Ascension - Book Eight - Man x Man

Chapter 74

Exhaustion holds no sympathy for the weary. 

In order to keep the crowd under a trance, a soul or two had to be sacrificed to the Siren. While I hated to consider what that entailed, it was something I would have to crush down and atone for later. 

I sit quietly with Randy as Jan works to clean up what I'd stitched. While she had no medical training, living on a farm, she had sutured her share of animals and could at least recognize what was a vein and what needed to be tied off. My job had been poor at best, a mess of strands that had nearly weakened the artery beyond repair. I can see now how Verando disappeared, what were the chances that I might have succeeded enough to save his life?

"You go to hell for killing yourself, you know that, boy?" John scolds sharply. "Lots of good people here wasting their evening looking for you."

Narrowing my eyes, I growl low in my throat, backing the old man off with a stare that could kill. "We could do without the righteous fury."

Caspian scoffs, "He's practically a demi-god in hiding, perhaps you should consider who you're talking to. There's no place in your heaven for the likes of us."

Randy smirks just slightly, taking a small sip of the whiskey for a pain killer. "Viking death, Valhalla, and what have you. Wouldn't say this qualified for that either."

I shudder at the back and forth, running a hand through my hair. Too much of Caspian for my liking, Tyler and Helen break the tension as more people fill the space to take the need to talk off my shoulders. I was numb, my hands still covered in his blood, my shirt still stained from carrying him, and my hands trembled from the adrenaline coursing through my body. 

"We searched the property endlessly, but there was no sign of him. Verando hasn't returned."

 In truth, it was hard to know if it was a fabrication of Darrius's imagination or truly caused by Randy's lapse in mental health. 

I wasn't coughing up blood anymore, my body didn't feel whole but I no longer felt shredded into pieces. "Was Landon able to figure out what happens to those that vanish?"

It was a vague hope that somewhere he existed and he just had to come and find us. What were the chances? He would have reached out by now unless he were hurt or unconscious, I rub my biceps with grounding energy that I had to hold down the fort until Verando returned. I could do that, I could be the rock. I'd done it before and I could do it again. 

"We've got to finish preparing the stalls for tomorrow night, we got lucky, everyone needs to be on high alert to get every human off this property that doesn't have to be here. Did the priest arrive?" I speak to John, pulling him out of his scowling at the injured young man. 

Exhaling roughly, he nods. "Got caught in whatever it was the Siren was doing. There's a basket of holy water and some silver bullets."

Randy scoffs. "Silver doesn't affect us."

I grab a decorative piece off the large cabinet, a fork is my weapon of choice, and press it to his arm. The sizzle from both of our bodies satisfies me as I drop it on the table to his startled yelp. "You've not been hit by real silver. It won't kill the werewolf, not if we don't hit you in the heart, but it'll back you off and send you the other way if you get out."

Eyeing the fork, he sighs, nodding in acceptance that we seemed to be more prepared than he expected. "Tanya used to use a sedative?" I turn my attention to Helen.

She considers this, stepping away from Tyler to put space between them, by the look on his face they weren't only looking for Verando. It would appear my drama wasn't the only event to occur tonight. While I couldn't quite tell if they were fornicating or fighting, either one would be met with disapproval. "None that we could get in time."