That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try.
“Well, that’s a pity.”Helena waved a hand, and Cyril sucked in a breath.He knew what was happening.
A woman appeared seemingly out of nowhere.She was too close to Robbie and Cyril’s mother for Cyril to be comfortable with.Luckily, someone started shooting at her, causing her to take a step back.She vanished again, and Cyril realized that she had to be the woman who manipulated darkness.He hadn’t realized it meant that she could turn herself basically invisible.Maybe she couldn’t manipulate darkness as much as light, and the way it played over her body.
Not that it mattered.He didn’t care how her ability worked.He only cared about saving the people he loved.
Vale was already moving forward, trying to make his way to Cyril’s mother and Robbie.Someone was shooting at him, and Vale was shooting back, but Cyril didn’t think he was hitting his target, which was odd.Vale was a great professional assassin, so he knew how to shoot people.
Cyril couldn’t do much to help.He reached out with his mind and felt the bodies surrounding him, but he couldn’t touch any of them.They were buried.
That didn’t mean that he was completely powerless.He reached into his pocket and took out a handful of bones.He focused his ability on them, and they whizzed forward when he opened his hand, headed for Helena.They were fast enough that it would be like shooting her if they hit her.
They didn’t.Something happened, and they fell on the ground before getting halfway to her.Cyril frowned and grabbed another handful, wondering what was going on.It wasn’t his ability.He could still feel it, vibrating at the back of his mind, eager to come out to play.
He used it again, sending a second batch of tiny bones in Helena’s direction, but the same thing happened again.They dropped to the ground, and when Cyril looked around, he noticed a young man staring at him.The man saw him watching him and raised his hand to wave, confusing Cyril.
“That guy is blocking my ability,” he said.
Vale didn’t even pause his shooting before he answered.“What do you mean?”
Cyril was glad that he and Vale had agreed that they needed to stick together.There was no way he could do this on his own, and he’d refused to use a gun.He’d never even touched one, and he didn’t want to risk hurting one of the people he cared about.
“I’m not sure what he’s doing,” Cyril said.“But it has to be him.My ability is working normally.I’d know if it wasn’t.He was staring at me, and he waved.”
“Is that possible?That someone could block your ability as a necromancer?”
“Anything is possible.”
Vale swore, but thankfully, they hadn’t been counting on Cyril’s ability to win this.They’d known he wouldn’t be able to do much.
Cyril still tried.He reached into his pocket again and looked up to see where the man was.He was still staring at Cyril and grinned when he caught his gaze.It was obvious that he was waiting for Cyril to try again so he could stop him in his tracks.
Cyril grinned back just before John hit the man on the back of the head.The man’s eyes widened for a few seconds before he dropped down, hopefully unconscious.
That would teach him to be distracted.
Cyril used his ability on the bones and sent them flying.This time, they didn’t stop, but he also didn’t hit Helena, who ducked out of the way.She looked annoyed, which wasn’t as good as looking afraid, but it wassomething.
The cemetery was a mess.Everyone was shooting, and Cyril was starting to panic.What was he supposed to do?There wasn’t much he could do with the bones in his pockets, and he couldn’t exactly start digging to get his hands on the buried cadavers surrounding them.Even if he could, what would he do with a dead body that he had to continue touching to use?Even if he decided to force his ability on those people, it wasn’t practical.
He looked around for something to do.Russell was fighting with the woman from earlier, and he was bleeding from his arm.He was good, but she kept disappearing and reappearing, which didn’t help.John was crouching by Robbie and untying him.Robbie looked like he could kill someone with his gaze, something he’d no doubt try as soon as he could.Rachel was nowhere to be seen, but someone kept shooting at the third member of Helena’s team, so Cyril had a good idea of what she was up to.
He was starting to feel pretty great about how the fight was going when he noticed Helena taking out a gun.He sucked in a breath and hesitated because he didn’t know who she would shoot, but he should have.
She aimed her gun at Vale.It only took a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity to Cyril.He swore he could see the moment in which the bullet hit Vale’s shoulder.He was pretty sure he screamed, but there was nothing he could do.
Except watch as his boyfriend started to bleed.
* * * *
IT WASN’T THE FIRSTtime Vale got shot, but fuck, it hurt.
He stumbled back, his vision blurring as the pain shot through his shoulder.His foot caught on one of the headstones scattered around him—some poor man from 1847 whose name had been worn smooth by decades of wind and rain.He went down hard, his shoulder screaming as it hit the ground.The metallic taste of blood filled his mouth where he’d bitten his tongue.
He could hear Cyril scream, and he turned to him to reassure him that he was okay.He might be in pain and bleeding, but it wasn’t a fatal wound.The world around him tilted for a second, but he’d be fine.He’d been through worse, and he’d lived to tell the tale.
He wasn’t in time to tell Cyril any of that.When he turned, he saw that Helena was coming toward them, her boots crunching on the gravel path between the graves.Her gun was still raised, but this time it was aimed in Cyril’s direction.
