You’ll Stop Bleeding Eventually, One Way or Another
I smelled Onorio blood and caught a glimpse of Bruiser’s hands. They were burned, his fingers broken. He had hurt himself trying to get to me. Trying to get through thedeath hedge. Broken while fighting to keep me safe even as I had schemed to keep him alive.
Stupid wonderful man.
He turned toward the door, took a step to carry me to safety.
“Wait,” I whispered when I could find the breath to speak.
Bruiser stopped and bowed his head to touch mine, the crown between our flesh, which had to say something about our lives right now. “Jane. Please. I don’t want to lose you. And you are bleeding to death.” Flames danced around us, up toward the ceiling. The smoke was choking.
“No. We have to...” My breath gave out. I took in air that came in shallow gasps. “I can shift in a minute.” Well, I wasfairlycertain that Beast and I could change to puma. “Mainet has to burn. And Hayyel isn’t free yet. I think Mainet threwarcencielblood on him. I think he’s fully bound.”
From somewhere in the church, Molly’s cell rang. Over Bruiser’s shoulder, I saw Molly, Evan, Fawn, and Carmine enter the sanctuary from an access beneath the balcony. Evan hummed a soft note and the smoke blew away from them as they walked, like some cinematic effect in a film. The big man, the air sorcerer, said, “Ventus,” and whistled a sharp note, like calling a horse on a ranch somewhere. The smoke all around us whipped away, up through the broken ceiling.
Molly had her cell phone to her ear.
“Please,” I whispered, not sure what I was asking, or praying, the room swirling around me. My heart was beating too fast and my breathing was too shallow and rapid. I had lost a lot of blood. Too much. Eli was at my side. Wounded. Bleeding. Broken, but breathing. Trying to give me his calm. It wasn’t working. I had again shut down the connection between us.
Bruiser turned back into the room, holding me close, as if he feared I’d be plucked away.
“Jane’s bleeding to death,” Eli said. “We need the Infermieri.”
“Florence isn’t on site,” Alex said into my one earbud that was still in place.
Evan stepped across bodies to us and pulled four feathers from his pockets. “You do know George is drenched in your blood, right?”
“Ummm. No?”
Whistling “Pop Goes the Weasel,” he inserted the feathers into the cuts of my clothing.
I jerked, “Owww!”
“Stop being such a whiny baby,” Evan said, adding more feathers, knowing that an insult would work better than kindness to keep me going. “You’ll stop bleeding eventually, one way or another.”
I may have laughed. It was hard to be sure.
The feathers snapped and stank like burned feathers, but they stopped my blood loss. It freaking hurt. It burned like firecrackers going off against my flesh, like styptic powder liberally dumped on me. “Oww,” I said, louder. But when the sharp pain faded, the underlying pain was less. I felt better, more alert.
He stuck more feathers into various rents in my armor. It didn’t fix the shattered misplaced ribs or my leg bones, but it did ease the pain.
“Thanks. I think.” I scowled at Evan and he chuckled, his red beard moving with amusement at my discomfort.
Evan patted the top of my head like he might pat Angie’s. To distract myself from saying something snarky to the guy who was probably stabilizing me if not saving my life, I croaked out, “Molly? What did Angie say?” Because it had to be Angie calling.
“Whistle the smoke away from him,” she said to her husband.
“From who?”
Moll pointed at the wall where the flames from the brazier had been drawn when the demon disappeared. The smoke from the brazier, which stank of filth and horror, had gathered there. A pall of smoke hung on the wall, like a black cloud pressed tight to the angel. Demon smut and brimstone cradling the angelic. Big Evan frowned. Pursing his lips, he gave long trilling notes, high-pitched, like a yodel. The smoke furled back, dissipating.
I took in the angel.Holy crap.
A deep hush fell on the group.
Everyone, even those of us who had seen the angel manifest from the stone statue, was silent and maybe awed. Even me. Because I had seen Hayyel in visions before, but never physical form. And here he...
Here he was.
