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Vanzir looked like he wanted to say more, but then he suddenly broke off eye contact and turned abruptly, sprinting back to Karvanak's side.
Morio grabbed my wrist, and we took off across the street. "We need to get out of here and go have our wounds examined."
I was silent as we crossed the street and climbed in the car. I started the engine. The Raksasa had just threatened every friend we had. When Dredge, Menolly's sire, had arrived in town and targeted our friends a few months ago, I'd been terrified. Collateral damage was such an ugly term. But now I realized that we needed our allies—every one of them.
The demons wouldn't spare anyone when they invaded, regardless of how much distance we put between our friends and us. Even if we did as they asked and helped them, the creatures were born liars and would have no compunction offing us as soon as they had what they wanted.
"That was her, the djinn," Delilah said. "And… was that…"
"Yeah, that was the Raksasa. His name is Karvanak. And his buddy's name is Vanzir. I'm not sure what kind of demon Vanzir is, but there's something weird going on there. Karvanak is trying to blackmail us by threatening our friends if we don't give him what he wants."
"What does he want?" Chase asked.
I sighed. "He seems to think we have—or know the whereabouts of—the third spirit seal. And he wants it. He offered to make it worth our while if we turn sides and join him. Of course, that translates to, I'll kill you later instead of now. We're going to have to be very careful. He's strong. Very strong. I can sense it, and he scares the crap out of me. This is one fight we can't win straight out—he'll eat us alive."
"I hate to interrupt," Chase said, "but I'm feeling woozy all of a sudden."
Delilah felt his forehead. "He's starting a fever. Let's head for the FH-CSI offices. We can't do anything about Karvanak right now, so let's focus on what we can take care of."
I fell silent and drove, but my mind was racing a million miles an hour. We needed to talk strategy. We needed to bring somebody else in to help us. We needed… so many things, and we weren't likely to get any of them.
The Faerie-Human Crime Scene Investigations offices were in a building specially built just for the purpose of dealing with Otherworlders. Damaged in the rogue vampire onslaught a couple of months ago, the broken doors had been fixed, and the magical security system had been reinforced, changed just enough to prevent the same disruption from happening again. No doubt somebody would come along in the future who could beat it, but as with hackers, each time it was defeated, we'd rebuild it stronger and more secure.
The morgue was in the basement, three stories down, while the medical facilities were on the first floor. We burst through the doors, and I waved hello to Yugi. The Swedish empath had recently been promoted to lieutenant, and he ran the ship when Chase and Tylanda weren't around, Tylanda being a full-blooded Fae and Chase's ex-assistant. She'd returned to Otherworld as ordered by the OIA, but we hoped to fill her spot soon.
Sharah drew samples of all of our blood. If we had any cut on us that had been touched by the tetsa poison, it would show as she added the reagent. The toxin entered the bloodstream quickly.
She shook out several grains of a blue powder into a small vial and added a quarter cup of water, swirling it until it dissolved. Then she lined up the blood samples and, using an eyedropper, squirted three drops of the bluish liquid on each sample. Morio's blood just sat there, as did mine. Delilah's sizzled a little, and Chase's let out a loud hiss as it bubbled up.
"Chase, Delilah, you show signs of tetsa in your blood. You'll both have to take the antidote."
Chase jumped. "What? Are we going to die? What about my men?"
"Calm down. Chief," she said, digging through a cupboard. "I've tested your men already and administered the antidote. Both are alive, but I'm not hopeful about Trent—he fell to the poison awfully fast. But Mallen is taking care of them, and if he can't pull them through, nobody can. You, on the other hand, are still walking, and that's good news," she said absently. After a moment she turned, a tall vial in her hand. The liquid inside was brown and frothy.
Delilah wrinkled her nose. "Ugh. I know what's coming."
"Do we have to drink that?" Chase asked, swallowing and looking a little green. "That looks vile—oh God, it smells vile, too!"
Sharah had popped open the bottle, and a pungent odor filled the room, like acrid vinegar mixed with sulfur. "Quit being a baby. Yes, you have to drink it. Lucky for you, I have to dilute it first." She poured two tablespoons into a glass, two into a second glass, then added tap water, stirring it until it stopped fizzing. Handing them each a glass, she added, "Bottoms up. Now."
Delilah took a deep breath and chugged hers down, wincing as the flavor hit her tongue. Chase was a little slower, but finally held his nose and swallowed the drink, gagging a little as he did so. But the glasses were empty, and Sharah looked pleased with herself.
"You should live, but I want the both of you to stay for observation for the next few hours. Camille, you and Morio can go." She waved us away.
"But Camille needs me—" Delilah started to say.
I cut her off. "Hush. You stay here, make sure the antidote took. My cell is out, and so is Morio's, so you won't be able to contact us until we get home—"
"Take mine," Iris said, handing me her cell phone. "Are you heading home first?"
I nodded. "I can't very well drive up to the Mountain Aspen Retreat covered in blood and all bruised up. I need to change clothes and put on some makeup and try to make myself look a little less beat up. I suppose I can always claim a recent accident."
"I'll ride with you, then, and make sure Maggie's all right. I'll give Henry a call, too, and see how he's doing at the shop." She bustled toward the door. "What are you waiting for? Let's get a move on."
I kissed Delilah on the cheek and patted Chase's shoulder. "Be careful. I'll have Iris's cell phone. Call me if anything happens."
As we headed out the door, I turned to Morio. "If one more thing goes wrong today, I swear, I'm going to scream so loud that I break the windows."
