Page 88 of Total Eclipse of the Moon
He gasped. His eyes flew open and met hers, filled with terror and pain. "Can’t…breathe."
As he shivered, she wrapped tightly around him, willing her warmth into him. And maybe it worked, because for a moment he moved a hand against her and the trembling eased. Then he slumped over. Breaths came labored with a sickening wheeze.
"Shane?" She pushed away from him and shook him. "No, no, no. Don’t give up." She looked around wildly. "Dom, heal him! We’re losing him. You’re the only healer in this van."
"Can’t," Dom said emotionlessly, arms crossed two seats forward. He didn’t turn around.
"This is what you do," Roman said. "You’ve helped him before."
"That was before he got infected by a demon."
"Can’t you do something? Anything?" Evie asked. "Please."
Dom sighed. "He’s not all lycan. I’m not able to help demons. But you might be able to help him, Madeline."
Madeline struggled against dizziness, wondering how much blood she’d lost and if the overall energy expense of the past hour had been too much. She wobbled, feeling unsteady despite being seated between Antonio and Shane.
Antonio whispered, "You look a little green. You sure you can handle this?"
She met his gaze and shook her head. "Not sure about anything right now." Louder she said, "By Earth and Air, Fire and Water, so shall you hear my call. Powers of birth—"
She shook her head and muttered, "Not that one. That’ll heal me." She struggled to settle her mind. "Here and now, I reach deep within myself to invoke the spirit…" She dropped her chin. "Not right. Come on, think.Think." She couldn’t remember the right healing spell, or anything else for that matter. Her mind turned into a void of nothing. "I can’t remember the right one."
"Do whatever you do for dragons?" Dom called out, still not turning to face her.
She’d never been called upon to medically heal an actual person. When healing a dragon, she didn’t use spells. She simply did it. Maybe that was the key.
Eyelids closed, she put both hands on Shane’s chest. The dampness of his blood was warm and wet against her fingers. Could she do this?
Like when she helped dragons… She thought only of repair during those times, not about the panic from the volume of blood oozing out. Or how much her leg hurt. Nor that she was so weak she could barely sit upright.
Block it all out and think about healing.
Her hands warmed like they did when she helped dragons. Unsure whether it had worked, but terrified to look and find it hadn’t, she remained steady and waited. Energy poured out of her and drained her until she felt lightheaded, almost fainting.
She lifted away only when her world teeter-tottered as if she’d been trying to stand on a rocking boat. He still wasn’t responsive. Had she failed? She gave him a shake. "Shane. Come on, Shane.Please. Don’t do this to me." On a whisper she added, "Don’t die."
Nothing.
"His breathing is better." She saw Antonio’s gave her an anemic smile in the dim light of the passing streetlights.
She reached for her backpack. "Maybe if I use one of the dragon stones. I’m not sure if they work this way or if they’re only a calling card. Going to try again."
"No." Dom was suddenly there. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into him, then far away from Shane into the van seat behind the driver’s.
She thrashed. "Let me go. I haven’t finished helping him."
"You’re done. Stop struggling, Madeline. You’re burned out." Dom wrapped her so tight she thought her ribs might crack. Sharply he said, "Stop. If you die, then none of them can get free."
She tried to blast him to let her go but he didn’t budge, which made her wonder if in her weakened state she’d failed to do anything. Either that or he was too strong for her. Yep, probably that. "I have to—"
"Let his body do the rest. He’ll live at this point. You’re in rough shape, little witch. If you try once more…if you give up more of your life force to make him as close to normal as possible, you’ll have nothing left." Dom held her tight against his huge body.
Locked in place, weak and desperate, she whispered, "I have to. If he dies…I can’t…I can’t do anything."
"He won’t die. You did well. He’s going to be fine." Dom whispered into her ear, "If you try again and die, then he’ll die too. He’s holding on because of what you did. He’ll heal for you. If you’re gone, I sense his life force will give up at this point."
"Let me go."
