Keeper's Knowledge (Balancer's Soul cycle) (40 page)

“Tha
nk
s for the
swiftness, Princess.”
T
he blood quickly slowed
and bega
n clotting
. He stood before the red
liquid
stained the bed sheet. With his arm still in his
armpit he said “It looks like M
ark and I both need to get cleaned up. We will come back shortly. Sarah, you can wash your hands in the water ba
sin over there.” He looked to her
right. “Keep each other safe until we get back.” He looked at Mark. “Please get my cloak from my dresser and help me put it on.”

“Connor, I’m coming with you!”
Sarah
said strongly.

“No,
you’re
not!” He said in the same tone. “You cannot protect Kara by leaving her here alone. Mark and I will be
as
quick
as possible
. Keep yourselves safe
,
for our sakes.”

Kara grabbed her
wrist as
she
tried getting off the bed. “
We
understand, Brother.”

Mark quickly tied the cloak around Connor’s neck and took the door down.
He quickly closed the door and
heard them walking down the hall way.

Sarah
pulled
her
arm from
Kara’s painful grasp. “Why didn’t you object to their fool hardy chauvinism?”

“He wasn’t being chauvinistic, Sarah.” She said calmly. “He knew that
his
blood could instigate another fight. The two of them could move quicker and not need to watch our backs at the same time. We are surrounded by predators looking for weakened prey and if we went with them it would be seen that way. Why do you think three of my kind wanted to kill us. They thought we were weak
and were proved wrong because we are still breathing
. If we were prepared for them
,
this would not have ever happened. The fact was we would both be dead if it weren’t for you two…By the way how did you two get to us so quickly?”

“Would you believe me if I said Connor knew something was about to happen and was
al
ready
awake
beforehand
?”
Sarah
scooted off the bed and went t
o the basin of water to clean her
bloody hands and
the
needle.

“It wouldn’t have been the first time actually.” She said evenly.
Sarah
had to look
at her to see if she was lying. S
he wasn’t. “
One time Brother knew that something w
as going to happen when he was
fifteen and
I was
fourteen. We were riding in the car with Mom, Brother was in the front passenger side and I was in the backseat
thinking up something for April Fools Day and scare him
. Brother
suddenly
grabbed the steering wheel and shoved his
long
foot on the brake. Mom
was about to
yell at him until a
n eighteen-wheeler
didn’t stop at the stop sign and barreled through the intersection. If Brother didn’t do what he did, the
car
would have crushed us into a million pieces.” She picked up the bloody rag
of his former shirt
and tossed it in the trash bin. “Brother’s instincts are not something to tak
e lightly. I have never known them
to be a false alarm.”

“How odd.”
Sarah
admitted and sat down on the bed and she joined
her
. “Tell me some more stories
about him
.”

Connor
used
his
left hand to keep the front of
his
cloak closed.
His
right hand was still tucked tightly
and immobilized
in
his
left armpit.
The
shoulder was still in pain, but it wasn’t throbbing with each heartbeat any more. Sarah’s sut
u
ring
skills were very quick
and efficient
. He
barely felt them as she closed
the puncture wounds. He
tested
his
shoulder muscles and knew
he
was already beginning
to regenerate from the damage. He
smiled to
hi
mself because
he
tightened
those
muscles
, just in time,
when
the lion-man
chomped
down on his
shoulder.
That added
muscle strength stop
ped
hi
s jaws from ripping a chunk out
. It was difficult not to scream, but laughing made a more threatening realization.
Connor
was also glad Mark relocated
his
shoulder back in its socket in one swift motion.

He
heard the girl
s talking silently as he and Mark
started walking down the
hallway yet again. Mark watched his
back as
they
made
their
way to the front.

Liz
remained
on ale
rt as she sat behind the desk. Connor
nodded
as
he
tried leaving. “Connor, wait.” She said calmly. She lifted the latch
of her desk
and came around. Her voice took on a whisper. “Can I see what he did to you?
I can smell blood from miles away.
” He
sighed and nodded to Mark. He stepped in front and lifted the front of
the
cloak, but before she saw
his
shoulder she focused on
his
tattooed chest. “Wow you
’
r
e
built.” She complimented
absently
. Liz’s silver eyes moved to
the
shoulder and she sucked in a breath through her white teeth. “I wouldn’t have been able to laugh
like that
if I was in your situation.”

