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A service friend,then.
Yes.
I headed out after him, hurrying to Willard’s door. As I opened it, the hallway lights went out, save for a few indicators glowing here and there, along with the illuminated exit sign over the door. Zoltan rushed in with his big suitcase and his hood pulled low over his face. I opened the door so he could hurry inside where it was dark, aside from the glow of the monitor above Willard’sbed.
“I wouldn’t do this for someone who hadn’t just delivered five-hundred-thousand dollars in dragon blood into my hands,” Zoltan muttered as heentered.
I almost fell over. “Five hundredthousanddollars?”
“Easily. Since there haven’t been dragons on Earth for centuries, I’m not positive about the market rate. It may be much higher. Oh, the formulas I’ll be able to mix up. The world will bemine.”
“That’s not at all alarming to hear from a vampire.” I hustled in, realizing Willard was both awake and looking over atus.
“Since it’s you, Val,” she said, “I’m going to keep myself from being afraid of the vampire stalking in with a— Is that a massagetable?”
“A chemistry set.” I almost asked her what she had to be afraid of at this point but caught myself. Usually, Willard appreciated my snark, but I doubted a dying woman wanted to be reminded of her fate. “He needs some of your blood to make anantidote.”
Willard was silent, and it was too dark for me to read her eyes. Did she believe it was possible?Wasitpossible?
“You wouldn’t believe what I had to go through to get the rest of what he needs. A dark elf used kraken blood and some other ingredients to make you sick. Sindari and I had to raid their lair, steal the alchemy components, stop a ritual sacrifice, and create a sinkhole that brought a lane of traffic in through the roof of their church. I’d say I deserve a combat bonus, but at this point, I’d be happy just to have you back on the job, my police record cleared, and Lieutenant Sudo shipped off to the worst duty station imaginable.” Since Zoltan was coming over to get his blood sample from Willard, and she might find that alarming, I kept talking to distract her. “Also, if you could finagle a car for me, that would be amazing. I got a final letter from the insurance company. They closed my case and aren’t going to give me money for the Jeep. My comprehensive coverage isn’t as comprehensive as the television ads promised. They have an Act of God clause, but a dragon flinging your vehicle into a tree doesn’t fall under it. What kind of world do we livein?”
Willard’s eyebrows twitched at this uncharacteristic chattiness, and she didn’t miss Zoltan slipping a needle into her vein. “Your hands are cold,vampire.”
“Your veins are like shriveled husks.” Zoltan gave the glowing light from the monitor a cross look. “Don’t they give you any water for hydration in thisplace?”
“I guess that means I’m not in danger of having him drink my blood.” Willard looked back at me. “Why did youadmitthat a dragon didit?”
“Because of a foolish bout of honesty. I later tried to amend my story, but that didn’t help either. I wish I’d started out saying a tornado had landed on me, but there’s a dearth of them in Oregon. Next time, I’ll go wyvern hunting inNebraska.”
“No chance of losing your Jeep to a treethere.”
Zoltan whistled as he took his sample and headed over to the table he’d set up. The suitcasehadfolded out into one, but instead of holding massage implements, there was a complete chemistry lab tucked away in niches and racks. He pulled out a tiny infrared light and set it on thecorner.
“Don’t vampires see in the dark?” Willardasked.
The red light showed how sunken her eyes were and how much weight she was losing. I hoped thisworked.
“Certainly,” Zoltan said, his back to us as he worked. “But not well enough to read labels or the hash marks on graduated cylinders. Iassumeyou want me to beprecise.”
“I suppose.” Willard leaned her head back against herpillow.
I could tell she wanted to ask if she should get her hopes up. I wished I knew. “I think those lights are good for your skin. Maybe you should cozy up to that one,Willard.”
“What are you implying,Thorvald?”
“That the sands of time only go one way, myfriend.”
“Tell me aboutit.”
Sindari slinked into the room, visible once again. He pushed the door shut behind him with histail.
“If I live, I’ll do my best to clear you of trouble.” Willard closed her eyes. “You may recall that I’ve been labeled a suspect, too, but I heard a few things while Sudo was in here questioning me. More precisely, after he was done questioning me, thought I’d fallen asleep, and took a call while looking out the window over there.” She slid her phone out from under the sheets. “I recordedit.”
“Was it as incriminating as Ihope?”
“More so for his superior, General Nash, someone I’ve butted heads with over this department before. Interestingly, he’s retiring this year after buying a yacht and a beautiful house on the water in Medina. Polite of Sudo to use speakerphone for his conversation. He must be one of those people afraid that cell waves irradiate thebrain.”
“Medina? Isn’t that where Bill Gates has hismansion?”
