Throwing Stones in Glass Houses (Tentatively Ongoing)

Chapter 13: It's a Trap!

Hey folks. Kudos to anyone who gets the reference in the title. *sigh* I'm a real dork!

Just a quick note to say that I won't be updating this story again until May 15th (Update Day, curtesy of the lovely people of the Facebook group, if you're curious). My decision is partly due to the ongoing challenge and partly because my dissertation is due between then and now. Either way, I'm aiming on having upwards of 20,000 words on both of my stories uploaded then, so it'll be worth the wait.

"Raven?" Kota crumpled to his knees as Silas and Nathan lowered the unconscious Russian onto the carpet. He was trying to be delicate about it, given the extent of the man's visible injuries, but he had to be heavy enough to make that a challenge. "Raven!"

The usually placid Kota was shaking from head to toe, wringing his fingers together distractedly as his eyes flitted helplessly across his friend's pale, ashen face. I could barely imagine, having never been responsible for anything or anyone before, what he was going through, but it hurt to see his beautiful face so pained and worried.

"Let me see him," Sean said quickly. Moving forward through the group, he looked composed as he joined his brothers on his knees, but he stole furtive, worried glances at Kota's face when he thought the younger boy wasn't looking. I noticed, because I was doing the same.

In doctor mode for the second time today, Sean slid a steady hand onto Raven's forehead and then hovered the other over his chest. After a moment of tense silence, his free arm began to move as he examined the man using his gift. He was quick, methodical and efficient. Although it felt like half a lifetime before he broke concentration, it couldn't have been more than two or three minutes.

"He's not in any immediate danger." Sean glanced across at Kota once more before he looked up at the rest of us. "He just needs time and a few hours with a healer." He caught my eye and smiled then, and, despite the tension, I found myself smiling back at him. He seemed so certain, so sure that everything would be okay, that I couldn't help but believe him.

"I need to get out there!" Kota seemed to snap out whatever reverie had held him captive, and all of a sudden he was pushing himself up and heading for the door that led out into the family room. "With Raven here, Joel and Darren will be up by the gate alone. They need me!" He was halfway across the room before I think he realised that he had no idea how outnumbered they would be. "Luke. North; I need you!"

"I'm coming too," Sean insisted, wiping a streak of Raven's blood onto the hem of his white, collared shirt and pushing up off the ground with a groan. He staggered slightly as he straightened to his full height and Luke shot out a hand to steady him as he followed North to where Kota was shifting impatiently.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Master Blackbourne asked softly, fixing his brother with a gaze that would have been piercing, had I not known what lay beneath those steely lenses. "You can barely stand."

"I'm the best healer we have," Sean snapped back, seeming to stiffen at his brother's words. He squared his shoulders, shook his head as if that might somehow rid him of his weaknesses, and then turned to look at Kota and the others. "Go and help your men. I'll get my supplies and find the other healers, then I'll follow you when I can."

With a single, perfunctory nod Kota was gone, followed closely by North and Luke. I watched with concern, remembering how unsteady Dr Green had seemed after he'd helped Jade this morning, but he followed them out just a few seconds later. Now only six of us remained, marooned helplessly between the desk and the door, if I didn't count the unconscious man currently bleeding through the plush carpet.