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“Forget what he said. Forget what I ever suggested about working with him. He’s a daemon. He was trying to kill us to make sure we don’t interfere. My guess is that they decided to shift their headquarters. They must have found out we were coming and planned this little booby trap.”
“How? How did they find out?” The house was engulfed in flames and the sound of sirens echoed in the distance.
“I dunno. I think we have a leak somewhere,” he said slowly. “Somebody . . . someone told them. Who did you tell about this?”
“It could be any number of people. Chase’s FH-CSI officers knew we were coming, Nerissa knew . . . who else?” Something tickled at the back of my mind but I couldn’t wrap my thoughts around it; I was so shaken.
“Then we have a lot of thinking to do.” Morio motioned toward the ravine. “Come on, let’s get out of here before the cops arrive.”
Delilah let out a low sob. “Chase—I need to know how Chase is.”
“Yeah, and Iris . . .” I glanced at the Talon-haltija, who was staring at the flames, her mouth pinched. Her expression was one of haunting and pain. It was then that I understood that she hadn’t realized what she was going to do—or that she had even been sure she could still cast that spell. Too close to her memories of her fiancé for comfort.
“Come on. Let’s go,” I whispered, wrapping my arm around her shoulders as we headed back into the trees. “We aren’t going to wrap this one up tonight, guys.”
As we slipped under the cover of the rain-drenched leaves, I wondered just what the hell we were going to do now. We had an informant somewhere—it was the only way to explain that they knew we were coming. We had the Fae Queens on our back from both realms. And I knew that Stacia wouldn’t hesitate to come after us once she realized we’d survived the explosion.
I had no idea what we were going to do about any of it, but I knew one thing for sure: We’d find the Bonecrusher, and when we did, we’d rip her to shreds.
We arrived at the FH-CSI headquarters, soaked through and covered with mud and ash. Sharah was waiting for us. Delilah moved forward, her face a blank slate. Menolly and I flanked her sides.
“Chase . . .” Her voice was faint, her back rigid.
Sharah stared at her for a moment, then slowly said, “He’s in critical condition. I don’t know if he’ll make it. We’re doing everything we can.”
“No . . . no . . .” Delilah wavered and Menolly pressed her hand against her back, steadying her. “There has to be something you can do to help.”
I closed my eyes, not wanting to breathe, not wanting to speak. I knew the answer, but dreaded being the one to suggest it. But if it might help . . .
“I know what might heal his wounds. But it could destroy him in the long run,” I blurted out. Enough heartache for one night. If it could save him now, we’d deal with the future later.
“What is it? We can’t lose Chase. I can’t lose him!” Delilah grabbed me by the shoulders. “Tell me!”
I sucked in a deep breath. “You were going to have him drink the nectar of life. The potion will also heal extreme injuries. Without the proper rituals, it might also drive him mad in the long run, but it will save his life now.” Turning to Sharah, I asked, “Does he stand a chance otherwise?”
“There’s always a chance . . . but the odds are low . . .” Her voice trailed off and I saw the glimmer of tears in her eyes.
“Then, that’s it,” Delilah said. “Give him this.” She pulled the bottle out of her purse and slammed it into Sharah’s hand. “Do it.”
“But—but, are you sure?” The elf looked at me and I nodded.
Menolly stepped forward. “We don’t have a choice. If he’s going to die anyway, you might as well give it a shot, because I’m not interested in siring a son and that’s our only other option.”
Sharah let out a long sigh and then whirled, marching down the corridor. “Follow me,” she called.
We followed. As we entered Chase’s room, we saw that he was hooked up to numerous IV drips, and he was on a ventilator.
“He was stabbed four times, and sustained heavy damage to his internal organs,” Sharah said. “The knife went in at precisely the wrong spots. Whoever attacked him knew just how to inflict critical damage.”
Delilah flinched, but Sharah didn’t notice. She just pulled a large syringe out of the drawer. “The nectar of life will work when it’s injected, as well as when it’s swallowed.” As she slowly filled the syringe, she glanced up at my sister. “You know this is on your head? I know we need Chase, I know you love him, but I’m doing this against my better judgment. Without the rituals, this could create major changes in his personality as well as his body.”
“Do it,” Delilah said, growling.
I saw the flicker in her aura that presaged a transformation and hurried over to Sharah’s side. “Unless you want a very angry black panther in here, you’d better do what she asks. We’ll take responsibility.”
Sharah nodded and slowly began to inject the drug directly into Chase’s jugular vein. When the sparkling liquid had all disappeared, she stood back. “We’ll know in a minute if it’s going to save his life or not.”
Delilah dropped to her knees. “Great Mother Bast, I implore you. Please save Chase. I need him. I don’t know why you brought us together, but we’re not through yet. We’re not finished yet.”
