Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Colletion_ Books 6-10 - Laurell K. Hamilton [471]
I stood in front of him, staring down, and did what the munin wanted. I grabbed his wounded arm and jerked it upward, forcing the shoulder to its fullest extension. He cried out in pain. The skin had closed over the wound, but it was there below the surface. I pressed my mouth to the wound and felt the muscles torn. The bone, already knitting, broken. I bit him, sinking teeth in enough to leave a mark and blew power into his skin. I healed it and fought Raina. She wanted to take a chunk out of his skin. A sort of joke, heal him and hurt him at the same time.
I pushed away from him before I could give in. I stumbled to my feet and realized that each time I used it, the power was growing. It was filling me like another person, something growing inside of me, pushing at my skin.
I staggered to Jamil and fell beside him to my knees. He’d changed back to human form, which meant he had been very hurt. I stared down at his nude body and fought with Raina not to touch him. Not to do what she wanted. Or not to do everything she wanted.
I ran my hands over Jamil’s chest until I touched the wound. The skin was closed, but soft. I knew I could force my fingers inside him. I knew I could reach in and snatch his heart. Instead, I lowered my face to his chest and kissed the wound, gently, softly. I closed my eyes and took in the scent of him, the feel of his soft skin. Healing skin was always so soft, like a baby’s flesh, tender and smooth. I put my hands over the wound and thrust that warm building power into him like a sword.
Jamil’s eyes flew wide, and his spine bowed. He tried to scream, and I stole it with a kiss. I rode his body, straddling not his groin but the second, lower wound. I drew back from his lips and forced my hands low on his body. I healed him. I felt it leave my body in a warm rush. My hands slid lower. I brushed him and he was beginning to grow hard. I threw myself off of him. She’d healed him. Raina felt somebody owed her something for the healing.
I fought it until I fell back into the leaves and screamed. My body writhed and it was like my left side wasn’t talking to my right. Like something was breaking inside me. That large, warm presence, that second body was trying to rise to the surface, trying to break the surface. Raina’s beast was trying to come out. Trying to make me lupa in truth, but my body couldn’t hold it. Couldn’t give it a home. I was human, and no matter how much power you shoved into me, that didn’t change.
Hands held me down. Richard’s voice as if from a great height. “What’s happening to her?”
“She’s fighting the munin.” It was Marianne’s voice. I heard her voice close to my face, but I couldn’t see her. It was like the world was vanishing into the dark. “Don’t fight, Anita. Whatever happens tonight, tomorrow I can help you. Give in and live, or the munin will kill you.”
“Anita, please, please!” Richard again.
“She will kill you if she can. She will kill you from the grave itself, Anita. Stop fighting. Embrace it, or it will destroy you.”
I screamed, “No!” Then, suddenly, I could see again. I stared up into the tree-lined darkness. There was a sparkle of moonlight through the leaves. It seemed as bright as sunlight, only softer. I lay very still, blinking up at them all. Richard had my shoulders pinned. Verne had my legs. Shang-Da had my right arm. Lucy had my left. I’d been having convulsions. I remembered that.
Marianne was kneeling near my face, keeping my face still between her hands. “Anita?” she made it a question.
“I’m here.” My voice was quiet but clear. I felt light and empty, but not alone. I wasn’t fooled. The munin hadn’t left. It wasn’t finished.
“Is the munin gone?” Richard asked.
Marianne shook her head. “It’s still here.”
It made me think better of her that she wasn’t fooled.
“Do we let her up?” Verne asked.
“Anita?” Marianne asked me.
“Let me up.”
They let me