Alright, enough is enough. I’m a doctor and I definitely know exactly where a pulse is, thank you very much. I drop down on the other side of Dane.
“Dane is gone, Warwick,” I say bluntly and he starts. “I’m sorry you’re hurting, but this needs to stop. I’m a doctor, I know he didn’t have a pulse. I’ll show you, now.”
I reach out.
“Wait!” Warwick yelped, suddenly panicked. “Don’t!”
And then Dane bursts into flame.
Warwick
I can never remember just how long it takes for the process to start; it isn’t like Dane and I make a habit of dying on a regular basis, after all. What I do know is that I need to protect him until he comes back to life. At this point, he is incredibly vulnerable. If the Supernaturals stumble across us now, there’s a high chance that Dane may die for real.
In my panic, I had brought Dane to the closest place of safety, where no one could see us, and that was Luciana’s place. As I begin to calm down, however, I kick myself for it. There were officers crawling everywhere outside, and I have no way of carrying Dane out of here myself without Luciana growing suspicious.
It doesn’t help that she had checked him before I could stop her. I recognise how expertly her hands checked his pulse; she is someone in the medical profession it seems, and she knew, clearly, that Dane was dead. I’m not entirely certain how I’m going to convince her otherwise.
For now, though, that doesn’t matter. What does matter is protecting my brother until he can protect himself. I sit in vigil beside him, checking my watch and trying not to count down the seconds that pass.
It seems like forever before Luciana returns, and I can hear that there isn’t as much of a commotion outside. I glance at my watch again. If the police are gone, now would be the best time to move Dane, if only I can convince Luciana. Time is getting close now. It’s been hours since Dane was shot and I know that it won’t be much longer.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” I hear Luciana says.
I wince inwardly. I need to try and convince her that she was wrong.
“Loss?” I ask, purposely twisting my face into confusion.
She gives me a look of pity. No doubt she believes that I’m just in very strong denial. I can’t blame her. My brother is in front of me, not breathing, and covered in blood.
Suddenly, convincing Luciana that he was still alive seems like an impossible task. I wonder if she did as I asked and kept Dane’s death quiet for now.
“You and Dane saved my life,” Luciana says, leaning forward, sorrow in her eyes. “I’m sorry that it cost him his.”
Shit.
“No,” I say straight away, and pretend I don’t notice the way Luciana sighs. “It’s alright, Dane didn’t die, Luciana, he just needs time to recover.”
“Warwick…” she says uncomfortably.
“Luciana, thank you, but it’s fine,” I say, as gently as possible. I have to convince her to leave. I can feel Dane’s body beginning to warm. She cannot see this, not if we want to keep out secret. “You must have made a mistake while you were looking for his pulse, he has one now. Why don’t you go rest, you look tired.”
My words do the opposite of what I intended. Instantly, Luciana looks offended.
“Dane is gone, Warwick,” she snaps and I jump at the sudden harshness. Beside me, Dane’s skin is starting to rise in temperature very quickly now. “I’m sorry you’re hurting, but this needs to stop. I’m a doctor, I know he didn’t have a pulse. I’ll show you, now.”
She leans in and reaches out, obviously intending to check his pulse yet again. It’s the worst possible thing she could do right now, especially since I know we’re out of time.
“Wait!” I yell. “Don’t!”
She doesn’t get the chance to touch him. Dane’s temperature rockets upward and he bursts into flame. Luciana screams and scrambles back, her eyes wide and shocked as she hits the wall, staring in horror.
“That’s not possible!” she yelps.
“It’s not what you think, I swear,” I say. Crap, we’re going to have to explain it all to her. This is not what I had intended on happening tonight. “Look, just wait, okay? This is normal.”
“This is not normal!” Luciana says, her voice rising in pitch. “What the hell is normal about someone spontaneously combusting?”
I don’t answer. The blaze surrounding Dane has already started to die down until only tiny embers are laying around his body. I lean in, watching as they start to extinguish. When the last flame winks out of existence, Dane draws in a deep breath and opens his eyes, sitting up with a cough.
“Easy, man,” I say, more relieved that I can say. “Cough it up.”
Dane hacks out several harsh coughs for a moment, ash falling from his mouth. Coming back to life is not the most pleasant experience in the world. I had only gone through it once, when I was a teenager, and I’m keen not to repeat the experience.
While Dane tries to expel all the soot that the fire has left behind, I eye the bullet wound. There’s now a tiny scar, and I know that the intense, mystical flame that had engulfed Dane would have completely destroyed the bullet if it was still lodged in him. There’s barely any sign at all that he had died.
Finally, Dane catches his breath and sits up.
“Remind me to not do that again,” he croaks.
“Noted,” I say cheerfully, grinning at him. “Good to see you among the living again, brother.”
Dane snorts.
“I still feel like death,” he coughs. “I’m going to be throwing up ash for weeks.”
“Small price to pay for your life,” I say.
There’s a weak sound in the corner and I abruptly remember Luciana. Dane and I both look over to see Luciana still sitting against the wall, staring at us both in shock.
“What the hell, Warwick?” Dane cries.
“I tried to get her out!” I snap back. “She wouldn’t leave. Apparently, she’s a doctor.”
“Why are we even in her house?” Dane demands.
“The police were on their way,” I say, rolling my eyes. “I didn’t have much of a choice, especially since you were taking your sweet time coming back to life.”
“Well, excuse me for getting shot…!”
“Um…” Dane and I look over to Luciana. “Can someone please explain what the fuck is going on?”
Dane and I look at each other. There’s no getting out of this, we know. Luciana has seen far too much, now. We have no choice but to trust her.
“Let’s go to the living room,” I say with a sigh. “We’ll tell you everything.”
Dane and I pull ourselves to our feet. Luciana stares for a moment and then, oddly, goes deeply red as she slams her eyes closed.
“Um… you might want to cover yourself, Dane,” she chokes.
Dane flushes as well. We’d forgotten, of course, that the flame is only harmless to our bodies. Our clothes never survive it and Dane is now standing, buck naked, in front of us both. I cough to hide my laughter as I pull a blanket from the bed and drape it around my brother.