Small Cap climbed back into my belt pouch.Colin placed the crystal shard next to him. He readied his weapons at his belt for quick retrieval once the barrier was lifted.
He slowly exhaled. Some of his breaths fell short. I noticed he was pressing his left arm closer to his side. Was he injured?
I placed the guns down.
"How deep is your wound?" I frowned, forced his arm aside and lifted back part of his overcoat to look at what he had been, skillfully, holding in.
There was a small gash wound toward the side of his waist. I pried apart some of his shirt material to garner a better look. I saw that the skin was pustulating and heavily bruised.
I took a closer look at his face and noticed sweat trailing his skin. His green eyes were slightly weepy. Why hadn"t I seen it earlier?
"You can"t go out like this!" I scolded him with harsh hand gestures.
"Nonsense. How are you going to achieve the impossible without my aid?" His hands gingerly reminded me.
"Then I guess I better do something about this wound."
I stared him hard in the eye. "What did you mean when you said I was a hira?"
Colin swallowed a breath. His hands fumbled through an explanation of how he knew of someone who held similar powers. Powers that could heal with a kiss and other certain touches. This hira emitted a signature that magis, aware of the scent, could detect.
"I can heal this?" I pointed to his wound.
His eyes blinked in response. I took that for a yes.
If that was his sole intention for the earlier kiss. Why didn"t he say so upfront? Why didn"t he heal the first time around?
I released a frustrated sigh. I freed the wound from as much material as possible. It was nasty and looking extremely painful.
"Close your eyes. Imagine I"m someone else if you like," I whispered as I gently coaxed his head towards mine and kissed him.
The vanillcitrus aroma toyed with our senses, as our kisses deepened and the warmth from our bodies mingled.
My mind was going crazy with an urge of wanting his touches and kisses to other areas of my skin. I felt his strength increasing and mine fading fast.
He wrapped his arms around my waist to keep me steady, as he pressed harder and deeper.
Gentle green light embraced our bodies as we delved further into each other. My yearning for his touches were invoking a numbing sensation throughout my body. He stopped when I became limp in his arms.
I felt heady. Queasy in the stomach. An acrid taste of iron lingering my tongue.
"Gaah." I moaned.
Colin held my body to his chest, which had fierce heartbeats pounding against it.
I glanced at his wound and sighed when I saw that it was gone. Only a residual amount of dry blood on his shirt and some parts of his skin remained.
"Good. It"s gone," I said and pulled myself away from his embrace.
I re-balanced myself and rea.s.sessed the condition of his guns that I picked up. I felt well enough to fight.
Colin rechecked his own body. I could tell by the brightness of his eyes that he was more than raring to go.
"Okay. Five minutes at most you have to contain yourself with your brother." He handed me a talisman paper strip.
"The words to call upon protection is, "in his light I seek protection." Think it as soon as you toss it in the air. I don"t need to add that you"re best to be next to him at that time."
I nodded with understanding.
His hands moved in a bidea dance that made the barrier around us blast the surrounding spiders into ash.
I felt my wrists ache every time I fired rounds at the second wave of oncoming banshees. Making their bodies splatter to the surfaces.
My determination for hollow-eyed Death propelled me forward.
I cleared my way to his ghostly form. It was lurking near the spot that Colin had identified as the exit early.
I tossed the talisman strip into the air when I was within close range, muttering the protection script at the same time.
A shield of clear light enclosed Death and me in our own private s.p.a.ce.
I heard Big Mama Banshee"s shrieks directed to Colin, who was using his magic and physical power to keep it and its children a bay.
"Famine. Help me." Death"s voice called out to me.
His words were empty. Like they were running on a loop.
"It"s me. Death. It"s Famine. I"m here." I carefully called out to him. I was aware not to touch the bluish white line of light at his back.
Colin had mentioned that the ego link"s connecting point was at his heart. To sever the link, I needed to break the holding point on his heart, which was psychological.
What could be so troubling that kept him weak?
My mind wandered back to something Colin had said about me being transparent and not likely to be bound to a link.
Had Death been wrestling with some trouble on his own for a long time?
"Famine. Help me." The scripted voice from Death called out to me again.
"What"s making you worry so much Death that you"d allow these freaks an advantage over you?"
"Famine. Help me."
I squeezed my eyes closed. I thought back to the moment I had seen Death in the mirror. His hands were banging and pressing the gla.s.s on his side.
"I"m sorry, but this body doesn"t yearn for the stoic macho type..." The hiruda"s words resurfaced to my mind.
"Doesn"t yearn." I rephrased as my mind persistently lingered on the first image of Death banging and pressing the mirror.
His banging fist had made a circular motion near his heart. His pressing fist only had his middle fingers curled in.
"Why are you sorry? What did you do?" I realized the words he had been saying to me at that time.
"Famine. Help me," Death answered with the same scripted voice.
I yelped when I saw several small banshees attacking the surrounding barrier. Panic was starting to cloud my mind.
"Death. You have nothing to be sorry for. I"m here! I don"t blame you for anything!" I raised my voice, hoping it would reach him.
"Famine. Help me."
"What"d you yearn for Death to make you feel sorry?" I near shouted, feeling my desperation.
It was no use, he kept staring at me with those hollow black eyes and repeating the same words.
The link to his back wasn"t showing signs of weakening. I heard Big Mama Banshee"s voice wailing in the distance. Moving closer as it realized what I was trying to do.
"Please Death. Please." I swallowed tears that streamed down my face. "Help me understand."
He repeated the same words with the same expression.
My grief began to weigh me down at the sense of lost hope I was beginning to see as a reality.
My brother was gone?
No! I won"t allow it!
"G.o.d.a.m.nIT DEATH! Who the h.e.l.l made you feel sorry?!" I shouted at his ego.
My heart skipped a beat when his voice spoke different words.
"Who... Famine?"
"Yes. Death. It"s me. Who made you feel sorry?" I gently asked, feeling a flicker of hope.
"Famine. I saw you and Pestilence. I saw you—"
My heart perked up with more hope when I saw the link to his back flicker. I did my best to ignore Big Mama Banshee"s approaching shrills, and the increased suicidal attacks from the spiders to our barrier.
"Pesti and I." I prompted him.
"You were holding hands. Looking up to the aurora borealis in the night sky. Happy. Both of you were happy."
Death voiced his last moments at Gat Shiem.