However long it was, it was a lifetime that he was consumed by agony that tore through every nerve ending. Just when he thought his head would explode off his body, the pain disappeared and he felt as though he could breathe again, but that lasted only seconds before another bolt crashed into him.
“Fuck!” he roared, the word booming out of his lungs, his body slamming into the gurney as though he’d been dropped from a cliff.
A flood of sound shot into his ears, but there were no words being spoken. He had no idea what he was hearing, but he kept his eyes closed and focused.
Breathing. Those were breaths being taken. There were fourteen heartbeats—no, make that fifteen, not counting his own.
Something beeped, a steady sound that was oddly soothing. Feet were shuffling on tile. Air was being blown from somewhere, the sound a soft rasp in his ears.
He was aware of a hand holding his. Only one now, and it was small but strong.
Taking a deep breath, he tried to crack his eyelids, but it took a minute, as though they were glued together. When they split open, light beamed in.
“Too bright,” he grumbled.
A second later, they dimmed.
It took a moment for his pupils to adjust, and when they did, he looked up to see Bijou. She was still standing beside, only she’d moved. Instead of being on his left, between the gurneys, she was … no, she was still between the gurneys but now on his right. Weird. Her eyes were darting from him to someone else. Back and forth, as though she was waiting for something.
“You didn’t leave me,” he said softly, though his voice sounded strange to his ears. Deeper, more resonant.
Her eyes landed on his face and remained there. “I didn’t leave.”
And that was a damn good thing because Bijou’s face was the only thing that made sense.
Considering this—
He patted his chest with his other hand.
—was not his fucking body.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
“Holy. Shit.”
Yeah, Kaj thought. What he said.
No doubt about it, all eyes in the mansion were on Khari as the ancient vampire went from a stone-cold corpse to … animated. Not that he was moving all that much, but still. He was most definitely breathing.
Those who weren’t here physically to observe the resurrection were likely monitoring on the many cameras that spanned the space, because Kaj could hear a wealth of rumbling coming from not too far down the hall in the war room.
“How’re you feeling?” Obsidian asked, his voice soft, as though he didn’t want to risk inciting the ancient vampire.
Howwashe feeling? Kaj hadn’t considered what had just transpired, but he’d definitely transferred Michael’s energy directly into Oliver. But what the damn archangel hadn’t told him was that the fucking ancient vampire’s soul was going to pass right through him after a short pit stop in Kaj’s body.Thathe had felt. And if he never again had to feel the presence of another being within him, it would be too fucking soon.
“I’ll live,” he assured his friend though a quick peek downward was in order. You know, just to be sure.
Yep. Still intact.
“And him?” the angel asked, nodding toward Khari.
That was a damn good question.
Khari’s eyes were open, because every so often Kaj would see him blink, so he figured that was a good thing. Being that it was the intended result and all. The ancient vampire had returned.
And there he was. Resting comfortably on a gurney that looked a bit rickety beneath six feet ten inches, three hundred some odd pounds of ten-thousand-year-old vampire. Kaj couldn’t help wondering how Michael had kept the body preserved, but it appeared he’d done a damn good job of it. Khari was likely in fighting shape even all these centuries later.
Of course, no one knew whether he was capable of standing, but hey, had to start somewhere.
