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  Before Lexi had a chance to scream, Gabriel fired two shots and Allison went down with two hits to her shoulder. “Allie!” Lexi cried out, even as he darted into the room, kicking away the knife that fell from her nerveless fingers. Blood seeped through Allie’s clothes, spreading with a darkening stain to the wood floor.

  “Lexi, Christ are you alright?”

  Lexi looked up uncomprehendingly, having forgotten the deep gash to her arm that bled over half of her jeans. “We have to stop the bleeding,” she said numbly, meaning Allie’s shoulder wounds, before she died right there on that miserable floor.

  “We have to get out of here,” he replied, bending over Chloe who lay on the ground, arms wrapped around her knees. “Come on Honey, it’s time to go. Can you get up for me?” Chloe shook her head, too traumatized to speak.

  “She can’t walk, can you carry her?” Lexi croaked, pulling her shirt up to try and filter out some of the smoke.

  Gabriel hesitated for just a fraction of a moment, “Yeah, I’ll get her, but I want you right behind me. Can you make it?”

  Lexi nodded, a coughing fit preventing her from replying. She started to crawl towards the door, preferring to keep low. That was all the response Gabriel needed, scooping the child up in his arms, he cradled her to his body and hurried through the smoke, his head ducked low. A low moan drew Lexi’s attention and she looked back to see her sister start to stir, coughing weakly.

  Halfway to the door she paused, unable to leave her behind, even after everything that had happened. It wasn’t Allie’s fault she’d been possessed by a psycho killer. Crawling back towards the flames, she reached Allie’s side, wondering how best to move her without causing more damage to that shoulder.

  A chunk of flaming ceiling fell a few feet away, pushing a wall of heat in their direction. Lexi stopped worrying about any damage and grabbed Allie the best she could; anything to get her out of that hellhole. But the first pull towards the door proved useless as the severed muscles in her arm refused to cooperate, drawing a scream of pain and anguish from her lips.

  “Lexi?” Allie’s voice came so low that Lexi thought she might have imagined it for a moment.

  “Allie? Oh thank God, can you move?”

  “What is…?” Allie blinked. “Is Chloe safe?” There was no trace of Sophia behind her eyes now, just confusion and pain.

  “Yes, she’s safe, Gabriel got her out but we have to leave now.”

  “What have I done?” Tears leaked from the corners of Allie’s eyes.

  “We can talk about that later, but I need you to help me; I can’t get you out of here on my own.”

  “Lexi?” Gabriel ducked back into the room, trying to peer through the thick smoke. “Where are you?”

  “Over here…” Lexi coughed, relief washing over her at hearing his voice. In a moment he was beside her, gathering her up into his arms. “Allie…”

  Gabriel didn’t even bother to respond, hustling her out of there and into the cool night air before he even tried to speak. “I told you to follow right behind me,” he said into her hair, holding her close as he collapsed on the porch steps.

  Lexi couldn’t speak for the moment, throat burning, her lungs felt like they were coated in molten ash. Unable to enjoy the security of his arms, she turned away as coughs racked through her body until she collapsed weakly against him, one final word escaping as more of a wheeze. “Allie…”

  His lips compressed into a hard line as he looked towards the entry hall which was already full of smoke. “Lexi, I don’t even know if I can get back into that room, the fire’s spreading fast…”

  “Please…” her lips formed the word when her voice wouldn’t obey. How could she articulate that she needed to save her sister, after what he’d walked in on? What if Allie would be completely fine if they just got her away from that house? Her eyes pleaded with him, trusting in him to do the right thing, even if it might be too late. Finally he gave a short nod, pressing a kiss to her dirty forehead; he set her on the front lawn beside Chloe and ran back inside. Lexi tried to sit up to better see into the house but the small movement produced a whole new slew of coughing, until she thought her lungs might actually explode in her chest but instead she just retched up the remnants of Sophia’s tea into the grass. When she could focus again, Gabriel was gone and everything started to swim before her eyes.

