I cried out and turned away as the contents of my stomach rushed out of me and onto the ground, unable to handle the sight of him, dead.
I didn’t know if Maximus would have been here when we got back, but I had hoped he would have been. He did his duty. He protected Dex until the end. And now Dex was alive and Maximus was dead.
I was tired of people dying. So fucking tired.
I heard a high-pitched cough from beside me and I quickly wiped my mouth and composed myself. This was no time to lose it, not now after everything. I had Dex back and I had to keep it that way.
Dex was trying to sit up, having difficulty breathing. I could see the bubbles of blood coming out from the slice on his throat, though to my surprise, it looked better than when I had left him. Maybe Dex was already healing. Maybe we would be okay.
But Maximus was not and now Dex was realizing what had happened. He gave out a pitiful cry, his eyes glued to the horrific remains of who once was his best friend. My heart cracked for him. When I found out that Dex had sacrificed himself for me, it almost made his death more painful. Now, he was grappling with that over Maximus. The guilt was heavy as sin.
“Shhh,” I said, even though I could feel myself wanting to cry again. “He knew what he was doing.” I hunched down beside Dex and tried to be there for him. I grabbed his hand, my eyes trained to his body instead of the other one.
Dex turned his head to look at me with hurt eyes, wincing as he did so. He couldn’t speak, not yet, not with that throat, but I could hear him in my head.
He died for me. You almost died for me.
I gave him a quick, sympathetic smile. “You died for us. And now you’re here. Dex, we have to go.”
We can’t leave him.
I gripped his hand harder. “Dex, you need to go to the hospital. This wound killed you before, there’s no reason it shouldn’t be able to do the same now.”
He died protecting me! he yelled and his eyes began to fill with tears.
I sniffed and tried to breathe in deep. “I know he did. But it’s what he wanted.”
You think death is what any of us wants? He said, his eyes blazing. I fucking died for you and I would do it again and again, but it’s not what I want. It’s not what he wanted. I want you forever. I want to live. He had Rose, Perry, just as I have you. To know you’re losing that…
He closed his eyes tight and a tear rolled down his cheek. I wanted to comfort him, to be there for him, to take all of this away. Lord knows I was just going through the same thing ten-fold.
But I couldn’t do anything until we were safe. And until we were out of that house, we weren’t safe. I don’t know what Pippa did to Michael in there. It worked, but who knew for how long. Who knew if he was gone for good? We couldn’t stick around to find out. If we did, it had to be on our own turf, in our own world, not this crazy slice of hell.
I pulled lightly on his arm before straightening up, wiping tears away on my sleeve. “Please, Dex. Please, I can’t handle this anymore. Let’s just go. We have to go,” I pleaded.
He shook his head and muttered. I can’t leave him here, he deserved more than this. But he still let me help him to his feet. Neither of us wanted to leave him here. It wasn’t right. He was our friend.
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
He nodded reluctantly, his hand rubbing lightly at his throat. I let go of his hand and headed for the stairs.
A spider launched itself out of the darkness, hitting me square in the chest and knocking me on my back.
I screamed as its claws sank into my side, its snapping pincers grazing my chest. I stuck my hands under its furry underbelly, trying to push it off of me, to keep its teeth from sinking into my skin.
Perry! Dex was bellowing but I could barely hear him above my own cries that seemed to drown the whole room. The spider was too heavy, too strong, its legs vying for violent purchase on my torso. With each stab of its legs, I felt blood being drawn and my body growing weaker.
Just as the pincers snapped an inch from my face, old blood and gore being spat onto my cheek, there was a flurry of movement and the spider suddenly stiffened, letting out a horrible human-like scream.
The weight was lifted from my stomach and Dex was standing over me, the sword in his hand. He took one glance at me to make sure I was all right then went back to the spider, who had been stabbed right through the middle. With skill I didn’t know he possessed, Dex expertly sliced and diced it into many pieces.
“Arachnophobia, my ass,” he said, spitting on the body parts and we were both stunned at the fact that the words came out of his mouth. He anxiously felt along his throat again and when he took his hand away, it was no longer covered in blood. He was literally healing before our eyes, much more rapid than he ever had before. I guess going back into the Veil and coming out again only helped in this case.