AllFreeNovel
Share Us
As I gazed into his eyes, I knew he was tel ing the truth. There was no way he could lie about it to me. Vanzir was no longer able to feed. Camil e—or someone working through Camil e—had destroyed his most powerful weapon.
There was nothing left to say. I shifted back into gear and pul ed out from the curb, heading toward the FH-CSI building. This night just kept getting worse. For once, the thought of daylight and sleep loomed large like a promise of relief.
Chase was waiting. He glanced at the clock. “Cutting it thin, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, but this night has just made everything twice as hard as it should be. Any word on Morio?”
“Camil e’s sleeping in the bed next to him. Tril ian and Delilah are in the waiting room. So far, he’s holding his own. But they’ve run perilously low on the blood he needs. Delilah’s put out an emergency cal to the Supe Community and we’ve had donors straggling in the past hour or so, so that’s one good thing.”
“What the fuck is this about Wade being the serial kil er?”
“I know, I know. It’s ridiculous, but I can’t just ignore it. I have to check out any and al leads. The person who phoned in was male, that’s al I know. He claimed that Wade knew the women and had access to them. I can’t question him now—but on the last ray of sunset, I’l be at his door. I’d like you to meet me there.”
“Sure.” I frowned. “Sun is setting at around four twenty. Meet you there at four fifty?”
“Sounds good. And Menol y, I know you and Wade are on the outs, but I know you don’t want to see him go down for—”
“Actual y, we’re okay. For now, at least. And yeah, I don’t want to see him go down unless he actual y did something. I’l tel you now, it isn’t him. But I know you have to check things out. I’l see you this evening.”
I turned to Vanzir. “I’m heading home. Go trade off with Delilah. She’s going to need her sleep.
Tel her I’m headed home to bed. Make sure she gets her ass out of here. We need to be rested up, with al that’s going on.”
He nodded, not meeting my eyes.
“Vanzir, listen . . .” I paused, not knowing how to say what I was thinking, so final y I opted for just blurting it out as usual. “Whatever you did, Camil e seems to have decided it wasn’t worthy of death given the circumstances. She seems to have chosen her own form of punishment, and I’l admit, it was a doozy. So I’l leave it up to her. Obviously I’m pissed as hel , but . . .”
“I understand.” He raised one hand, then dropped it quickly and headed to the waiting room.
Al the way home, the events of the past twenty-four hours played through my mind. By the time I walked into the house, with thirty minutes to spare before sunrise, I was feeling more exhausted than I had in a long time. Iris had been dozing by the fire, curled up in an armchair. Maggie was in the playpen next to her side. I reached down and planted a soft kiss on the dewy, fuzzy leather of the gargoyle’s face. And then, without waking Iris, I slipped down to my lair and crashed into oblivious, dreamless sleep.
When I woke, I jumped into clean clothes and raced up the stairs, waiting impatiently for the kitchen to clear. Final y, I was able to slip out of my lair and into the living room.
“Morio? Is he—”
Iris nodded. She looked tired. I had a feeling it had been a long day for her. “He’s stil in critical condition. Sharah said there was something about the ghosts that made it worse. His wounds go deeper than just the stake in the liver. The ghost drained life energy out of him when it attacked.”
“Hungry ghosts. A variant of the hungry ghosts,” I whispered. There were several variations of the creatures. We’d come across one or two before, but these were powerful and angry. The thought of Ivana Krask having control over them was rather frightening, now that I thought about it.
But there was nothing to do about it.
“Yes,” Iris said. “They fed on him as his pain grew.”
Speaking of feeding . . . I looked around for Vanzir, but he was no place in sight. Neither was Delilah, nor Tril ian. “Where is everybody?”
“Nerissa headed out to rent an apartment until the condo sale goes through—she said to tel you she’l cal later. Delilah and Tril ian are back at the hospital with Camil e. Smoky and Roz aren’t home yet. Shamas is at work. Vanzir took off with some vague excuse. Does he seem different to you, Menol y? I wonder if the soul binder ritual is stil working.” Iris frowned.
I wasn’t sure how to deal with the question. What the hel was I going to tel her? But now that Vanzir’s powers were gone, it occurred to me the others would have to know. Next time we went into battle, someone might expect him to be able to feed on the creatures we were facing, and that was no longer possible.
Crap, and that meant Smoky, Tril ian, and Morio would find out, and that meant . . . Vanzir might as wel slit his wrists unless somehow Camil e could keep the three of them in check. Tril ian she could probably deal with—he was polyamorous by nature, too. And possibly Morio. But Smoky . . .
I real y didn’t want to think about what Smoky was likely to do.
“I’d better tel you something, but, Iris, this is a touchy situation. And hel —it wil have to wait. I’ve got to meet Chase at Wade’s. I’m late as it is. Cal down to the bar for me, would you? I’m not sure I’l make it in tonight, either. Ask Chrysandra how Derrick is doing, please. And Erin—tel her I’l see her soon.”
I grabbed a bottle of blood from the fridge and drank it without warming it. Normal y, the taste would have been pretty bad, but Morio had charmed this bottle into a strawberry shake flavor and it went down easy. Blessing his poor, wounded heart, I tossed the bottle in the sink and raced out the door to my Jag.
As I leaped down the steps, I landed on a patch of ice beneath the layer of fresh snow and went skidding, landing on my chin. I managed to hit a rock, which caused a gash, but it began to heal by the time I was on my feet and in the car.
