Page 113 of Sunsets & Other Dangerous Things

“I’m here, Ashley.” Cool fingers encased her hand. “We’re all here. You’re going to be okay. Are you almost done?” The last comment sounded like it was to someone else.

Who was here? Ashley was having a hard time remembering.

“Just about.” Ashley didn’t recognize the second female’s voice.

She tried opening her eyes again, but they remained cemented shut. Rubbing at them left her free hand coming away sticky.

“Uther,” said Esther’s voice. “Can you get a wet cloth for her face? Hang on, babe.”

Moments passed while she tried not to think about how she physically could not open her eyes. She startled when a damp cloth, soft like a T-shirt, touched a corner of her eye.

“Sorry, sorry.” Esther’s quiet coos were as soothing as the fabric cleaning her. A few swipes and some heavy blinking and she could see again.

“Esther,” Ashley sighed.

It was dark, the shadows deeper than they should have been. She just made out Esther’s face, the cut on Esther’s cheek. A movement behind Esther drew her eye to water running from the ceiling then the piles of debris littering the floor.

Everything came back in a rush.

“Esther, are you all right?” Ashley tried to sit up, but her side burned, and a hand on her shoulder pressed her back down.

“I’m just about done here.” The voice was gentle but firm.

Ashley followed the hand to the source. The woman was familiar, but in this setting, she couldn’t quite place her. Her dark curls were braided back into a low halo, her button nose focused down on her work. The hand that wasn’t on Ashley’s shoulder hovered over a torn slit in Ashley’s blouse where a bouquet of tiny white flowers sprouted from Ashley’s torso.

“What the hell are you doing to me?”

“August…” the woman said, not looking up from her flowers.

August jumped to action, bracing his hands on Ashley’s shoulders and gently but firmly holding her in place. “Give her another minute, Ashley. We don’t need you opening it back up again.”

“What are you doing here, witch?” she snapped. She tried shaking him off, but another wave of nausea had her seeing spots. “Did you bring your witchy friends to finish me off this time?”

“There,” the woman proclaimed, wiping her hands together and inspecting her work. “That should hold for now. Try not to move too much, and it should fall off naturally in about a week. You’ll probably have a decent scar from this though.”

“Would everyone stop touching me,” Ashley said, “and just tell me what is going on?”

“Ashley.” Esther reached for her hand and paused, presumably because of Ashley’s demand for people to stop touching her, but that was hardly the case for Esther.

Ashley took Esther’s hand and waited for her to continue.

“I don’t know how to explain this.” She was smiling, and tears carved tracks through the dust on her face. She placed Ashley’s hand on her chest. “Just feel this.”

This was a weird time to share a new kink. She lifted a brow to Esther.

“Not that,” she laughed. “Do you feel anything different?”

Her chest was warmer than she was used to without Esther to warm her. She waited a few seconds then felt a small, rhythmic tapping. Was that the flower growing out of her stomach? What was inside her?

“Ashley,” Esther said, “you’re alive.”

“Alive?” She looked between the familiar faces, Esther to August to Uther, trying to find someone to deny what Esther had said. “Are you saying the potion worked?”

“Of course the potion worked.” Another figure walked forward.

This one, she recognized as the witch that had caught Esther’s vial. Ashley hissed, but again her fangs didn’t come.

“Notof course.” August left Ashley’s side and went toe to toe with the witch in the Carhartt. “The first batch…that one didn’t work.”

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