I try to go toward him, but Logan holds me back firmly. “Please, Logan. Please let me go in and see him.”
He ignores my pleas and instead pushes me toward a neighboring room where Everest is already sitting down, his fingers typing at lightning speed on his cell phone.
“Wait here,” says Logan gruffly.
“Please,” I beg again. “I love him so much. He’s alive, isn’t he? Tell me, please!”
“He is. And we’re trying to keep him that way.”
His jaw clenches as he turns away. His words make me realize just how much Damien’s life is hanging on by a thread. I grab his arm.
“Logan,” I say urgently. “I can’t possibly stay away. You can’t make me. It would be cruel.”
He pauses. “If Damien knew I’d let you see him while he was at his worst… he’d never forgive me. He’s not easy to look at right now. It’s a no. I’m sorry.”
“Logan!” I say again, and this time my voice comes out in astrained cry. “I’ve already seen him at his worst. I sewed him up, didn’t I? I literally put a needle in his skin, again and again. What can be worse than that?”
He hesitates, and Everest cuts in. “Let her go to him, Logan. He probably won’t be around long enough to forgive you. Have some pity on her.”
Logan glares at him, then juts out an arm at me just as the room starts to tilt sideways. Everest’s words have me nearly passing out, but Logan props me up. I sag against the arm that’s encircling my back while looking up at him again, pleadingly.
“Fine,” he gives in at last. “But he’s going to be fine, do you hear me? Everest, stop spewing bullshit.”
My eyes cross those of the blond Devil, and I can tell he wishes he could take the words back. But they’ve ingrained themselves in me, and I can’t shake them free.
He probably won’t be around long enough to forgive you.
In spite of Devil, in spite of Doctor Farley, he’s fading. I’m going to lose Damien.
Logan leads me to the other room, his eyebrows furrowed as though he’s deep in thought. Just before opening the door, he turns to me.
“I have to tell you now, Seraphina. I don’t want you to be shocked at what you see. Damien is… not doing well. He’s lost a lot of blood, and the bullet has touched some major organs. We’ve arranged for a helicopter to take him to a hospital where we can be sure of… discretion. In the meantime, the doctor is doing what he can to keep him alive. But it’s not looking too good.
I swallow, my throat dry. “He’s going to live. He has to.”
He nods slightly and opens the door.
I walk in, my stomach sinking as I take in Damien’s ash grey complexion. He looks so helpless in that big bed, his eyes closed, his dark, sharp features softened until he’s nearlyunrecognizable. It’s so strange to see the man I’ve always felt, somehow, to be invincible, always in control of everything, at the entire mercy, now, of others.
I kneel beside the bed, noticing it’s wrapped in plastic.
“Did what I could to make a sterile environment,” comments Doctor Farley. “This motel is far from ideal.”
“It’s the best and closest place we could find,” snaps Logan. “We’re not exactly in a big city here.”
“Right, right.” The doctor continues to shuffle around, drawing up a sheet to keep me from seeing whatever he’s doing to Damien’s stomach, but I’m not looking anyway. I take Damien’s cold hands in mine and lay my head on them.
“Look at that,” suddenly breathes Logan.
I lift my head up and my heart suddenly swells with a strained sort of hope when I see Damien’s lashes flutter up. His eyes are unfocused at first, but I draw nearer to him, my face practically touching his. At last, he seems to see me. He moves his mouth, forming jumbled words that I can’t catch, before finally croaking, “Darling.”
“Damien,” I burst out, burying my head in his chest.
He lets his hand fall on my hair, and it shakes with effort as it threads its way through my matted curls. “Don’t… don’t worry. Everything will be fine. I promise. I’ll take care of you.”
The words come out of his mouth painfully, and I can tell he’s struggling with each one. Then he closes his eyes again, as if speaking those few words took all the strength he had. Soon, he’s lost in sleep. I keep my head on his chest, my hands around his, and soon drift off into a fitful sleep myself.
The next thing I know, I feel my arm being grabbed again, and this time, I don’t allow myself the sweet belief that it’s Damien. I stumble outside, following Logan, and far above me I see a helicopter in the sky with heavy ropes dropped down. A dark shape of some kind is being pulled up by those ropes, and afterstaring for a moment, I realize it’s some sort of gurney on which Damien’s been secured. He disappears into the helicopter and then the ropes come down again, this time with some sort of harness at the end. Logan quickly fits it around me and ties the straps. Then he tugs on one of the ropes.
