James Rollins - Blood Infernal

“Your neck?”

He rubbed the back of his collar, looking sheepish. “Still hurts like a motherfu — I mean, it hurts bad.”

He smiled at her.

He had healed.

Again.

“C’mon,” he said, changing the subject. “We need to go.”

He lifted her to her feet, his arms wrapped tightly around her. Her knees trembled, barely holding her upright. She stared up at him, drinking in the sight of him.

“Don’t do that again,” she whispered. “Don’t leave me.”

But he didn’t seem to hear her.

Instead, he drew her toward Christian, where Elizabeth helped the Sanguinist with Rhun’s body. Rhun already looked dead, his head hanging loose, his limbs lifeless. Blood still dripped from Erin’s makeshift tourniquet.

Sophia swept up to Jordan’s side. “We must get him to St. Ignatius. To our chapel there. Hurry.”

The small woman led them quickly across the dark, rain-swept square. Erin stumbled after them, Jordan holding her up. The Faust House raged behind them as the fire ate its secrets.

Ahead, firelight flickered off the golden halo surrounding the figure on top of St. Ignatius Church. Sophia skirted to the side of the baroque façade and headed for a section of wall sheltered under a large tree. A small marble basin protruded from the wall, like a font that might hold holy water at the threshold of a church. The nun bared a seeping laceration on her arm and let her blood drip into it.

Stone scraped against stone, and a small door opened for them.

Elizabeth took Rhun in her arms and carried him in first. They all followed, but Sophia lingered behind at the gate, where she whispered, “ Pro me .”

Erin glanced back, remembering Cardinal Bernard had spoken those same words to lock himself in the chapel at St. Mark’s, so that only a trio of Sanguinists could open the door. Sophia must have done the same, fearful of Legion’s enslaved forces that might still be nearby, especially any that might be Sanguinists.

Even here, their group might not be safe.

The door closed behind Sophia, and darkness swallowed them all.

A rasp of a match sounded, then a candle bloomed ahead of Erin. Christian used that flame to ignite more, slowly illuminating a simple stone chapel. She moved into it. A whitewashed-brick roof arched above their heads, while plain plaster walls surrounded them. The scent of incense and wine enveloped her, offering comfort and promising protection.

Between rows of rough-hewn pews, an aisle led to a white-clad altar crowned by a portrait of Lazarus receiving his first wine from the hands of Christ. His brown eyes blazed with certainty, and Christ smiled upon him.

Christian strode to a cupboard beside the altar and removed a white metal box with a red cross on the front. A first-aid kit. He tossed it to Jordan, while Sophia went behind the altar to a silver tabernacle. She opened it and pulled out flasks of blessed wine, the equivalent of first-aid kits for the Sanguinists.

Elizabeth draped Rhun’s limp form on the floor before the altar. She tore away the remains of his jacket and shirt, exposing his arm and chest. Hundreds of deep wounds shone dark against his pale skin, but none were as serious as his severed arm.

Elizabeth examined the tourniquet, then her silver eyes met Erin’s.

“You did well,” the countess said, “thank you.”

Erin heard true appreciation in the woman’s voice. No matter how much she strove to deny it, Elizabeth cared about Rhun.

Erin nodded, covering a deep cough with a fist. Jordan moved to her side and drew her to a pew. As she set down her backpack, he opened the first-aid kit, searched through it, then removed a pair of small water bottles. He passed her one. While she took a long drink, he used the other to dampen a cloth.

He gently wiped Erin’s face clean. His hands slid gently across her body, checking for serious wounds, his touch awakening feelings that were completely inappropriate in a chapel full of priests. She found herself staring into his eyes.

Jordan matched her gaze, then bent down, and gave her a long, slow kiss.

As much as she wanted to believe this gesture of affection was one of passion, she could not help but feel he was also kissing her good-bye. When he finally leaned back, his brows crinkled ever so slightly. He wiped away the fresh tears from her cheeks, plainly not understanding their source.

“Are you all right?” he whispered.

She swallowed, nodded, and wiped at her eyes. “Just too much…”

She tried to take a deep breath, but a sharp pain in her chest stopped her. She might have a cracked rib. But her injuries were minor compared to Rhun’s.

The Sanguinists knelt around his body.

But were they trying to heal him… or were they also saying good-bye?

Elizabeth dripped wine into Rhun’s mouth, as frustration rankled through her, trembling her fingers. Wine splashed down his cheek.

Christian reached and steadied her hands. “Let me,” he whispered, slipping the silver flask from her burning fingertips.

She let him, rubbing her palms on her knees, trying to wipe away the holiness of the wine and sting of the silver. She stared aghast at the ruins of Rhun’s body. They had stripped him nearly naked, leaving little more than the loincloth that Christ wore on the cross above the altar. But even Christ had not suffered so severely. She read the map of Rhun’s agony in the hundreds of cuts and torn skin. Her gaze ended at the stump of his arm. It had been severed between shoulder and elbow.

Tears rose to her eyes, blurring her sight, as if trying to erase the horrible image.

She wiped them angrily away.

I will bear witness… for you, Rhun.

While Christian continued to trickle wine between Rhun’s bloodless lips, Sophia bathed a wine-infused cloth over his wounds, cleaning them, burning them with holiness. Each touch caused Rhun’s skin to twitch in pain.

Elizabeth found his hand, holding him, wanting to take this agony from him, but at least it was evidence that Rhun still lived, buried somewhere deep in his ravaged body.

Come back to me…

Sophia picked up a flagon of wine and poured it over the ragged stump of Rhun’s arm. His body clenched upward, lifting his buttocks off the stone, his mouth open in a scream. His hand tightened on Elizabeth’s fingers. Her bones ground together, but she accepted that pain if it would help him even a little.

Finally, his body sagged back to the floor.

Sophia sat on her heels, her face a mask of concern.

“Will he recover with the wine?” Elizabeth asked.

“He needs rest,” Sophia said, but it sounded like the nun was trying to convince herself.

“He needs to drink blood,” Elizabeth said, letting a note of fury enter her voice. “You all know this, yet you’re doing nothing but torturing him.”

“He must not drink,” Sophia said. “Sinning in this chapel would strip him of the strength of the holiness of these grounds. Such an act could kill him faster.”

Elizabeth did not know whether to believe her or not. She considered taking his body and running from this place. But the holy ground weakened her, and these other two Sanguinists had drunk deeply of their wine, taking additional strength from Christ’s blood.

And what would I do with Rhun alone on those empty streets?

If he must die, let it be in a place he loved.

And beside those who loved him.

She squeezed his hand.

A voice spoke behind her. “Elizabeth is right,” Erin said. “Rhun needs blood if he’s going to live.”

Christian looked up sadly at her. “Sophia spoke the truth. He must not drink, the sin would—”

“Who says he has to drink ?” Erin said, dropping to her knees among them. She carried a dagger in her hand. “What if I bathe his wounds with my blood? I would take that sin — if it is a sin — onto myself.”