  Dimly she was aware of the sound of sirens approaching in the distance and Chloe crying softly beside her, punctuated by horrible phlegmy coughs. “Chloe…” Lexi gasped, dragging herself closer to the little girl. “Are you okay, Baby?” Chloe immediately burrowed into her embrace, unable to do more than cry and cough. With supreme effort Lexi kept her eyes open, watching the front of the house for any sign of Gabriel and Allie. When precious seconds stretched into minutes, a fresh wave of despair washed over her. What had she done? If anything happened to Gabriel because she sent him back into the burning house she’d never be able to forgive herself.

  The fire department arrived in force then, the huge red trucks packing the driveway and crowding around the front of the house, blocking her view of the front door. Lexi wanted to scream in frustration, but the most she could manage was a raspy “there are still two people in there,” when a paramedic knelt by her side.

  “Mommy…” Chloe whimpered, clinging to her tightly. Whether she was calling her mommy or crying for her lost mother wasn’t clear, but Lexi held her as best she could, rocking them both from side to side as the house burned.

  In and out of consciousness, Lexi felt it when they pried Chloe out of her arms, poked and prodded her for vital statistics and strapped something to her nose and mouth to help her breathe. There was a lot of shouting, though she couldn’t quite track what they were saying. Lexi felt herself lifted up and away with the strange sensation as if she was floating, but the bite of straps on her body reminded her that she was bound to the earth. Everything was silent then and she drifted until the roar of the engine jolted her awake and she realized that the ambulance was taking her away. Stranger was the realization that Gabriel sat beside her, swaying with the motion of the vehicle, an oxygen mask pressed to his face with one hand, lightly clasping her bare hand with the other.

  “My glove…” Lexi murmured, her voice muffled by the mask. And that’s when she realized the strangest thing of all; she wasn’t picking up a damned thing from him.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Lexi awoke to the squeak of wheels as the nurse backed her way into the hospital room, pulling a diagnostic cart behind her. “Good Morning,” the woman called out cheerily, heedless of whether or not she’d been awake. “It’s time to take your vitals again.”

  “Super,” Lexi mumbled. Reaching up to wipe the sleep out of her eyes, she noted the IV sticking out of one arm and the serious bandage on the other. Hastily she flexed her fingers, finding them a little stiff from being protectively curled up into fists, even in her sleep. Nothing hurt, but she wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or a bad sign. More than likely it was because of all the meds they were piping through the IV.

  The nurse chuckled at her tone and as she leaned closer, Lexi saw the name on her badge was Chelsy. “Here you go, breakfast of champions,” she held out a little white cup that held three pills of various shapes and sizes.

  “What is this?” Lexi accepted the cup, shaking the pills to see if she could identify them by sight. She couldn’t.

  “Percocet, ibuprophen and an anti-emetic to help you keep it down.”

  That sounded like a lot of medication to her. “Do I need all of that?”

  “That’s up to you, but the night nurse said you were having trouble with vomiting last night.” Chelsy gave a half shrug, offering a plastic bottle full of water with a straw built into the cap.

  Swell. Some things were better left unremembered she supposed, and Lexi took the pills as instructed, the water cool on her throat.

  “If you need something stronger just let me know,” Chelsy picked up her hand
to take her pulse and Lexi snatched it away without even thinking twice about it. “I’m just taking your pulse and monitoring your oxygen levels, I’m not gonna bite ya,” she shook her head. Firm hands picked up her arm again, holding her in place and Lexi was too tired to object. Instead she took a deep breath, preparing herself to push her own energy out onto the lead that was placed on her finger. She got just a wisp of the last person to stick their finger into the device; an elderly lady with thin papery skin, her veins standing out starkly on the back of her hand. After that just the blessed silence of her own hum of energy and Lexi relaxed back against the bed.

  “Your oxygen levels are holding just fine, that’s a good sign,” Chelsy smiled cheerily, unperturbed by Lexi’s initial reaction. “I’d like to get your blood pressure next, are you going to fight me on that too?”

  “No, knock yourself out,” Lexi shook her head, making a fist while she slipped the cuff over her arm. The results were satisfactory from the businesslike nod the nurse gave as she noted it on her datapad.

