Refuge(136)

“No. I’ve been asleep long enough.” I tried to sit up again, and Roland hit a lever to raise the head of the bed to a sitting position. Once I was comfortable with an extra pillow behind me, I tugged on Nate’s hand until he sat beside me. I didn’t think I would ever be able to let him out of my sight again.

When I looked away from him, I saw that Tristan, Roland, and Peter had pulled up chairs for themselves and Nikolas stood near the head of the bed. The healer left, and I noticed the lone figure standing quietly by the window.

“Desmund? I thought you hated coming downstairs.”

Pushing away from the wall, he sauntered over, one corner of his mouth lifted in a haughty smirk. “Well, they would not accommodate me by moving you upstairs, so I was forced to spend time in this depressing ward.” He picked up my hand and put it to his lips. “Welcome back, little one. And if you worry us like that again, I will lock you up myself for the next fifty years.”

“Get in line,” Nikolas muttered.

Great, all I needed was another male in my life who thought he knew what was best for me. I didn’t know whether to scowl at the pair of them or be amazed that they were in agreement on something. Unfortunately, with my penchant for attracting trouble, I’d probably see how serious their threats were sooner rather than later.

Desmund smiled kindly and released my hand. “I will go and let you catch up with your family and friends. Come see me when you are feeling better.” I started to say that he didn’t have to leave, but he was gone before I could get the words out.

I looked at Nate who was talking quietly to Tristan. He’s really here. Two days ago, I thought my heart would never be whole again, and yet here it was, bursting with happiness.

“Sara, do you feel up to telling us what happened?” Tristan asked. “What you did has never been done before, at least it’s never been recorded in our history. I don’t know where to begin to try to understand it.”

“I didn’t know I could do that. I knew I could kill demons, but I never dreamed it was possible to make a vampire human again.

I toyed nervously with the edge of the blanket and met Nate’s gaze. “I was so upset and angry about what happened to you. I went down there to kill you, not to save you.”

He put a hand over mine to stop my fidgeting. “I know,” he said without a hint of anger or bitterness. “I remember everything, especially the horrible things I . . . the vampire said to you. I know you did what you had to do.”

“What exactly did you do?” Roland prodded.

“Like I said, I planned to kill the vampire. The first time I hit him with my power it was enough to knock him out. While I was connected to him I could see the vamhir demon attached to Nate’s heart.” I heard Nate inhale sharply, but I couldn’t look at him and see the horror on his face. “I was going to hit it again, but then I heard its thoughts. Actually, I think they were its memories.”

Tristan put up a hand to interrupt me. “You understood what it was saying?”

“Bits and pieces.”

He frowned. “Only our oldest scholars can understand demon tongue, and they spend centuries learning it.”

“But we can understand our Mori demons.”

“The Mori demon was chosen to create our race because it is compatible with humans. Our demons are born inside us, and we learn to communicate with them as we grow.”

I looked from him to Nikolas. “You mean my Mori talks in a whole other language and I didn’t even know it?” Nikolas nodded, and I fell silent while I tried to process this new knowledge. There was so much I had to learn about who and what I was.

Peter leaned forward. “What happened after you heard the demon?”

“Then I saw – ” I looked at Nate. I needed him to understand why I did what I did. “I saw your memories of me. Then I saw you being changed and the pain you went through. I couldn’t let you suffer anymore. I held your heart, and I felt it stop. I thought you died.”

“I think I did die, but then I felt something pulling at me. It was so bright and warm that I honestly thought I must be looking at an angel.” He wore an expression of someone who has seen something so wondrous they cannot put it into words. “Then heat spread through me and it got so hot I thought I was going to burn from the inside out. The next thing I knew, I woke up on the floor of the cell with Tristan standing over me, looking like he was going to finish the job.”

“I almost did,” Tristan admitted soberly. “But then I saw his eyes, and I knew something was different, especially after what I’d witnessed.”