Page 166 of Nemesync
“Don’t worry, Zanae. We can do this,” Nikolai offered a supportive smile, trying to reassure me, as if his best friend’s life wasn’t on me to save.
What if I zone out during the operation?
What if I kill him or I can’t save him?
Elijah, lying in the back seat, noticed how much I wasn’t feeling it at all, and squeezed my hand.
“Listen to me, baby. You’ve got this,” he added, his voice calm and steady. “I wouldn’t trust anyone else.”
With a deep breath, I focused on Benny’s voice and instructions. The car became a makeshift emergency room, and I had to play the fucking doctor. Inside the car, despite my trembling hands, I had to extract the bullet lodged in Elijah’s abdomen.
You can do this Z. Of course you can, you’re fucking Zanae Dellé.
I ripped off his shirt, and found the wound.
“You destroyed his shirt Little Z. Wow...” Niko chuckled, holding the fabric shreds between his hands.
Elijah grinned and coughed.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
So much red.
My hands were still trembling. I couldn’t calm down, there was so much blood and he was there waiting for me to save him.
“If you don’t calm down, Zanae, you might end up killing me instead, even if I know you wanted to before.” Elijah teased, a soft and weak smirk on his lips.
Nikolai, sitting nearby, chuckled and added, “Hey, Z, I’d prefer if the bullet came out without any extra casualties.”
I turned toward Niko, then Elijah, stressed and furious. “If I hear one of you two talk again and not just Ben’s voice, I’m going to cut you all alive and drag your parts under the car, okay? Let me focus.”
Silence.
Thank God.
I don’t have a lot of time in front of me, the demons will start screaming and take control again.
I tried to follow Ben’s words; I was touching his wound, and he didn’t even move, nor flinch like he didn’t even feel the pain. I couldn’t help but lift my head for a moment. Catching his gaze, I questioned, “Aren’t you hurt?”
With a soft gaze, he responded, “I love the pain you inflict me.”
Nikolai, overhearing this exchange, added in a desperate tone, “Oh, he’s not good. Look at him, already spouting fucking poetry. Must be worse than we thought. He’s FUCKING GONE!”
Even Ben’s voice over the phone joined in and chuckled, “Seems like you’ve got a unique method of relaxing him, Zee. Keep it up, it’s working.”
I can’t believe they’re not as stressed as I am right now. I know it’s not their first rodeo with bullet wounds and injuries but we’re in a fucking car. I’m trying to take out a bullet using my fingers inside his fucking skin, listening to a man on a fucking phone.
It wasn’t a game, it’s his fucking life in line.
Elijah’s life
With careful precision, I put my fingers deep in his flesh, not moving them too much.
Still no reaction from him, he was just looking at me with a smile, and I finally found this bitch of a bullet.
I pushed it closer to his cut and with tweezers I had in my bag, sterilized with my freaking perfume; I tried to get it out. Without listening to anything coming from Eli, Niko and Ben I removed the bullet from his abdomen.
Fucking hell. It’s done.