  “Do you think you’re feeling up to having a little bit of juice? You’ve been cleared for liquids only so far, but I can offer you some hot tea if you’d rather for your throat.”

  Lexi swallowed instinctively at the mention of her throat, the sensation oddly swollen but not particularly painful, probably thanks to the cocktail of pain killers she’d been given. “No tea,” she declined. The idea of tea made her stomach lurch after the concoction Allie served her. Oh God… Allie. How had it taken her this long to even think about her? “Is my sister… is Allison Travers here?”

  The nurse hesitated, “I don’t… the doctor will be in soon to talk more about your situation. Do you feel like you need to go to the bathroom?”

  Lexi’s brows drew together into a single dark line. Her situation? Why wasn’t she answering the question? “What about Gabriel? Has he been by to see me? Uh, Detective Ryan?”

  This one she could answer. “Detective Ryan was here earlier, I’m not sure where he disappeared to. Now if you do have to go to the bathroom, just ring for assistance and we’ll help you get to the washroom, it can be tricky to wheel the IV with you. It’s going to hurt to breathe deep for a while but it is a good idea to get up and around for a short walk as soon as possible, okay?”

  Lexi nodded dumbly, feeling like a prisoner in the hospital bed, afraid to touch anything for fear of going into sensory overload or worse, risk being caught up in a traumatic vision of someone’s death. “Do you think I could get a pair of latex gloves?” she spoke up, feeling like a complete idiot for asking. There had to be a bazillion of them on that floor alone.

  The nurse’s eyes narrowed a fraction and then her cheery smile returned. “I’ll see what I can do.”

  As soon as she was gone, Lexi regretted not asking about Chloe or for a phone to try and call Gabriel or Maddie; anyone who could give her some answers. But before she could figure out how the nurse call worked without calling for an emergency, she had another visitor. A portly man in a pale blue cardigan, khaki pants and penny loafers came in, looking like was searching for the geriatric ward. He reminded her of the kindly grandfather from a sitcom on TV and she was shocked when she saw the datapad in his hand. She expected to see a golf club there or maybe a jigsaw puzzle.

  “Good morning, Miss Morgan, how are we feeling today?”

  “You tell me, Doc, I’m still a little out of it,” she replied, clenching her hands in anticipation of another battery of diagnostic testing.

  “Let’s see if we can’t find out, shall we?” he smiled genially, pulling a flashlight pen out of his shirt pocket. Shining the light in first one eye and then the other, he nodded in satisfaction, fat fingers jabbing single digit style on the data pad. “How’s the arm, is it paining you any?”

  “No, I don’t feel a thing.”

  “As in you don’t feel any pain or you don’t feel your arm?” he asked, poking the back of her hand with the tip of his flashlight.

  “No, I feel that just fine, I meant there isn’t any pain,” she clarified. Leave it to a doctor to be so literal. He didn’t take her word for it right away; prodding the backs of each of her fingers before he was satisfied she didn’t have any numbness.

  “Good, I don’t think you’re going to have any nerve damage from your arm, but you’ll want to have the sutures looked at in about five days to make sure it’s healing properly and there’s no sign of infection. Either with your regular doctor, or you can come back in here and we’ll check it out for you.”

  Lexi nodded, trying to absorb everything he was telling her through the mental fog that still clung to the edges of her mind.

  “There is no sign of a concussion and your CT scan came up clear. If you develop any changes in vision, hearing or headaches let the staff know immediately and we’ll order an MRI. I think we’ll keep you here for one more night just to be on the safe side, but I think you’re out of the woods. How does that sound to you?” He leaned against the rolling tray and she worried he might lose his balance and fall, but he managed alright.

  “Any chance I can get sprung today?” Lack of health insurance had her wondering how much all of this was costing her, and that was likely to stress her out far worse than her injuries.

  The doctor hesitated, clearly not quite comfortable with releasing her. “Miss Morgan, I’m not sure you understand the depth of the traumatic injuries you’ve sustained. You lost quite a lot of blood, you suffered smoke inhalation as well as a blow to the head, that isn’t something you can just slap a bandaid on and call it a day.”

