Chapter 22

Chapter 22

They were definitely going to have words, Ashley decided as she debated between original and mountain-fresh dishwashing soap only to end up putting them both in the bucket that she’d grabbed from the downstairs bathroom.

A lot of words, Ashley thought absently, noting that the burns on her hands were finally gone along with the swelling and pain. She didn’t know how much damage demon blood could do, but she knew that it would only get worse if they didn’t get it off him. It had taken her nearly a half-hour to figure out how to get it off her skin and now that she knew how to do it, she was going back upstairs to help the jerk whether he wanted her help or not.

“What’s going on?” Jacob asked as he walked into the house.

“The stubborn jerk upstairs is being difficult,” Ashley said as she grabbed a handful of dishtowels and tossed them in the bucket along with a pair of scissors.

“He’s also dying,” Jacob said, releasing a vicious curse as he headed upstairs, leaving Ashley to panic as she searched for a first-aid kit only to remember that they didn’t have one.

Not knowing what else to do, she threw another stack of hand towels in the bucket and quickly followed Jacob upstairs into Kale’s bedroom and-

Thought that she was going to be sick when she heard Kale’s scream of agony as Jacob grabbed hold of his shirt and went to move it. That was quickly followed by Jacob snatching his hand away with a curse as the blood that had felt like it had been burning her alive, coated his skin.

“What the hell is this?” Jacob asked, placing his hand beneath the water only to yank his hand away with another curse when the hot water made the pain worse.

“Demon blood,” Kale managed to get out as Ashley moved to go help him, deciding that she’d wasted enough time only to suddenly find herself pulled back.

“What kind?” Jacob demanded.

“No fucking clue,” Kale muttered.

“Shit!” Jacob said, shoving her behind him as he stepped back, giving her no other choice but to move back with him.

“Wait! What’s going on?” Ashley asked, swallowing hard as she shifted her gaze from Jacob’s wide back to find Kale watching her through silver eyes.

“Take care of her,” Kale said, watching her with something close to regret as Jacob pushed her towards the door.

“Would someone please just tell me what’s going on?” Ashley asked, shoving Jacob’s hand away, but the persistent jerk simply ignored her and kept moving.

“We need to get you out of here,” Jacob said, swallowing hard as he continued moving back.

“What about Kale?” she asked, moving to push his hand away only to stop herself before she hurt him.

“I’ll handle it. But for right now, I need you to listen to me and go downstairs and stay there,” Jacob said as he gave her that final push through the door.

“Jacob, what are-”

“Just go!” Jacob snapped on an anguished groan as he pulled the hand coated in demon blood against his chest and-

She’d seen enough.

Praying that this worked, Ashley grabbed hold of Jacob’s shirt and dragged him back inside the bathroom. As soon as he stumbled to a stop in front of the bathroom sink, she grabbed the bottle of mountain-fresh scented dish soap and shoved it in his arms.

“Warm water and a few drops of soap will take it off,” she said as she shifted her attention to Kale.

As much as she wished that it would be that easy for Kale, she knew better. While they’d only had to deal with light smudges, Kale’s shirt and pants were coated in demon blood. Really hoping that this worked, Ashley placed the bucket on the shower floor and knelt down by Kale’s side and quickly set to work grabbing a hand towel and held it beneath the spray of hot water. Once it was wet, she squeezed dish soap onto the towel, released a shaky breath and-

“Fuck!”

-immediately realized her mistake when the material from the towel clung to the blood, tearing an unholy roar from Kale as she jerked her arm back, causing the side of her arm to brush against the blood and sending agonizing pain through her arm.

Biting back a scream of agony, Ashley dropped the towel on the bathroom floor as she sat there, trying to breathe through the pain while she tried to figure out how she was going to do this without making it worse. It took her a minute to realize that she wasn’t going to be able to as she watched her skin heal until all that was left behind was the smudge of demon blood that felt like a bad sunburn.

She healed faster, Ashley thought numbly, releasing a shaky breath as she glanced from her arm to all the blood covering Kale and quickly realized what she had to do. Swallowing hard, she emptied the bucket on the floor and shoved it in the shower stall next to Kale, who was watching her every move, and filled it with hot water and added dish soap, hoping that it was enough.

Once the bucket was filled with soapy water, Ashley took a steadying breath and-

“What are you doing?” Jacob asked as she picked up the bucket and poured it over Kale’s stomach and legs, tearing another scream of agony from him as the scent of apples became stronger. Ashley quickly dropped the bucket, grabbed the soap and poured an insane amount in her hand and set to work washing the blood off Kale’s clothes.

