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“I’ve got compression going, but damn, Chase, this is bad. He’s in shock. Can you cover him with your coat?”
Chase yanked off his parka and covered Morio with it, then took off his suit coat and bal ed it up, stuffing it under Morio’s head. “He’s pale . . . far too pale.”
“He’s lost a lot of blood. I’m not sure what to do. I have no clue about the physiology of a nature demon.” I glanced over at the manhole. Stil no Vanzir or Camil e. “Where the hel are they? I’ve got to go check on them. Chase, can you sit with Morio?”
He shook his head. “I can’t watch for Sharah and keep compression on his wound, too. You have to stay here with me until the team gets here.”
“We may be too late. I have to go see what’s going on with my sister.” Frantic, I smacked the ground next to me, and the thud ran in a rol beneath our feet. The blood from Morio’s wound started again, and I hustled to press my hands to the gash. The scent of the blood was also driving me nuts, and I prayed we didn’t have any unwelcome visitors drop out of the woodwork, like our vampire serial kil er.
But it wasn’t another vampire that showed up. No, we couldn’t be that lucky. I heard a noise and glanced over at the nearest tree. There, in a ghostly fog, was a stark figure cloaked in the wreaths of mist. Holy crap, another ghost!
“What the fuck is this? Spook central?” I nodded to the ghost. “Chase, we can’t stay here, that thing could—” But before I could get the rest of my sentence out, the spirit hurtled itself our way with a shriek.
I threw myself over Morio’s prone body, keeping one hand pressed against the bloody fountain, as Chase paled. He was half-kneeling, half-standing, and the spirit flew right through him, knocking him to the ground.
With a groan, he hit the pavement, rol ing away to come up in a crouch, a look of sheer terror masking his face. He held out his hands as the spirit wheeled and came in for another round, and this time the thing had a face—or rather it was a face. Like a giant skul , with mouth shrieking wide, it descended on Chase. I could do nothing, unless I wanted to expose Morio to more danger, except watch as the spirit engulfed the detective.
“Camil e! Vanzir!” I screamed as loud as I could, hoping they could hear me, hoping they were al right. “We need you!”
Just then, Chase shuddered and a sparkle of colors began to surround him. The spirit seemed to pul back, and with a massive convulsion, Chase threw it off. The ghostly mist paused, and in that pause, the sound of sirens began to blare up the road. Sharah and her men screeched to a halt in the middle of the road and leaped out of the ambulance. The spirit seemed to think the better of confronting so many and vanished into the night, a puff of fog on the wind.
Chase shook his head and turned, staring at me. “What did I do? How did I keep it from hurting me? I could feel it trying to get into my mind.”
“I don’t know,” I said slowly. That was twice tonight he’d done something to repel our attackers. It occurred to me we needed to run him through a battery of some kind of tests, though I had no clue how or what.
As Sharah and her men came over to help with Morio, the evening took on a surreal feel. The snow started again and I stumbled back, toward the manhole, terrified that if I went down I’d discover Vanzir and Camil e, dead. But I had to find out. In the silent night, surrounded by the soft fal of the snow, I stumbled toward the tunnels, my hands slick and bloody. I stared at the drops of red, bringing my fingers to my nose, where I inhaled deeply. The musk of Morio’s scent was also clinging to me, and I felt a sudden wash of fear. What if he died? What would happen to Camil e?
What if she was . . .
Pushing the thought away, I closed myself to the fear and raced over to the manhole. I leaped over the side without a thought to what might be waiting below, and hurtled to the ground. As I landed, I flashed on my light and looked around, praying that they were okay.
I caught sight of Vanzir first. He was standing there, arms hanging down, staring bleakly at the wal , shaking his head.
“What? What’s wrong? Where’s Camil e?” I grabbed him by the arm and swung him around. His eyes were spinning and I could tel he’d been feeding. “No . . . please don’t tel me . . . Camil e!
Where are you?”
“I’m right here.” Camil e’s voice cut through the darkness as she stepped away from a pile of broken wood. Her expression was bleak, too. “Morio?” Her voice hung in the air, and I stared at her. Her dress was ripped in several places and her face was covered with dirt.
“Morio’s alive, but seriously wounded. Sharah’s up there with him now. Chase and I had to protect him against a ghost or I would have . . . are you okay?” Something in her demeanor was guarded and I couldn’t read her, for once.
A dark cloud passed over her face, but she nodded. “Yeah. I’m al right. Just roughed up. We managed to hold that thing at bay. But I want to get the fuck out of here. I need to be with Morio.”
She headed for the ladder, passing by Vanzir without a word, her lips pressed together.
I watched as she began to reach for the rungs with bare fingers. “Stop! Use these.” Mutely, she al owed me to slide my gloves on her hands, then silently started up the ladder.
Turning back to Vanzir, I said, “What happened? Tel me what happened down here! We heard an explosion and Camil e’s shriek . . . and you . . . laughed.”
“Camil e set off one fucking hel of a spel . That I can tel you. And I fed.” He said nothing more, just stared at me. I found myself wanting to go to him, but shook myself out of it.>Vanzir let out a throaty laugh, reveling in his hold on the creatures. In a way, I felt sorry for him.
He had tried to walk away from his nature but we had forced him back into it, the same as Karvanak—his previous owner—had. But at least we were fighting the bad guys.
As his head dropped back, a look of pure lust stole over his face and he opened his eyes. Like pinwheels, unfathomable colors flickered through Vanzir’s eyes. His gaze was scintil ating.
Camil e stared at him, mesmerized, and started forward.
“Get away,” he said hoarsely, motioning her back. “I can’t control myself when I feed, even if my life depends on it. If I didn’t snag you in with my feeders, I’d end up tearing your clothes off and fucking you raw.”
