Page 84 of Hell to Slay

With demon hunter covens on either side of me, I helped hold the line against the demonic horde.

It was challenging to fight with an entirely depleted magic reservoir, which forced me to be more strategic and less aggressive than I was used to. But as the fighting slowed and then stopped, I realized it might have been for the best. At least Mel and Jax wouldn’t be able to accidentally use magic that didn’t belong to them when they regained consciousness surrounded by demon hunters.

With the final spirits freed, the threshold receding, and the scorched remains of Ty’s body not far away, we’d finally accomplished our mission.

Now all that was left was to keep a lid on our newly developed powers and convince Mel to run away with us.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Hudson

The healers revived my brother right there on the battlefield as the rest of us slaughtered demons all around him.

But Mel… the healers couldn’t seem to revive her like they had Jax. She was alive, but she wouldn’t wake up.

A young healer who didn’t seem old enough to be out of the academy breathlessly chattered as he strapped my groggy brother into a stretcher right next to Mel. From the kid, we learned that the portal had gone back to its original size. We also learned that none of the teleporters on the battlefield had enough juice left to get us out of there, which left us waiting for a vehicle. Until recently, even Jax could never teleport twice, back to back.

With all the chaos of battle, no one noticed when I picked up a discarded bag that had once held first aid supplies. I left it propped open at my feet so a little hellfox could slip inside.

The vehicle crunched across the blackened earth toward us, and I slung the bag over my shoulder. After the healers loaded my fallen coven-mates on their stretchers into the back, I climbed up beside them with the bag.

The fight finally died down, letting Rye and Nico jump into the back of the vehicle with us for the trip to the Center for Magical Healing. The vehicle paused when it reached the containment wall, and a team of earth elementalists lifted us up and over, depositing our vehicle on the other side.

We fell into a somber silence during the rest of the drive. Nico and I couldn’t tear our eyes away from Mel’s sallow skin, and Jax kept twisting his head to look at her as much as he could. Her chest rising and falling gave me hope, but unease tickled at the back of my mind.

Our bond to her hadn’t snapped, but if she didn’t make it… Mel was the one who held our coven together. Without her, what were we?

“Why won’t she wake up?” I asked Rye. I’d probably asked already, and he’d probably answered before, but I hadn’t been in the right head-space to listen.

Rye frowned as he, too, stared at her. “It’s something that healers call magical whiplash. My guess is, she drained a massive quantity of magic from your reservoir, then channeled it all at once at her foe.”

“It worked,” Nico rumbled. “She killed the devil.”

Rye nodded. “But using magic that way has its costs. She must have drained every last drop of magic.”

“She did,”Tempest’s eerie voice whispered inside of my mind. “She was spectacular. I could feel her power unleash all at once.”

Nico took Jax’s hand and squeezed it.

“At least you woke up quickly,” I said to my brother. “I’ll take what good news I can get today.”

The CMH was bustling with new patients when we arrived, but they assigned us to a suite designed to keep injured coven-mates together. I was thankful for it, because I doubted Jax would’ve let anyone finish checking him over if they’d taken him away from Mel. With all the chaos going on, no one even bothered to check my bag, so I secretly brought Tempest in with us.

Soon enough, Mel’s friend Eli came along to draw their magic circle in the ring of soft wood that circled Mel’s bed and channel their healing magic into her. Nico, Jax, and I watched in silence, and my lungs burned from holding my breath, as though that could somehow help. Eli also set up a bloodbag drip to feed Mel witch blood directly.

“She’s a vampire, so she should heal faster. Normally, a witch suffering from this type of magical malady wakes up in a few hours,” Eli assured us. Then they frowned. “We have lots of new patients, so I’ll be back to check on her again later.”

It seemed there was nothing more to be done for her at the moment. Nico strode over to stand between Jax’s and Mel’s beds, where he could see both their faces. With one hand, he laced his fingers with Jax’s. Then he reached over and took Mel’s hand, as if connecting Mel to Jax through him. That made my eyes burn, and I took Mel’s other limp hand in mine.

“You have to come back to us, killer,” I whispered. “The battle’s done. You saved the day. But we still need you.”

Hours passed, but Mel didn’t wake up like Eli promised. They returned to check on her, then drew their magic circle again, and channeled their healing magic into her again. Still, she remained unconscious.

“Her vital signs are all very strong,” Eli reassured us. “Shewillpull through. It’s just a matter of when.”

They also checked on Jax and declared him fit. They officially discharged him, and that’s when the Wildes coven showed up with sandwiches for all of us. Nimue left a sandwich on the table beside Mel. Her jaw worked as she gazed down at her former protégé. Lan gave his coven-sibling Eli a hug and forced them to take a sandwich as well.

“I can’t stay for long.” Eli stood beside me as we both scarfed down our sandwiches.

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