Rivers of blood and sand

The grass was blackened in a way I’d never seen before. It wasn’t charred or burned, but wilted and frail looking, the kind that crunched underfoot. From what I could see through the blood and gore, the animal species varied and were the types you’d expect to find in a forest.

Getting closer to the stench and horrible sight was the last thing I wanted to do. I was barely holding back my urge to gag as it was. But I knew that was what I needed to do, to find out if the stench of death and decay came from the dead animals, or if it was something else. There was more going on here than just dismembered bodies. The dead grass and malignant energy wouldn’t be here otherwise.

It was times like these that I regretted having such a strong sense of smell.

I stopped at the edge of the circle, hesitant to step on the unnatural grass. My body rebelled at the idea and refused to move forward an inch. Ander joined me on the outside of the weirdly perfect circle, seeming unwilling to set foot on the blackened grass as well. His shrewd gaze tracked over the body parts. “Death is in the air.”

“No shit,” I muttered, waving my hand at the scene in front of us.

He ran both hands through his hair and groaned. My lips twitched at his display of annoyance. “That’s not what I meant and you know it. The magic itself is pure death. I’m surprised you can’t feel it.”

“I’m not sure what I’m feeling, but what I do know, is that one of us will have to take a closer look.” I pinned my focus on him, hoping he’d volunteer. Unfortunately for me, he continued standing there, staring at the carnage in quiet contemplation.

I went as far as hovering my foot over the grass, but I couldn’t make myself take that final step. Heaving out a frustrated sigh, I turned around and stormed toward one of the fallen trees, grabbing a hold of a thin branch and snapping it from the trunk. Ander raised his eyebrows at me as he pressed his lips together when I returned. I shot him a dark look daring him to make fun of me. He hadn’t been willing to step on it either.

Unlike in the Dark forest, as Jade called it, the grass didn’t crunch like I expected when I poked it with the stick. I would’ve preferred it to have made that sound. Instead, a disgusting squelching sound filled the air as black liquid seeped from the grass around where the stick made contact. Dropping the stick, I backed away from the circle, putting a healthy distance between us. Good thing I hadn’t stepped on that shit.

Ander knelt beside the ruined grass, his hand hovering over the inky liquid. “This is blood.”

I knelt next to him, my shoulder brushed his as I took a closer look. The liquid was thick—way thicker than any blood I’d ever seen before. The black was darker than normal black, if that was even possible, and was the kind that seemed to absorb all light.

For the first time in nearly ten minutes, I breathed in through my nose and nearly gagged. It was almost impossible to sort out the scents with the death and rot stealing all my attention. Another dominant smell was the blood, but with all the dead animals nearby, it wasn’t a surprise. All I knew was that mutilations like this didn’t happen on their own and grass didn’t normally bleed. Whatever was going on here was far from natural.

“Can you sense what type of blood this is?” My voice was quiet as I tried to avoid disturbing the scene.

Ander’s eyes briefly met mine, the icy chill nowhere to be found. They weren’t warm by any means, but at least he wasn’t glaring or scoffing. His dark eyebrows were pulled together, creating a crease between them as he pursed his full lips. “I’m not sure. I know it’s not from a Mythic. I’ll have to physically touch the blood to get any sort of reading from it." Based on his expression, that was the last thing he wanted to do. I couldn’t blame him, I hadn’t been willing to step on it and I was wearing shoes.

Pursing my lips, I eyed the viscous blood pooled on the grass. “Are you sure it’s safe?”

“Are you worried about my safety?” A hint of a smile played on his lips, and not a cruel or mocking smile, but a teasing one. My entire focus zeroed in on his lips, and now that I knew how they felt against mine, I craved them more than ever before.

Somehow I managed to pull my attention up to his eyes. “No, I’m just worried about what Jade would do to me if I brought you back damaged,” I murmured, essentially using the same reasoning he used earlier.

Shooting me a smirk that said he didn’t believe me, he dipped his fingers in the blood. His body tensed a few seconds later, a pained grunt following. He opened and closed his mouth, but no words came out. As his eyes rolled to the back of his head, he collapsed forward and the upper half of his body landed on the blackened grass. More of the thick and unnatural blood oozed from where he made contact.

My heart was pounding so hard I was surprised it hadn’t smashed through my rib cage and out my chest. His normally bronzed skin had already significantly paled. I grabbed his ankle, summoning as much strength from my dragon as I could, and dragged him back onto the lush grass. Not only was he now a sickly pale color, but blood oozed from his ears and nose. Red blood. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

My hands shook as I checked his pulse. Relief and worry warred within me when I felt his slow heartbeats. While I didn’t like how sluggish his heart was beating, as long as he had a pulse there was still hope.

