and
keep
an IV in him, or he’s not going to make it.”

Ruth’s hands sparked with pale green light. It wasn’t the strongest energy she’d ever manifested, likely the result of carrying a passenger through the consecrated subway, but it was still visible. Placing her hands on Kylen’s shoulders, she held him down against the bed.

The pale green light flowed down into the reaper’s arms and across his ruined chest. Soon his entire body radiated with light green luminosity. His seizure calmed, and he lay motionless, breathing shallowly.

Nate inserted the nutrition IV into his right arm and taped his left around the bedpost in case he began thrashing again. Ruth dropped to her knees beside him.

“You need to eat, Ruth,” Nate said softly. “Kylen’s going to need a whole lot more of that green energy as soon as possible. This IV will help, but not like that green stuff.”

Ruth got to her feet and went into the kitchen. She nearly cried in relief when she saw the groceries that Nate had brought home.

* * *

Once Kylen was sedated, his seizures stopped. Nate scrambled around to get him reconnected to the various monitors he’d set up in a semicircle around the head of the bed. He adjusted the drip and sat on the chair beside Kylen’s bed. The first rays of the morning sun broke through the window as Ruth finished yet another meal.

“Let’s get some rest. Then you can give Kylen some serious attention.”

“I will, but you need to eat and get some sleep, too. Flashing will probably affect you the same as it does us.”

Nate nodded and Ruth went to her room.

* * *

Ruth awoke with further delusions of grandeur.

“Nate, I think we need to try to re-create what we did the night you cast the circle. It won’t be the same without Deacon, but I’m betting we can do a pretty good job by ourselves. Can you do that? Can you raise that kind of power?” she asked, placing a palm over Kylen’s forehead to check his temperature.

“Sure, the problem is containing and directing the energy. We had a receptacle for it last time, a purpose.”

“And we will this time, too. Me. I want you to cast it into me. I’ll use it to focus as much green healing energy as I can muster into Kylen. I can’t imagine that it would hurt him. Maybe, just maybe, it will be enough to wake him and help him heal more rapidly. Rapid would be good. Can you do it?”

Nate’s shoulders slumped. It was a terrible idea. They had raised a lot of power last time. More than he was sure
could
be contained. Deacon had been able to pull Ruth back from the brink the last time she had been glutted with too much power. Could
he
pull her back from the abyss? Could they even
raise
that much power again? Nate wanted to help Deacon. Hell, he wanted to help Kylen if they could, but was it worth taking a chance with Ruth’s life?

He hadn’t known Ruth for long, but one thing he did know was that she was stubborn and persistent. If he didn’t help her, she’d find a way without him, and that might put her in even more danger.

“I can do it,” he said. “My stuff is in the closet.”

* * *

Ruth knew she was dabbling with things she hadn’t even begun to understand, but desperate times called for desperate action. She watched as Nate set up candles at the foot of Kylen’s bed and lit them. Next he started to cleanse the room with a smoking bundle of herbs. Once again the smell of sage, thyme and lavender filled the small space as Nate softly chanted. Ruth waited by Kylen’s side, stroking his forehead and whispering words of encouragement to him. After several moments, Nate joined her and wafted the smoke above Kylen’s entire body and then Ruth’s.

He cleansed himself last.

When he was finished, he placed the smoldering bundle in a stainless-steel bowl beside the bed, allowing the smoke to surround them. Satisfied, he reached out over Kylen’s body to Ruth. “Take my hands.”

She did and Nate began to recite a soft incantation. As he chanted, Ruth felt the energy build between them. He continued until the air around them grew thick and heavy with power. Her hands warmed and her body began to radiate heat, as if she was lying on a sun-warmed rock on a summer day.

Sliding into relaxation, she experienced a slight tingling in her hands and arm, which began to fill her entire body. As she grew warmer and warmer, Nate removed his hands from hers. She placed her palms together over Kylen, as if in silent prayer, until she could keep them together no longer. The energy building inside her threatened to explode from her very pores. Her hair stood on end, and her skin prickled into gooseflesh.

“Ruth?” Nate asked, more of a warning than a question.

It was now or never. Ruth placed her hands over the worst of the injuries on Kylen’s chest, her palms hovering over his flesh. Concentrating on capturing the energy and pushing it into Kylen, she filled the voids inside him, knitting together his wounds with the green glow.

