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I feel a rush of anger seeing her lying so listless in her bed. Whoever did this to her is going to pay. I might be a physician, but the vampire part of me wants vengeance. Of course, the perpetrator has to be found. I’ll bug Jax later about possible suspects. He has to have some idea who would be attacking paranormals across his territory. And when he finds them I’ll be the first in line to use my fangs to rip them to shreds.
If Jax hadn’t told me he and Maddy were in high school together here years ago, I’d have never believed she wasn’t a teenager now. Everyone knows how fixated vamps are on aging. That’s true to a certain degree. If you’re going to live forever you might as well look your best, right?
Maddy looks like an Irish lass—fair skin, freckles, green eyes, and truly red hair. As usual, Maddy’s eyebrows are barely visible. She looks permanently startled. I’m not a whiz with cosmetics, but an eyebrow pencil needs to enter her life. When she recovers, maybe I can talk her into going down to Augusta for a girls’ shopping spree. Lord knows my stationery stash is running low.
I knew Maddy was a shifter, but that’s about it. I suspected a bird, but maybe that’s just because I always wanted to fly. Unfortunately, that isn’t part of my vampire package deal.
Residents of Maine like their privacy. A lot. Now I’m about to get to know her a whole lot better.
I’ve warmed up enough to root around in my bag without my gloves. I purposely keep my eyes averted when I ask my next question. In med school, we learned that many paranormals avoid eye contact with vampires, mainly because of misinformation. For the record, it’s a lot harder to glamour someone than it looks.
“Falcon?” I busy myself pulling on gloves. Until I clean the foul magic out of her wound, I risk getting contaminated.
“Fox.”
Of course. Fox. I’ve been fixated on Maddy’s hyper energy and nervousness, thinking of her as a skittish bird. Now I can totally see her as a fox: smart, private, and wily. If she hadn’t been seriously injured, I’d probably never have seen the inside of her den.
Using a saline solution, I rinse out her wound just as I would with any human. Not only is her skin lacerated, but the edges of the wound are also burned. The trap was enchanted, all right. Dark magic hid it from a paranormal’s enhanced senses, and an additional spell coated the trap’s metal teeth, preventing detection. Once the trap was sprung, the whole thing stank like egg salad in a hot car.
The wound is the same as those I’ve seen in the other two victims. Someone has it in for paranormals around Sleepy Briar. I’ve heard a lot about the Silver Circle, but I have my doubts they have anything to do with this. Still, I’ll ask Jax. He would know more. Still, two questions nag at me: who and why?
“I’m giving you a dose of pain med,” I say briskly. “It might make you feel sleepy. It’ll take the edge off when I fix you up, okay?”
Maddy’s lips press together as I inject the painkiller. I don’t have to wait long. With her slight weight, the medicine takes effect quickly. Soon her face relaxes. She lays her head back, blinking slowly to ward off sleep.
“Just rest. You don’t need to talk. You’ll feel better soon, I promise.”
“Jax is happy lately.” One of Maddy’s free hands fumbles at the thick computer-language manual next to her on the bed.
She’s in no shape to read a computer manual, let alone work. I think about removing it but decide against it. I’ve never formally diagnosed Maddy, but she’s somewhere on the anxiety spectrum. Given her recent experience, dog-earring a book is the least of her problems.
“He has a lot to be proud of. The inn renovations are coming along.” I pack her wound with a bright green arctic moss the fae collect at solstice. It’s expensive as hell, but it is a magic remedy not even humans know about and worth its weight in gold.
After a few moments, the wound’s sulfur odor neutralizes and I remove the moss. Little by little the once lush, green moss shifts to a ghostly white and turns brittle, as if it’s been flash frozen.
“A shifter needs a mate,” Maddy says abruptly.
“You know what they say,” I remark wryly. “Charity begins at home. Anyone you’ve been keeping an eye on? A certain wolf?” I focus on my suturing.
“You mean the sheriff?” Maddy’s nervous fingers stop mauling the pages of her book. Oh, sweet gods. I hadn’t meant Jax. I’d been thinking of how attentive Brody was to Maddy. Now, though, with all that painkiller lowering Maddy’s inhibitions, I panic. Is she going to wax on about how wonderful he is? And am I going to have to listen?
Not that I don’t agree, but I remember from my human days that there are few things worse than hearing another woman praise the guy you like. Especially since I can never have him. A detail that has never entered our conversations.
But I won’t lie. Maddy is perfect for Jax. She’s a shifter too. She’s from Sleepy Briar. She’s known him for years.
I feel a stab of jealousy pierce me in the heart
“Me and Jax? That’s funny. Jax is a great guy, but you haven’t met Evan. He’shawt.” Maddy giggles and I nearly drop the gauze in my hands.
Good news: the pain meds are working.
I haven’t met Jax’s twin brother, Evan, but I’ve scrapbooked more than a few pictures of him. The brothers have identical features except that instead of Jax’s fair hair and light eyes, Evan is all dark, broody good looks. His muscles have muscles.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I’d invite Jax to warm my bed any day if it wasn’t for that whole staking thing, but I think I might suffocate under all of Evan’s hard muscles.
I take another gauze and clean up the dried blood that has caked onto her calf and ankle. So Maddy has a thing for the smoldering twin? I’m willing to bet Brody doesn’t know that. Luckily, I’m in no position to tell him.
“You’re not like other vampires I’ve met. You care about people. It’s why I knew we would be friends.”
