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“Yes, I believe it’s just down the street. Nash’s general’s retirement pay must be more substantial than anyoneelse’s.”
“I assume he’s beingbribed?”
Generals made good money by military standards, but I was positive one couldn’t afford even the median home in Medina, much less waterfront property there. Even Seattle proper wasn’t exactly an inexpensive place tolive.
Oh, wait. The dark-elf alchemist had mentioned bribing someone to close Willard’s office. That must have beenNash.
“Yes, and I can prove it.” Willard smiled and pulled something else out from under the sheets. A MacBook Air. “I’ve been doing research in between sleeping and puking. I was determined to get to the bottom of this, if only to clear your name, before I bitit.”
A lump formed in my throat at this admission, and it was a moment before I could find my voice. “Thank you. But I’m afraid there won’t be any biting here. I forbade Zoltan to unleash hisfangs.”
“Given the shriveled huskiness of my veins, it didn’t sound like he wastempted.”
“I don’t know. He keeps eyeing mythroat.”
“Half-elven blood is almost as good as elven blood,” Zoltan murmured without looking back. He had numerous flasks and beakers and even a recipe book out now. “And I am tempted to find out if that dragon aura would convey any extra potency to yourblood.”
“Dragon aura?” Willardasked.
“It’s a long story. Tell me more about this skeevygeneral.”
“I sent a note to another general that oversees his division and ours. I’m hoping something will break soon. I called in favors and gathered alotof data.” She patted the smalllaptop.
I eyed the sheets. “What else do you have hidden under there? A printer? A scanner? A filecabinet?”
“Just charging cords. I’ve had to be discreet. Sudo and his investigators have visitedoften.”
“Is he getting a house in Medinatoo?”
“Not that I could discover. I think he’s just one of those young pups eager at the chance to take down a senior officer and make a name forhimself.”
Or Sudo had simply been following Nash’s orders. A general could easily have assigned a lowly lieutenant to dig up—or make up—incriminating evidence on Willard. Enough to put suspicion on the whole office and order its closure? Maybeso.
I still didn’t know whatplansSynaru-van had been referring to, plans she’d wanted me out of the way for, and I made a mental note to do some more research later. We might have taken out the alchemist and that vile priestess, but there were still the two criminals Zav was looking for and however many hundreds more dark elves lived in those tunnels. I had a feeling I hadn’t seen the last of thosepeople.
“Also,” Willard added, “Sudo loathesyou.”
“We only metonce.”
“At which point you stole hiscar.”
“Because he wouldn’t arrange for me to borrow one when my vehicle was clearly obliterated. I’m dismayed at the all-around lack of sympathy I’m getting from people in regard to this dragon I keep having to dealwith.”
Zoltan wandered around the room to poke into drawers. He found an IV bag and returned to his chemistry set to fill it with the concoction he’d made. My stomach did a nervous flip-flop at the idea of this strange person—strangeundeadperson—siphoning some weird alchemical potion into Willard’sveins.
Judging by the skeptical curl of her lip, she wasn’t pleased by the idea either. I reminded myself that Zoltan’s advice about manticore venom clearing lungs had been accurate. If that dragon blood was as valuable as he said, he had a reason to be thankful to me, so hopefully he didn’t have any treacheryplanned.
“I can’t drink your concoction instead?” Willard asked as Zoltan returned to her side, preparing the IV rack already in place from some earlier fluiddelivery.
“This will be far faster. Besides, my formula would find the inhospitable acid of your stomach a challenge to dealwith.”
“This vampire thinks everything about me is unappealing,” Willard toldme.
“Next time I see the dragon, I can have him rub some of his aura on you if you want. Zoltan is intothat.”
“Next time?” Willard didn’t watch as Zoltan set up the IV.Iwatched, making sure there were no vampire shenanigans. “Are you seeing him regularly? This sounds like the start of arelationship.”
“It’s a long story. He wants to use me for bait to help catch the criminals he’s after here onEarth.”
