FOURTEEN
Sebastian waited in the SUV as Russell went into the main lobby of the hotel to take care of any paperwork needed for their stay. They had driven, taking turns, until they crossed state lines into Idaho. They were literally in the middle of nowhere, which was perfect. Aspen’s condition hadn’t changed in the five hour drive. Sebastian continued to check her wounds, which had closed up, but much slower than would be expected of an immortal. She was healing faster than an injured mortal would but moving along very slowly, and her pulse was still weak.
Sebastian was ready to start pulling his hair out by the time Russell came back to the car with the keys to their room. Sebastian quickly drove around the back of the complex to a secluded room, something Russell had arranged by flirting casually with the desk clerk. They were commissioned all the time to use their good looks for the betterment of mankind. Russell figured the gods weren’t going to wipe him out for using his good looks to save one of their own. It was the middle of the night, and the darkness made a great cover as they slipped their bags and Aspen into their room. There were two beds, and Sebastian lowered Aspen to the nearest one, carefully. He reached into his pocket for his cell phone, looking over at Russell. “I’m going to check in with Garrett again. He said to call once we got somewhere safe.”
Russell nodded, yawning as he moved to the bathroom in the back of the room. Sebastian waited impatiently until Garrett answered the phone. “Sebastian. You made it there okay?”
“Yes. She’s about the same, doc. What else can I do for her now that we’re stopped?”
“I’ve talked with Manny, the doctor in our San Francisco Temple, and he agrees with me. Your blood will work.”
Sebastian blinked. “My blood? But, we aren’t the same…”
“Technically, you are. All the properties of your blood are the same. Manny tested it in the lab at his Temple some time back, and there were no negative side effects for a Lead Arrow using a Golden Arrow’s blood. You said you took your research supplies with you? You have an IV bag and everything you’ll need?”
Sebastian glanced at the bag by the doorway. “Yes. I brought everything with me when I left.”
“Good. That will make things a lot cleaner. You start her out with a unit tonight then wait. Arrow blood is powerful, and she will regenerate her own blood cells quickly on a small donation from you. Call me if anything changes for the worse. Otherwise, give her an additional unit when you leave in the morning. Make sure you don’t take more from yourself or Russell than you need.”
Sebastian nodded, considering. “Thank you, Garrett. Is there anything else going on there we need to know about? Are the Lead Arrow council members there yet? Are all the Golden Arrows there?”
“Yes, we are all on hold with political issues concerning Mars until day after tomorrow to allow time for the funeral.”
Sebastian blinked, his forehead crinkling. “Funeral?”
“You didn’t hear? It happened just before you left. The mortal died.”
Sebastian hissed out his breath, closing his eyes. “I didn’t know.”
“She came out of her coma for a few minutes and then passed away. It was quick. Evans and the brother were with her.”
“When are the arrangements?”
“Tomorrow night at sundown in the chapel.”
“What? They’re giving her a service in Temple?”
“Yes, your mother thought it appropriate we give proper respect to a mortal who died as a result of our cause.”
Sebastian remembered Glen and his anger. “Her brother was okay with it?”
“Glen has been very agreeable through everything. He’s starting to understand the circumstances a bit more. Honestly, I think your mother is a little excited to have a mortal ally. We might need help in the near future.”
Sebastian barely heard himself dismiss Garrett and hang up over the noise of his thoughts. A mortal had died because of him. The click of the bathroom door made Sebastian jump. Russell emerged, rubbing a hand towel over his face. “What did the good doc have to say?”
Sebastian swallowed. He had just gotten the news himself and wasn’t prepared to tell Russell. Russell looked up, and, seeing the look on Sebastian’s face, sobered immediately. “What is it?”
Sebastian sighed, and decided to just say it. “Alex died.”
Russell’s face froze in a look of shock. The towel dropped from his hand to a wet heap on the floor. “Oh, Jupiter.” He sank down on the bed nearest the bathroom, covering his face. “I killed her.”
Sebastian moved to the bed. “Stop it. You know as well as I do we did everything we could to save her.”
