Russ stood pacing the plush carpet floor while Inanna lay in bed lifeless beneath the sheet. He'd been trying to think of how to do what The Creator told him he would do. He knew that some of Samael's unfiltered blood now coursed through his veins and that with it he had gained some power but he didn't know how to conjure it for his use. He paced the floor back and forth, crossing in front of the window and wearing a small path near the fireplace. He stopped at the side of the bed and looked down on his friend. He wished that there was something he could say that would cause her to wake up but he knew of no such thing. In his tiredness and exasperation he sat on the bed next to Inanna and held her hand in his. He beckoned her to tell him what to do, to wake up from his touch. He bent over and kissed her still warm lips then pulled away to look for any signs of alertness but nothing happened. She still lay there not moving, nonspeaking and not breathing.

He slid half of his body off of the bed and let his hair fall into his eyes. He peered at Inanna and ran his hands down the length of her body. He slid the sheet off of her slowly to expose her naked form. Russ released her hand and placed both of his hands on the bandages that were wrapped around her waist. He laid his hands there and saw in his mind what he wanted to do. He wanted to close the wound; he wanted to heal the wound. He wanted his friend to live, more than anything else that he wanted; he wanted her to breathe again. He closed his eyes and saw with his mind's eye, the skin beneath her bandages pull together. First starting with the damaged tissue on the inside and then mending bones that had sustained damage by the sword and finally the skin directly beneath the bandage. Russ focused every ounce of his mind on those things. He not only concentrated on the healing but also on the reason for the healing.

He felt a warm trickle of blood run from his nose and down his chin. He saw the small red droplets land on the sheet beneath him and turned to look at Inanna. He removed his hands and slowly began peeling back the bandages to reveal her smooth skin with the faint hint of a scar in a diagonal line across her belly. Her blood stuck to her body in a dried silvery pool on her skin where the bandage covered the wound. Russ rose to sit on the bed and lifted Inanna's body close to his. He spoke her name, in hopes that she would answer but she did not. He ran the back of his hand down her cheek. She was still warm to the touch but not breathing.

A thought came to him. He needed her heart to beat, so he placed his hand over the left side of her chest and focused his attention on getting blood to move in and out of it. He concentrated on making the heart pump to get it perform its function, to keep the blood coursing through her body. He laid her back on the pillow with one hand on her chest and the other rested on her head to help rouse her conscience. He concentrated on the image of a small hand massaging her heart to get it pumping again while simultaneously sending out a part of him-self to connect with Inanna's consciousness. He felt for her and called out to her, asking her to find him.

His hope of healing her and bringing her back to the land of the living began to fade when nothing happened after the time he spent trying to revive her. He stopped. He'd healed her body but was unable to give her life back to her. He finally accepted the fact that he could not bring her back. He lay down beside her in the bed, pulled the sheet up on her body and wrapped his arm around her holding her close to him.

His heart was broken.

He wanted desperately for her to survive all that had happened and he thought that The Creator would help him but He did nothing that Russ could see. He rubbed Inanna's hair and whispered his heart to her in the dim light of the bedroom.

"I'm sorry, Little Sister. I'm just not strong enough or...powerful enough. I'm so sorry sweetheart.

"I wish none of this had ever happened then you'd still be alive. You wouldn't know me and I wouldn't know you, but you'd still be alive. You'd still be alive."

"It's not fair. It's not fair that I would meet somebody like you on Facebook of all fucking places. Made to feel something then lose you; all in the same day."

"And I'll be damned if I don't feel something. I'm in the devil's house holding your lifeless body...God Inanna. Please just wake up. Wake up for me, please."

"I'll do whatever it is that needs to be done with no complaints. Just come back to me."

Russ shed his tears over her and on her. He knew loss, loss was a thing of second nature to him but this seemed so much worse than anything else had ever felt. His heart hurt. He felt as though he were the one that took that blade to the guts and that it was slowly ripping out his insides. He slid against her body, cradling it close to his and whispered his love in her ear. He planted a kiss on her temple and promised to fight Samael off if he came for her. He prayed to The Creator that He'd come and collect her personally rather than let Samael take her.

And it was with the completion of that prayer that Inanna coughed, causing Russ to startle. She coughed again and again until it sounded as if she were choking. Russ quickly sat her up and leaned her forward. He rushed off to the bathroom for a glass of water for her to drink then returned splashing and spilling most of the glass's contents on the carpet beneath his feet. He helped her drink by lifting the glass to her lips and she sipped until the dry, scratchy sensation left her. She took a deep breath and fell back against the pillows. Russ stared at her in disbelief then wiped the blood from his nose and lips on his sleeve. He couldn't believe she'd come back to him.

"Inanna?" Russ spoke, his voice trembling with fear.

She looked into his eyes and saw the images of the Tree on them. She looked into his face and lifted her hand to run her fingers across his lips.

"Yeah Junior, it's me." Inanna said in a hoarse whisper.

Russ chuckled and pulled her into an embrace. His heart leapt in his chest with her pressed against him. Her body was warm and color vibrant once more. He felt the rise and fall of her breaths beneath his hands and the goose bumps race across her naked skin. He pulled away from her to look into her face.

"I thought I lost you. God help me, I thought you were gone."

"I was gone but it was time for me to wake up."

"How did you...?"

Russ trailed off but decided he didn't need an answer – she was alive and that's all that mattered. He cupped her face in his hands and planted a kiss on her head, cheek and lips. He lingered at her lips and what was meant to be a soft and innocent peck turned into a deep kiss. He rose from the bed, stood beside it then lifted her up in his arms and proceeded to walk towards the bathroom.

"I think that a nice hot shower will do us both some good. This has been one helluva long day."

Inanna nodded and rested her head against Russ' shoulder. His warmth felt good to her. He put her down in the spacious bathroom and got the shower going. They both stood under the rainfall of hot water that fell from the shower's ceiling in the center of the bathing room. They held on to each other, not sharing any words but sharing everything in between. It was Russ who broke the silence.

"We're in some deep shit, aren't we?"

Inanna said nothing. She held on tight to Russ while the hot water beat down all around them and tried not to think about what she'd seen while she was away or what she still felt now that she was back. Though her wounds were healed, there was one that was not and would not be healed unless the Tree was healed. She stood in the shower with Russ, nonspeaking and trying her hardest not to feel the pain of rot and decay taking over The Tree of Life as she felt it dying deep within her.