Page 35 of Crossing Between

The infirmary was chaos incarnate. Blood slicked the floors despite the orderlies' best efforts to keep up. The air hung heavy with the metallic scent of it, mingled with antiseptic and sweat. Moans and cries from the injured formed a hellish chorus that had been my soundtrack for hours now.

My hands trembled slightly as I finished closing a wound on a young officer's abdomen, the fifth victim I'd treated in the last hour. The possessed civilians had been armed and dangerous and our people had paid the price.

"You'll live," I told him, not bothering to soften my tone. I had no energy left for bedside manner. "Next!"

As I wiped my bloodied hands on a towel, the infirmary doors burst open. The crowd of medical personnel and patients parted like a wave as Kenji barreled through, his massive frame making him impossible to miss. But it was what, or who, he carried that made my heart stop.

Zoey lay limp in his arms, her head lolling against his chest. Blood streaked from her eyes and nose, painting trails down her pale face. Her chest still rose and fell with shallow breaths, but the sight of her unconscious form sent ice through my veins.

"Chen," I barked at the nearest healer, a harried-looking woman with blood splattered across her scrubs, "take over here."

I didn't wait for her acknowledgment before striding toward Kenji, my exhaustion forgotten. Up close, Zoey looked even worse. Her skin had a grayish tinge that I recognized all too well. Soul-sickness. Whatever she'd done had drained her dangerously low.

"This way," I led Kenji down a side corridor, away from the chaos of the main triage area. We needed quiet. I needed to focus.

The hallway was dim and narrow, used mostly for storage, but it was private. "Put her down here," I indicated a cleared space against the wall where we'd stacked clean blankets earlier.

Kenji laid her down with uncharacteristic gentleness, his hands lingering as if afraid to break contact. His eyes, when they met mine, burned with fear and rage.

"The Essencefeaster," his voice raw. "She cut his connections to the possessed. Hundreds of them. Then she just collapsed."

I knelt beside her, placing my palms on her forehead and chest. Closing my eyes, I reached for the healing energy within me, feeling it respond sluggishly. I'd been working for hours already, my reserves running dangerously low. But for Zoey, I would find more. I would give everything.

The moment my power touched her, I flinched. The damage was worse than I'd feared. Not just magical exhaustion. Her life force itself was depleted. She'd channeled too much, given too much of herself.

"Get Varon," I ordered, not looking up. "Now."

"But—!"

"NOW, Kenji! She needs blood."

He didn't argue further, vanishing with his oni speed back toward the main hall.

I turned my full attention to Zoey, allowing my power to flow into her damaged body.

The tentacles of my Kraken nature emerged unbidden, ethereal appendages that wrapped around her form, channeling healing energy into every cell.

"Don't you dare," I murmured, watching her face for any sign of response. "Don't you dare leave us, kaerasta."

Minutes crawled by like hours. I poured everything I had into her, feeling my strength waning. My vision began to blur at the edges, but I refused to stop. If I had to drain myself completely to save her, so be it.

A soft gasp snapped my focus back. Zoey's eyelids fluttered, crusted with dried blood. Her lips parted slightly, taking a deeper breath than before.

"Zoey?" I leaned closer, cupping her cheek with my hand. "Can you hear me?"

Her eyes opened fully, clouded with confusion. I pressed my forehead against hers, overwhelmed with relief. "Thank the gods," my voice breaking. "Thank all the gods of the sea and sky."

"Elias?" Her voice was barely audible, cracked and dry. "What happened?"

I pulled back slightly to look at her properly, my thumb gently wiping a streak of blood from her cheekbone. "You nearly killed yourself, that's what happened. The Essencefeaster..."

"I don't remember," she interrupted, panic flickering in her eyes. "I can't remember what I did."

"Shhh," I soothed, stroking her hair. "It's alright. We can go over all that later. Right now, you need to rest and recover."

I continued channeling healing energy into her, though at a more sustainable rate. "I can heal the physical damage, but your life energy will need to replenish on its own. You'll be tired for several days, maybe longer."

A weak smile curved her lips. "Always the doctor."

"Someone has to keep you reckless fools alive," I was trying and failing to sound stern.

She reached up with a trembling hand, her fingers brushing my jaw. "Elias, I need to tell you something."

I caught her hand, pressing it more firmly against my cheek. "Save your strength."

"No, it's important." Her eyes, though tired, held mine intently. "Kenji and I are going to go on a date."

Something possessive twisted in my gut before she continued. I told my kraken to stop it. We loved both of them.

"And I want to go on one with you, too. I want us to talk, explore what being mates means." Her voice grew stronger with each word. "I want to figure this out, us, together."