  But he hadn’t come right out and said no, and Lexi pounced on the wiggle room she sensed in his response. “Oh come on, Doc, you said I don’t have a concussion and my arm is healing up just fine. I’ll take it easy, I promise. I can get better just as well at home. I can have my friends fetch and carry for me and take my blood pressure and temperature every four hours and serve me lime jello three times a day, I promise.”

  That brought a dry chuckle from him. “Let’s see where you are around noon. If you continue to improve, we can revisit this. That’s the best I’m going to promise you, young lady.” He put his hands up when she opened her mouth to protest.

  Savoring the tiny victory, Lexi knew when not to push it too far. Instead her mind returned to other worries. “Doctor, what can you tell me about my niece Chloe? Is she alright? She lost the feeling in her feet…”

  “Ah yes, the little girl,” he nodded soberly. “She should make a complete recovery. The damage was superficial and I don’t anticipate any permanent scarring at the wrists or ankles. She was severely dehydrated and we’re giving her chelation therapy to counteract the arsenic we found in her system.”

  “You mean she poisoned Chloe too?” Lexi gasped, stunned at the revelation.

  He nodded grimly. “The psychological scars are likely to last longer than it takes her body to heal, but children are resilient. With love and patience, I don’t see why she shouldn’t make a full recovery from the ordeal.”

  “What about my sister Allie? Is she here too?” Lexi asked in a small voice, almost afraid to hear his response based on the nurse’s reaction when she asked about her before.

  “I’m sorry; all I know is that your sister succumbed to her injuries at the crime scene. She was transported here, but it was too late.” He reached out to give her hand a sympathetic pat and she shrank away from his touch.

  “Thank you, Doctor,” she swallowed past the lump of emotion that got stuck in her throat, too distraught to offer any apology for the slight.

  A knock sounded at the door and Gabriel stuck his head in. “They said at the nurses’ station that I could have a few minutes with the patient?”

  “Just a brief visit, Detective, and try not to tire her out; she’s had a grave shock,” he replied grimly. The men paused by the door, conferring briefly and Lexi could only imagine the doctor was telling Gabriel that he’d just let her know about Allie’s death. When Gabriel approached th
e bed, Starbucks cup in hand, he had a wary look on his face as if he expected her to let him have it at any moment.

  “How are you feeling?”

  “Like I just got run over by a Mack truck,” she tried for a smile but gave up and mashed her lips together until the threat of tears receded. It was just good to see him again, and it overwhelmed her for a moment how much she’d missed him and how much she needed to know he was alright. “How about you? Did you hurt your hand?” She noticed the bandage wrapped around one hand now that he was closer.

  “It’s nothing,” he waved the question away. “Oh, I ah… brought you something. Actually, a couple of somethings.” Setting the coffee down on the rolling table, he pulled a pair of surgical gloves out of his jacket pocket. “I swiped these from the nurse’s station; I thought you could use them.”

  That small act of kindness was all it took to bring her emotions bubbling to the surface again. This time the tears did spill, and Lexi didn’t try to hold them back now that the flood gates had been opened.

  “Oh hey… don’t cry, Lexi… shit…” his face twisted in discomfort at the sight of her tears, and Gabriel sat on the edge of her bed, gathering her into his arms somewhat awkwardly with the apparatus stuck to her arms. “Shhh… it’ll be okay,” he soothed, pulling her head to his shoulder.

  Lexi wrapped her bandaged arm around him, silent sobs wracking her shoulders as she wept for everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours. “Allie’s gone…” she hiccupped, cursing under her breath as the crying jag overtaxed her lungs and she began to cough, fighting to calm her breathing and take in more shallow breaths.

  “I know, I’m sorry, Lexi. I’m so sorry.” He held her until the storm of emotions gradually began to subside and she was all cried out. “I tried to get her out of there, I did, but it was too late. She’d lost too much blood; and the fire…”

  And that’s when she noticed that he was clinging to her just as much as she was to him. Lexi pulled back to look into his eyes that were red and shiny with unshed tears. “I know you did your best, Gabriel; I don’t blame you for what happened.”