Ascension - Book Eight - Man x Man

Chapter 85

Helen sits beside me as we reside on the porch, the chill of the air felt good on my injuries as my leg was slow to heal much as my collar bone. Adriam was keeping me medicated, I couldn't stay here for much longer if I wished to keep it from the knee down. 

"Are you scared?" She asks, glancing toward the wrapped limb. 

"How can I be knowing what he's going through?" It was a body part, easy enough to get by without in today's society it would seem. Helen had nearly lost an arm in our fight with the wraiths, I'd been maimed and brutalized, and losing a leg seemed almost justified at this point. A part of me almost felt like it was about time. 

Scoffing at myself, I sip my coffee as the van takes Echo away. She would be hospitalized, there was nothing we could do for her here, he had done damage to her neck and brain, it would appear as though it might be a long recovery if she ever did wake up. 

Watching them load her as if she was fine china, her body so limp, I was glad he couldn't see this. They'd also sent another van for the bodies, lycan bodies were valuable and the government couldn't risk anyone harvesting off of them. They would take samples, then they would burn the corpses. Ron approaches the steps with a haunted look, nodding to me with a half-hearted bow. He'd lost so much weight since I first met him. 

"I knew Mr.Mercer was powerful-"

I stop him, lifting my head as I pull the blanket a little more firmly around my shoulders. "This is so much more than a lycan tantrum, make sure the media does not associate Verando with any of this. It was a rebel attack, we were not involved, Caspian has been killed and we are not pursuing any leads as it appeared to have been a gang war over territory. Do you understand?"

Ron pulls his hat a little tighter down over his head, shuffling into his coat as the misty fog rolls through the tree cover. "As always, Mr.Mercer."

My lips part but I remember I'm married to the man, I would be a Mercer as well. 

"Thank you Ron, I'm sorry, it's just been hell here."

"Nobody knows the service you do, the sacrifices that are made, I can't understand the pressure you're under but I do know that people don't mean their tone or their words when they're scared. I hope you can get a handle on whatever it is, Nicolas. We believe in you." he nods to me, offering a kind smile to Helen before departing the steps. 

The aged eyes don't drift towards the barn, he didn't want to see the man caged there. When people invest in something, their entire body seems to angle them, even without seeing his face I could tell he was angled away with every fiber of his being. Verando had been under his care since he'd been purchased by the government. 

It must upset him to know it'd turned out this way. 

Adriam was taking the time to do a mental evaluation on Xaiver who'd decided to stop speaking. The boy was silent, nearly mute, Adriam figured that it was from fear rather than injury. He would eat, he would nod or shake his head, but anything beyond that was something he was either unwilling to do or currently unable. Emotionally damaged from watching the carnage, I truly couldn't blame him. The little boy was barely two, he hardly had any words, to begin with. 

But, I couldn't keep sending him away. Not when he needed me, not when I was the only one he was truly willing to settle with. He'd clung to me all night in my bed, or so I'd been told, my body was stiff from holding myself still subconsciously to keep from hurting him. 

Tomas strides out onto the porch, staying back in the shade though with the cloud cover he was more willing to venture further out. "I must say, this ain't what I'd hoped for a reunion when Adam said da void 'ad been lifted."