“Are you fucking crazy?” Jacob asked, moving to stop her only to go still when she said, “It’s working!” as she struggled to keep her hands moving through the blood, noting that it felt more like gel than blood as pain tore through her hands and up her right arm.

God, this hurt, Ashley thought, grinding her teeth together as she forced her hands to keep moving when all she wanted to do was pull them away and scream in pain. When she saw the blood start to wash away from his clothes, she knew that she was on the right track. She grabbed the bucket and filled it back up with hot soapy water, ignoring the blisters that were now forming all over her hands and kept going, knowing that she couldn’t stop now.

“Holy shit,” Jacob said in a daze as he watched the blisters on her hands and arms split open, tear her skin apart only to close seconds later as her skin began to heal as the soap washed away the blood.

Before her hands finished healing, she was grabbing the bucket of soapy water and pouring it over Kale again with a murmured, “I’m sorry,” as he screamed in pain. By the time that she dropped the bucket on the floor and grabbed the dish soap, her hands were on fire again and excruciating pain was tearing through her right arm, making it difficult to focus as she worked her hands over Kale’s shirt and pants, gently working the soap into the material and washing the blood away.

When the blood began congealing on his clothes again, Ashley reached for the bucket only to have Jacob grab it first. He made quick work of filling up the bucket and pouring more soap in it while she sat there, trying to give Kale a reassuring smile as her arms shook violently while her body raced to heal the damage. God, it hurt so much, Ashley thought, struggling not to cry only to end up biting her lip when a sob broke free as the first tear rolled down her face.

“Stop,” Kale said hoarsely as he pushed her hands away, but she couldn’t stop.

Not now.

Ignoring him, Ashley quickly shifted back until she reached his legs and focused on getting his clothes off before the blood coating his skin had a chance to grab hold of his clothes again. While she struggled to remove his boots, Jacob stepped past her and kept filling the bucket with soapy water and pouring it over Kale.

“How did you come up with this idea?” Jacob asked as she pulled Kale’s right boot off and tossed it aside before reaching for the other one with shaky hands, noting that the burns weren’t healing as fast anymore.

“Wildlife rescue documentary,” Ashley said, forcing herself to ignore how much her hands hurt as she pulled off Kale’s socks, noting that there wasn’t any blood in his boots before shifting her gaze back to his pants.

“Wildlife rescue?” Jacob murmured, throwing her a questioning look as he continued pouring soapy water over Kale.

“They use dish soap after oil spills to help get the oil off animals,” Ashley said, realizing that she was going to have to cut his pants off. “Hand soap made the blood thicker, so I tried dish soap.”

“Never would have thought of that,” Jacob said as Ashley grabbed the scissors only to realize that they weren’t going to be able to cut through the thick wet material.

Biting back a sigh, she tossed them aside, noting that her skin was once again beginning to heal as she knelt there, debating their options only to realize that they really didn’t have any. They needed to get his clothes off before the blood could congeal.

Slowly exhaling, she grabbed hold of his pants and pulled, ripping the thick, wet material apart and-

Stopped when Kale screamed in pain. Releasing his pants, Ashley grabbed the bottle of dish soap, poured more in her hand, and worked her hand between his ruined pants and his leg, slowly washing away the blood holding the two together until she was able to slide her entire hand beneath his pant leg. Then she pulled her throbbing hand free, ripped his pants until she reached the next section of blood and did it all over again as the scent of apples became weaker.

She kept going until Jacob was able to reach down and rip the remainder of Kale’s jeans off, leaving him in soaked boxer briefs that had somehow managed to protect his hip from the blood before focusing her attention on his torso only to feel her stomach drop when she saw it.

“Oh, fuck me…” Jacob said as Ashley’s gaze flickered from the bullet wound that she’d just uncovered to find Kale watching her.

“Silver bullet,” Kale said, making her swallow hard as her gaze shifted back to the wound that had been concealed in demon blood a moment ago, to find it bleeding now that the demon blood was gone.

“Oh, shit!” Jacob said, gently pushing her aside as he grabbed Kale and pulled him onto his side to reveal an exit wound on his back.

“He’s going to be okay, right?” Ashley asked hollowly as she watched the last of the demon blood slowly slide away from the wound on his back and-

She got her answer.