Red Blood (Series of Blood Book 2) by Emma Hamm (best short books to read .TXT) 📕

Lyra reached forward and gently placed the still organ in his chest cavity. The blue light moved to accommodate her. Once the heart was settled, the soul pierced the soft flesh and dove into it. She held her breath until the heart beat once more.

Blue magic exploded from within Wolfgang. Great ropes of light traveled along his body and gave him flesh. She gasped as it drew from her but caused no pain. Before her eyes, he was given life again.

He was no longer gaunt. The magic made him strong. Tattoos and scars formed again but he was larger. Muscles tangled along his body. Great valleys of shadow and light stretched along arms and chest.

His face remained unchanged. She saw a bit more flesh added to his body, but the crescent shaped face, the scars, the missing hair, it was all there. He was not his doppleganger. He was her Magician.

Wolfgang arched with a gasp. His eyes snapped open to stare into hers. Darkness reflected in one and blue sky in the other.

He had a bewildered expression as he gazed up at her. She clutched his hand to her cheek as his thumb stroked her bottom lip. She was just as shocked as he.

Wolfgang pulled her down towards him. His lips met hers in a discovery of life itself. He was not dead. She was everything that he lived for.

He was not gentle, nor was he harsh. He took the life she offered him and reveled in the feel of her soft lips against his while he explored the feeling of her soul mixed with his. In turn, she held onto him as the miracle man she always believed him to be. As the man who refused death itself so he could hold her in his arms again.

She pulled back to ask him, “How?”

He grinned that awkward grin with his chipped tooth and tucked her hair behind her ear. “I was right to trust you to save us.”

Lyra returned his grin and laughed. The battle was over. They were safe. They were loved.

“Lyra.” Wren’s chuckle made them both look towards her. “We still have work to do.”

“It’s always work with you,” she replied. She couldn’t stop the laugh that kept bubbling out of her. She wasn’t unlucky after all.

Her eyes looked over the battlefield with renewed vigor. They could help these people, Wolfgang and her. They would heal whoever they needed to. They would save people because that was who they were together.

Jasper stood across the battlefield. His wings were spread wide as he met her gaze. She watched a smile spread across his lips. Family, she found, was not so hard after all.

A portal opened on the other side of the battlefield. Out of it stepped a tall, dark man with a long braid that swished around his waist. Lyra heard Wren angrily gasp “Malachi” just as the man reached out, grabbed ahold of Jasper’s arm, and pulled him into the portal.

Her name was the last word she heard Jasper scream.

Water was a very strange thing. It was powerful in its own right. Stone was putty against water’s will. Destruction was easily capable, but not in the angry way destruction usually suggested. Water was gentle. It cajoled and convinced all materials to simply give up.

Nothing could stop water’s desire for everything to be unmade and then made anew. It gave life with a kiss of love and affection and then took it away when the time came. Vikings used to send their loved ones into the water’s embrace for a funeral.

Lyra lay at the bottom of the deep pool staring up at the surface thinking she would like that kind of burial. Drifting away into her mother’s arms as a Siren was always meant to do. She would be happy with that kind of death.

A Nixie swam up to her with worry wrinkling its pretty brow. Lyra reached out to touch the frown lines and smiled. She shifted, kicked off of the bottom, and ascended.

She was slow to bring her face to the air. After the battle, she had become more like her ancestors in a strange sort of way. The water had called to her for healing. She had let it soothe the angry parts of her soul.

Bubbles formed on the surface around her as a Nixie popped up next to her. The sweet creature giggled and puffed out another breath as their magic collided. The bubbles rose into the air with sweet salty scents.

In a way, she found this place more her home than any other. The Nixies had become like sisters. Strange demented sisters but family nonetheless.

The oldest swam over to her and pressed a gentle hand against Lyra’s heart. Her sad eyes spoke volumes because the Nixie’s did not speak. But Lyra knew what she meant. The ache in her ribs was felt by all of the sisters. She would heal in time. Until then, they would help her in any way they could.

Her eyes drifted over the rocky edge of the pool and to the figure seated next to it. Wolfgang hunched over a spellbook in his lap with one leg outstretched. He was not reading the book. He was staring at her.

Lyra filled her cheeks with water and splashed him with a thin stream. Wolfgang rolled his eyes and waved a hand to raise his shield.

“Really?” he asked her.

She shrugged.

Wolfgang sighed and put his book aside. “You’re dwelling.”

“It’s hard not to.”

“The past is there for a reason.”

“Doesn’t make it easier.” She had lost someone important to her. They didn’t know where he was or what had happened to him. Lyra had tried so many times to contact Jasper with no luck.

Wolfgang stared at her with a critical eye before slowly standing. He stripped his shirt off before wading into the pool after her. The magic had been kinder to him. After his death, it seemed that he had come to an understanding with his own power.

His body was strong. Though mangled and scarred,