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“The fuck . . .? They’re notcars, Tres.” I backed away from him. “Eli?”
“Chaddock, step out into the hall with us.”
When Tres joined us in the hall, he was no longer looking at me in any way remotely resembling normal. He looked at me the way folks looked on prophets or false messiahs.
“Do you want to deal with Odem or should I behead him . . .?” I asked Tres.
Tres laughed. “You restoredhim. The possibilities, Geneviève! Can you—”
“So, you’ll stay here and deal with the police and whatnot?” I glanced into the room where Odem was holding court. One disaster of shit-storm potential at a time. Odem was first. He might be alert now, but I had my concerns about what this all meant. Would he stay alert? Could he be trusted to go home? Would the police find a house full of mutilated corpses if he did?
“You could save so many people.” Tres tried to take my hand, but I jerked away. He dropped to his knees and stared up at me. “You created life, Geneviève.”
Eli shook his head.
“Does that mean you will protect my secret?” I tried to sound holy, but I felt like I mostly sounded constipated. “No one can know, Tres.”
“Why wouldn’t you want people to know?” He stared at me in confusion.
“We could kill you,” Eli said mildly. “Them, too. All that happened here was that the old man must have had some experimental drug before dying.That’swhat happened.”
“No.” Tres glared at him. “St. Geneviève—”
“Oh, hell no.” I stepped back. “Your vow, Tres. Swear you won’t tell anyone what you think happened.”
“My kind take vows seriously, Chaddock. You do not want to face the consequences of breaking a vow.” Eli tugged off his glove and flicked the steel sword in my hand. The sizzle of his flesh made my stomach turn, but Eli was lowering his own defenses to the fae-deadly metal to make a point about what he was.
I kept my worry to myself. I wouldn’t undo his point.
“There are consequences,” Eli said. “And I have vows of my own.” He stepped forward, so he was between me and the still-kneeling Tres. “I would slaughter the whole city to protect Geneviève.”
I was startled at that revelation, but Eli wasn’t done.
“Swear that you protect her secret unless you would prefer the grave,” Eli demanded.
Tres stared at me as he swore, “I will never betray Geneviève.” He stood finally and glanced into the room. “Neither will they. I’ll see to it.”
“Good. Your vow is accepted in exchange for your life. Should you break this trust, I will kill you slowly.”
“Understood,” Tres said. He sounded a bit frightened, but then he met my gaze briefly. His voice softened as he said, “I hope to see you tomorrow, Geneviève. I’ve cleared my entire weekend in hopes . . .” Tres bowed his head to me and returned to the room.
I stared at Eli for several moments. “What the fuck wasthat?”
Eli shrugged. “We are in accord that this new skill is one that ought to be held in secret. The young Mr. Chaddock was given incentive to protect your secret.”
“But . . . he’s . . . what’s going on with him?” I glanced back. “That was fucking drunk monkeyballs levels of weird, right?”
“It was.” Eli held my gaze. “If he becomes a threat . . .I do not enjoy killing, Geneviève, but I will do so to protect you.”
I nodded and then let out a deep sigh. “Putting a pin in the zealot businessman. I need to figure out what the fuck I just did with Odem.”
“Healed him, I think,” Eli said. “Are there solutions other than eliminating the dead or binding them to you?”
I looked away. Short of killing them, there truly was no other solution with adraugr.
“What if it’s temporary, though?” I asked. “What if he just . . . goes back to a normaldraugr? Like the dead do when I’m out of range?”
“Then I will not need to kill the young Mr. Chaddock to keep his silence.” Eli shrugged.