Nate continued to chant, his cadence increasing faster and faster as Ruth kept channeling energy into Kylen. No room for doubt. No room for questions. Only energy. And it felt…good. Powerful. Addictive.

She pushed and pushed the green light into Kylen, wringing it out of her own body and into his. Kylen’s back arched, and his upper body lifted from the bed, as though he were reaching out for the source of the light. Her body hummed with power, and a green glow radiated from Kylen until Ruth’s own light began to fade, becoming dimmer and dimmer. She faltered. Nate stopped chanting and hurried around to her side, sweeping her off her feet and breaking the connection.

As he stood there with her in his arms, Kylen’s eyes opened. They glowed with green light.

Ruth passed out.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Deacon didn’t have to wait long for Camael’s next temptation. The women, the food…neither had even remotely tempted him, but what now walked into his room from the balcony could be his undoing.

“Kara?” Deacon’s voice faltered. As he crossed the room in long strides and embraced her, his mind flooded with memories.

“Deacon. Deacon.” She caressed his hair, raining kisses over his face.

“How? Why? Where have you been?” he asked, not sure he wanted the answers. What he wanted was the feel of her warm and alive in his arms. What Kylen would give for this moment… Reality slammed into Deacon, and he jerked back, unsure if she was real, or if this was another trick. This was one way to get to him. Camael would know it. He could think of nothing crueler or more tempting.

Kara smiled sweetly. Proof positive that it
was
a trick. Kara wasn’t sweet; she was fierce. A valkyrie. Her long white-blond hair was like satin, shiny and slick. She was pale and breathtaking and exactly like he remembered her. It just wasn’t her. Not really. It couldn’t be. Her features were right, but her demeanor was off.

“Deacon, what is it? Aren’t you pleased to see me? I’ve come so far. I miss you. I miss Kylen. Tell me about Kylen,” she said, reaching for him again.

Deacon stepped back, putting space between them. He longed to keep holding her, but the more she spoke, the more he became convinced that she was
an impostor. An animated doppelgänger. He also knew that he couldn’t bring himself to kill her if it came down to it. Not with her looking so much like Kara. He prayed she wasn’t an assassin.

She took a step toward him, trying to engage him. “Please, Deacon, hold me. I miss your touch, your kindness, your friendship. I miss you so much.” She dipped her head and looked up at him through dewy lashes. Her eyes sparkled, and he reached for her in spite of himself. Then her familiar eyes morphed for a second, the pupils turning to vertical slits. She blinked once, and they were back to normal. But he’d seen it. For a split second.

Demon.

He backed away. Maybe he could kill her after all. If he had the proper weapons, of course. His homemade shiv was not going to easily dispatch a demon, and no demon exited a host of its own free will. None that he’d ever met anyway. He was a long way from help now. The demon advanced toward him.

He felt the shiv press against his spine. If he had the right opportunity, he’d have to try.

Smiling, then reaching for him, she closed the distance with unnatural speed. When she stroked his cheek and leaned in for a kiss, Deacon snaked one hand around her waist and pulled her tight up against him as he withdrew the shiv from its hidden sheath. He plunged it through her back and into her heart, ripping the blade up through her body. His stomach turned as he watched the surprise on her face—Kara’s face—but he plunged the knife in again, determined to force the demon from its shell.

Could he consume it as he had the last demon? He was a Power after all. That had to be good for something. The demon struggled to stay inside of the host body, but with no life force, there was nothing to keep it tethered. It streamed out and off to the balcony. Hovering in a formless black mist over the railing, it seemed hesitant to go any further into the red fog. There were worse things than death.

Cornered, the demon waited for the inevitable. Deacon closed the distance. There was a fine line between possession and consumption, but he was willing to take the risk. Deacon was pleased to see he could still manifest a bright circle of energy around the demon and himself, trapping it inside the sphere. At least all of his mojo wasn’t gone. Opening his mouth, he drew in a deep breath and willed the demon into him.

As the demon dissipated to nothingness inside him, Deacon felt confident that his path was clear and no amount of trickery would deter him from his work.

He felt good. Strong even. Though he needed sleep, he felt fortified from dispatching the demon and its burst of energy. He walked over and looked down at the body that lay before him. It was only a husk now, not Kara, not anything human. Revulsion filled him. He wanted it gone.