Page 71 of Jagged Souls
“Tell Kry...pto... he’s… a... good…” His words trail off. I lift a new vial to his lips.
“Come on, Leno. Stay with me.”
The potion dribbles out of his mouth.
“Fuck,” Enoch whispers.
No!I grab another vial, but Khalid places a hand on my shoulder and squeezes.
“Take it,” he says.
“Leno needs it more.”
“Take it,” he repeats, and that is an order. A reaper’s duty to keep the Family together.
To keep me together as I stare at the empty husk of our brother.
Fighting back a scream, I close my eyes, then bring the vial to my own lips. I hate myself for giving up on him, for taking the vials he needs.
But Micha needs me too.
I can’t let Leno’s death be for nothing.
As I swallow the soft-blue liquid, heat courses through my face as the slashes there stitch themselves back together. The vision in my eye slowly starts to come back, but it stays blurry, the potion unable to heal it fully. Eyes are too complicated, and off-the-shelf spells can only do so much. I need to find a proper healer within a few hours. Otherwise, the potion’s ‘fix’ will be permanent.
My hands shaking, my gaze on my dead brother, I down two more vials, healing the wounds on my arm and back. Then I reach forward to close Leno’s eyes. My grief turns into rage, into dry ice in my fucking veins.
My hands shaking, I take another potion, healing the rest of my wounds.
“Antonio has a necromancer,” I say as I stand, my voice hard and cruel. “Fucking find him.”
“Varius –”
“Find him,” I snap. “And take those fucking wolves with us.”
I look towards the bubble Stormie has up around the wolf I shot in the leg. He killed my brother. He raped my wife. I am going to kill him slowly.
The same with –
My eyes narrow. My jaw tightens. The leader, the sadist who tortured Micha is no longer where we left him. A trail of blood disappears down a hall.
I start to tell Khalid to hunt the fucker down and to bring him back alive, whatever it takes, when my heart plummets into hel. Fear and terror and utter despair slam into me, shooting down our bond.
My head jerks in the direction of my wife.
I take off in a sprint.
“Varius!” Stormie shouts as she tries to keep up with me, but I leave her behind.
I leave them all behind.
Because there is a sickness in my stomach.
A twisted mess of black poison.
Spreading through my veins.
So lethal in its certainty.
