Wings that Guard Me

Chapter 15 Seraph

I struggle to stay still as Grey works the knife out of my chest. I got lucky, it didn't even graze my heart. My ribs and sternum were not as lucky. Right now it hurt immensely as the tip of the blade is still solidly lodged in the bone. A scream wrenches itself from my lungs when he tries again to dislodge the blade. He pulls away immediately. I grit my teeth against the pain, "Just get it out already."

Whatever power was in the blade made it stuck to the bone and made it so I was never knocked unconscious with the blow but was forced to stay awake for every agonizing minute. None of my powers to heal or counteract its affects are working. None of my powers are working at all. My halo ring is burning on my finger as it continues to register the threat of the blade in my chest and tries to eliminate that threat. I wish it would stop. My finger is being burned by the heat of its instinctive power. The pain of the burns forming on my finger is beginning to match the pain of the blade in my breastbone. My halo saved my life by creating a shield around my heart just before the knife struck me.

He tries again to remove the blade. He grabs the hilt and attempts to pull it out. My ring grows hotter and pain explodes in my chest. Tears spring to my eyes as clench my jaw and fight my body to stay as still as possible. He lets go and pulls away. I whimper and squeeze my eyes shut. "It hurts. Please, please Grey, make it stop. Get it out." We've been at this for almost an hour and I've lost my courage to be strong, I just want it to end.

I jerk involuntarily when he grabs the hilt again. "You have to stay still. I don't want a fragment to come loose and puncture something." He pushes my shoulders into the hard ground beneath me. I feel my tears roll down my cheeks, leaving hot trails in their wake. "Get it out!" I begged. He pushes me gently to prove his point and once I stop moving he gently grabs the hilt again. He takes a deep breath and squeezes the hilt. "On three." I nod and squeeze my eyes shut against pain and tears. "One," he takes a deep breath and carefully repositions himself over me, "two," I take a deep breath and tell myself to stay still. Then he pulls roughly, my chest explodes in searing pain and my ring burns as hot as a star. The blade is pulled from my chest and he quickly pushes down on the gash with one hand and a scream escapes from my mouth. My chest gets soaked by a warm liquid. I relax into the ground, no longer having the energy to do anything.

I can't pay attention to what's going on around me. My thoughts get thrown around my head like leaves in wind and it's difficult for me to latch onto a train of thought. I can feel Grey working at my wound but I'm no longer aware of what's going on. I don't know how long I lay on the ground while he tended to my gash but suddenly I feel my head begin to clear. And what my brain finally latches onto scares me.

"It was a clean shot." It comes out as a raspy whisper.

Grey looks at me with concern and he gently ties off and cuts the line of thread he was using to stitch up my chest. "I thought you were resting." He pulls out some bandages and a wipe. Her cleans the area around the stitches and places a bandage over the stitches. He begins winding a wrap around me chest and one shoulder to help keep it in place, taping the end down and a few specific places. He carefully helps me change my shirt into button down. I groan as he pulls my arms through the sleeves, it stretches the skin at my stitches.

"It was a clean hit Grey. Tony was tying his shoe. They weren't aiming for Tony." My voice becomes quicker and urgent, or so it seems because it's hard to tell with my voice harsh and raspy from my painful screams.

"You need to relax." Grey urges me as he packs up his medical kit. I brush him off and struggle to sit up. "No Grey. I can't let this go." He sighs and gathers his bag on his shoulder and bends down to help me up. He grabs my hand and I wince and pull away. He snatches my wrist before I can hide my hand behind my back. He holds onto my wrist firmly and examines my hand. He sees my ring and finds the burns. He lets out a hiss and gently tries to loosen my ring with his other hand. I jerk my wrist back but his grip is too tight. He reaches into one of his pockets and pulls out a thermoband. He slips it over my finger and adjusts the size. It molds to my finger and instantly I feel it cooling the irritated skin. He slips my ring over the top and scoops me up.

"Put me down!" I try to squirm out of his arms but I'm too weak. "Grey stop!" He stops walking abruptly and stares at me.

"No, you stop. You're going to open your stitches."

I glare up him. "This is serious!" I persist. "Yes it is. You need to stop. Your concern right now is not figuring out how you got hit. Your concern is adapting so you can still do your job. Get your head on straight. That head of yours is going to get you even more worse off than you already are. It could get you killed Seraph."

"You know what I'm saying though. You know it's true." I insist.

"Whoever did this to you thinks you're dead so it doesn't matter. You got lucky. Your luck will run out Greenie. And I might not be there to patch you up."

We are silent the rest of the walk back. What he said got me thinking, probably not the way he wanted. I know what I have to do, for Tony. If I'm the real threat, the real reason he's been attacked so much, then I need to eliminate that threat from his life. I'll do anything for him, and now I might have to.

I have to leave Tony. I'll be on the run from whatever is tracking and trying to kill me, and I'll also be on the run from the council. I'll be abandoning my post. That's a crime punishable by court-martial. I can never go back home. But I can't bring more misery to Tony.

When his mother has her baby there will be another guardian on the team. That's the best chance I have. I'll leave then. But this is a crime. I can't say any goodbyes. I can't even tell them I'm leaving. I have a few months to prepare and heal. Then I'm leaving.