Russell shook his head. “If I had just stayed at the club that night, she’d never even been following you.”
Sebastian sighed. “If anyone is to blame, it’s me. It was my blood that killed her.” Russell massaged his temples, his face a sickly shade of white. Sebastian patted his shoulder. “You need some rest. You’re tired. You haven’t slept in nearly two days.”
Sebastian stood and moved to the duffel bag on the floor, unzipping it and pulling his lab equipment from it. “They are doing a funeral at Temple for her.”
Russell jerked his head up. “They are? Really?”
“Mom is very, very set off by the whole thing. Glen even agreed to it.”
“Yeah. He’s gonna be agreeable.”
Sebastian looked up in surprise. “Why in the world would you say that?”
“He’s hooked on Evans.”
Sebastian blinked. “Oh.” Then he took the IV bag and needles to Russell’s bed, sitting on the other side to face Aspen. “Oh.”
Russell chuckled. “Well, it’s not as if mortals don’t fall in love with Evans every day. And he’s been informed. Hopefully that makes him more cautious than the average mortal.”
Sebastian considered this. “Is Evans interested in him?”
Russell’s eyebrows jumped up. “Is Evans…?” He stopped for a moment, thinking. “I don’t know.”
Sebastian exhaled. “It wouldn’t be unheard of, a mortal and an immortal hooking up.”
Russell stood and shook his head as he started peeling off his clothes. “It’s forbidden.”
Sebastian raised his eyes as he tied a tourniquet around his arm. “Love doesn’t care what’s forbidden.”
“Love? What the hell are you talking about? It’d be a crush, if anything.” Sebastian grunted noncommittally as he prepped a needle, sliding it under his skin. Russell glanced over. “What are you doing?”
Sebastian didn’t look up from the needle as his blood started to run into the tube and down into the bag at his feet. “Getting blood.”
Russell jerked and looked up from removing his pants from one leg. “What? You’re using your blood?”
“Apparently, it’s the same.”
“Yeah, but the power is different.”
Sebastian shrugged. “I guess Arrow blood is Arrow blood. After I got to thinking about it, Garrett is right. Aspen and I bled all over each other during that first demon attack and nothing bad happened. And earlier, she was bleeding all over me, all the way here.”
Russell exhaled as he sat on the bed. “Wow. I guess so.”
Sebastian shifted to look at the bag on the floor as he held the needle in his arm. “She needs blood, Russ. She’s not going to be able to regenerate without it.”
Russell nodded, staring blankly at the wall. “We can’t afford to lose anyone else, Sebastian.”
Sebastian nodded, his face grim. He looked over his shoulder at his brother. “Go to sleep.”
Russell shook himself and leaned back on the pillow, turning his back to Sebastian. Sebastian returned to his task, nearly filling the 500 ml bag. Thank the gods this wasn’t a mortal transfusion. Blood had to go through all kinds of processes before you could give it to a mortal. Immortals never carried illness. They never got sick. There was no need to cleanse his blood, and it was at its peak fresh. He didn’t even have to change needles. If anyone was contaminated with demon blood it was her, and he had no reason to believe she had been attacked. The wounds on her skin were smooth, not jagged. She was cut open and left to drain.
Like Jeremy.
Sebastian pinched off the hole from the needle in his arm, waiting a few seconds to let it heal before he moved to Aspen. Her breathing was shallow, but she wasn’t bleeding anymore. Now she just needed some fresh blood to keep her going until they could get her home and into Garrett’s care. Sebastian slid the needle into the vein of Aspen’s left arm, which was the one closest to the bed he’d share with Russell. He turned on the table lamp, looking for something to hang the IV bag on. There was a little hook with a fake plant hanging above the table lamp. Sebastian reached up and took the plant down, trying not to sneeze at the plume of dust that billowed off of the plastic leaves. He placed it as his feet and took the IV bag from where it lay on the bed next to Aspen, reaching up to hang it on the wall.
