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"I knew him..." That pleasant drowsiness was growing stronger. I wished it would hurry up.
"There," said Hugh. "All bandaged up. Help me move her so I can look at her ribs."
That was not fun, and the discomfort of the three of them turning me over-no matter how gentle they tried to be-was enough to momentarily break me out of the drug's soothing embrace. They managed to flip me over, putting moderate pressure on my back when I rested back against the bed, but allowing Hugh to examine the rest of me. He poked and prodded and had me take deep breaths. His final analysis was that I had a couple of broken ribs and a lot of bruising and pain that would just go away with time.
"Great," I said. I was so loopy by that point that I didn't even know if I was being sarcastic or not.
Cody was still unable to give up my benefactor. "But who was here?"
"The man..." I said.
"You aren't going to get anything else out of her," said Hugh wearily. "Not for a while. She's going to be in Dreamland any minute now."
"Dreamland. The man..." I repeated. Suddenly, I giggled. "The man in the dream..."
I saw them exchange pitying looks, just before my eyelids drooped closed. They thought I was talking nonsense. None of them knew about the story of the man in the dream, of that alluring and improbable alternate life that Nyx had shown me.
But as I drifted off to Dreamland, it wasn't Nyx's vision I saw. It was more of that same, painless black...at least, it was until I got jolted by a million volts of electricity.
I let out a small cry of surprise, my eyes popping open. It felt like hundreds of icy needles were dancing along my body, piercing every nerve. The room's details, as well as my friends, came to me in sharp, crystalline detail. No more fuzziness. Turning my head slightly, I saw a fourth person.
Mei.
She stood beside my bed, face blank and emotionless, arms crossed across her black silk blouse. "What happened?" I asked. My words were still thick, but my speech capabilities had improved by leaps and bounds.
"I healed you," she said flatly. "Inasmuch as I can. You're still going to hurt."
Demons, though once angels, didn't possess that power to heal that their heavenly counterparts had. They could do it in small bursts, however, and in expanding my senses to assess my body, I could feel how she'd gotten rid of the worst of my pain. I still ached in some places, and even bandaged, my back still stung. I no longer wanted to die, however, so that was definitely an improvement.
"Thank you," I said.
Mei didn't look particularly compassionate or benevolent. Her expression darkened. "They say Nanette did this?"
I hesitated. I'd already gotten in enough trouble with the archdemoness for telling on her. Of course, my friends had undoubtedly already told Mei the truth, and anyway, she was the closest I currently had to a boss. I wasn't entirely sure if I could trust her, but if I had to place my money on the demon most likely to have my back right now (no pun intended), it was her.
"Yeah," I admitted. "I told Cedric that Nanette had met with Jerome. She'd met with Cedric too, so it seemed kind of like she was manipulating both of them."
Mei's face grew harder still. Whether she agreed with me or not, she didn't reveal. "Nanette won't bother you again."
And with no more than that, the demoness vanished.
"Girl fight," said Hugh, looking the happiest I'd seen him today.
"I don't think it's going to be in creamed corn or anything like that," I remarked dryly.
"Her sense of humor returns," said Peter. "Definitely on the road to recovery."
I tried to sit up and winced. "Or not."
"Don't push it," warned Hugh. "Mei can only do so much-"
"What the hell's going on?"
We all turned. Dante stood in the doorway to my bedroom. His face was a mixture of incredulity and utter confusion. Without waiting for an answer, he hurried over to the bed and knelt down so that he was at my level.
"Are you okay? What happened?"
His expression was so tender, so full of concern that I was momentarily taken aback. Dante was indeed selfish and arrogant, but he did care about me, no matter what my friends thought. And in dire situations-like now-that bitter façade of his fell, revealing someone whose soul hadn't turned completely black yet. He tried hard to hide this side of himself, but I knew it was there.
"I had a run-in with a demon," I said. I gave him a brief explanation of what had happened.
He grew more and more incredulous as I spoke. When I finished, he glanced around the room, studying everyone accusatorily. "How does something like this happen? I thought demons couldn't go around roughing people up. Aren't you under some kind of protection?"
"Technically Jerome's," I said. "But he's kind of busy right now."
"Maybe you're under Grace and Mei's protection now," mused Cody. "Mei looked pissed."
"She always looks pissed," said Hugh.
"I should hope so," snapped Dante. "Are they going to go kick this other demon's ass?"
"She's not likely to smite her, if that's what you mean," said Hugh. "Grace and Mei are under the same scrutiny as everyone else, but I bet Mei'll bitch Nanette out."
"Great," said Dante. "A stern talking-to. That'll show her."
"It's unlikely Nanette'll do anything else. If she was going to kill Georgina, she would have already." There was an almost gentle tone in Peter's voice. I think Dante's outrage and concern had convinced the vampire that Dante might not be the complete and total bastard he'd always believed.
My immortal (or not so immortal) friends finally decided I was in reasonable enough condition to leave me in Dante's care. Hugh promised to check on me tomorrow, and I thanked him again for his help. He and the others looked like they wanted to hug me, but with my back, they knew better.
When they were gone, Dante went out to the kitchen and came back with a bowl of ice cream. "Good for what ails you," he said.
I was surprised to discover I had a considerable appetite. Judging from the time, I'd been out quite awhile before Mei had shown up. It had only felt like a few seconds.
"Careful," I teased. "People are going to think you're a nice guy."
"Well, I'll have to go rob some orphans to save my reputation."
He lay in bed beside me, curled on his side so that he could gently keep his hand on my arm and talk to me. As the evening passed, our conversation mostly touched on inconsequential things, topics to distract me from Seattle's increasingly dangerous situation. Finally, when it came time for both of us to sleep, Dante brought up the attack again.
"Succubus...who was here earlier?"
I knew he didn't mean Hugh and the vampires. I frowned. Even with Mei's healing, my memories were sketchy. "I don't know. But I think...I think it might have been Carter."
"Really? I still can't believe that angel hangs out with you guys. But if it was him, why didn't he heal you? He could have fixed everything."
Through the fog of that ordeal, I recalled my rescuer's words. I can't heal you .
"Because he's not supposed to interfere," I said slowly, remembering my earlier rumination on whether blowing up a stove was interference. "Heaven's supposed to stay out of this. He probably shouldn't have even carried me to bed-which is why he would have then gotten out of here and left it to Hugh to patch me up."
"An angel breaking the rules and a demon healing the sick," Dante said. "You and your associates just get more and more f**ked up."
I shifted slightly, cautious of my back, and rested my head against him. "That's for damned sure."
CHAPTER 17
The sweet scent of a white chocolate mocha woke me from a heavy sleep the following morning. For a few moments, as I stirred to consciousness, it was like waking up any other day. Then, as I opened my eyes and shifted position, my body's nerves came to life, reminding me what had happened yesterday. It wasn't the horrible torturous pain I'd experienced before, but I had enough aches and soreness to dissuade me from too much movement. Still, I managed to more or less sit up when Dante entered my bedroom.
He held the mocha in one hand and what looked like a bakery bag tucked under his arm. In the other hand, he carried an enormous vase of blue and white hydrangeas, interspersed with orchids. I never would have pictured those particular flowers going together, but the arrangement worked.
