Charade (Heven and Hell #2)(77)
Author: Cambria Hebert

“What the hell is that stuff you put all over him?” I asked Gemma, who was busy rushing to the bathroom to empty Cole’s puke bucket.

She stopped in front of me to glare. “It’s not the salve. It’s what the salve is pulling out of him. It’s the poison from the demon’s saliva. He was bitten almost twenty times.”

She was more rattled than I had ever seen her as she hurried away.

“You search Hev’s room?” Cole asked, his voice hoarse as he turned to face me. How he was sitting up at all amazed me—he looked like death.

“Of course. Shouldn’t you lay down?”

He grunted then looked toward the bathroom where the water was running. “It hurts too much to lay down.”

I bet it did. That bite on his back was nasty. All of them seemed more swollen than before and I said as much as I walked across the room.

“It’s that crap she smeared all over me. She says it’s supposed to do that.”

I sat down on the side of my bed, facing him. “You fought hard today. You did good.”

He looked up at me, dark circles ringing his red-rimmed eyes. “You’re a bad-ass fighter. I’m sorry I ever doubted your ability to protect my sister.”

Gemma came back to Cole’s side with a clean bucket and a few wash rags. She leaned back and looked at his back. “It’s definitely working. I’m going to clean it again.”

Cole winced, but steeled himself. “Do it.”

Gemma climbed on the bed on her knees behind Cole. She looked at me briefly before turning to Cole’s back and placing one of the cloths over the bite wound. Cole’s jaw flexed, but he said nothing as she gently wiped away black ooze.

“So are we calling a truce?” I asked Cole and stuck out my hand. He looked up at me. “I figure any guy who can manage to get a fallen angel in bed with him is a guy I can respect.”

He laughed out loud. Gemma took a final wipe to his back, and his breath hissed between his teeth. Then abruptly, he lurched forward and I shoved the bucket under him as he retched again. Gemma was biting her bottom lip, jar of salve in her hand.

Cole looked up, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “You guys don’t need to be here for this.”

“I’ve seen worse—no worries,” I said.

“I need to get this on you,” Gemma said quietly.

Cole nodded and she smoothed a thick layer on his back. He didn’t seem to mind that and I thought maybe the stuff made him feel better. When Gemma was done, she climbed off the bed and glanced at me.

“I need to go and get some more of this salve from where I’m staying. And I want to get him something else that should help. Can you stay with him until I get back?”

“Sure.”

Gemma looked over at Cole and it looked like she wanted to say something, but she didn’t.

Cole felt her stare. “I’ll still be alive when you get back.”

She made a face and walked out of the room. Just as the door was shutting, I heard words that I was sure were only meant for her. “You better be.”

It was silent for a few long moments and then suddenly Cole thrust out his hand. “We never did get to shake on that truce.”

I put my hand in his and shook. I couldn’t help focusing on the long scratches on his forearm. He seemed to notice my stare and pulled his arm back. I cleared my throat.

There was a knock on the door and I jumped up. “Attendance,” Mrs. Britt called from the other side. I grabbed up a small blanket that was on the end of the bed and draped it around Cole’s shoulder’s to hide the worst of his injuries and he let out a low swear.

“Sorry, man,” I whispered and went to the door opening it, only partway.

“Cole and I are both here,” I told the teacher, hoping she would go away.

“What is that awful smell?” she asked, recoiling from the room.

“Uh, Cole caught that stomach bug and he’s been throwing up.”

She tried to look past me into the room so I opened the door a fraction and looked over my shoulder. Cole was still on the bed with the blanket around him, head bowed and the bucket in his lap.

“Would you like to move to another room?” Mrs. Britt asked me, clearly convinced.

“Nah, I hardly ever get sick, and besides, I’ve already been exposed.” I pulled the door back around once more.

“Well, all right. Cole…” she called out, but I didn’t bother to open the door again. He made a sound and she took that as a response and she continued, “You’re excused from dinner. If you are better tomorrow, you can join in the last day here, if not, get some rest so you won’t be sick on the plane home.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She moved off down the hall and I shut the door. Cole tossed the blanket away like it was on fire.

“Did Gemma say how long you would be sick?”

“Depends on my body, I guess.”

I sat back down on the bed and wondered if he was going to be able to sit during the very long flight home.

“I guess Heven told you about my angel status?”

“On the plane.” Cole was a Supernal Being—not technically an angel, but not quite a human either. “Think that will help your body heal?”

“I sure as hell hope so.” He made a motion like he might vomit again and I snatched the bucket and held it out. He swallowed back his illness and took a deep breath.

I kept the bucket ready.

“Guess my almost—angel—status and your hellhound status is the reason we instantly disliked each other.”

I hadn’t thought about it that way before, but he was right. I guess we should be natural enemies if you consider where we both came from. Still, it bothered me that he would be the “good” one and I would be the “bad” one. “You know, I’m not really from Hell. God created me, it’s just that part of me was… twisted by Hell, by Satan, but I try to be better than that.”

Cole looked up at me. “I didn’t want to believe that at first. I wanted you to be the bad guy. But now I know that I was wrong.”

His words meant more to me than I thought they would. I always told myself that what Cole thought never mattered. But I think maybe it did. I didn’t need his friendship, but it would be nice to have. “Once you stopped hitting on Heven, I realized you weren’t as bad as I thought either.” I grinned.

He grimaced. “I knew there was a connection there, with her. I just couldn’t figure out what it was and the only thing I could think of was that we were… well, you know. I never in a million years thought she could be my sister.”