Page 85 of Powerless
"Yes, maybe even for a week." The Steel Demons president lifted his chin at me. "Why?"
"He's losing a lot of blood and may die if he doesn't get a transfusion. I won't be nice but I'll heal him enough to keep him alive for your needs."
Reaper approached me slowly, a sinister smile growing on his face. Years ago, maybe even a week ago, I would have feared that smile. Only days ago, I feared what this man was capable of. What he may have done in the past and what he had yet to do in the future to protect his people.
But now his people included me, and I only burned with passion and love for the man cupping the nape of my neck, dragging his thumb across my cheekbone as his green eyes locked onto mine.
I was still a medic. I would always do my best to save lives and heal the broken. But I was no longer powerless in this broken down, collapsed society. I had people I loved, friends worth protecting, and nobody was going hurt them without paying the consequences.
"That's my girl," Reaper said softly. "My Steel Demon girl."
Epilogue
REAPER
Iwatched the smoke from my cigarette drift into the night air and fade into nothing. The sky from my balcony was vast and speckled with stars.
One of the few times I paid attention in school was during an astronomy lesson. The teacher said every time we looked at stars, we were looking at thousands, maybe even millions of years into the past because light had to travel so far to reach our eyes.
Most of those stars had burnt out by now, or collapsed in on themselves to become black holes. I wondered if distant worlds faced rises and falls in their own societies like we had, and if they corrected their ways before their own suns died out.
Chaos and collapse wasn’t uniquely human, I was sure. But right now it was peaceful. Tranquil, even.
Mari hooked Python up with fresh blood and stabilized him from Gunner’s shots. She was worn out after that and wanted to come straight home. I let her, only after a long goodbye kiss from Jandro. Some people wanted to keep partying on the patio and they were free to. I thought about going back after Mari went to bed, but apparently I wanted to sit on the balcony and think about dying stars instead.
“Reaper.”
I looked over my shoulder to see Noelle in her silk kimono, hugging her arms tightly around herself.
“What’s up?”
My sister looked at me nervously. “I dreamed about him again.”
I returned to facing forward with a sigh. “What do you want me to do about this, Noelle?”
“Stop acting like it doesn’t mean anything, for one thing.”
“It doesn’t. It’s just dreams. He was our brother and you miss him.”
“Rory, youknowthey’re not.”
The cigarette paused on its way to my lips before I took a deep drag. Unlike my woman, Noelle did not call me by that name to tease me. I heard her slippered feet come up closer behind me.
“It’s not just dreams,” she repeated. “Daren istalkingto me—”
“He’s dead, Noelle.”
“I know, butsomethingabout him isn’t. You remember all that stuff he said—”
“A bunch of horse shit nonsense.”
“That came true!”
She walked around to stand in front of me, blocking my view of dead stars.
“Tonight, he told me the love of your life would love four men, and that you would lose her forever if you chose to kill one of them.”
“Yeah, that sounds like common fucking sense to me, not a prophetic vision.”