I was one of the worst Mythics for this to happen around, not having a clue what I should do to help him. Was I supposed to give him CPR like the humans did? Harmony would know what to do as would Ander.

It was hard to think right now with my racing and panicked thoughts. I only knew basic first aid, and even that was escaping my thoughts. Even if I could remember, I had no fucking clue what was going on with him.

After taking a deep breath to try and sort out my chaotic thoughts, I decided it was best to figure out the cause of this reaction. It was safe to assume the blood was the reason. He’d been fine right up until he touched it. The strangely thick blood was still on his fingers, the right side of his face, his arms, and the front of his shirt from when he fell. The first course of action for me should be to remove it.

Ripping off a strip of fabric from the bottom of my shirt, I scrubbed at his fingers, and to my horror, it refused to come off. It wasn’t hard or crusted, more like a gel that bonded to his skin. The blood on the rest of his body acted in the same way.

With shaking hands, I activated the crystal on my wristband and called up Seth, my panic and anxiety building as I waited. I nearly collapsed in relief when he finally answered after what felt like forever. His golden brown hair was damp and his olive-toned skin was flushed. His relaxed expression vanished in an instant. “What’s wrong?”

A sob built in my throat, and I was just barely able to stop it, crying wouldn’t help right now. “It’s Ander. He touched some strange blood and he passed out. I can’t get the damn blood off of him. Seth, he’s really pale and his pulse is way too slow.” Even though I stopped myself from crying, the panic was evident in my voice, and had Seth’s expression growing more worried by the second. I normally was able to keep my cool, so the fact that I was unable to do so right now had him on edge.

“What kind of blood did he touch? What color?” Seth asked in a rush, his words clipped.

I shot a helpless glance at Ander, watching his shallow breaths. “It’s black and weirdly thick, but other than that I don’t know. It came from the grass. Ander said he didn’t know where it came from. I can’t get this shit off of him, it’s like it’s alive.” At this point, I didn’t care about how my voice shook as I rushed through my words. All I cared about was helping Ander.

“Where are you?” He was on the move and called out an order to someone offscreen.

“In the Wilds, where Wyatt said something felt off.”

“I’ll be there in a few minutes. Watch over him and whatever you do, keep his heart beating. I can’t help him if he’s dead.” He didn’t bother wasting time with goodbyes, or giving out any reassurances before he hung up. While some might think that was rude, I knew him and knew it meant he was taking this seriously.

I probably could’ve and should’ve called Wyatt, since it was his idea for me to come out here. I’d been in such a panic and went with my first instinct—well second, my first would’ve been to call Koa, but he wouldn’t have been able to help. I’ve worked with Seth for the past couple of years and knew if anyone could help, it’d be him.

“You better stay alive, you stubborn bastard,” I murmured as I placed my ear on his chest. His thready pulse had a vice clenching my chest as I sucked in a shaky breath. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I was afraid of what Jade would do to me.”

When I grabbed the hand free of the unnatural blood, my entire body locked up at how cold it was. I'd never touched a dead body before, but this was how I imagined it felt. His shallow breaths were still lifting his chest—not as much as I would’ve liked—and I was still able to hear his heartbeats. Those sounds were the only things keeping me from letting the fear overwhelm me. Why did he have to insist on following me out here?

“What the hell were you thinking?” I asked, my voice breaking.

How long had it been since Seth hung up? It felt like it had already been a few minutes and therefore he should’ve been here by now. Time made no sense to me at this moment, it was going by way too fast but also was too fucking slow.

My fears of him dying on my watch started coming to life when his wheezing and shallow breaths stuttered. A few moments later his chest stilled, as did his heart. The vice clenching my chest tightened to the point where it was hard for me to breathe as I strained my hearing, hoping I’d pick up on a faint heartbeat, but I didn’t.

I somewhat knew how to perform CPR, and by that, I mean I spent a day binge-watching a doctor show when I was healing from a nasty injury a couple of years ago. It counted. I refused to believe otherwise.

