Caged by Damnation (Caged #2)(65)

At some point during my tangent, Nicolai had leaned his back against a wall to watch me losing it. "Are you done?" I nodded. "Good, now get back into bed. You need your rest, and I need to re-stitch your wound before you bleed out."

I looked down to find new blood marring my top, and it was quickly spreading. Nicolai crossed to the dresser and took a briefcase from the top drawer.

"Lay down." I did as he asked. "Lift up your shirt."

My mouth dropped open and I protested.

He said, "For crying out loud, I'm not going to have my way with you. I just need to get at your wound. Just expose your stomach."

My hands trembled as I lifted my shirt to display the bandage over my wound. I assumed it had once been a stark white, but now it was stained crimson. While Nicolai opened the briefcase, preparing the string and needle to sew my skin back together, I gently pulled my bandage off.

Once I saw the grotesque injury left from the impalement, I desperately wanted to turn back the clock. It was a ghastly red, swollen and bleeding. "Why didn't anyone heal me?"

Nicolai lifted a curved needle, ready to stitch me back up, but paused, his eyes tearing into me. "Who would have done it? All your friends are injured or exhausted. The rest of us need to conserve our strength since you have demons on your tail. Now, quit with the questions and try to relax."

He busied himself repairing the damage that I had done to the skin that had barely begun to merge back together. His eyebrows drew together as he concentrated. "Quit staring," he said.

"What? I'm not supposed to talk or look at you?"

"I don't like it when people look at me. So, unless you want me going a little too deep with this needle, I suggest you play nice."

I sighed. "Izzy said that you saved my life."

"I told you as much. All of us entered the battlefield."

I winced when he touched a particularly raw area. "Yeah, but you're the one who found me, right? I was dead and you gave me your blood?" The needle momentarily stopped. "I just wanted to say thanks and that I'm sorry for the way I acted earlier...." I trailed off, uncertain.

"It's my job, it doesn't make you special. So spare me the hero worship." He cut the end of the string and placed a clean bandage over my injury. "If you really want to thank me for saving your life, stay out of my way."

He stood and walked to the door, leaving me in shock. All I’d done was say thank you and apologize, but he’d acted like I’d insulted him. Why did he go off on me like that? Was it a cultural thing? Maybe Draconians found it insulting to be thanked for their help?

"Nicolai?" He paused before opening the door. "I don't like being called a victim. Please don't do that again."

He looked back at me, nodded, and left.

I shook my head, falling back onto my pillows. I hated the word victim. Yes, technically I was one, but too often people had a way of forgetting that the victim in question was a fighter, a survivor. I knew that I had died; I was lucky that Nicolai had found me when he did. I owed my life to him, but I had gone down swinging. I hadn't cried in the corner, waiting to be dealt the ultimate punishment.





CHAPTER 15


WILLOW

Leaving the chaos behind, we sought out the nearest impound lot and Echo pinched a bus. We filed in, but the despair followed, lingering in the air around us and forcing us to breathe it in.

Vixen and Poison Ivy were able to stretch their legs now that we had a vehicle to keep up with them. Faster than cheetahs and clocking around 85 MPH, in little time, we came to a dead end.

They're nearby, Poison Ivy said, pacing the edge of the field. She was anxious to continue, but forced to wait for the rest of us two-leggers to catch up.

Echo stated the obvious. "We'll have to continue on foot."

I was grateful that I’d thought to wear a leather coat. I pulled it close against the cold night air. Though the bitter gust of winter’s threat still backhanded my cheeks and shriveled the skin of my neck, I preferred the rampage of the cold to the cramped bus, because now I could be secure in the fact that I was actively doing something. I hadn't enjoyed lazing about in a warm vehicle, pondering the fates of my loved ones.

I basked in my suffering, feeling less that I was betraying Savannah and Izzy. Misery loves company, but in my case it didn't need to force itself on me. I relished the agony if it meant I was lingering in the same emotional state as my friends. If I couldn't be with them in person, I wanted to be with them in spirit.

Less than ten minutes went by before the ground quaked and caved in. Whisper pulled me away from the yawning hole; Echo did the same with Ash. The other Hellhounds took fighting stances in front of me and Ash, as something appeared from the fissure.

What in the nine hells is that? Vixen thought, incuriously.

Unable to hear Vixen's internal dialogue, Ash said, "What the heck is that thing?"

Scrye looked back with black eyes. "A demonic general who served beneath your Archdemon. He's probably looking for vengeance."

It was larger than anything I had ever seen, and nearly made me envious of the days when all I needed to worry about was Asmodeus. Compared to the general rising from the soil, Asmodeus had been a cinnabun served on a hot plate. If this was what Savannah had faced at the compound, I had little hope that we would find her alive.