Decker reached for any thread of himself. He found nothing but human flesh and a mortal soul. A cough ripped through his chest and he dragged labored breaths in through his raw throat.
Have to get up. Have to keep fighting before we’re stuck like this.
Elias blocked Laurie from him with a soft, “Don’t.”
Laurie’s hands clenched at his side. The same fear that had taken over Willa and stayed her aim from Elias, crept into his eyes and he did not strike. Did not come for him. Humanity was the only salvation against Elias.
Reaching out, Elias cradled Laurie’s head in a nauseatingly tender motion, and Decker witnessed a flicker of the once-present bond. Uncle and nephew, mentor and mentee, now Prophet and Protector.
Desperation twisted Laurie’s face and he pressed into the touch.
Keep your mind, Laurie. You were reborn.
In the sliver of room visible between the quilt, Laurie’s book lay abandoned in the circle.
Time was running out.
Copper curls slipped behind the quilt.
Decker coughed and spit blood on the floor next to an oil lamp.
Distraction.
“It’s a dark miracle,” Elias said softly. “I loved Beatrice. But she never took on the youthful health of you two.”
Decker gave a bitter laugh, dragging himself to sit, torturously slow until his legs straightened. “She starved. And your doctor? He knew the solution all along. None of this was necessary.”
“All of it was necessary. A town run by blasphemous creatures. I shouldn’t have wasted my time trying to save you. I should have thrown a match the moment I met you.”
“We would have burned you with us. Youareus,” Decker said. Elias’s face contorted with the truth he faced.
Forgive me, Laurie.
Blue glass fit in his hand as he snatched up the lamp, hurling it at the edge of the stand. Freshly-oiled wood caught like tinder and flames engulfed the pulpit like a pillar leading them home.
Laurie cried out.
Elias dragged him, one hand knotted in his hair. The inferno roared behind them, licking at the floorboards, spreading, hungry. Laurie thrashed and twisted and fought, but Elias’s grip was iron shackles.
Forced to his knees, mouth at Decker’s neck, Laurie’s panicked breath burst against his skin.
“Take your last communion,” Elias said. “Make him know what he’s done to so many people. What all your kind has done.”
Decker’s heart hammered. “It’s alright,” he whispered. Laurie jerked back, lips pressed together.
Elias’s eyes flashed and he yanked the crucifix from his chest, slashing the sharp end into Decker’s neck.
He jolted, the movement offsetting his leg and sending a fresh burst of pain spiraling through him. Blood streamed from the deep wound, hot and sharp and instead of making him ravenous, the thick copper smell made him sick with the way Laurie looked at him, and oh,god.
He’d fed, but it wasn’t enough. Not when fresh blood beckoned him from the man he’d always wanted.
This is what I deserve.
For a life of running, for an ocean of bodies, for letting down Safine and the town, their home, this was what he deserved—
No. Not anymore.
This wasn’t what any of them deserved. They needed more time.