“
It wasn’t easy for me either.” H
e
glanced down the hall. “I’m sorry Liz, but we need to clean up before our mates become any more worried
than they already are
.” She looked down the hallway and nodded. “We will be back soon.”

Mark and
Connor
made it over to the bath h
ouse without anyone bothering them
.
They
saw a pair of Changers prowling around, but they gave the two of
them
a wide berth. The Keeper bowed back to
them
and handed
over fresh
bat
h
ing kits. She notice
d the blood, but said nothing. Connor
took both
his
cloak
and black pants with him
into the open room.

He
entered the shower stalls
immediately
and turned the water faucet on.
While the water quickly warmed he
scanned
the
surroundings to only see a male Keeper swimming laps inside the heated pool. Mark took the next stall and a
lso turned on the water. Connor
let
his
right hand slowly drop from
his arm
pit and it wasn’t as painful anymore
, but it was still
throbbing
sore.
He
used
his
left hand to untie the strings that held
the
cloak
together
and
let the water wash the blood away from the inside. Once it was finished
he
laid the wet cloak over the stall screen and stepped under the warm water. It felt good and helped to wash away the blood, but
he still had a problem. He
couldn’t scrub
his own
back which was going to
be embarrassing. A
solution
came to mind
, but first
he
scrubbed
his
pants with
his
left arm while they were still
fastened to
his
hips.

He
looked to
Mark
as he finished scrubbing off the blood off h
imself. “Mark, can you go grab two
mirror
s
for me please?”

He turned off the water and said “Sure thing.”
Connor
turned
his
back so the faucet co
uld beat on
the damaged
right shoulder.
Mark
tied a towel around his
hip and walked out of the room and returned soon after with two hand held mirrors. He handed them over the top of the shower stall.

He
used
his
right hand to hold the mirror in front of
his
face and the other one behind
his
back
and
adjusted them so that
he
could see
his
back
clearly
. It looked as bad as it felt.
He
decided that it was now time to test
that idea. He
brought
the
power forth and focused on the blood
clinging to his
back.
Connor
imagined how the blood lifted off
his flesh
and
flow
away from the wounds.
A
cool flowing sensati
on
began
emanating from
his
back and
knew he
was using Liquid from its feel.
H
e
watched as the blood lifted off
his
hairless back
and
whisked
away with the water.
Connor
waited until every speck of blood w
ent down the drain
.

M
irrors
served their purpose well and were
sat
down on the shower
’
s ledge and
he
turned off the water.
Like before he pulled water from the cloth with power over Liquid
.
He
was glad
he
did because some blood was still stuck inside
the
trousers.
He
also pulled the water from
the
white cloak, but Mark didn’t want
him
t
o do it for his leather pants. Connor
reti
ed the dry cloak back around his
neck
, unaided, to cover his
chest.

Finished and feeling
both
clean and better,
they
returne
d
the
baskets and bowed to the K
eeper as
they
made
their
way back towards the cabin.
They
walked silently together
,
carefully scann
ing
the
surroundings for any threats.
They
opened the front door and Liz smiled at the two of
them
.

They
made it to
their
room and it was silent
and the light
were
off.
Connor
began to worry as
he
opened the door and sat it aside. Immediately
he
saw that Sarah had
Fangs in both of her hands and Kara was in her wolf state. Sarah let out a heavy sigh and slid her weapons back in their homes. “Thank goodness…We thought that you would have been
back
here ten minutes ago.” She walked into the light. “Let me see how your wounds look.”

“Can we come inside first?” Mark asked
,
looking
casually
over his s
houlder. She stepped back and they
entered. She insisted that she should shut the door
, but she turned the light on in the room
first
. Mark knelt
down
in front of Kara. He rubbed her head. “Sorry for taking so long. The blood was difficult
to get out of our clothes.”