Revenant (Lords of Deliverance 6)

She jammed her hand into her pocket and clutched the vial of blood. She was going to smash it, destroy the damned thing. In the back of her mind, she knew she was being illogical, that destroying the vial wouldn’t bring him back, but she had to do something.

The essence of fucking death was going to —

The essence of death was also an elixir of life for those who can’t die.

Revenant’s words rang through her ears as if funneled through a blow horn.

“Reaver.” She held out the vial. “What about this? Thanatos’s blood. Revenant said it was also an elixir of life.”

Reaver frowned. “He did?”

“Your mother told him that.”

He lifted the vial from her hand. “It can’t hurt.” He popped the rubber stopper, but she grabbed his wrist.

“No.” Oh, gods, was she really doing this? She glanced at Revenant, his lifeless eyes staring blindly at the chains hanging from the ceiling, and she knew it was the right thing. “You need to ask Thanatos.”

“But we have the blood right here.”

“Listen to me.” She clung to Reaver, her knuckles going white with the force of her grip. “Revenant broke a Watcher rule by taking it, and Thanatos clearly wasn’t willing to give it up. To use it without his permission to save Revenant’s life would be a huge violation. Revenant wouldn’t want that, I promise you. This goes all the way back to his childhood. All the way to your mother. Please, ask Thanatos.”

“Fuck,” Reaver muttered, but in an instant, he was gone.

“We don’t have time for this,” Eidolon growled at Blaspheme. “Our powers are the only thing keeping him alive. Once they fade…”

His dermoire was glowing brighter than she’d ever seen it, same with Shade and Raze. But their power was limited, and already she was seeing a flicker in the intensity of the glimmer shooting down Raze’s skin glyphs.

“I know,” she whispered. “Believe me, I know.”

While she waited, she held Rev’s cold, limp hand, sticky with his blood.

“Don’t you die, you bastard. Don’t you dare die.”

She repeated the words over and over, as if they were some sort of protective mantra that would keep him going. And fuck, how long did it take for Reaver to convince his son to save his brother?

“I’m fading,” Raze croaked, and Blaspheme bit back a sob at the sight of Raze’s dermoire losing its reddish-golden glow, its black lines swallowing the light.

Sweat dripped off Shade’s brow as he gripped Revenant’s ankle tight. “I’m running on fumes.”

“Hold… on,” Eidolon ground out, his own dermoire starting to flicker as well. “Where the fuck is Reaver?”

On the other side of the emergency department, the Harrowgate flashed, and Reaver burst out, followed by Thanatos and Ares, the Horseman known as War. Both Horsemen were fully armored, as if they suspected that this was some sort of trick.

“Let’s do it!” Reaver had the vial open before he skidded into the trauma room. Wasting no time, he dumped the contents between Revenant’s shredded lips. “Stand back,” he said. “Everyone but Shade and E.”

Blaspheme stayed. He gave her an I-warned-you-look, but wisely, he didn’t argue.

The Harrowgate flashed again, and Limos, her mate Arik, and the last Horseman, Reseph, entered. Great. More people who would witness her breakdown if this failed.

Closing his eyes, Reaver laid his hand on Revenant’s forehead. A low-level hum started up, startling Blas when she realized it was coming from Reaver. A golden glow surrounded him, and she watched in fascination as it seeped into Revenant’s body.

“Thanatos,” Reaver gritted out, “more.”

Instantly, Thanatos was there, a dagger in his hand. In a motion so fast she saw only a blur, he sliced into his wrist and placed the laceration against Revenant’s mouth. Limos appeared next to her brother, her pregnant belly bumping up against Revenant as she touched her fingers to a single teardrop in the corner of her eye.

“I don’t know why I feel the need to do this,” she whispered, “but…” She pressed the tips of her wet fingers to Revenant’s forehead.

Tears of the hungry. Of Famine.

Reaver’s glow intensified, blinding Blaspheme with painful stabs of light. Eidolon and Shade shouted in agony, and then they were blown backward, and the stench of charred flesh filled the room. She heard a commotion, people calling for help, but she was frozen in place, unable to move, let alone see.

She must have blacked out, because a moment later, she felt hands lifting her off the ground.

“Wha… what happened?”

Reaver’s blurry face appeared in front of hers. “I warned you.”

“Revenant,” she gasped. “Is he —”

“I’m… here.” Revenant’s throaty voice rumbled through her like a long-overdue caress.

She wheeled around, nearly knocking herself over again as her wobbly legs tried to reorient themselves to the new vertical position. Revenant was lying on the table, his body covered only in a sheet up to his waist, and although he was bruised and looked exhausted, he was whole.

“Thank you, oh, gods, thank you.” Blaspheme threw herself on him, hugging him hard, as if he hadn’t just been pretty dead.

He threw an arm around her, holding her tight against his chest. “What… what happened?”