"That's not a surprise," Ryland said. "Lily found documentation that Whitney's been trying to make us universal so we can all give to each other. With pairing, he tried to make certain. Remember, we're all supposed to be the ultimate weapons in combat situations, so that means we have to be able to heal each other."
"Yeah, well, if I can't do my thing with her, she's going to be out of commission for a while. We may need to take her to a hospital."
"Do your thing then," Kadan said, ice creeping back into his voice, "because protecting her in that public a place will be nearly impossible."
Nico didn't reply. He simply began the intricate and difficult job of meticulously repairing the damage Tansy had done to her leg.
"Do we move her? We're going to have company and she probably needs a transfusion," Ryland said. "It's up to you, Kadan."
"We fight here. Get fluids in her and see if we can hold off the transfusion until we move. If we're lucky, maybe she won't need one." Kadan wanted a battle--even needed one. He felt the familiar calm settle over him. The warrior was stronger than the lover, more recognizable. The persona fit him. "I've got the escape routes ready. If you have to go up, there's a rope ladder as well as a cable to shoot to the roof on the west side. I don't want to let it get that far."
"I'll be outside then," Nico said. "When I'm done here, I'll find myself a spot."
"They'll send a team," Kadan warned. "I took out two of them in the mountains. They aren't going to be happy about it."
"I'm feeling a little mean about now," Nico said as he took another stitch.
Gator nodded, and the smile not only faded from his eyes, but his mouth had gone tight and grim. "I'm getting damn tired of our women having to suffer."
Kadan looked at Ryland, who shrugged his broad shoulders.
"I've been looking for a little action ever since I found out Freeman was involved. She's a traitor of the worst sort, turning on her sisters to further her own cause. I could use a little combat time."
"Set up an IV in the bedroom," Nico instructed. "I'll try to heal her. Don't worry, bro, we'll get her right."
"I can't do what Dahlia does," Kadan said, "but I'm fairly accurate at focusing energy. I can take a shot at helping you."
Nico nodded and kept working. Ryland added more light while Gator found a mop and a bucket to try to clean the mess.
"What are we going to do about her clothes?" Ryland asked.
Kadan sighed. "She'll run out at this rate. I'll cut off her jeans. They're ruined anyway. She'll have to be ready to go once we take out the team. I'll get her ready, don't worry."
Nico sank back on his heels and wiped his face, smearing it with Tansy's blood. "Get her ready then. Are you set otherwise?"
"No. Rye, you'll have to pack up the war room. Don't touch anything with your skin. Use gloves, double them up if you can. I'll need everything out of there, and be especially careful with the game pieces on the table. She handles those to track the killers."
Kadan lifted Tansy into his arms. She flinched and murmured a protest, instinctively trying to pull away. "Do you have painkillers in that bag?"
"Yeah. Hurry, Kadan. We'll need you for this. They'll be coming in when they think you've gone to bed." He glanced at his watch. "We've probably only got an hour before they come at us." He threw a towel on the bed as Kadan jerked a knife from his boot. "I'll get the equipment, but if she ends up needing a transfusion we could be in trouble."
Kadan appreciated Ryland giving him a few minutes of privacy to strip the bloody clothes from Tansy's body. He cleaned her as best he could and wrapped her in one of his shirts, but left off the sweatpants he'd found in her bag until Nico gave healing a try. He was covering her when Ryland returned with the IV equipment.
They worked fast, pushing the fluids while Nico knelt beside the bed. He unwrapped a crystal from a soft cloth he kept in his pocket. "This is amethyst for focus, Kadan. You want to direct through this. I'll use the rose quartz for healing." He unwrapped the second piece.
"I'll place my hands over the wound and you gather the energy using the amethyst. Try to pull it to you and then focus it over my hands. I've never done this without Dahlia."
"I can do it," Kadan said. He had to do it. He had no choice. "Energy swarms to me, and as a rule I can focus, direct, and even bend it to my will. Give me the image of what Dahlia does and I can grab it out of your head."
Nico extended his hands over Tansy's bare hip, directly over the long gash. He wanted the inside of the torn wound to heal, the tear to repair itself. His hands felt cold, as they always did when he started. He used a Lakota healing chant his grandfather had taught him years earlier, the steady rhythm helping to block out everything around him but the task at hand.
