Chapter 59.1

Vee’s heart pounded in her chest as she sprinted towards the D’Ambray Chapel. Her lungs protested the intense activity, especially when paired with the dry winter air, and it took her much longer to arrive than she’d hoped. Looking around, she didn’t see Amara anywhere, and she began to worry.Hopping over a sidewalk, Vee’s feet landed in the crisp grass near the chapel and the world suddenly shifted. Instead of being surrounded by the still, quiet campus, she now heard panicked growling. Flecks of hellfire leapt towards the sky, their source a furious succubus astride the back of an impossibly huge beast clad in thick fur that matched the color of the grass underneath it.

“STAY BACK!!” Amara shouted, her voice strained as she tried to hold the creature still.

“What the fuck is that thing?” Vee yelled back, barely managing to stop herself in time.

“Tadhgán’s a werewolf, and he bit Nick!”

A sickening pit appeared in Vee’s gut, and she nodded quickly before running to the side of the grisly fight before her. For a brief moment, she locked eyes with Tadhgán, who growled and attempted to snap at her while she passed nearby; thankfully, with Amara’s tail wrapped around his snout, he was unable to reach her. Just before Vee left the illusory bubble, she saw Amara’s razor-sharp wings dig into Tadhgán’s legs, likely to prevent him from possibly recovering and throwing her off.

The world went quiet again as Vee left the illusion, and soon she’d fallen to her knees over Nick. His breath was ragged and panicked, though he appeared to be unconscious. Thick puncture marks lined his neck and shoulder, producing thick rivulets of blood that soaked his clothes and the sidewalk underneath him.

Vee’s own breath began to match Nick’s; panicked, irregular, desperate. The sounds of her pounding heart returned, blotting out all other noise as she tried to connect with her angelic powers.

She pushed her hands against his wounds, blood soaking her fingers, and Nick gasped in pain. Vee closed her eyes and reached for the miracle inside her, desperately pleading for its attention as she tried to heal her friend. She tried to recite her prayers, to think of everything she’d been taught growing up, but the failings of her own body kept distracting her.

Her prayers fell prey to the pounding in her head, her gasping breath forced away the calming Enochian magic of her soul. She barely even noticed the two figures that kneeled beside her; assuming they were Tessa and Chloé, Vee kept pushing.

Dull, flickering lights formed at her fingertips, and Vee snapped her eyes open. She stared intently at the bloody wounds beneath her hand, urging the magic to repair Nick’s body. Even without the full extent of her powers, a single scrap of her magic might help tip the tables in Nick’s favor. Voices clouded her head, people speaking and panicking nearby, but she tuned them out. The only thing that mattered now was Nick.

Minutes passed in agony as Vee forced herself to continue channeling the magic. Just like with her weapon, it seemed to have no desire to respond to her will, and every second she tried to force its existence only served to further exhaust her.

Despite her best efforts, she wasn’t able to stop the bleeding entirely. Many of the puncture wounds appeared smaller, more manageable, but now there was nothing else she could do. Tears streamed down her face as she started hyperventilating. She hugged herself tight, her hands digging into the sleeves of her jacket as she whispered under her breath, “God, please, don’t let him die. I can’t be the reason we lose Nick.”

A hand grabbed her shoulder, shattering her train of thought and pulling her attention elsewhere. She looked up to see Tessa, just as shocked and worried, but Vee couldn’t hear the words coming from her mouth. Off to the side, Chloé and Imani were attempting to calm down two frantic students that Vee had never seen before. Had she used magic in front of them? When Vee looked back at Tessa, she was kneeling over Nick, cradling him and pulling him into her lap as she gently stroked the side of his face.

Vee slid backwards, kicking herself away from Nick as she pulled her knees to her chest and wept.

Many hours later, Tadhgán’s monstrous form melted away with the rising of the sun. He shrank to his normal size, the transformation rendering him unconscious, and the group finally had an opportunity to relocate to a more discrete location. Nick had long ago been moved to facilities underneath Lysander Hall; not exactly the best place to recover, but certainly the best place to contain him should he end up transforming as well.

Vee had stayed by Amara’s side the entire night, watching closely as she held Tadhgán down for hours on end. It had become immediately obvious that he recovered at incredible speeds, and Amara was forced to repeatedly injure him to prevent him from gaining enough strength to break free.

