The other two must have noticed Brian breaking free, because they sprinted to him. Brian jumped off the gurney and kicked a length of rope to the floor as he got on his feet.
A sickening crunch of bone, flesh and plastic colliding assaulted Helen’s ears. One of the occultists fell to the ground. A scuffle ensued, marked by a blend of male grunts and shouts in two distinct voices.
Brian had his captor in a headlock when Elwell put both hands around her neck and squeezed. “Release. Master. Now.”
Instead, she locked in with his pale eyes and clicked hers to white. Relying on the same technique she’d used to subdue Joe, she pushed his essence from his body and stuck it on the ceiling. He let go of her neck and dropped his hands to his sides. She sucked down a cool, relieving breath.
Brian’s struggle continued in thumps and thwacks, groans and snarls. Her head throbbed, eyelids begging to blink. She slipped and allowed her lids to fall for a second, and when they did Elwell’s consciousness drifted down and hovered halfway between the ceiling and his body.
“Brian, how’s it going? I’m losing him.” She squinted and pressed her fingertips to her temples, massaging the site of burning tension.
Brian let go, and the man in his grasp sank to his knees, muttered gibberish, and flopped unconscious beside his pal.
In Brian’s hand, a thin point of silver glimmered in the dark room. He ran to Helen and jabbed a needle into Elwell’s arm. Elwell’s mouth gaped, and he hit the floor with a satisfying thud. Helen released his essence and rubbed her aching eyes.
The needle fell from Brian’s grasp and landed on concrete with a clatter. He swept Helen into his arms, and she melted into him.
A phantom muscle made of stress and worry unclenched deep in her body. She clutched his life, his physicality. “You’re okay.”
They embraced in silence for a bit, breath and heartbeats. They had survived. Survived together.
“I love you, Helen.” Brian caressed her scalp, his body against hers an anchor of home and stability and caring. His touch augmented every syllable of his admission.
“I love you, Brian.” She poured the words, the sentiment, from an unlocked space deep within. Alignment emerged where things had once been skewed.
She didn’t have to fight anymore. She could go with the flow, chill, float down that elusive lazy river of peace. Love Brian, and love herself. Love life.
Because, with Brian, she had found love in a hopeless place.
She kissed his chin and stepped back. He cradled her face in both hands.
“You,” he whispered into her hair in a voice low and reverent. “You saved my life. Again. And you came back to me. I thought you were gone.”
“No way. Not gonna let the bastards get me down. How did they get you in here?”
“Someone came up from behind me and stuck me with some drug during the evacuation. I blacked out, then I woke up in here, tied down. The crap they injected me with sure came in handy.”
“What do you want to do about them?” Helen glanced askance at the passed-out cultists.
“Call the authorities. I’m guessing this trio is only the beginning, and that their group has plenty of secrets ready to be exposed.”
“Let’s get out of here.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice.”
They bolted from the chamber and down a hall. Outside, a sea of evacuees stood on the sidewalks and in the parking lot, some with phones pressed to ears.
Stacy and a few other women hung around by a pickup, talking with some security guards and the crew people who’d been smoking by the garage. Fyre music played through the truck’s rolled-down window, radio tunes livening up the night with a makeshift show.
Sirens wailed emergency whoops as police cars and fire trucks arrived. In short order, cops and firefighters hopped out of their vehicles and jogged into the arena, several of them retracing the steps Brian and Helen crossed on their route to the exit.
In a flurry of calls and texts, Brian checked in with his bandmates and Tilly. Everyone was okay. From the looks of things, they didn’t need to tip anyone off about what awaited them in the secret room. The first responders would find the aftermath of the thwarted ritual and go from there.
“I’m fine. Going to leave town for a bit, mate,” Brian told someone on the other line. “Gather up Tilly and take a break. A vacation. I’ll see the three of you in a few months.”
After he hung up, Helen took his hand. “Where are you going?”
He met her gaze, wrapping her with tenderness. Red and blue lights from the cruisers skittered over his face, heightening dramatic effect. “If it’s alright, I’d like to spend some time in Minneapolis with you. Get to know your home.”
“Brian?”
“Yes, my love?”
“Wherever we go, wherever we are, will be my home. As long as you’re with me.”
“Likewise. Now how about we head to my place, gather up what we need, and go stay in a fancy hotel for the night before we set off to Minneapolis?”
“Make it so.”
“Your wish is my command.” He pushed a button on his phone, and in a minute a white Lexus pulled up. Brian ushered her inside with a hand on the small of her back, the chivalrous yet territorial gesture absolute perfection.
She snuggled into him, losing herself in the essence of her great love. Though she’d saved him, he’d saved her. And he would continue to protect her, and she him.
They were a unit, their bond forged in battle-tested steel. They’d gone to war together, fought for each other and for their love, and emerged from the trenches.
“You’re granting wishes now? Don’t give me any ideas.” Helen nibbled his neck, enjoying his body but in no hurry to expedite the progression of their play. They had the rest of their lives ahead for sexy time.
“We still have some catching up to do,” Brian said. He directed the car to
