Hell's Army

Chapter Twenty-nine- Sacrifices

"Abner," Rose whispered.

He blinked, and her face floated into view. "Oh. Hello."

"Look at me," she said, amber eyes shinning like the horizon.

"There was something..." he whispered as the world blurred at the edges. "Something I was supposed to tell you."

"It doesn't matter," she said.

"But it does. It really does." Blood pounded in his ears and swam across his vision in a dark haze. "Something important."

"Look at me," she said again, firmer this time.

"I'm sorry," he said suddenly. "I'm sorry. That's what it was."

"You don't have to be sorry." She took his hand, and it slipped limply to his knee and hung uselessly.

"I miss you."

She smiled. "I know. I miss you, too. But it doesn't have to be like this anymore. Just let go. Please, let go. Do it for me."

Something crawled weakly into the surface of his mind. "But, Christmas. I have to stop them...at Christmas."

"No, you don't."

"I do," he insisted, and coughed. Coughed again. Like he was choking on ash. "I do, or people- people will die."

"Look at me," she said, almost snarled. "They don't matter. I matter."

An earthquake erupted between his ears, and he fought through the rumbling to say, "Holly. I have to find Holly. Holly will know what to do."

Her hand whipped out and closed around his chin. "No. No, Abner, look at me. Just look at me."

But he didn't want to look at her. "Get out," he said.

Tears slipped down her cheeks. "No. No, you can't. You can't do this to me again."

"Get out!"

And she was gone.

All that was left was the hollowness in his limbs and the white hit pain scorching across his wrist. He shifted his shackled arm weakly. It was like trying to lift a sack of rocks. He looked around at the dust littering the room. Garrett had killed the guards the moment he'd woken up in his newfound state of mind. Ingleseid frowned. But the guards had been outside. Why would he kill them in the cell if they had been outside? His eyes scanned through the dust, and something glinted beneath it. He groaned as his hand reached out and closed around it. It was light and cold in his palm. The key.

Even though this wasn't really a situation that called for smiling, Ingleseid couldn't help quirking his blue lips. Because somewhere, deep down, his friend might still be alive.

He undid the handcuffs and stumbled into the tent, limbs shaking like a newborn birds. He spotted his phone sitting on a chair, snatched it up and dialled Holly's number.

"Holly..." he whispered when she picked up.

"Where the hell are you two?" she snapped. "I've been looking everywhere for you."

"Garrett-Garrett's gone. I'm at the carnival." The world blurred at the edges, and his knees gave out on him. "I could really use some rescuing right now," he murmured as everything slipped away.

****

Holly burst into Follows' apartment, Ingleseid's head lolling against her shoulder. "Follows!" she screamed.

She'd found him at the Lectis' Carnival, pulse as weak as sparrow's heartbeat. Promising her self she was going to kill those damn vampires, she laid him down on the floor.