Forsaken: The World of Nightwalkers by Jacquelyn Frank Read Free Book Online Page B

those that had been occupied by Jesus.
    Rosarita Alvarez would have been shocked to shit to see an angel like this one.
    The Angel turned back to look at Marissa. “Since you are barely Blended, you are very likely unable to access all of what Hatshepsut knows about my breed. But if you turn yourself inward she will assure you that no one can care for your mate’s soul better than someone of my breed can. At least, in the short run.”
    Marissa nodded as tears trembled on the curves of her lashes. “I can feel that.”
    “Then you must believe me when I tell you there is very little time for us to repair the damage done to Menes and his host.”
    “Jackson,” Leo bit out. “His name is Jackson and he’s worth ten of your Menses…or whatever his name is.”
    “Menes,” the Angel corrected him, somehow making him feel like navel lint with just the dismissive tone in her voice. It was very clear what she thought of him. “Menes, the most powerful unifier in all Egyptian history. Menes, the leader of this vast race of very extraordinary peoples. Have you any idea what it takes for two souls to inhabit the same corporeal body like this? If you would look with eyes other than those filled with anger and contempt you might come to appreciate that.”
    Damn.
Two slap downs in as many minutes. Leo felt a sudden urge to smile, but he fought it back. This was hardly the time for amusement. Still, it was a little nice to know he could find appreciation and humor in things again, no matter how small or fleeting.
    “All I appreciate is that something I don’t understand just tried to kill my best friend,” he said sharply. “You said you could help? So
help.
”
    “I can temporarily trap his souls within his body,” she said, clearly ignoring his tone and the threat that bracketed it. “The power the imp used has severed his spinal cord at the midpoint of his neck, effectively paralyzing him. But more importantly, it has rent a hole in his aura…a hole through which his souls might escape. Our souls are tethered to our bodies quite tightly. This is necessary because every injury the body suffers opens a hole, however temporary, in the fabric of the aura that contains that soul. Think of the aura as an embryonic sack and your soul is the baby within it. Any injury causes a small tear in that sack. The greater the injury the larger the hole, and the larger the opportunity for an untethered soul to escape prematurely. This injury and the power that was used to create the rent have also severed the tethers to his souls and left an enormous tear in the aura containing them. I’m amazed he is still harboring both of his souls. It is a testament to his strength of spirit and will that his souls didn’t burst free of him at the moment of injury.
    “I can close the hole in his aura, keeping his souls from exiting, but I cannot regenerate the tethers and neither can he. Not spontaneously. And until those tethers are repaired he will not wake, he will not sleep, and he will not be able to recover from the injury. And, after enough time has passed with him in that kind of state, his aura will disintegrate in entirety and he will die. This is a state similar to when a human is comatose. Eventually the body withers and the person dies. In this case, the aura will wither and the souls will move on.”
    It sounded utterly nightmarish to Leo. He knew Jackson. What she was describing was a fate worse than death for men of action like Jackson and himself. The idea of becoming a burden on others, of tormenting loved ones instead of allowing them to grieve and then move on with their lives, was intolerable. And that was to say nothing about what it might feel like from Jackson’s perspective. What if he could feel the brokenness of his body? What if he was aware of every single excruciating moment that he remained trapped in that painful sort of limbo?
    “Is he aware?” Leo asked softly.
    “Not as you might desire,” the Night Angel