The Elementals: Chapter 39 Death

Lily’s POV

Fear and anger are fighting for control of my body, I’m terrified of what is happening to Sky and livid at Hades for endangering him. The small sliver of logic that my brain is still capable of knows that Rain is right though, I need to hear him out to at least find where Sky is. I reluctantly loosen his binds.
“I said you needed to trust me and I meant it. I’m still on your side. We needed a new plan, this is it.” Hades says, his voice still hoarse from being strangled.
“Why should I believe you?” I say
“I can prove it. Release me and I will show you” He says.
“Nice try. I’m not releasing you” I say
“You can tie me up anytime you like beautiful, but this is important. I have not tried to fight back once since coming here, if I wanted to escape I could have, I wouldn’t even have come back if I wasn’t trying to help.” He says.
“Lily, he is right, let’s see this proof. I will freeze him so solidly he will never be able to light a match again if he is lying.” Rain says and I hesitantly free him.
Hades pulls out his phone and clicks on an app. He hands it to me and I see a video of Ryder from a strange angle.
“Where is he?” I ask.
“Just look and listen, this is live. I attached a micro camera to Sky jacket before I handed him to Ryder. It has a tracker so the location is in the top corner. This is a live stream, it is also being sent to the council members as per our original plan.” Hades explains.
I turn the volume up, but all I hear is deep breathing. “We need to get to him, he needs back up. Ryder will kill him” I practically sob as the fear finally wins out over my anger.
“He is close, still in the city. We can head over to back him up, but we need to be smart about it. We have to wait until Ryder incriminates himself enough otherwise it will all be for nothing.” Hades says.
“You should not have risked his life like this. We are going to get him now!” I say walking to the door, but stopping as I hear voices on the phone.
I listen as Ryder speaks to Sky, relieved briefly that he is alive. Rain and Hades join me and we rush to the warehouse that Sky is in. Each word, each sentence I hear, I become more frantic. I know that we are running out of time to save him. We reach the warehouse as Ryder threatens waterboarding, but a small army of hunters guard the entrance.
Reluctantly I pull my attention away from the phone and focus on getting inside to Sky. Our guards are here too, but I don’t wait for them. I throw everything I have at the hunters mercilessly burning them and swallowing them in earth. I’m not pulling my punches when the man I love is in danger. The hunters scatter enough that I make it to the entrance, leaving the others fighting. I pull out the phone again and follow through the building to where the red dot representing Sky is.
“…save the love of my life from you and if that is all I achieve in this world then it is enough” I hear Sky say and my heart breaks. Even captured he is trying to save me.
I burst into the room and call out to Sky, but there is no answer. His body is lying limp and bloody. I’m too late, I can’t believe it.
This isn’t what heroes do, heroes arrive in the nick of time and save the hostage. This isn’t right. I should have saved him. I should feel fear or anger or grief, but I feel nothing. Compete numbness takes over me, my body seeming to continue on autopilot as my soul crumples.
My second thought is to run to him, to check what damage has ben done and hold him close while I still can. My first thought, however is that I’m going to fucking kill the bastard that did this. I can’t go to him, I can’t let Ryder get away with this. If Sky dies here today, he will not be the only one.
Ryder attacks first, throwing the knife that still drips with Skys blood at me and then following it up with shards of ice. I dodge them easily. I walk calmly towards Ryder hurling balls of fire at him as I go which he puts out with his water. I get close enough to land a punch to his smug face and then another and another. Ryder is bleeding heavily, but I don’t stop until he is passed out. I’m about to set his body alight to finally rid the world of this monster, when a noise grabs my attention.
I turn to see that it came from Sky. An involuntary groan of pain. I rush over to him. He is drenched in blood and still unconscious, but there is a faint pulse. I pull away his shirt and inspect the injury. He is still loosing blood. Not knowing what else to do, I sear the wound shut, trying not to vomit at the smell of burning flesh.
I change into my dragon, not caring who sees and lift Sky’s body. I fly to the nearest hospital in seconds, landing on the roof and changing back. I manoeuvre him into the lift and scream desperately for help when the doors open, tears streaming down my face.
Time slows down and speeds up at the same time. Nurses and doctors swarm around us and take Sky away from me. A nurse stays with me, holding me back until they are out of sight. It takes a minute for my brain to start processing sound properly and I realise she is talking to me.
“Dear, take deep breaths. You are both safe here.” She says kindly, stroking the hair our of my face and trying to calm me down.
I take the deep breaths as instructed, but they come out as ragged sobs.
“When you are ready, we need to know what happened. Any information you have might help assess his injuries and yours.” She says gently.
“He was stabbed. A dagger about this big in his stomach. He passed out and he wouldn’t stop bleeding. I cauterised the wound to make it stop so I could get him here.” I manage to get out between sobs.
“Thank you dear, I will let the surgeon know. You wait here and I will be right back.” She says as she rushes off. I don’t know how long she is gone for, I’m too busy wallowing in despair.
“Now what about your injuries, what happened?” The nurse asks when she returns.
“I’m fine. Will he be ok?” I ask, staring into her eyes, but she avoids looking at me.
“They are doing their best. His heart was not beating when you arrived and they won’t know the extent of the internal damage until he is in surgery. Please let me look after your injuries.” She insists ushering me to a room and pulling up my shirt.
“I’m not injured, I need to be with him. This is my fault” I say struggling against her.
“Look!” She snaps drawing my attention. I look down to see that my arms are bleeding from many shallow cuts. I don’t feel them though, the guilt feels more painful than any physical pain I could experience. “You can’t see him until the doctors have finished, it has to be a sterile environment. You have done what you can by getting him here, although how you managed to carry him I will never know. Now sit still and let me clean you up.”
I do as instructed, letting her clean and bandage my cuts, but I can’t sit still. Not when I don’t know whether Sky is alive or dead. When she is finished, the nurse directs me to a waiting room where I’m engulfed in a hug. I collapse into the arms of my best friend, letting her hold the pieces of my fractured heart together.
“We followed the tracker here. Hades didn’t think it was appropriate to stay, but he went present Ryder to the council. They are waiting for you to join when you are ready.” Rain says gently.
“I’m not leaving here, not until I know how he is.” I say
“You don’t have to, make them wait. They will understand.” Rain says squeezing m hand tightly.
Rain didn’t let go of my hand even for a second as we waited for the news. A doctor emerged eventually, scanning the room until he found me, the solemn look on his face crushing the last of my hope.