They were unable to use the central chamber, as it housed four excitable wolves, and instead set up Nick and Tadhgán in neighboring rooms elsewhere in the facilities. After watching Amara place Tadhgán down, Vee wandered next door to check on Nick. She sighed in relief as she saw Ruby kneeling over his unconscious body, carefully tending to his injuries as Tessa watched from the doorway.

With a deep, unsteady breath, Vee mustered enough strength to speak. “How’s he doing?”

“He’s alive,” Ruby muttered, “but it was a nasty bite. I was most worried about damage to his major arteries, but he got lucky. If this were a regular patient, I’d say to expect a full recovery in a few months, but…”

“But we know what bit him,” Tessa hissed.

“…Yeah,” Ruby said. “I don’t know what that means for Nick. Will he heal faster? Will his body hulk out tonight and reopen all these wounds? For fuck’s sake, I was just starting to wrap my head around demons and angels, but now we’ve got fucking werewolves running around and I just—”

Vee stepped closer and placed a hand on Ruby’s shoulder. “Hey, you’re doing great. He’s alive, and you’ve given him the best chance at recovery he’s going to get.”

Ruby smiled at Vee, but before she could say anything, Tessa cut her off. “Speaking of recovery, Vee, you want to tell me what happened back there?”

Unable to look Tessa in the eyes, Vee instead looked over at Nick. She watched him breathe, encouraged by the subtle rising and falling of his chest, before she found her voice again. “I… I did my best to heal him, but…”

“I know what your healing magic looks like, Vee. What I saw last night? That wasn’t it.”

Tessa’s words hissed with accusation, and Vee instinctively recoiled from her friend. “My magic, my powers, they’re… I don’t know. I’m losing them.” She looked down at her hands, still partially stained with Nick’s blood. Memories of desperately trying to save him resurfaced, and she knew that Tessa had every right to be upset with her.

Instead, shockingly, Tessa stepped closer and pulled Vee into a hug. Despite ostensibly being a gesture of camaraderie, the motion was tense and stilted, as if Tessa were forcing it to happen against her own judgment.

Neither said anything for several seconds, and eventually Vee muttered, “You’re not mad at me?”

“I’m furious, Vee,” Tessa said, her hands gripping the back of Vee’s jacket with uncomfortable intensity. “I want to yell and scream at you for not healing Nick, for not telling us about your powers, but… I also can’t deny you had no reason to; we haven’t seen anything scarier than a wolf in months. I want to wring Tadhgán’s stupid neck for not telling us about being a werewolf, to slap Nick silly for bringing him to such an isolated location, but what about me? I trusted him, I trusted Tadhgán, I’m the one that ignored them both so I could try and work on that stupid circle under the cafeteria. What if he doesn’t make it? What if it’s all my fault for not… for not…”

Tessa’s grip softened, then she buried her face in Vee’s shoulder. Without hesitation, Vee returned the hug, pulling Tessa close and doing her best to comfort her scared friend.

Heavy silence set upon the area, broken only by the occasional sounds of the wolves in the nearby chamber. Nick occasionally twitched in discomfort, and each movement drew immediate attention from Ruby. Beads of sweat slowly appeared on his forehead, and as Ruby wiped them away, she carefully tucked a thermometer underneath Nick’s tongue. Her expression after checking the result was anything but encouraging.

“He’s got a fever. His temperature has been steadily rising ever since I got here, but I have no idea what that means. Any chance we’ll be able to talk to that other guy soon? He might have answers about what’s going on,” Ruby said, turning to look up at Vee and Tessa.

A voice called out from the neighboring room. “I’ve been waiting for you to check on him, Ruby,” Amara said. “I had to do some heavy damage to keep him from breaking free, and it looks like whatever magical healing he had went away after he transformed back. If you don’t get over here soon, I’m just gonna start slapping him until he wakes up.”

“Alright, well, don’t do that,” Ruby huffed. She collected what little medical supplies she had in her first-aid kit, then stood up. Before leaving the room, she walked over to Tessa and handed her a wet hand towel. “Here, watch Nick for me, and holler if anything changes.”

Tessa nodded, then moved to sit behind Nick, carefully wiping the sweat from his brow before affectionately rubbing his cheek.