Stone reappeared with several medical kits and emergency bags. Jessica began to rummage through them, putting on latex gloves and pulling out sealed syringes and tubing. I grabbed August’s hand and whispered that it would be all right. It did not seem like he could hear me.

Using gauze, Jessica applied an emergency pressure bandage to his side and then turned back to the bag. Failing to find what she was looking for, Jessica dumped the bag out onto the ground. “Where’s the blood supplies? Don’t we have blood supplies?”

Stone looked up at her. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Don’t think,” I said to Stone, “Know for sure.” I was not in charge of bringing stuff like that, but then, I was pretty sure no one had been. This was a clusterfuck and I was feeling pretty responsible.

Stone and a couple of the other guys went and started rummaging through the supplies we did have.

“I’m not sure if we’ll make it to a hospital in time. The nearest one is what, Denver?” Jessica said, her voice steady but cracking at the edges.

“Can’t we do anything?”

“If we’ve got blood, yes. If not…” she shook her head rather than continue.

“I thought we all healed,” Marcus said.

“We’re not as good at it as you are,” Rebecca replied. “If he makes it through, I’m sure August will fully recover, but it’s not enough for something like this.”

“Yeah, getting shot isn’t a picnic, even for us,” I said to Marcus.

Stone returned empty-handed, his face mired in remorse.

“Shit,” I said, trying to think. “Wait, can you get it from one of us?” I asked her.

“With what I have, yes, I think I have the right stuff to rig something up.”

“Do you know his blood type?”

“No,” she said, horrified. “Wait! Check his wallet.”

I dug through his pockets till I pulled out a thin leather wallet. Flipping through a few happy photos and well-kept cards, I found a blood donor card. Thank heavens he was so conscientious. Looking at the card, I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Mine,” I said, “You can use mine.” I stripped back my sleeve to give her access.

“Great. Let’s get him in one of the vans so we can do this while we’re driving.”

“Right,” I said, abashed. Stone and I lifted him with as much care as possible and took him to the largest van we had. Marcus opened the door and then flipped the passenger’s seat up and out of the way.

“It’s going to be ok,” I whispered to August. He looked so white and his skin was waxy.

There was a sharp prick as the needle pierced my skin and then a flow of warmth as my blood entered the tube and swirled down towards his waiting vein. I willed it to move faster. The men bustled around us. Stone jumped in the front seat and Kemi started to get in the front passenger’s seat.

“No, Kemi, you and Marcus stay here and take care of the prisoners and sweep the area. We need to know who these people were and find out anything we can about tracking them down now that they’ve fled. We’ll be seeing them again.”

She nodded and then hopped back out of the van.

With a jerk, the car started and pulled out of the line of vehicles. Stone turned us around and then we were off, bouncing down the dark road at an unsafe speed.

“Try not to kill us before we get there,” I admonished.

“Let me worry about it,” he shouted back.

Jessica gripped my shoulder. “You’re doing fine,” she said.

“I’m not worried about me. I’m worried about him.”

She did not have anything to say about that.

Time passed, I did not know how much. I was not feeling any effect from the blood loss, just like when I was shot. A nice side effect of my abilities, but a worrying one at that. I did not think I could survive any more than anyone else without blood. Biology and magic, which one took precedence?

August sat up with a jerk, eyes wide. “Whoa,” Jessica shouted.

He grimaced and then dropped back to an elbow. “Damn that hurts,” he said.

“August?” I said, my voice timorous. “Are you Ok?”

Looking around, he appeared disoriented and confused. “Where am I?” he asked, his voice weak.

“You should lie back down, August, you’ve been shot. Peri is giving you blood until we get to the hospital.”

As though to punctuate her words the van bounced across the road.

“My side hurts,” he said as he lay back down.

“That’s what happens when you don’t wear a vest, you jerk,” I said. I was so happy that he was talking but so afraid that it would pass.

Jessica turned on a flashlight and shone it at him. His face was looking pink again. What was going on? “How do you feel?” she asked, “Other than the side of course.”

“Fine,” he said, blinking. “Warm. A bit… aroused.”

Jessica and I both stared at each other, mouths agape. “It’s the blood loss,” she finally said. “I’m sure of it.”

“I feel very warm like I have heat radiating through me.” He looked up at me and reached over with one hand to brush my cheek, spreading a warm tingle across my skin. “I feel very close to you right now.”

“Ok,” Jessica said, taking his wrist and putting his arm against his side, “Definitely the blood loss talking.” She touched his forehead and cheeks. “Interesting, you feel warm.”

“Why is that interesting?” I asked.

“He felt like ice a minute ago.”

“You know,” August said, pushing himself back up, “I don’t feel so bad anymore.”

“Please lay back, August,” Jessica said. “You need to rest until we get to the hospital.”

August shook his head. “No, you don’t understand Jessica. Something strange is happening. I am lucid, I realize how this sounds but I’m conscious and aware. I was in a lot of pain but now I’m not. I just feel this… warmth all over. I am very, very thirsty though and my skin around the wound feels strange. It’s as though I can feel it moving under the bandage. ”

“What?” Jessica said. “How?” She looked at me, her brows creased. “We don’t heal that fast.”

“I know,” he said. “But I swear something is going on under that bandage.”

“We can’t check it,” she said. “We can’t risk it.”

“Can I at least have some water then? Isn’t there some in the back of these vans?”

Jessica looked at me. “Uh, yeah, I think so. You two stay put, I’ll get it.”

As Jessica climbed over the seats to get into the van’s storage, August flashed me a wicked grin. He held a finger in front of his lips, as though sharing a secret. Then, before I realized what he was doing, he tugged his bandage off.

“Damn it August!” I screamed, reaching for his dressings. “Are you trying to kill yourself?”

Jessica spun at my screech, dropping back to the floor of the van.

“Whoa, whoa, ladies,” August said, holding up his other hand. “Look at the wound.”

The bullet hole, there in the left side of his abdomen was a bloody mess, but even I could see the skin was slightly puckered over, slowing the flow of blood to a trickle.

“What the hell?” Jessica asked, voicing all our thoughts. “How is that possible? Are you manifesting more abilities?”

Laying his head back down, he handed her the bandage so she could redress the wound. “That’s possible, but I am not so certain.”

“How then?” she asked, re-taping the gauze to his body.

With his other finger, he tapped the tube connecting the two of us.

“What’s going on back there?” Stone demanded.

“I think you can slow down to a less fatal speed,” Jessica said. “We have more time to reach a hospital now.” She breathed a deep sigh and slumped against the door of the van.

August smiled at me, a warm, engaging smile that made me flutter inside. I could not believe how close I… we’d come to losing him. I breathed a sigh at the thought that August was going to be okay. The urges to kick his ass for being so stupid and to shower him with kisses were equally strong. Jessica’s presence kept me from doing either.

Leaning against my side of the van, I closed my eyes and tried to let the fear and anger go. It was difficult. I did not like getting shot at, which was no real surprise, but I decided I liked having my friends shot at even less.

My emotions had surged, similar to how I felt when I was around the angel. I did not know why I had felt that powerful emotion. Was it because of the aggression? Or was I just carried away with normal battlefield emotions?

That was a worrying thought; maybe it was not the angel that made my emotions go crazy like I thought. Maybe it was all me. Maybe it was just my reaction to anger, fear, and danger. Did that mean I would always teeter on the edge of insanity and rage whenever I went into a fight? And if that was true, was it just me, or all the Changed? I knew that Kemi reacted similarly to me. Did Claire feel the same?

As I lay in the darkness, the thrum of the wheels relaxing me with their gentle rhythm, a thought came to me. If my blood could help people heal, would it work on Claire?