Page 89 of Bound By Roses

I move to stop the bleeding, but find the action pointless. The skin around the bite—as well as the wound to his side—has swelled to where very little blood is able to flow.

Quinn drops to his knees beside Ty and takes his hand firmly in his. “I’m sorry.”

The remorse in his words nearly breaks my heart, but there’s no time for that. Beads of sweat spring from Ty’s forehead as amangled sob forms in this throat. I touch a hand to his head, only to pull it back when the skin feels scalding. “He’s already burning up.”

“Already?” There’s panic in his voice.

“Is that not normal?” Now there’s panic in my voice. We make quite the pair right now. At least Ty seems too out of it to notice.

“I don’t know,” Quinn says, standing abruptly and snatching his pants off the floor. “Are you okay to stay with him while I find Tess? She’s seen this before.”

I mentally kick myself for not suggesting we have Tess with us to begin with. What were we thinking going into this blind? If we’ve done something wrong, his blood is on our hands. I’ve never killed an innocent person before, so this might very well be the first.

“Abby?!”

“Yes,” I say, quickly after realizing I haven’t answered him. “Yes, I’m fine. Go.”

He rushes out of the room, letting the heavy door fall closed behind him.

I move to Ty’s side and can’t decide if I should drape a blanket over him or not. He’s trembling now, but his entire body is sheen in sweat and has taken on a slightly pinker hue as if he’d spent a little too long in the sun. I decide to just sit on the edge of the bed and do whatever I can to keep him calm until Tess arrives.

He whimpers and I take his hand.

“You’re okay,” I say, though I’m not sure he can hear me. “I know this sucks. I’m sorry. You’re going to be okay. We’re getting someone who can help you.” I shouldn’t make promises like this, but what else am I going to do? I have no idea if Tess can make this better for him. All I know for sure about the change is that it’s brutal and not everyone survives it.

But Tess survived it. Tess and Ruben, Ellis and Seamus, and even little Fern when she was no older than four. They all made it through this, so I have to believe that Ty can.

His mouth moves, but I don’t catch the words that slip out.

“Say it again,” I tell him, leaning my head closer to his lips.

“There’s… There’s s-someone h-here.” I can’t tell if it’s fear, pain, or cold adding a stutter to his words, but I whirl around to face the door, regardless.

There’s no one there.

“It’s just me.” I dab at the sweat on his brow with my sleeve, but still his eyes remain fixed over my shoulder.

“I s-see him.”

I wish I knew if hallucinations were a part of this because I don’t know if I should feed the delusion or not. “What does he look like?” I ask, just hoping to keep him talking as a distraction from the pain that has him fisting the bedsheets.

“Sh-sh-shrouded in sh-shadow.”

“Void?” The blood drains from my face. He still haunts my dreams and I feel as if he’s around me all the time, but he can’t actually be here.

“N-no. He s-says s-something ba-bad is c-coming. F-from the v-veil.”

The door opens and Tess, followed closely by Quinn, rushes inside. Tess gets right to word tending to the man, but all she seems to be doing is dabbing at his forehead with cloth damp with the water she’d brought with her. Ty doesn’t even seem to notice her, as his wide eyes never leave the space behind me.

“He’s hallucinating,” I tell them, with an edge of panic to my words.

“That’s normal,” Tess says, but it does little to reassure me. “He likely won’t remember any of this.” She doesn’t add ‘if he survives,’ but I know it was implied.

“He was talking about the veil.”

Quinn stiffens.

“They usually do,” Tess sighs. “Or they see loved ones. I think the fever brings them to the edge of death as the change takes over. That doesn’t mean what they see is real, but it often brings them comfort.”

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