The Curse in Her Blood

Chapter 8

Sarah

I sit in the chair out in the hallway where all the chaos had happened in the first place with my head in my hands trying really hard not to cry. I still can't believe it.

My cancer is gone.

But do you know what else is gone? Robin is gone.

Robin made a deal with the Egyptian version of the Devil to cure me of my cancer.

So, let's recap.

Cancer. Gone. Robin, my best friend. Also gone. And me? I'm in fucking shambles.

Don't get me wrong, Robin is smart, and kind, and loyal, and super brave when she needs to be, but she could also be completely clueless, terribly naive, extremely clumsy, and altogether too trusting. I had always been like the gate keeper, shooing away the people who were trying to use her.

How could I do that now? How could I protect her from Set if she wasn't with me? And a demon like that was sure to take advantage of her. Had already taken advantage of her.

Jack comes to kneel beside me, he places a hand to my knee and I force myself to look at him through my tears.

"It'll be okay," he whispers to me. "It may not seem like it now but it will be okay."

"Robin and have haven't been separated for more than four hours for the last six years. We had one year apart and we pined for each other harder than a forest of pine trees. I haven't been away from her, unable to speak to her, in so long... and you don't know her like I do. She's going to get eaten alive..."

"Your best friend, while misguided, was smart enough to con both of us. She got away and helped Set escape all on her own. She is clearly much more capable then you're giving her credit for. Granted she's on the wrong side... but her intentions were good."

True. All of that is true. But his best friend hadn't just sold their soul to save his life, now did he? No, Jack would never understand my worries. He didn't spend his life protecting someone, of being their shoulder to cry on, and then finding out they were going to die. Who was going to protect Robin when she was gone? Who was going to understand that sometimes she just needed to cry it out? That she'd rage and scream and eventually talk herself out of her over reaction. That if she was left alone, she'd stop being mad and apologize, if she was actually in the wrong. Who was going to sit with her when her relationships went to shit? Cause they always went to shit. Girl never dated a guy good enough for her, always dated the charity cases who needed her to fix them up so they could move on to bigger tits, prettier faces and uglier personalities.

"We'll find her," Jack says when I just stare at him. "We'll find her. We'll put him back in his prison cell. And we'll save her. I swear to you. It's what we do."

"You must be distraught," Miss Het interrupts. She stares at me with unaffected eyes. She's not impressed, and I get it. We did just shit on her whole office, helped a deranged god of death escape and basically took out a bunch of her men. So, like... I get why she'd be mad at us.

I try to say that I'm sorry. But I'm not sorry about what happened in that containment room. I'm only sorry he got away. I'm sorry that I didn't see what my friend was doing. I'm sorry that he got away. The words die on my lips but that's okay because Miss Het keeps talking.

"I must say I'm not surprised. When I surmised that your friend was in contact with him, when I realized he had placed a translation spell on her, I figured he'd try something, figured he might be trying to talk her into doing something rash," she tells us, examining her finger nails as if they're the most interesting thing on the planet. "When I heard you got a clean bill of health, I knew she had made a deal. But by the time I thought to warn anyone she had already gone and done this."

I look around at the room. The glass sarcophagus they had Set in was shattered, the mercury they had him half submerged in had leaked to the floor. Half the room was buried in the sand from the storm Set had whipped up, all the technology was fried and the thick panes of bullet proof glass were obliterated.

Yeah. Robin and Set had done some damage.

"She was just trying to help me," I sigh. "That's what she does. She only thinks about others, never herself."

"Doesn't look like she was thinking about others when she helped Set do this," Miss. Het snaps at me and I find it hard not to stand up and slap that glare right off her face. "Look. Your friend has unleashed hell on earth. She may not know it yet, but she's in great danger. Set will only be able to hold back her curse for so long, which means he'll have to work fast. If we can get ahead of this, if we can get to your friend and stop him from unleashing his powers, we may have a chance to bind him again."

"Okay... and what do you want me to do? Just go home?"

"No, we want you to stay," Miss Het says and despite myself I find myself glancing at Jack who is staring up at Miss Het in awe. "You are strong, you are intuitive, and you will most likely be easy to train. All of this will come as second nature. You will be a strong ally in this fight. I also figure if I can get Astarte..."

"Robin," I interrupt. "Her name is Robin."

Miss Het pauses briefly before she says: "Fine, Robin. If I can get you in Robin's vicinity, I'm positive you can talk her out of this."

I nod. She's right. I can convince Robin to do anything.

"Fine," I whisper. "I'm down. What's our first move?"