The woman’s mouth was opening and closing in shock at being addressed so rudely, but she shut up and watched.
“Thank you.” Henry looked back to his helpers. “No glossing over the fact that the process really hurts. I passed out, but I’d set up the spell to continue autonomously until it was done-” He looked sharply at the Fae who’d made a choking sound.
Looking into Raymond’s eyes. “I need you to keep hold of her arms and upper torso. I’m going to stand at the top of the table to power the spell.” He saw he had theirplete attention. “Ready?” They grimly nodded as Raymond took his position.
Henry examined the spell he’d made for the burn. He made a copy in his mind as he’d have to change how it was powered since he didn’t have the same linkage. He also ensured the instructions were generic enough to use on anyone with burns. When he had his new program linked up to his power nt spell, he connected himself to the Wild Magic stream once more, feeling it pull at him. Standing above Minkah, he looked down into her eyes. “I’m going to start now. Do your best to ride it out.” She nodded slightly, so he ced his right hand on her upper chest to send the spell and the energy into her. His left hand rested gently on her left cheek to calm her and feed her power to survive.
Heunched the spell.
Henry opened the intake on the power nt spell and felt the energy surge through him into Minkah’s body. Raymond and Mick gasped as they were picking up the overflow.
Minkah shrieked as her shoulder began to dissolve. They watched in horror as the burned areas melted off her body. She roared with a mix of terror and rage as she thrashed under the tight grip holding her to the tabletop. The dead and damaged cells were gone, and the open wound was sealed in a coating of green light.
The new cells were rapidly growing and filling in the wound. Minkah’s cries were strangled by the pain tearing through her. Her thrashing became more violent, and Mick called out for Yablonski to help her. The wide-eyed soldier rushed up to the opposite side of the table to grab one of Minkah’s legs while the Sergeant held the other down.N?velDrama.Org content.
“It’s going well, Minkah. Almost done,” Henry said gently as he poured energy into her body.
He was suddenly looking down at humanoid but very feline features. Under the stress of the pain, her human form shifted to that of a Bastet, and he was surprised at her elegant but alien beauty. The overall difference between her Human form and this true form wasn’t enormous except for being covered in short ck fur,rger eyes and feline pointed ears, a small T shaped nose, and her jaws containing some nasty looking fangs.
Slitted pupils red up at him, mad with pain. She roared, then lifted her head to sink those fangs into his right forearm.
“GGGNNNN!” Henry grunted through clenched teeth, but he couldn’t lift his hands from her body, or the spell would lose power, and Minkah would bleed out.
She was biting down so hard, and he was bleeding badly, but looking at her shoulder, he saw it really was almost done.
Minkah’s jaws suddenly rxed as she’d swallowed the blood. Her eyes closed as her head dropped back to the table.
Henry was still bleeding. He looked to Raymond. “You can seal the puncture wounds?”
He blinked at Henry in shock, then nodded.
First, Henry confirmed the spell had gone dormant, then he lifted his right hand and presented the punctured forearm to the Vampire. He quickly numbed the area with his tongue then licked the wounds until they closed.
Henry watched Raymond slump over Minkah’s body then slide off. The Sergeant caught him on the way down.
Minkah wasn’t returning to her Human form. Henry wasn’t sure how shapeshifters maintained their Human appearance. He began to worry that the Wild Magic he poured into her to heal her had messed up her ability to change. He looked desperately to the old Fae, who frowned at him.
“Shapeshifters don’t use mors. Just wait,” she snapped.
Minkah suddenly switched to Human faster than he could blink, and he saw she looked the same. He breathed a huge sigh of relief.
His patient healed, Henry stepped back from the table, but the world kept moving. He was running on empty and had nothing left to keep his legs under him. As he toppled forward, he saw the frightened and desperate look on Yablonski’s face as the man tried unsessfully to catch him.
The Silver Soldier wasn’t any more sessful at cushioning his fall.
-=-
Mick looked at the fallen people and realized this hadn’t gone as well as she’d hoped it would. She looked to the old woman in the cloak, but she just had a sour expression on her face as she spun and walked back into the building.
