Chapter 23
Silas
There comes a time in all our lives when we have to say goodbye to someone. Some people are meant to stay, while others are just passing by. Not everyone you cross paths with is meant to stay forever. But then there’s the ones they call your soul mates. Even those of us with a black soul have soul mates. And not even death can take them away from you.
I stare into her eyes, knowing she’s exactly that. She’s my goddamn soul mate. She was meant to be with me in this world and the next. Even if I have to wade through the fucking fires of hell and claw my way back to her, I’ll do it. There will never be a time when Angel isn’t mine.
I keep telling her to look into my eyes. Just stare at me; be with me in the moment. Maybe then it won’t hurt so bad.
Everything happens so slowly. The shots fired, Angel falling against me and the two of us hitting the floor. My head bangs off the concrete floor, and my eyes begin to blur. The noise in my head is so fucking loud I can barely stand it. There’s ringing in my ears, and before I know what the hell is happening, I’m being dragged through the room. More shots are fired when I hear Hunter yelling. I can’t make out what he’s saying, and I don’t even try. I just close my eyes and let what happens happen.
Except, nothing happens. The noise is still loud, and the lights are still bright. My head lolls to the side and I see Rylan on the floor next to me, Tamsyn next to him. I try to lift my head to see Angel, but I can’t. My head screams in pain as nausea hits me. I lay back and close my eyes once more, not able to handle the light. It’s so fucking bright.
The next thing I know, I’m being rolled onto my side, and the ties on my wrists are being cut. That doesn’t mean shit considering I can barely fucking move. My arms fall to my sides as I roll onto my back. I can vaguely hear men barking orders when I’m lifted off the ground. I’m dead weight.
They place me on something hard, a table, maybe?My head keeps rolling to the side, and I clench my eyes shut against the lights one more time.
“Can you hear me?” I hear someone say as they rub on my chest. I jerk up in pain only to be pushed back down.
“What the fuck are you doing to me?” I ask, my voice barely loud enough for them to hear.
“Glad to hear you talking, Silas. I’m going to give you something to take away the pain,” he tells me.
“I don’t want to be knocked out,” I argue weakly.
“You need to be assessed, Silas. I need you to be still for that,” he says.
“No medicine!” I yell before I groan.
“Okay. Nothing that will knock you out, but I am giving you something to help.” I try to nod my head, but I can’t fucking do it. I feel so weak. I feel the prick in my arm, and they tell me they’re starting an IV for fluids and meds. I don’t really listen after that. Something cold is placed on my eye, so I keep my eyes closed as tightly as I can.
I can hear people moving around the room and talking to someone else, but I can’t make out who right now. I try to focus on something, anything, but what? Angel. I want to see Angel. And as I keep my eyes pinched shut, I picture her smiling at me. Yelling at me. Anything I can think of but her staring at me about to die. The pain in her eyes, the hurt, the fear. There was nothing I could fucking do. I failed her again. The first time with her brother wasn’t my fault. I didn’t know, but this time? I could have done something. Maybe coming back wasn’t the best idea for us. Maybe we were wrong.
Finally, everything fades away, and I’m swimming in a sea of blackness. I don’t see anything, I don’t hear anything, and I love it. It’s soundless here. No pain. No anger. No rage.
My little reprieve from life doesn’t last long, though. Or at least I didn’t think it did. I pry my eyes open and flinch from the bright lights. What is it with these people and bright lights?
I keep blinking rapidly to try and get my vision to return. It’s all blurry. I try to lift my head, but it feels like it weighs a thousand pounds right now. So, I opt for my hand. I lift it slowly and see the tube running out of it. The IV they started. I let my arm fall back onto the bed next to me and slowly turn my head to the side. I squint and blink when I hear someone laugh. Fuck it’s Rylan.
“What the fuck are you laughing about?” I ask him weakly.
“At the fact neither of us motherfuckers can see with this bright-ass light on,” he grumbles.
“I can turn it off,” I hear Hunter offer before the light goes off. There’s another light on, this one no where near as bright as the first one. I feel the head of the bed being raised so I’m not lying flat anymore, and I groan.
“Nice of you to wake up,” Hunter declares.
“I thought I was dead,” I reply.
“You look pretty fucking dead, man.”
“What the hell happened?”
“A lot, and we’re not talking about it all right now, so just rest,” he tells me.
“Angel?”
“She’s resting too. The girls are in another room.”