The jealousy dissolved as quickly as it had formed, replaced by a warmth that spread through my chest. I hadn't realized how much I'd wanted to hear those words until they hung in the air between us.

I couldn't contain the grin that spread across my face.

Without thinking, I leaned down and captured her lips with mine, pouring all my relief and longing into the kiss.

Her mouth was soft, yielding, tasting faintly of blood and something uniquely Zoey.

I lost myself in the sensation, in the rightness of it.

Footsteps pounding down the hall jolted me back to reality. I pulled away reluctantly, just as Kenji burst into view with Varon close behind him.

The look on Kenji's face at finding us in such an intimate position might have been comical under other circumstances. His eyes widened, then narrowed, before settling on Zoey with such naked relief I was afraid the big guy would fall over.

We both loved her. And somehow, she seemed to care for all of us. Even though each of us had our own issues.

Varon pushed past him, kneeling beside me to examine Zoey. "How bad?" he was already rolling up his sleeve.

"She'll live." My eyes never left Zoey's face. "But she's going to need time to heal."

I held Zoey's hand as Varon knelt beside us, his eyes intense with concentration as he assessed her condition.

His centuries of existence had given him medical knowledge that rivaled my own, though in different areas.

Where I understood the healing of physical wounds, Varon understood life force itself.

"She's dangerously depleted," he confirmed, his voice low and tense. His fingers touched her wrist, checking her pulse with unnecessary precision, we both knew it was weak. "More than simple exhaustion."

Kenji hovered anxiously behind him, his massive frame seeming too large for the narrow corridor. His usual exuberance had vanished, replaced by a tightly coiled tension that threatened to snap at any moment.

Varon's eyes met mine across Zoey's prone form. "I need to give her blood."

I nodded grimly. Vampire blood had regenerative properties that human blood lacked. It would help her recover much faster than she would on her own.

Varon turned his attention to Zoey, who was watching him through half-lidded eyes. His expression softened slightly as he brushed a strand of hair from her forehead with uncharacteristic gentleness.

"I'm afraid you're not going to like this, little one," his voice gentler than I'd ever heard it, "but I need to give you some of my blood to help replenish what you lost."

Zoey's face immediately scrunched up in disgust. "Gross," she muttered, but she didn't protest further as Varon bit into his own wrist, his fangs slicing through his skin with practiced ease.

Blood welled from the wound, dark and rich with power. He held his wrist to her lips.

"Drink," he commanded softly. "It won't taste as bad as you think."

She hesitated for only a moment before she complied, closing her eyes as she pressed her lips to his wrist. I watched as she swallowed once, twice, three times. Even that small effort seemed to tax her remaining strength.

"We're all lucky I like you guys," she grumbled against his skin between sips, her voice barely audible.

A small smile tugged at my lips despite the gravity of the situation. Even now, drained and barely conscious, her spirit remained unbroken.

After another moment, Varon gently pulled his wrist away. The wound had already closed, his vampiric healing sealing the skin within seconds. He wiped a drop of blood from her lower lip with his thumb.

"That should be enough," his clinical tone returned as he addressed Kenji and me. "She won't need any human blood to replenish with. My blood is potent enough."

The ancient vampire didn't elaborate, but I understood. Varon was one of the oldest vampires in existence. His blood carried power that few others could match. It would accelerate her healing beyond what normal vampire blood could accomplish.

Color was already returning to Zoey's cheeks, the gray pallor receding. Her breathing grew stronger, more regular. The effect was almost immediate, though I knew she'd still need time to fully recover.

Kenji finally moved closer, dropping to his knees beside us. He reached out to take Zoey's other hand, squeezing it gently.

"We're all lucky," his voice rough with emotion as he echoed her earlier words, "but you're the lucky one to have us, you know."

The teasing lilt in his voice couldn't quite mask the depth of feeling behind the words. I knew exactly how he felt. In the short time since Zoey had crashed into our lives, she'd become essential to all of us in different ways.

A weak smile curved her lips as her eyes fluttered between the three of us. "Yeah," she agreed softly, her voice already stronger than it had been minutes ago. "I am lucky."

Her gaze lingered on each of us in turn. Kenji with his fierce protectiveness, Varon with his ancient eyes that had seen so much, and finally, me. I saw recognition there, and something deeper that made my heart ache in my chest.

Then her eyes drifted closed, her expression peaceful as she slipped into sleep. Her hand went limp in mine, but her pulse remained steady and strong beneath my fingers.

"She'll sleep now," Varon stood fluidly. "The blood will work better that way."

I nodded, still holding her hand. "I'll stay with her."