Chapter 42 Izzy
IZZY
I felt… something. Like a bad headache only not in my head, or even really in my body. It was somehow deeper, but also everywhere around me all at once.
Something was wrong, but I didn’t know what.
After I’d left Vyns, I hadn’t wanted to return to Rook’s room.
So, I’d gone down to the beach. I’d thought to practice what little magic I knew and see if there was anything else I could try…
but all I’d done was sit on a large rock and watch the waves.
The tide was coming in. My rock would soon be surrounded.
A metaphor for my life: slowly being overwhelmed and nothing I could do to stop any of it.
And this strange, new pain was yet another not fun experience in this world.
As I hopped off the rock, heading back to The Tumble, it occurred to me that I hadn’t had an episode of chronic pain since I’d gotten here. To be fair, I hadn’t worked myself particularly hard either. Even the rather epic sexcapades with Myel hadn’t been all-nighters like that first one with Rook.
Maybe I should try doing a hard workout, just to see if somehow this world had cured me of my chronic pain. But, if it hadn’t, I didn’t really want to deal with anything else right now. My plate was full, thanks.
I took the stairs at The Tumble two at a time, my pace quickening as I got higher. Why was I in such a hurry?
All I knew was, that strange out-of-body ache was getting stronger and somehow it pulled me… toward something?
But why would I want to get closer to the source of this pain?
Also, what in hell was I feeling?
I reached the top of the stairs and recoiled at the streak of blood along the stone-cobbled path before me.
What the fuck?
I looked both ways and saw someone crawling along, clawing their way ever so slowly over the stone path, bleeding so damned much. I had no clue how they could even still move given the blood they must have lost.
Whoever they were, I needed to help them. But this wasn’t some altruistic thing, it was an imperative. I needed to get closer to them. I needed to make them feel better. They were what I was being pulled toward.
But why?
Was I now a magnet for people in pain? Wouldn’t that just be a horrible new ability?
Still, I couldn’t help it. I ran toward this person…
No…
Not just any person.
Fucking hell!
It was Vyns!
Someone had beaten the crap out of him. No… not someone… Saldrea. He’d said she’d beat him when he left, but…
Holy Fuckballs!
I knelt next to the man, laying a hand on his back.
“Vyns, I’m here.”
And something within me clicked.
He mumbled something which could have been my name or “dizzy” or just a grunt. Then he went still with a heavy sigh.
Too still.
No!
I needed to heal him…
Fuck. I should have been practicing my magic more!
I searched my memories of healing Myel. It had been skin to skin, so I moved my hand from Vyns’ back to his cheek.
Then I closed my eyes. I knew — a tiny bit — more about magic now.
At the very least, I could feel my anima, sort of.
I still wasn’t good at sensing it or using it, but I was pretty sure I could feel it inside me: a sort of strange warmth which flowed through me.
I bundled it up and pushed it down my arm and out through my hand, into Vyns, focusing on the intention of healing him.
But this felt far different than healing Myel.
Myel had been hurt, but not on death’s door for one. So, with Vyns, I didn’t know when to stop, and I grew faint as I poured more power into him. Second, as I worked, I began to see — in my mind’s eye — the injuries Vyns had suffered.
And when the full scale of them hit me, I lost my breakfast onto the paving stones.
Jesus! Saldrea had really done a number on him! I knew elves could enhance themselves physically, but this… this spoke of a rather horrific rage.
My newly acquired internal sense monitored the progress of the healing, and it was that which did me in.
I couldn’t stop till the man was whole again, but that meant more and more power, and long after my faintness turned to exhaustion I kept pushing.
I healed him till I blacked out, and as I faded into blackness, I only hoped I’d done enough.
I came to in my room.
My room, not Rook’s.
My blackened and charred room.
I hated this place.
I wanted to leave, but I couldn’t. Pain coursed through me. Turned out this world hadn’t healed my chronic pain. Also, apparently, healing someone to the point of blacking out could bring on an episode. The pain wasn’t too bad, but I didn’t want to move for fear of aggravating it.
