Slay My Soul

Chapter 47 Max

"We need spades," I state, staring at the fresh grave in front of us. Sirus clips me around the ears and I growl at him. "Fragile, remember!"

"We have a Fae, dumb ass. He can move it easily, if you would kindly do the honors Sir," Sirus says, motioning Acassus forward. Acassus lowers me to the ground and then kneels at Eve's grave. He plunges his hands into the soil and the vines on his wrists slip free, extending from his fingers. The soil flows out of the grave as if repulsed, and soon Acassus's vines are lifting the casket out of the ground. His vines retreat and with a touch of his hand, the vines of the casket withdraw and he grabs at the glass so it doesn't fall in. We stare in shock at what is revealed in the casket.

Eve has desiccated.

"That's impossible, she hasn't been in there long enough to be like this," Sirus says confused. He reaches in and carefully lifts Eve out. "I need light." I pull my phone out and flick the torch feature on and pass it over. Sirus motions me to hand it to Acassus. "Hold it steady." He carefully unbuckles the armor and unzips the thin kevlar underneath. We had stitched the gaping hole in her chest closed. His claws lengthen as he carefully slices the stitches and pulls back the dry paper-thin skin. I look away. It's difficult to see Eve like this, with leathery skin and sunken eyes and cheeks. This is not how I wanted to remember her.

"What is that sound?" Acassus asks confused, cocking his head as Sirus works to remove the shrapnel from her chest. "It's like butterfly wings beating against glass." I concentrate and begin to hear what he does. I gingerly lean forward and the sound is clearer. I follow it on my hands and knees until I'm beside Eve on the opposite side of Sirus. I lean down but it's not coming from her heart. My ear stops at her belly button and I swallow bile.

"Um, I think something is in her stomach, maybe a bug?" I suggest, scooting back disgusted. Sirus stops his digging and scowls at us.

"What are you two blathering on about? What's in her tummy?" He scoots down and puts his ear directly on her stomach, he rests his head for a second before his eyes go wide and he rushes back to where he was working on her heart.

"What is it?" Acassus asks worriedly.
"I don't know which one of you morons didn't wrap it up, but I will not lose either of them because of you fools! Explains why she is so desiccated though." he rambles, plucking shards of metal out as fast as he can.

"English, Sirus!" Acassus growls on edge.

"She's pregnant you fool, the baby has sucked everything it can from its mother and is in distress. Eve's body can't support itself if her body is in limbo. I'll be fucked if my grandchild is dying here today. I need more light!" Acassus moves the light closer with shaking hands.

"We are going to be Dads?" He asks, awestruck.

"Only if we can get her vitals up and running," Sirus snaps at him. "Right, run your hand over. Tell me if you can detect any iron shards." Acassus does as told and directs the frantic vampire to the remaining shards, before checking again. Once the hound has given the all-clear, Sirus slices his own hand open and squeezes blood onto the shredded heart. We sit there in silence, waiting for the impossible to happen. But there is no new sound of a pulse or a breath. Sirus does it again, re-slicing his hand deeper and squeezing it into the gaping hole. More silence ensues. Sirus snatches my phone from Acassus and peers into the hole. He nods, "It's pulling together, but we've just got to keep the blood flow going, as the baby is trying to pull on it too." Acassus leans over and looks.

"Holy shit!" He slices his own hand and the two of them alternate slicing themselves to repair Eve's heart. Out of the blue, I hear a hesitant thump. Then silence. Another thump and a pause follows seconds later.