“Help! Mick!” Yablonski called out from the other side of the table. She walked around and saw Yablonski was stuck under Henry, who looked human once more, wearing a white t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. How the fuck does he do that? She had so many questions! She wondered if she would get answers to them. With Colonel Crane, there was a good chance she would.
She felt Henry’s strong pulse then worked with Yablonski to lift the big man enough to get her soldier free. They gently rested Henry back onto the patio deck. They stood together and looked at the two resting and fully healed patients on the tables and the unconscious people who’d healed them. Only Henry looked unchanged by what had just urred here.
The Sergeant moved closer to the woman Henry had just healed. She took a picture of the perfect, smooth skin where raw, cracked, and blistered skin had been before. Obviously, it was impossible, but she saw it happen. Her burnt skin was still on the ground under the table. She took a picture of that, too.
She looked to the tall man who’d helped hold her down, and he’d changed as much as his wife had. While he’d only added two inches to his height, his hair was long and white as well. His face had changed shape, too, though he could easily be taken as his brother or cousin as there was a strong resemnce to his original features. She looked to the surgeon, and her face was slightly longer with cheekbones to kill for. Damn.
Mick sighed. “Keep an eye on our sleeping beauties out here while I go in to get more assistance for carrying them back inside.” Yablonski nodded as she left.
Inside she found the group had moved to the seating area of the lobby. General Baines was storming into the chamber with murder in his eyes and the marine at his heels.
“Where is he?” the General barked.
“Who, General?” Mick said as she saluted the man. She rxed a little as she saw Colonel Crane entering the lobby with the others.
“The man with the ability to open doorways to other worlds! The biggest security risk this world faces,” the man snapped.
“He’s not your biggest risk at the moment.”
Mick turned to see therge red-bearded man standing a few feet behind her. Next to him was a blonde beauty who hadn’t been part of the group she’d met at the elevator’s earlier.
“Would that be you, then?” Baines snarled.
The redhead snorted. “Not by a long shot. Your biggest opponent justnded her castle atop a twenty-story office tower in lower Manhattan.”
The General paused as the words made no sense to him. “What? Landed her castle? It flies?”
“No, it… teleports from one spot to another, but this time it was beginning to tip and fall at its point of departure. It brought that angr momentum to its destination. No idea how much damage its arrival caused to the office tower. I understand a British Air Force jet just unleashed a series of missiles against the tiny offshore ind in Irnd-”
“Carrickhesk,” added the lovely blonde joining him.
The big man nodded to her then looked to the General. “This destroyed the foundations, so she had to quickly move her home to its alternate location, here in Manhattan. You can confirm these activities in both locations. Just don’t get too close to the castle here. She’s insane and deadly.”
Crane caught up to the General and gave him an annoyed look before looking to Mick. She gave him a nod to indicate all was good, and she saw him rx a little.
“I’m Colonel Crane, and this is General Baines of the US Army. There’ve been some unusual developments tonight, and they all seem connected to VRL.”
Mick saw his eyes veer from the big man to someone approaching from the elevator lobby. The bold click of heels against polished granite made Mick turn to look as well, and her eyes widened to see an absolutely gorgeous woman in a tailored business suit approaching them. There was something about her eyes that drew your attention, but it was her lips shing a brilliant smile that captured it. It clicked in her mind. This was the cktex skinned woman who’d had the axe wound!
“Wee to VRL, gentlemen. I’m Cam Vimor, the CEO. Maybe we could take this conversation to my office where it’s morefortable?”
“I’m not sure if that’s such a good idea,” Crane managed to say, and Mick’s respect for the man skyrocketed.
“Colonel, I can vouch for Ms. Vimor’s character and integrity, and so can Mr. Dawes here,” Hugh said as he entered the lobby with the Director of Homnd Security. Dawes looked to the CEO, and his eyes widened as did his smile. Mick turned back to look at Cam and approached her with a suspicious look.
“I bear no ill intent. I’m wearing my Human appearance forfort alone. Their attraction is just part of my nature,” Cam said to her quietly. “The Colonel is particrly impressive, though, isn’t he.”