Careful to avoid the thick blood, I tore his shirt down the middle and exposed his chest. The black ink of his tattoo stood out in sharp contrast to his waxy complexion. Placing my hands in the middle of his chest, I was shocked to see he was now paler than me. I ignored my shock and how uncomfortable his freezing skin felt under my hands and locked my elbows as I gave him thirty chest compressions, counting under my breath as I did so. Willing my hands not to shake, I tilted his head back, pinched his nose, and covered his mouth with mine. Two breaths later, I resumed the chest compressions.

“Come on you fucking asshole, you’re not dying on my watch.” I tilted his chin up again and gave two more breaths.

This went on several more times, my anxiety through the roof as I worried whether or not I was doing this wrong. What if I was doing more damage? My pulse was unbelievably fast, almost like it was beating enough for the both of us. All of my thoughts were shut down, otherwise, I’d spiral and I couldn’t let that happen. I had one job, keep Ander’s heart beating, and I couldn’t fail him.

I was so focused on Ander and keeping him alive, I hadn’t noticed Seth’s arrival until he gently grabbed my shoulder. Jolting from my singular focus, I removed my hands from Ander’s chest as Seth knelt on the other side of him. His multifaceted green eyes scanned over Ander, focusing on the areas covered in blood.

Seth came prepared, pulling a thermos from his bag, and dumped the contents on the areas covered in blood. It was elemental water, the bright shade of blue, and the pulse of pure energy was a dead giveaway. The water coated the blood and sank into the viscous liquid, rather than washing it away as I thought it would.

Seth didn’t use his ring, he pulled out a blade and made a deep cut on his forearm without flinching. Blood immediately seeped from his arm and dripped onto Ander’s chest. “I’ll need as much energy as possible.” That was his unspoken way of asking for my blood. I didn’t hesitate. I held out my forearm to him and winced at the sharp sting as he made a deep cut.

Using our blood, he drew sigils on his forearm and the available spots on Ander’s skin. He paused his drawing and pulled out a pouch from his pocket. The pouch contained a golden shimmering powder that he sprinkled over the markings. Once the powder was covering all the sigils on Ander, he finished drawing the final sigil and they sank into his and Ander’s skin. He poured more of the elemental water on a rag and offered it to me. “For the blood.”

I dragged the rag over Ander’s cheek, using gentle strokes. Relief flooded through my body when the blood began wiping away. Seth joined me, using a rag of his own and soon his body was free of blood, both his and whatever the hell this shit was.

Once we were done, I pulled the scraps of his shirt from of his torso, careful not to touch the blood as I tossed it aside.

We waited for several tense moments, watching his chest, waiting for a sign of life. His chest moved with a sharp inhale as a thready heartbeat started up. My body sagged in relief as I dropped my face in my hands. I could've cried and probably would’ve if Seth weren’t around but for a very different reason than earlier. I didn’t look too closely into this, now was not the time.

Ander’s pulse strengthened and his breaths deepened. I never thought I’d be so happy to hear those sounds or to see his chest rise and fall with his even breaths. His eyes remained shut, but that made sense, he would probably be out for a while.

Now that all the adrenaline was leaving my body, I almost felt drained, as if I had just run over fifteen miles. I knew some of it was due to Seth using my blood. Normally, the amount of energy blood mages borrowed wasn’t enough to notice. But complex spells like he used required more energy. He may not have been showing it, but no doubt casting this spell has taken a toll on Seth.

I inclined my head toward the cause of this mess. “What the hell is that?”

Seth eyed the circle of death with disgust. He didn’t attempt moving closer and I couldn’t blame him, knowing firsthand how deadly that shit was. “A crude sacrifice of sorts and a disgusting misuse of magic.”

“Why would they do that? What would they have to gain from it?”

Never in our history—that I was aware of—has sacrificial magic been used. It wasn’t something our kind used. I wasn’t including the necromancers killing others in order to bring them back to life, since that was a little different.

Seth pulled his attention from the circle and back to me, the multiple shades of green swirling together, creating the most impossible shade of green I’d ever seen. “Now’s not the time to figure this out. We need to take him away from that shit, somewhere he can rest comfortably."

I opened my mouth, ready to point out that we were almost eight miles away from their house. Not only was it too far to carry him, but the storm that had been hovering on the horizon was nearing. The sky above us was murky gray.

“I spoke to Wyatt and he said there’s an abandoned cabin less than two miles away.”

I knew Seth was strong, but I was still impressed with how easily he picked up Ander and laid him over his shoulder. While I didn’t love the idea of going to an abandoned cabin in the Wilds, it was a whole hell of a lot closer than Ander’s house. With that in mind, I followed close behind Seth as we made our way to the cabin.