Dark Secrets (Dark Heritage #1)

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Finn ran for almost twenty whole minutes before collapsing from exhaustion in the middle of an empty field. When he dropped to the ground I was pinned under him, and his elbow dug painfully into my ribs, making it almost impossible to get air. I shoved and pushed, but Finn wouldn’t budge, and he didn’t answer any of my questions. He just moaned quietly, and stopped moving.

  Finally I was able to wrestle my way out from under him, and when I did, I almost wished I hadn’t. The entire back of Finn’s shirt was stained red with blood, and it was seeping into his jeans and even the ground around him. I could see the bullet hole in his left shoulder, and I gingerly pulled aside the shirt to get a better look at it. There was a small gaping hole that oozed blood like a fountain, and I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do next.

  So I took off my thin sweater, balled it up, and pressed it against the wound as tightly as I could. Finn gasped in pain, but it was more of a response than I’d gotten since he’d fallen, and I looked at him. “Finn, what am I supposed to do?”

  “Dig it out,” he mumbled into the dirt.

  “What?” I yelped. “You can’t be serious. I’m not a doctor, Finn. I can’t even drive yet, and you expect me to dig out a bullet in your shoulder? What if I damage the muscle and you lose the use of your arm? You’d hate me forever.”

  “The muscle will repair itself, but it can’t start until the bullet is gone. Please, Ronnie,” he begged quietly. “It really hurts. Just try.”

  I sat there for a moment in a sheer panic, wondering what I was supposed to do. Did I just reach inside his wound with my finger and try to dig it out? Wouldn’t that just hurt him even more? I don’t know what I’m supposed to do! What if I hurt him so badly he can’t fix himself? How am I going to do this?

  I took another quick glance at his back and frowned. The bleeding had slowed down, and already his entire left shoulder was turning a dark purplish color as his skin bruised, and I made my decision. I put one hand on his arm to steady us both, and I took a deep, steadying breath before slipping my index finger into the bullet hole. The second I touched the wound, Finn clenched his teeth and groaned in pain as his entire body tensed.

  I tried to be as gentle as possible, but it wasn’t like digging around in someone’s shoulder could ever be considered a pleasant experience. Finn’s body trembled beneath my shaking hands, and I tried to focus more on what I was doing than on the amount of pain Finn must be feeling. When my finger touched something warm and metal, I curled my finger around it, and started to carefully pull it toward the hole.

  I was afraid of tearing the muscle in his shoulder and rendering his arm useless, but I knew I couldn’t leave the bullet embedded in his muscle, because he said it wouldn’t heal that way. When the bullet neared the hole, I gripped it between my two fingers and yanked it out with a final gush of blood and one more groan of pain from Finn. Then his entire body relaxed and he slumped to the ground again.

  As I stared at his back, the bleeding completely stopped, and the muscle in his back began to mend itself. Finn was unconscious for the entire experience, and I was glad for that. I didn’t know how supernatural healing worked, but it had to be similar to normal healing, just faster. And normal healing hurt. There was bruising and throbbing, and it would be the same for Finn, just at a more accelerated rate.

  I used my ruined sweater to wipe off as much of the blood on his back as I could. When I was done, I finally noticed that it was nearly dark, and in another hour or so I wouldn’t be able to see my hand in front of my own face. I needed a way to start a fire to keep the two of us warm, and I didn’t see any way I could leave Finn here.

  But I can’t let him freeze to death either.

  I made sure that Finn was as comfortable as possible, before leaving his side to gather dry sticks and brush. Every few minutes I would look up to make sure that he was still where I’d left him, and that the two of us were still alone. When I had enough wood to start a small fire, I went back to where Finn was still lying unconscious, and I used the heel of my boot to dig out a small hole in the dirt, before lining it with rocks.

  Then I piled in sticks and dry brush, before realizing that I didn’t have a way to actually start the fire. I knelt down by Finn’s unconscious body and gently rolled him over onto his back, careful to avoid dropping him on his injured shoulder, and he let out a quiet moan. I knelt there on the ground beside him for another moment, not looking forward to digging through Finn’s jeans pocket.

  Finally, I stuck my hand inside and tried not to think about the fact that I could feel the warmth of his thigh through the fabric of his jeans. After just a second of digging around, my hand clamped around a cylindrical tube, and I pulled out a cheap, green plastic lighter. After using it to start the fire, I slipped it into my pocket, and sat down in the dirt beside the small fire. It gave off a small circle of light, illuminating Finn’s features.

  He looked exhausted and emotionally drained, but he also looked at peace. The wound in his back was mostly healed, but he hadn’t woken up yet, and I wasn’t sure how long he would be out. I’d have to stay awake until then, and I didn’t have anything to do except finger the pendant hanging between my breasts and think about Andrew, necromancy, and my mother’s spirit.

  I closed my eyes and lay back, staring up at the darkening sky above me. The stars were just starting to dot the sky, and I contented myself to counting them while I tried to figure everything out.