Making sure that the line and drip were set right, he knelt on the floor next to Aspen. She was still wearing the clothing she’d had on at Temple, which was covered in blood, sweat, and grime. Sebastian moved quietly to one of his bags and pulled out a pair of gym shorts and a t-shirt. He tossed those at the foot of Aspen’s bed before he walked to the bathroom to wet a washcloth with warm water. As he passed Russell, coming back into the room, he saw that his brother was dead asleep with his mouth open. Sebastian was glad. He’d never seen Russell looking so rough. Nothing had been normal for any of them for quite a while. Sebastian no longer had confidence his world was the same one he’d woken up in a week ago.
He approached Aspen’s bed and made sure the tape on her IV was secure. Sebastian pulled his pocket knife from his pants and sliced through Aspen’s sleeve and the side of her t-shirt, freeing the cloth from the arm that had the IV in it. He hastily turned the bedside lamp down to the lowest setting in case Russell woke up before he turned back to Aspen.
In the dim light of the room, her face seemed almost waxen. Sebastian told himself he wasn’t an evil dog for removing Aspen’s clothing while she was asleep. He was careful to keep his eyes on the task at hand as he slipped the tattered shirt from her body. There was an undershirt beneath it, which should have been a completely modest piece of clothing, very basic. Sebastian tried hard not to notice the way Aspen’s curves filled out the camisole as he sliced the straps on both shoulders and cut up one side of the top. He carefully slipped the shirt off, telling himself not to look, just remove the shirt and change her, but he needed to tend the cuts on her sides. They were healed shut now, but the blood that had dripped out of them had dried over the healed cuts.
Sebastian ground his teeth together as he gently washed the blood from her skin. Why? Why had Auster set himself on trying to take out the Arrows? His anger over the attacks still welled inside of him. Sebastian carefully wiped Aspen’s cuts clean. Her muscled arms were covered in skin as pale as alabaster and soft as satin. In the interest of not interfering with the IV line, Sebastian cut up the side of the clean t-shirt he brought. He carefully lifted Aspen to put the t-shirt on her. As he picked her up, her soft body brushed across his chest, and he jolted. He looked quickly up to her face, as if expecting her to be looking at him accusingly. She was just as unconscious as she had been before, but he wasted no time pulling the sides of the open shirt around and tying it at the waist and shoulder.
Sebastian moved to the foot of the bed, which was sure to be much safer territory. He removed her boots and socks. He pulled a pair of his own clean socks over her feet. They were far too big for her, but they’d keep her warm. He quickly moved to her waistband, hastily removing her jeans. Again, he cleaned the dried blood before slipping his gym shorts over her.
Sebastian moved to her side, feeling her pulse. It seemed a little stronger now, though the touch of her skin was still too cool. He reached to the other side of the king-sized bed and simply pulled the covers up and over Aspen’s unconscious form, wrapping her in a cocoon of blankets. He moved back into the space between her bed and the one Russell slept in, snoring soundly.
Sebastian knelt on the floor next to Aspen, carefully brushing the hair from her face so he could wash the dried blood from it with the washcloth. Her black eyebrows stood out on her pale face. He had rarely seen her without a look of concern or irritation. She looked as though she was peacefully sleeping. He thought about the night at the fountain when she insisted she had no idea Mars was involved in the demon attack. Sebastian was still inclined to believe Mars had something to do with it. It was too big of a coincidence for Mars to be there, running in the other direction, right before the attack.
However, as he looked at Aspen and thought about their conversation, he wondered if Aspen really hadn’t known. If she had run to save herself, Auster’s Temple would not have been the place for her to run. If she was in on everything, Auster would have nothing to gain by harming her. Sebastian rubbed his face. It was all too much to think about right now. He yawned widely as exhaustion weighed him down. Sebastian looked at Aspen, her soft, pale face turned toward his on the bed. He leaned forward until his lips pressed against her brow. He pulled away after a moment and looked at her eyelids, exactly as he would if they were open. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. He stood slowly, stretching the kinks out of his neck and shoulders. He only bothered to strip down to his underwear before lying on top of the covers next to Russell and falling into a fitful sleep.