No Peace for the Damned

the side of the road? Yeah, right.
    With heavy feet I chided myself all the way back to bed. I hadn’t even bothered throwing on real clothes. I still wore the same camisole and panties that I’d gone to bed in. These new emotions were going to be the death of me, I just knew it. I pulled the sheet up over my face and sighed.
    The monitor beeped twice. My stomach dropped. Tires slowly churned over the gravel drive. The engine shut down. A car door shut quietly and footsteps moved softly to the porch.
    The single beep of the alarm made me jump as the front door opened and closed.
    I couldn’t move.
Theo
. His thoughts were a mess, the energy around him mangled with anger and fear and something else.
    Quietly, he moved to the kitchen. Cabinets opened and closed. The small light over the stove flipped on, casting shadows in the hall outside my open bedroom door. I crept from my bed to the doorway. I could see him, leaning with his backside against the table, hovering over the contents of the first aid kit. The rips in his clothes, the blood on his hands, all conducive to my midnight memories.
    Memories. Not dreams or fantasies.
Oh God
. What did this mean?
    Theo hissed as he fumbled with his sleeve. Suddenly, nothing else mattered.
    I went to the sink and pulled out some dish towels and a large glass bowl. I turned on the faucet and the rush of water echoed through the house. His eyes watched my every movement, his gaze hot on my back. I wet the clean towels and filled the bowl with warm water.
    When I turned off the faucet, the silence was even louder than before. With a gulp I turned to face him. Time stood still when our eyes met. I carried his gaze until I stood directly in front of him. My hands shook as I lifted the wet towel from the bowl.
    I had no clue if he would let me do this. And when I looked up to his face, there was a new darkness there that gave me pause. He knew now just how strong my mental abilities were. It had been a leap of faith for him to trust me while at the estate. Thepain of his wounds, the absoluteness of my power, the fact that he’d escaped—his mind struggled to hold onto what was real.
    I held the dripping towel up for him to see. He frowned, but after a moment, nodded. I lowered the cloth slowly, brushing it along his shoulder and neck. His eyes shut tight and his body tensed. Gently, I pulled what was left of his shirt away from his back, trying my best to ignore his shivers so I could do what was necessary. What no one had ever done for me when I’d been hurt.
    Deep gashes raced across his back. His skin was freckled with the blisters of third-degree burns. The tears in his flesh extended over his upper arms, distorting several tattoos there and crisscrossing in ways I hadn’t realized when we were running through the woods. But worst of all was the deep laceration just above his right shoulder blade. Someone had dug into his back with a perforated spear, one with tiny, razorlike teeth along the spear’s head. I knew the weapon intimately, as well as the pain it caused.
    Seeing his injury, knowing how it was created, a hot anger swelled in my chest. I wanted blood. The demand was like a thirst. Someone needed to bleed for what had been done to him.
    But then the shredded skin around the edge of his wound began to ooze a green metallic puss.
Damn it!
The spear had been poisoned. I leaned back on my heels with a curse. I met Theo’s gaze. “I can heal it,” I whispered.
    A million thoughts passed behind his eyes. I could almost see each individual one. Finally, the line of his mouth tightened and he gave a curt nod.
    I moved slowly, leaning completely over the side of his body. His heat warmed my face and tensed my body. I could place a hand on his shoulder and it would heal him, but like with Charles, it would be excruciating. Then, I’d cared more about getting the healing over with than the pain it might cause. Now, I didn’t want to hurt Theo any more than necessary. So I used my breath.
    With the gentlest breeze I could manage, I blew a focused breath across his shoulder and let my power flow over him. I watched as the muscle knitted itself back together. Within seconds, new, shiny skin covered the wound. He shivered but he didn’t stop me. I crawled onto the table and curved around him, positioning myself to breathe on the rest of his injuries.
    I dipped my head to his waist and caressed his lower back with my breath. I tried to focus on nothing but his wounds, but