Alex

As Jack and his goons walked away, I glanced down at the ‘cubus I was healing. Or rather, had healed, and was now basically just increasing the chances that she’d get cancer. Got a bit distracted by the tension with Jack, and… should’ve stopped earlier.

I moved on to the next ‘cubus. Just one crossbow bolt in this one, but it went almost all the way through their chest, and I was sure it must have hit something vital. The pulse felt weak–really weak.

“Any way I can help?” Lilly crouched down next to me.

“I…” I shook my head. “I don’t think I can help here, actually.”

“What? But you can–”

“The bolt is plugging up the wound. I’d need to pull it out in order to heal it, but if I remove the bolt… he’ll likely bleed to death.”

“There’s no way to save him?”

“I…” I hesitated. “That’s the thing. I could save him with magic, but… it would drain me considerably.” I looked around at the other bodies. “I–I can’t save them all.”

“Hospital?” Lilly suggested halfheartedly.

I shook my head. We were in the middle of angel territory. We both knew that no hospital around here would be willing to treat ‘cubi.

We checked another ‘cubus. Already dead; throat slit.

Another. Wings were a tangled mess of feathers and blood, with a piece of bone jutting out of one. But nothing lethal.

He moaned when I put my hand on his wing.

“Don’t worry,” I told him, “I’m here to help you, okay? Your wings are broken. I need to re-align the bones. It’s… going to hurt. A lot.” I grabbed the ends of his humerus and moved them back together, as gently as I could. Not as gentle as I would have liked, judging by his scream.

“There. The painful part is over now.” I channeled some magic into his wing, to get the healing process started.

“Um… Alex?” Lilly touched the incubus’s other wing gently.

“Yeah?”

“These… these wounds don’t look fresh. Most of this blood is dried. And… there are scars.”

I took a closer look. She was right. This damage couldn’t have been from the fight. Which meant… that he’d gone into the fight with a crushed wing. Which was just ridiculous.

“Y–you!” He jerked away, scrambled to his feet.

“Whoa, hold on,” I said, “what’s–”

“I–I’m not going back!” He grabbed a bolt off the floor and held it up as a weapon. His eyes were shifting around, probably expecting someone to try to make a move.

“Back where?” I asked, “Who–who did that to your wing?”

“Her.” He pointed at Lilly.