Chapter 5
Corbin
I woke with the sunrise, and after some stretching, some quiet meditation, and some tea, I decided to check our land. The tarot deck was whispering softly to me, but it could wait; I didn’t want to deal with its snark first thing in the morning.
I threw on some shorts, because we did have humans living near us now, and they expected clothing most of the time. When I stepped outside, Crow flew over and settled onto my shoulder. She was back from her morning visit with our little reaper, and I gave her neck a gentle rub.
“Hello, my daimon. How is our Sebbie doing this morning?”
Crow ruffled her feathers, leaning her head into my petting. We stood for a moment, reconnecting with one another, before I turned my attention to the soil beneath my feet.
I was barefoot, which suited my purposes. I closed my eyes, breathing in and letting the land’s energy flow into me. Here, so close to our homes, the earth was saturated with our pack; we had claimed Paradise Falls as our own, and the land welcomed our protection.
I started walking, eventually falling into an easy run. I would’ve enjoyed being in my hellhound form to traverse the forest behind our homes, but I remained human. My hellhound grounded with the earth, but in a different way. I needed my witch senses for my current work.
Thea had said things felt “weird,” and she was intuitive in her own way. Perhaps it was nothing, but perhaps there was something to this feeling she described. Hopefully it wouldn’t reach so far as to touch our land, since Thea hadn’t been in town, but it never hurt to be careful.
As I ran further out, I felt my connection to the land fading.
Crow flew overhead, and I heard her caw, feeling the same thing.
I had lost track of distance—the state forest was large, and it extended beyond Paradise Falls—and I’d been running for well over an hour.
It was beyond the boundaries of our town that I got a sense of… something.
I stopped, and Crow landed on my shoulder, her claws digging in a bit.
“Yes, I know. Our hold doesn’t extend as far as I’d like. We’ll fix that.”
Crow cawed softly, leaning in and preening a piece of my hair with her beak.
I closed my eyes, and I heard the ruffle of feathers overhead.
The murder was joining us, and their sounds soothed something I hadn’t even known was unsettled.
I let my feet sink down, feeling the earth reaching up toward me.
I breathed out, calming my mind. It was the trees I heard first—their calm whispers and soft conversations with one another.
Then the land spoke, a sort of low hum, like a gentle tingle, flowing up.
I could sense where there were rocks as opposed to soil—the rocks of the northeast were old and dense, and they gave off a deep, low rumble, like a low, content purring to be in existence.
It was the air that was uneasy. It didn’t smell of hellbound souls—I would have sensed that sooner.
It wasn’t… settled, though. The breeze didn’t dance like it should.
When it did caress my skin, it was too tentative.
It was too still, too heavy. It was weighed down in a way that air should not have been.
I tilted my head, and Crow dug in deeper on my shoulder.
“Yes, I feel it. The air is uncertain.”
The crows all cawed around me, their cacophony filling the forest. Air was logic and thought. It was freedom and adaptability. It was life, but it was also change. Air was represented by the suit of swords in the tarot, and I had drawn a sword card last night for Sebbie.
I stood and let the air speak to me, but it had nothing more to say. Something was odd, something was changing, but I didn’t know what. If the air knew, it didn’t share that knowledge with me.
Eventually, Crow’s claws dug into my shoulder again as she gently ruffled her feathers. Yes, it was time to connect to the land. Living here and walking here would eventually do it, but it was a slow process. I knew there were quicker ways.
I looked at Crow and nodded. She flew off, and I knelt down, letting my bare knees connect to the earth.
Before long Crow was back, landing in front of me with a stone in her mouth.
I took it and examined it. Shale—a perfect choice.
Not only was it an old rock, good for grounding and deep earth energy, but it could also be sharp.
Crow had found me a stone with a very sharp edge, and I took the rock and dug it into my hand. When blood welled up, I pressed my palm down onto the ground.
“Nurture us and give us your strength, and we shall give you our protection and our fire,” I whispered.
I felt my blood soak into the ground, and I lifted my hand to see the cut already healed.
The earth would accept us, as I had expected.
I stood and looked at Crow, nodding again.