Strangely though… that out-of-body ache I’d felt before… was gone. In its place was a rather soothing warmth, like the perfect blanket over me. And given the smiling face of Vyns looking down at me — my head in his lap — I was starting to understand what that feeling might be.
So… this was my spirit?
It seemed I was connected to Vyns after all.
I’d felt his pain.
And now I felt his warmth and affection.
“Hey,” I croaked, voice rough, throat dry.
“Hey,” he said, smiling down at me. “You healed me, I assume?”
“Yup.” I smacked my lips on the word, feeling a bit dopey as I matched him smile for smile.
Vyns’ brow furrowed. “You’ve been here less than a week, when did you learn to heal? And you blacked out… how are you feeling?”
Could he not feel my pain through his spirit? Was this pain-connection thing a one-way deal. If so, I’d gotten the fuzzy end of that lollipop.
“Rough,” I said honestly. “Don’t want to move. I get chronic pain when I overdo it and apparently… I overdid it.”
“Then just rest for now.” He stroked my hair.
God, that felt good.
“I felt you,” I said after while of simply enjoying being petted.
“Your spirit, your pain. It drew me to you. I can feel it now.” Not sure why I shared that.
Though, I suppose after everything he’d been through, he deserved to know.
“I’m not sure if it’s singing yet, but it’s humming contentedly right now. ”
He chuckled at that. Then a shadow passed over his features.
“I might have died if you hadn’t found me when you did. You saved my life.” His hand stopped stroking my hair, cradling my head. “I’m forever in your debt.” The sincere devotion in his voice was… there were no words… other than… wow.
Vyns’ commitment was a big thing, and yet it didn’t feel heavy or constraining, but… liberating. Vyns would do anything for me and that felt… pretty damned good.
I could trust him now, one hundred percent. He’d shunned Saldrea and nearly died because of it. If that wasn’t proof I could trust him… nothing ever would be.
And oddly… I wanted to trust him. This was a new feeling for me. I’d never wanted to get close enough to trust a man, because when they eventually left me, I’d be devastated. But Vyns wouldn’t leave me, not willingly. Though, if he died…
No. I couldn’t keep thinking like that.
Everyone died eventually.
If I never let anyone in because I feared they’d die… I’d live a damned lonely life. Hell, I’d been living a damned lonely life.
But I had Myel. He’d be with me no matter what.
And now… Vyns was fully devoted to me as well.
Rook… I was still uncertain about.
What was a girl to do with men like that?
Well, if I was going to stop being afraid of losing people, then I simply had to enjoy the time I had with them… all of them… right?
My spirit assured me this was the right call, warming more as I thought about adding Vyns to my growing list of friends with benefits.
“So… you’ll do anything for me?” I asked, tone light, a bit joking.
“Anything,” he said, serious, dedicated, caring.
“Make my pain go away,” I whispered, as my heart began to pound. Because the only sure-fire way to ease this pain was an orgasm.
Was I really doing this?
I was.
“I don’t know much of healing,” he said, earnest, apologetic.
My lips quirked in a half-smile. “Something tells me you know this type of healing,” I breathed as I used my hands, resting on my stomach to scrunch up my dress, pulling the skirt higher.
It was the same dress I’d worn yesterday; I had no other clothes.
Which meant I also had no undergarments, and when the hem of my dress crept up far enough to reveal that to Vyns, his eyes went wide, pupils dilating with heated hunger.
“A little magic with your fingers should do the trick.”
“Izzy,” he breathed. That warm blanket around me got damned hot, nearly sweltering, but… in a good way. It was like a sauna or hot-tub, already starting to ease away my pain.
Wow.
His free hand stroked down my arm to my hand, covering it, holding it.
“Are you sure?” he asked, his gaze dragging up my body to my eyes.
“Do I seem unsure?”
“No.”
“Do you want me?”
“Yes.” Barely a breath, desperate. He looked around. “But… here?”
Ah… yeah… no. Rook had a class he assisted with this afternoon. He shouldn’t be back for a bit.
“Next door, through the bathroom.”
“Whose room is that?”
“A friend’s. They won’t be back for a while.”
He nodded.
After that, there was nothing more to say.