Page 46 of Liberty
Chapter 19
LIBERTY
I sawthe glint of Oak’s knife before I heard the sickening wet sound of it plunging into the sea creature’s skin. Moments later, Oak’s body disappeared into a sea of flames, and my heart stopped. I couldn’t breathe; my lungs were being suffocated by the thick layer of smoke and the fear that had gripped me.
The fire dimmed a second later, though it felt like hours, nearly a lifetime before Oak’s body fell from the sky and landed with an audible thud in the grass nearby. I fought the urge to run to him. My body wanted me to go to each of them, but my heart told me to stay put.
I brushed a chunk of black hair off Sterling’s face, his skin clammy and cold, missing the vibrancy that was there only minutes before, while he taught me the proper way to eat a cookie. I hugged him close, his head in my lap, trying to reconcile the inevitable. They were all strong, nearly immortal beings, but an injury like this, an injury this deep?
He would not make it.
“We need to get him home.” Oak fell to his knees at my side while around us, onlookers stared, our surroundings seemingly untouched by an earthquake or monster. Odd.
“I don’t think he will make it,” I held back a sob as I spoke the truth.
“He will.” The determination in his voice almost made me believe it was true, but visually, I had my doubts. Sterling was in rough shape, and strangely, a piece of the tentacle still protruded even when the rest of the monster had turned to dust and ash. “We just need to get him home.”
From behind me, Ellis approached, and when I turned to glance at him, his arm hung at an unnatural angle, blood trickling down his temple. Fuck, I knew Ellis and Oak would heal, but they were both looking awful. Ellis cleared his throat, the pain evident in the way he spoke, “You take Sterling, I’ll get Liberty.”
Oak agreed, but you could tell he hated the decision. It was probably a wise choice. Oak was the largest of the three and appeared to be less injured. Plus, the longer we stayed here, the more danger we were in, the higher risk to Sterling’s life, the bigger chance he would die.
Ellis’ arm came around me, pulling my body to his tightly. “Just wrap your arms around my neck, I’ll make this as quick as possible, but I can’t hold on to you as I would like.” The closer he was to me, the wearier he looked, almost a sickly pale that made me worry. But I did as he asked and wrapped my arms around his neck, and before I could blink, he was already carrying me away from the epicenter of destruction.
We all arrived at the manor’s master bedroom at the same time. I released my grip on Ellis right as his body wavered, the weakness starting to take over. I suspected it had been a while since he had eaten. He had admitted he hated to do so. Still, he pretended like total exhaustion wasn’t taking over. “Good news, my arm’s mending.” I looked toward the limb he held up and cringed. “The bad news is I need to re-break it because it's mending at a wrong angle.”
With little thought, Oak reached over, grabbed his arm, and pulled. The most sickening crunch I ever heard filled the room, and I fought not to gag as Ellis’ entire body swayed. How could he still stand after that?
Beside them, Sterling lay unconscious on the bed, his blood a stark contrast to the white decorative comforter under him. Oak stared down at him. “I will have to pull that out; he can’t heal with that still in him.”
“I doubt he could heal at all,” Ellis added to Oak’s observation, and this time, I knew it wasn’t out of spite that he pointed it out, but due to the reality of the situation.
Oak swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing with the action. “We need to call Maggie. We need blood.”
Now probably wasn’t the time to feel petty, but as lovely as Maggie was, I didn’t like that Oak automatically turned to her when they were in need. Before I could double guess myself, I chimed in, “I can do it.”
Both males looked at me, but it was Oak who spoke. “I don’t think you understand the situation here, Liberty. There are three of us, all fucking weak as kittens. Maggie has experience.”
Ha. I didn’t doubt she did, but I remembered what Ellis said feeding was like, and I was not about to have that happen while I was in the same house. Correction, while I was on the same continent. “She is a distance away.”
Oak looked at Sterling. “That is true.” He nodded before bringing his eyes back to me, “But we don’t know what taking your blood will do to us.”
“I’m willing to find out if it saves him.” I used my head to gesture to Sterling. Shit, he was in terrible shape. All jealousy aside, I didn’t think he would make it until she got here.
“Having Maggie help us wouldn’t be a problem, Liberty. She’s helped out in situations like this before. She knows what we are. She has contacts at the blood bank, too, so once she donates, she can get us a fridge supply,” he tried to explain. He wanted to talk me out of it, but what good would it do? It wouldn’t save Sterling; he needed help now.
I crawled on the bed next to Sterling, my knees touching the side of his immobile body. My fingers brushed back a lock of his hair before I braved a look away and forced myself to look at Oak and Ellis. I brought my wrist to the spear protruding from Sterling’s stomach and slammed it down on the point.
Everyone in the room inhaled at the same time, like the scent of my blood was the best thing they had ever smelled. My blood ran down the spear, pooling and mixing with Sterling’s blood at the center of his body. A glow began around the spear, and I looked toward Oak, who stared mesmerized and ordered, “Take it out of his body.”
He hesitated for a moment, his eyes fixed on my wrist before my order registered, and he stepped forward, pulling the spear through Sterling’s body with a sickening slurp. The moment it was free, it turned to ash in Oak’s hand, but Oak didn’t notice. He stared at Sterling’s stomach, where it shone with a glowing light as his body visibly mended.
Ellis’ hand was pulling at his hair as he looked down. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat, worried I did something wrong in my quest to prove a point. “Anything like what?”
Ellis shook his head for a moment as he watched, “I’ve never seen blood glow. Or a wound mend so fast. Even a simple cut could take an hour or two, but this, this is happening in minutes, seconds.”
Oak was biting his lip as he watched in fascination. “Let him drink.” He paused, “I mean if that is what you want. His body needs it to gain back his strength and consciousness.”