“I need to see her,” I tell him as I try to push myself up. That doesn’t go over so well. The room spins before I even make it halfway there and fall back onto the bed.
“She’s not even awake, Silas. Rest.”
“I need to see her, Hunter.” This time, the growl that comes out is low and lethal.
“You two are some of the stubbornest motherfuckers I’ve ever met in my life. Hoax, come on and help me,” he calls out to Hoax. I have so many questions I need answers to about what happened, but he’s right. Now isn’t the time. I need to see her and know she’s okay first. I need to stop this fucking ringing in my head too.
I hear the door close, and then there’s just silence.
“Do you have any idea what the hell happened?” Ry asks.
“Fuck no, Ry. Last I remember was the fucking gun to my head.”
“Me too.”
“This is fucked up,” I grumble.
“No shit. We’re going on vacation after this shit’s over.” I try to laugh, but it fucking hurts. That’s when I hear the door open and the sound of wheels on the floor. Hunter pulls her bed right up next to mine and then helps me turn so I can look at her. Angel lies there, seemingly peaceful enough. She isn’t moving, but her chest is rising and falling, so I know she’s alive.
“What happened to her?” I ask.
“She has a concussion. A black eye and a busted lip. A couple of stitches above her eye. They didn’t really harm the girls when they took them,” Hunter tells me.
“Then why is she out?”
“They both are, Silas. Doc gave them something to calm them down. They were both hysterical, and there was no way to treat them.”
“But she’s okay?”
“Physically, yeah.” I get it. Mentally, she isn’t going to be. Emotionally will be tough, too, after all that’s happened.
“Hunter?”
“Yeah?”
“Are they dead?” I need to hear it. It was our kill but I need to hear that it’s over with now.
“They’re all dead, man.” I nod slightly through the pain as I reach over and grab Angel’s hand in mine and hold it as tightly as I can. I’ll feel a whole lot better when she’s awake and I can see her, but for now, this will do.
“What’s going on with me? My head is ringing, and I can’t hear out of my left ear,” I tell him. Hunter pulls up a chair and sits at the end of the bed.
“You have a traumatic brain injury. Doc wanted you to be sedated, too, but since you threw such a fit, he didn’t do it. You have three broken ribs that should heal up fine, stitches in your left upper arm and left side of your head. Your eardrum ruptured and is non-existent.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning you’re never going to hear out of your left ear again.” Shit. That’s just fucked up.
“And Ry?”
“Yeah, what about me?”
“Severe concussion, nowhere near as bad as Silas’s, but we think it’s from the car accident. You were closest to the side of impact. Anyway, Ry has a broken rib and wrist and some stitches in his head.”
“Damn, we’re pretty fucked, Silas,” Rylan mumbles.
“No shit. At least we aren’t dead,” I say, causing Ry to laugh and then cough.
“You both need to rest.”
“How are we not dead, Hunter?” I ask this time.
“First, let me say I’m sorry. Shit was never supposed to play out the way it did. And Levi … fuck, man. I’m so fucking sorry,” he says, sounding pained himself.
“Me too,” I whisper.
“I had a leak I didn’t know about. Richard, one of the Gods, was on their team. He ratted us out. Told them what was happening. I played it off like he was full of shit and made my own deal with Matt. I told him I would help take you guys out. As smart as Matt was, he really wasn’t, you know? He was fucking gullible and took me at my word. Obviously, that was all a lie. I didn’t think he was going after the girls, though. He made it a point to say they didn’t mean shit and wouldn’t be shit without you guys. When they brought them in, that was a fucking shock to me and my guys. The girls should have never been hurt in all this.”
“You protected them,” I remind him.
“I did the best I could with the situation. I’m just sorry you didn’t get your kills. If it counts for anything, Hoax did a real number on Tom,” he laughs.
“No shit?”
“Yeah, he had him hung from the fucking rafters taking him apart piece by fucking piece. You would be proud,” he laughs once more.
“Thanks, Hunter. For everything.”
“Yeah. We can’t thank you enough for what you did,” Rylan adds.
“Yeah, you can. You’re back, right? Let’s work this shit together from now on. Not like what your dads used to do.”
“Anything you want, man,” I tell him.
“A piece of Angel again?” Now I laugh, but it turns into a painful cough.
“That was a one-time thing. If you fucking even look at her, I’ll dig your fucking eyes out.”