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If I tried to move him through the astral, it might worsen that wound.”
“I can do it,” I said, prying Camil e’s hands off Morio. She was sobbing, trying to wake him up.
Morio had fainted—probably from the pain. Demon or not, a large wooden stake in the side had to hurt. I gathered him in my arms and slowly began to rise toward the manhole, floating up. Carrying someone made it doubly hard to control the power—passengers were always problematic, but we didn’t have a choice. I’d done it a few times and I could do it again. My main goal was to get him up topside before the ghost decided to attack us while we were airborne. I bit my lip, concentrating on keeping us afloat.
Vanzir pushed Chase toward the rungs. “Get the fuck up there, Johnson. Menol y wil need your help once she’s topside with Morio.” He turned back to the direction the stones had pelted us from.
Camil e raced to his side, cal ing up the Moon Mother’s energy. As I neared the manhole cover, I heard Vanzir shout something, and then he laughed in that deep, terrifying throaty way he had.
Crap. What was going on? But I couldn’t go back to check. Morio’s skin was clammy. He’d gone into shock and the scent of his blood was driving me nuts. As I came to the manhole cover, I knocked it away, driving straight into it with the top of my head. Sometimes, vampire strength rocked.
I hovered up and out of the tunnels, coming to rest on the street next to the manhole. Quickly, I darted to the lawn next to the sidewalk and laid Morio down on the snow-covered grass. Fuck. We needed something to cover him with. I could strip off my turtleneck, but that wouldn’t do much good. Wil ing Chase to hurry up, I examined Morio’s wound.
We were under a streetlamp, thank gods, and I could see the long, narrow board. Oh hel . It had driven itself a good five inches into his side. The good news was that it hadn’t been near his heart.
The bad news was that he was bleeding far too much and the scent was so strong and sweet that my fangs had descended. I wil ed them up, pushed back the hunger, and pressed my hands against the wound, trying not to jostle the stake until we knew what was going on.
Chase climbed over the side of the manhole and yanked out his cel phone, yel ing on it as he raced over to my side.
“Sharah, get a team out here now. Fuck, where is here?” He stopped to glance around, then caught sight of the street signs. “Cross streets: Greenbelt Drive and Vader Way East. Morio’s been severely injured. He’s losing blood.” He paused. “I have no idea what blood type a youkai-kitsune takes. And Camil e’s stil . . . hel , Camil e and Vanzir are stil down there with that thing.
Just get here stat!” He stuck the phone in his pocket and joined me.
“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!
