Forgotten Souls (The Saving Angels 2)

Without pausing to think, I raced back toward the nightmare, into the mayhem I had just fled. The scene inside the tent was chaotic with people scattered everywhere and our Protectors in the middle of the mess fighting off the soulless creatures Alan had at his disposal.

"Thank God," I exhaled, seeing Mark alive and fighting at the far end of the tent. Continuing to scan the ruckus in front of me, I finally settled on the victim of the gunshot. The girl I had intended to save, the whole reason we were even here in the first place lying in a pool of blood on the hard-packed dirt at the front of the tent.

Time stood still as my soul took in the sight before me, and all rational thought left as I raced to her side. I reached down and grasped her slender wrist in my hand and could feel her faint pulse. She looked at me her eyes clouded over, full of tears.

"I-I-I'm so s-sorry," I choked out as best I could, taking her images into my soul and filtering them like I should have in the beginning. I poured all my love into them and gave her all the peace I could.

"Thank you," she said faintly before her eyes closed for good as I held her hand in my own with hot tears falling down my cheeks.

I was so lost in grief over the girl that lay before me that it took a moment to realize someone was standing over me.

"Well if this isn’t the most touching thing I've ever seen," Alan said, dragging me to my feet by my hair. "You think you can come in here and take everything I've worked for away from me," he demanded, spitting the words at me.

I felt like I was looking at The Dark One himself as I stared into the eyes of my captor. "It looks like that’s exactly what we did," I said, not fearing him as I knew I should have.

"Do you want to know a secret?" he asked coldly. "I know he can't live without you," indicating someone outside my line of vision. I did not need to turn my head to see who he meant.

He knew our secret.

I felt his hands closing tightly around my throat. While I still had time, I sent a silent message to Mark asking him to forgive me for getting us in this situation. I was going to die. I knew it as clearly as I knew my own name. My actions, though, would not only affect me, they would also affect the person who held my heart. I had jumped into the situation without considering who would ultimately pay the highest price.

Blackness began to threaten my vision. Through my cloudy sight I saw a person charging, knocking us to the ground in a heap. My head hit the dirt with a solid thump and blackness welcomed me into its waiting arms.

***

I awoke to gentle swaying as Shawn maneuvered the vehicle along the dirt road.

I tried to sit up, but was forced to grab my head to ease the piercing pain that was splitting my skull.

"Are you okay?" Mark asked, gently directing my head back down to rest on his lap.

"What happened?" I asked in a hoarse voice as pain that felt like liquid fire poured down my tender throat.

"You almost died," Mark said, voice laced with torment. "What were you thinking Krista?"

"I wasn't," I said miserably, not cringing away from the razor sharp pain that ran down my throat. I felt it was justified for how close I had come to ending not just my own life, but Mark's as well.

"I'm sorry," I said, swiping a stray tear away.

"Krista, I was just afraid I had lost you," he said, gathering me close in his arms.

"I'm sorry," I apologized again, against his chest.

"Don't apologize. Just be more careful from now on. You got me? I almost died inside when your thoughts flashed to me. I was so caught up in the adrenaline of the fight, I wasn’t even aware you were back in the tent."

"I thought you had been shot. I couldn’t handle not knowing," I mumbled, as tears flowed freely down my cheeks, remembering how scared I had been that he was the recipient of the gunshot.

The rest of the car ride was silent. My head pounded painfully and only keeping my eyes closed offered any kind of relief. After a few miles I drifted off to sleep.

The vehicle being shut off woke me up and I looked up into Mark's troubled eyes. I tried to get a gauge of what he was thinking, but his thoughts were firmly blocked away.

"We're home. Can you walk?" he asked, helping me climb down from the SUV.

I nodded my head weakly and leaned on him for support as he guided me toward the front door of his house.

Everyone was already sitting on the couches in front of Haniel when Mark and I finally shuffled into the room.

We sat on the same couch as Shawn and Sam. "You okay?" Sam asked, giving me a quick hug.