~~Young~~

Chapter Seventeen

   It seemed no matter which way it went Gage was doomed to failure.

   Having eternal life took on a whole new meaning when it wasn’t just your ass you needed to look out for. Sera wasn’t an immortal, she’d proven oh so well how fragile her mortal body was and he couldn’t imagine himself not being there to defend her…if Sera should make it long enough to need defending-

   No, he wasn’t going to think about that right now, about how long Sera really had.

   He didn’t understand what went wrong. Had thought everything had gone right. He healed her body, knew he healed the damage done to her vital organs because her body was warm with life before he was called to hell. He didn’t reanimate cold flesh- not that he had any clue where to start with that debacle even though he was sure Jerry did- he reversed her body’s death. Death had caught her soul before it could leave the realm, so though he knew Sera’s soul was drawn to the afterlife, because she hadn’t actually made it there her soul wouldn’t yearn to return. There would be no draw for her soul to heaven or hell, it wouldn’t try to abandon her body living or not.

   It was textbook reincarnation, yet somehow Sera could now see those not belonging to her realm. The ones who belonged in what her kind believed was the afterlife, a place reserved for the dead when really it was just a place for beings of a different genetic make-up to reside. She shouldn’t have been able to see Death, not unless she was still bound for the afterlife in the imminent future.

   Yet here she was, looking as healthy as he had ever known her, better even with that flush still lingering on her cheeks. Her brown eyes were bright and attentive, waiting for the answer to her latest question. Her skin was warm where he ran his fingers along her shoulder as he pretended to think his answer over, brushing her wavy hair back from her face. There were endless realms, but only so many he could exist in. Like different worlds there were different requirements for life. This being the only one he knew of where her mortal shell could survive.

   He could feel the strong pulse of her heart where she lay across him, feel the heat of her breath- steady, even, no struggle- on his own skin as it passed through her slightly parted- and very swollen- lips.

   He wanted to kiss her again in that moment- damned if it makes them puff up a little more- because he knew at any moment she could be taken from him and he didn’t want to lose the opportunity. It was the truth, until he knew exactly why she had picked up this second sight then he had to assume the tether Sera had on life was thin.

   Somehow though he managed to resist the urge, knowing she would feel the desperation to his kiss and ask him why. He didn’t want her to see that anxiety, not until he exhausted every other option he had and actually had a reason to worry.

   So instead of hauling her body up his and pressing his lips to hers he just smiled and shook his head at her.

   “Nuh-uh,” he grinned down to where she sprawled across him “it’s my turn to ask.”

   “But that one is barely an answer,” she frowned playfully at him, “just a ballpark number.”

   “No,” he refuted her.

   There was a beat of silence as she waited for him to change his mind, but when he didn’t she threw an elbow up on him and leaned on it with a sigh, “fine,” she rolled her free hand, “ask away.”

   Oh he had thousands of questions to choose from. Some he already had answers for but he wanted to hear it from her lips, others he didn’t even have a slim notion of the answer.

   So he just picked the first one that came to his mind, and though he knew it would dramatically change the conversation it needed to be asked, “so how you holding up, you know, with all this?”