The Worth of a Coin (BxB)

Chapter 47

-Ruarc Brennan-

I couldn't think. There wasn't a single thought running through my head which wasn't a really large scream of panic and sadness as I held the pale and shaking Quan in my arms. I had tried to wake him up a few times throughout his spell, but I couldn't. No matter what I tried, his heart slowed down, and his breathing became non-existent.

He had been in his trance for around an hour., during which he was fine. He just mumbled some words under his breath and shifted slightly. But then his eyebrows creased, and he became paler than he already was. I could telly hat he was somehow distressed, and I held off until the last moment to try and bring him back to the present, but he showed no signs of being able to hear me.

I had immediately called for Jade and Kenji to come up here. The worst sign of it all was Clover bounding up the stairs, scratching at the door and then jumping on Quan's chest. I had seen many concerned cats in my time, but none of them looked as worried as Clover did at that moment.

"What do you mean he's stopped breathing?" Jade asked hurriedly, rushing over to us and sitting on the other end of the bed, reaching for Quan's arm and looking for a pulse, but there were no sounds of his breathing anyway. I knew she could tell that, but she was trying to convince herself that she was mistaken. "What was he doing? How could he just stop breathing?"

I was barely comprehending her questions as she began allowing white light to transfer between herself and Quan.

"He was seeing if his mother was alright and if we can help her," I answered in the most unconfident and shy tone I'd ever used. Because I hadn't been as scared as I was at this moment, even when Quan was kidnapped, I was able to convince myself that he was probably still alive. It was different now, he was lying in my arms without breathing, with a slowing heartbeat and inches away from death.

"Oh, he's an idiot," Kenji commented, moving to kneel by the bed, watching him and focusing on his chest, probably trying to hear his heartbeat. "I don't' know a lot about magic, but that kind of stuff takes a lot out of you, and it also takes your soul from your body."

"It does what?" I questioned. "What do you mean it takes the soul from the body?" That sounded incredibly dangerous.

"Oh my gosh, if you hear what people say, then don't repeat, just reply to it," Jade said with a frustrated sigh. I assumed that it was something she was holding in up until the vault in her mind got too full and started spouting things which irritated her.

I was going to point out that she'd done the same thing to me earlier, but I paused and shook my head. Quan was my top priority.

"When a witch sues magic to be somewhere else or see something else in the present time, they make their souls leave their body and that leaves both the soul and the body vulnerable to attacks," Kenji explained. "You're here, so the body is safe, but there might be something wrong with his soul."

"Something wrong with his soul?" I repeated. "This seems far too spiritual for my knowledge." I knew nothing about souls, it was something I tried to heavily avoid over my time as a vampire. Not to mention the fact that most folklore and media about vampires declared we didn't have souls. "But then where does the term soulmates come from?" I really didn't know why I asked such a stupid and irrelevant question, but it slipped from my mouth anyway.

"That's it." Kenji nodded his head. "Soulmates are connected by the soul, so maybe you're pulling him back here and he just needs to actually accept it."

My frown deepened. Was I the cause of his suffering and current state? I didn't want to be, obviously. I didn't want to hurt him; I didn't want his life to be in any kind of danger at all.