Kadan reached for Nico's exact brain wave, found where he could merge, and slid respectfully in. He saw the image of Nico's wife, Dahlia, with the two crystals in her hands, and he picked them up, closing his fingers around them. The air around him instantly charged, crackling with electricity as the energy rushed to him, filling him, so that his core temperature rose and, with it, heat invaded the room. The crystals in his hands glowed hot, and he felt a jolt and then the sizzling tingle of an electrical current. He placed his hands over Nico's, palms down, the crystals between them.
The current hit Nico hard, slamming into his body with much more force than when Dahlia conducted. The whip of electricity sizzled through him, white-hot, almost frightening in its strength, and then it jumped back to Kadan. Tiny sparks rained down around them.
"Rein it in," Nico hissed between clenched teeth. "Too much power."
"I'm trying." The heat the crystals gave off burned against his rough palms. He hated to think what that would do to Dahlia's hands.
Kadan took a breath and forced his mind to stay connected with Nico's. He heard the man's heartbeat, the flow of blood through his veins. It took a moment for him to realize it wasn't Nico's heart he was hearing, but Tansy's. He took a breath and called the energy to him again. It swelled in answer, a hot burn that went through him, once again gathering strength, until it boiled and seethed in a violent mass as he focused and aimed it through the crystals. Mimicking the images of Dahlia in Nico's mind, Kadan pressed the amethyst crystal into Nico's hand.
There was a moment, a breath between time. Kadan saw prisms of light burst from beneath Nico's hand and radiate through Tansy's hip. Another beat of time and they were gone, but the heat was there, rising around them, white-hot. Sharing Nico's mind allowed Kadan to feel power uncoiling, shifting and moving, coming from a tight core to spread and grow.
The universe unfurled, stretching out before them, so that both men seemed to become an integral, fundamental part of it. Atoms and molecules burst around them, lights like cosmic stardust beckoned from every direction and gathered inside of them. Power moved through their bodies, sizzling in veins and arteries and even in their brains. Kadan placed the rose quartz in Nico's hand.
At once the force grew, gathering into a huge collective pool of electrical energy. Kadan felt the change in Nico, the su
dden focus. Immediately the energy surged toward Nico's hands and the crystals he held. Light burst bright and radiant beneath his palms, saturating the wound, cauterizing the tears, and speeding the healing process. GhostWalkers already possessed a natural ability to heal faster, but Nico's healing energy visibly repaired damage.
The flow only lasted a few moments, but the light was blinding and the heat intense. When Nico dropped the crystals back into Kadan's palms, they were warm, almost to the point of being hot. Nico slumped forward against the bed.
"That's all I can do. I hope it's enough. She nicked an artery, and I'm no vascular surgeon. If that didn't repair the damage, she'll have to go to a hospital."
"If that didn't work, no surgeon is going to be able to help her."
"I tried to direct the energy to her artery, but this is the first time I've worked like this without Dahlia, and the power is much stronger coming through you and harder to work with." He glanced up at Kadan. "You're one scary man, my friend."
Kadan shrugged. "I wouldn't mind having your talent."
Gator stuck his head in the door. "Nico, you need to be getting outside. I don't think we've got much time. I hear dogs in the neighborhood acting up, and the word is we've got strangers drifting from house to house."
"'The word is'?" Kadan echoed. "Seriously, Gator, talking to animals is making you nuttier than ever."
Gator flashed his ever present grin and winked. "Yeah, you remember you said that when the animals take over and I rule the world."
"Rule outside, where you can call your army in to help," Ryland suggested.
Gator saluted and followed Nico into the living room, scooping up weapons and ammunition as he went through.
"Do we have a vehicle ready for a quick escape?" Kadan asked as he checked the IV. He crouched down beside the bed, taking Tansy's hand in his.
"We're ready for them. The neighborhood's going to hell though." Ryland went out, turning off lights as he went, plunging the house into darkness.
Kadan pressed his forehead to Tansy's. "You awake, baby? I need you to wake up."
"It hurts. I'm not sure I want to be awake." She'd been aware of Nico sending fire through her body and not much else. Everything around her had taken on a dreamlike quality.