I held out my arm, and she stepped onto it, digging her claws in until I bled.
She cooed softly as she did it, unhappy to see me bleed, even if this was the best way.
Marks from her would not heal as quickly.
We headed back towards home, my arm dripping blood on the land as I went, leaving a connection and a mark. I wasn’t usually so casual with blood, and blood magic was generally something I avoided, but sometimes the oldest ways were the most effective.
Thea had been right—something was odd. It was better to be protected.
By the time I was nearly done, there were black spots fluttering in my vision, and I knew I was stumbling a bit. Crow had sat on my shoulder for most of the way, gently cooing and preening my hair, but she was following me now, flying from tree to tree so I didn’t have to carry her.
I could’ve used hellfire to close the wound and heal myself, but I would let this heal on its own, despite the discomfort of it. Sometimes sacrifice was required. Besides, it would take minimal time to heal once I stopped actively keeping the wound open.
Crow cawed loudly when we got within sight of the house.
She was telling me something, but I sensed no danger.
The entire murder started crowing with her, so I wasn’t terribly surprised when the back door was flung open.
I expected Jude to be in the doorway, ready to help me inside, only Toby was standing there instead.
I tilted my head, confused for a moment. Was I at the wrong house? A moment later, Sebbie looked out as well, saw me, and gasped.
“Corbin!” he cried, pushing Toby out of the way to run out to me.
I almost chuckled at Toby’s disgruntled look, but then Sebbie was standing next to me, and he was all I could focus on. His body was up against mine, his arm around me to help support me. “Are you injured anywhere else?” he asked, his voice calm, even though I thought I could hear his racing heart.
“No,” I muttered, breathing in the scent of him. He’d never been this close to me before, and his presence was like being surrounded by a soft, gentle snowfall. I hadn’t realized how hot I was until he was cooling my skin.
“He’s fine!” Toby called, but then he was standing in front of me, looking at my arm, and he was gasping, too.
“Was it a hellbound soul?” Toby asked. “Should I get the others? Do we need back-up?”
I chuckled and shook my head. “Got cut on a rock,” I said, which was a partial truth. I felt pressure on the wound, and the murder all cawed again.
“Hush, loves. I’ve got this,” Sebbie told them. “And no plotting right now, Toby. Go get some clean water, bandages, and any first aid supplies you have.”
To my surprise, both the crows and Toby listened to him.
Toby ran inside, and the crows all settled down into a quiet rustling and cooing.
Sebbie led me into the house, guiding me as if I couldn’t walk.
When he pushed me down into a kitchen chair, I realized that perhaps he was right to guide me. I was weaker than I’d expected to be.
“Blood loss will do that to you, but you’ll be just fine,” Sebbie said, and he looked at me and smiled.
So beautiful.
Sebbie blushed, and I vaguely wondered if I’d said that out loud. He was, though.
I hadn’t realized it, but before he’d come outside, he must have grabbed a kitchen towel, because he was holding one tightly onto my bleeding arm. It wasn’t bleeding as much, although the blood had soaked through the towel in some areas.
Toby rushed back in with Jude behind him, both of them carrying stuff.
“Do you have any gloves?” Sebbie asked.
“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Jude answered. “No bloodborne infections in this one.”
Sebbie turned and looked at him, and Jude actually stepped back. I might have giggled a bit at that.
“I just mean we all get regular check-ups, and Corbin is negative for anything you could get. You don’t have to worry about his blood. I know you’re a nurse and are taught to be careful about that stuff,” Jude added.
“There are universal precautions, and it isn’t just for the caretaker. What about infection? Hmm?” Sebbie asked.
He was standing over me, still applying pressure to the wound and looking at it carefully. He was short, so the distance between our faces wasn’t that great. I reached a hand up to brush a curl away from his face. He was just so pretty.
“Not gonna get infected,” I murmured, and then I leaned back in the chair, closing my eyes because everything had gotten a little fuzzy.
“It sure as hell isn’t,” Sebbie said, and I smiled at the assurance in his voice.
I would be fine. My little reaper was here to take care of me.