Grim Echoes

Chapter 66 - Ander

"Were you wounded?" Ander asked Will. Both were covered in gore and blood. It was difficult to discern if any wounds were serious.

"Nothing that won't heal on its own, you?" Will reached for a bottle of vodka.

"Nothing permanent." he checked his lacerations.

"She pass out from her power knocking us all over?"

"Yes, it differed from before."

"You mean with the angel?"

Ander nodded and finished cleaning his wounds and pulled out supplies to sew them closed. "It seemed less directed, more an act of self preservation. Powerful but unfocused,"

"That cunt turned kids. I think that's why Tessa turned against her." Will tilted the bottle of vodka back and took a long drink. "Course Tessa didn't bother to mention that when she talked to me, must've rooted around in my head and known I'd flip out,"

Ander paused his stitches. He knew it would torture his cousin. Most of the creatures they destroyed were adults, but the ones in their teen years or younger haunted them both. War was vicious. No concern for anyone's moral compass. There was only violence and death over and over again.

"I believe Thana escaped with one of the children," Ander continued the stitches on his stomach.

"Yeah, she did. It was just her and the kid. Everything else was gone. Where was that guy Mort's head? Don't remember seeing it when we went back in."

Ander shrugged. "It was difficult to keep track of all the pieces," he replied honestly. No desire to admit he had allowed Mort to leave. Certain Will would be furious and not understand why he spared him. Although Mort told him that Lady Thana controlled him, he had defied her several times to be kind toward Maeve. Perhaps Mort had more power than he allowed to be seen or Maeve's effect on creatures was powerful. Either way, he had gone against Lady Thana's wishes, and could be useful in the future.

"Wyatt would be raging we didn't finish the job, and that cunt got away."

If Wyatt were still alive, he would have taken Will and charged after her until they were both dead or had destroyed her and left Ander to clean the house and bodies by himself. If they had lost the trail or were in general unsuccessful, Ander would have been blamed. A miscalculation, incorrect information, an erroneous strike in combat or whatever random reason Wyatt could contrive to have Ander be the cause of the problem. He paused his motion and glanced at Will. Why had Will not insisted on hunting Thana down? He was furious. The rage made his eyes shift. That was never a positive sign.

"What are we to do now?" Ander gestured to Maeve before he began the stitches on his arm.

"Guess we start training her to defend herself till we figure out what else we can do,"

Quite suddenly, Maeve bolted up in the bed, her eyes wide and filled with fear. She looked at both of them and then at the surroundings before she fell back onto the pillows with a sigh. She reached up and touched the bandage on her neck. "Before we leave, can we stop for dinner? I'm starving,"

"Yeah, we can grab some grub on the way out. We need to clean up first." Will stood and took clothes out of his bag before entering the bathroom.

Ander finished stitching his arm.

She turned her dark eyes to him. "How did Will get out of his zip-ties?"

Not the question he had expected. "We have both trained on how to break them,"

"Right, that makes sense. What about the chains?"

"The vampire who wanted us to destroy Lady Thana arranged for us to be freed."