Page 39 of Dark Voyage Matters of the Mind
He could lie and say that his friends knew about their blood-healing properties and that he hadn't told them a thing, but Aru preferred not to.
When several more minutes had passed, Aru refused to wait any longer and placed the call to Negal, and when he didn't answer immediately, Aru's gut twisted with worry.
Were they under attack?
Had their truck crashed? The female driving the truck was probably not being too careful in her rush to bring the injured humans to someone who could help them.
"Nothing new here," Negal finally answered. "The doctor is on her way."
Negal's tone, along with the cacophony of sounds streaming in from the other end, painted a vivid picture of urgency. The rumble of the truck's engine as the vehicle pushed across rugged terrain was punctuated by sharp jolts and thuds, and Aru could hear the clatter and rattle of items in the vehicle as they rolled about.
If Aru closed his eyes, he could see the vehicle hurtling through the landscape, with the female in the driver's seat battling against nature's resistance and time itself.
"How is Frankie doing?" he asked.
"Not good. I hope the doctor gets to her soon."
"Damn." Aru rubbed a hand over his face. "Do you know about the healing properties of a god's blood?"
"What are you talking about?" Another bump had Negal's voice hitched on the last word.
"A small transfusion of your or Dagor's blood can save Frankie. It will give her system a boost that will help her heal, but you need a syringe to perform it. Is there a medical kit in the truck?"
"There isn't. We searched because we could have used some bandages and tape to staunch the blood flow."
"Damn. You will have to wait until the doctor arrives and take one from her. After you are done, you will have to thrall the immortals and the human driver to forget that they saw you doing it. No one is supposed to know what our blood can do. I promised Kian that I would not reveal the secret because if humans learned about it, it would put the heir, Toven, and us at great risk. But we have to save the girl, so I will just have to apologize later and tell him that we've mitigated the risk."
"How much blood does she need?" Negal asked.
Not beating around the bush and getting straight to the point was one of the things Aru appreciated about the pragmatic trooper.
"Very little. About the size of the very tip of your pinkie. I think it's better that you do it because Dagor is most likely not thinking straight, and he might give her too much, which for all we know could kill her."
"How do you know about it in the first place? We were never told that our blood could heal humans."
"Since only a few of us would ever have contact with humans, there was no reason for us to be told. But it works the same on most of the created species. My sister had told me about it. She studied to be a healer, and they were taught to use their blood if there was no other choice and it was important to save the person."
"Well, that's good to know. So, let me repeat. When the doctor gets here, I ask her to give me a syringe, take some of my blood, inject it into Frankie, and then thrall everyone to forget what I did."
"That's right."
"Does it matter where I take the blood from and where I inject it?"
Aru couldn't tell him that Aria had given him instructions on how to help Gabi, but if asked, he could say that he'd learned it from YouTube and wouldn't be lying.
"You can take the blood from the crook of your elbow and inject it into any visible vein. Whatever healing properties our blood has will help heal Frankie no matter where it is injected."
"Good deal. I'll keep you posted, boss."
Dagor
The world narrowed to the pale, unresponsive girl in Dagor's arms. Her bleeding had lessened, but the pallor of her skin and the erratic, faint rhythm of her heartbeat sent waves of fear through him.
As the truck raced over the rough terrain, each bump and jolt fueled his anger and added to the sense of helplessness that he detested.
He was a god, for Fates' sake.
Why couldn't he do something to help her?