“How are you feeling?”
“Like I’ve been impaled through the gut by a bloody spear,” I grumbled, rubbing my hand over my stomach. The bandage had come off two hours ago, and the wound already looked a week old, but it still hurt like hell. I reached for the can of gunna paste on the coffee table.
Tristan’s chuckle came out of the phone. “You’re on the mend, all right. Although, Chris told me he almost called for a healer.”
I swallowed some paste and scowled at the ceiling. “Chris is as fussy as an old nursemaid.”
“He was worried about you. We all were.”
“Thanks, but you can stop now.”
To prove my point, I sat up, stifling a groan as the movement pulled at my sore stomach muscles. Son of a bitch. I planted my feet on the floor and leaned back against the couch cushion, waiting for the gunna paste to do its job.
Tristan’s voice grew serious. “I don’t remember the last time you were injured this badly. You need to be more careful.”
“I’m always careful.”
“Not last night. You went in there distracted and nearly got killed.”
I started to argue, but he cut me off. “Chris told me what happened with the gulak. You should have taken more time to cool down from your rage before you went after the incubus.”
He was probably right, but I was glad I’d gone after Rhys when I had. If I’d waited until today, the human girls he’d been feeding off would have been dead. Two human lives were worth a few hours of pain. So was seeing that bastard’s lifeless eyes after I’d killed him.
If I’d been thinking clearly instead of being so focused on taking out the incubus, I would have noticed the booby traps he’d set up in his lair. I was carrying one of the girls through the living room when I heard a click and a whirring sound. It was sheer luck that the spear hit me and not the girl. A few inches higher and she would have been killed.
“Here’s something that might improve your mood. Nate and I talked to Sara this afternoon, and she sounded tired but good.”
“She’s okay?”
I sat up straighter, ignoring the pain in my stomach. She hadn’t called last night or today, and I’d been scared something had happened to her after she left Draegan’s. Or that she’d been hurt in the fight at his apartment. I’d gotten so used to her calling every night. Not hearing from her left me unsettled. That was the reason I’d been distracted when I got to the incubus’s place.
“She’s fine. She said she knew we’d be upset if she didn’t call today.”
I racked my brain, trying to remember the date. I’d lost track of the days since I left Westhorne. “What’s special about today?”
He let out a laugh. “Oh, my friend, you are a mess. How could you have forgotten Sara’s birthday?”
I stared hard at the far wall as I worked through the days in my head. “It’s her eighteenth birthday.”
Eighteen was a special age for us because it marked our transition into adulthood. It was also the age when most of us became warriors. Before the awful thing with Nate and the attack on Westhorne, I’d planned to take Sara to town for a special birthday dinner, just the two of us.
Regret pricked my chest. I’d be with her right now for her birthday if I hadn’t driven her away.
“You’re sure she’s okay?”
“Yes, from what I could hear. We tried to get her to tell us where she is, but she still won’t say.” He paused, and I heard him take a breath. “Have you heard about Orias?”
“What about him?”
“I just got word his place was attacked by vampires last night.”
My hand tightened on the phone. “Was it payback for Stefan Price?”
“They were asking about the girl who killed him. No one could tell them who she was so they destroyed the place and started killing. I heard Orias killed two vampires, but he couldn’t save his receptionist. She and two vrell demons were killed. Orias got away.”
I swore and got to my feet. “Paulina was the one who told us Sara might be in Los Angeles. If she told the vampires that, they could be on their way here. I have to find Sara before they do.”
“Jesus.” It took him a moment to continue. “I’ll call the San Diego team and have them head to LA to help with the search.”
“Good. Tell them to let me know when they get here. I’m headed out now to start looking again.”
“Are you well enough to go out?” he asked in a concerned voice.
“Yes. I’ve been in worse shape.” I’d been down long enough. It would take more than a little stomach pain to keep me in this safe house any longer.
“Be careful out there.”
“I will.”
I looked around the living room for my gear and keys, but they were nowhere in sight. I was sure I’d left them here last night before we went to Draegan’s.
The door to the control room opened, and Chris came out, holding his phone. He walked over and held it out to me.
I gave him a questioning look, but he said nothing. As soon as I took the phone from him, he left the room.
Scowling, I put the phone to my ear. “Hello?”
“Hi.”
My heart thudded.
“Sara,” I breathed, almost afraid I’d imagined her voice. In the next instant, alarm shot through me. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Did he hurt you?”
“Chris?” she asked, sounding confused.
“The gulak demon.” I clenched my free hand into a fist at the thought of Draegan or one of his cronies laying a hand on her.
“He didn’t touch me.”
My body relaxed. “You didn’t call last night. I didn’t know what to think.”
“I’m sorry,” she said thickly.
I sank down on the couch again. “I’m just glad you’re okay and that you’re talking to me.”
“Me too.”
I closed my eyes as her words flowed over me like a healing balm, soothing away my aches and pains. Hearing her voice did more for me than any medicine could.
“I know you’re angry with me, but this isn’t solving anything. Tell me where you are, and we’ll talk this through.”
“I’m not angry about that anymore.”
“Then tell me where you are,” I pressed gently.
There was a brief silence. “If I do, will you try to stop me from looking for Madeline?”
I opened my mouth, unsure of what to say. My gut and my heart told me to take her as far away from this place as possible, but that thinking had driven her away in the first place.
“This is important to me, Nikolas. I’ve gotten closer than anyone else to finding her, and I can’t stop now.”
“We’ll look for her together,” I said. It went against my every instinct, but at least she’d be with me. I’d surround her with a hundred warriors if that was what it took to keep her safe while we tracked down her mother.
“Does that mean you won’t have any problem with me going to see warlocks and demons, and anyone else who might lead us to Madeline?”
I thought about Draegan and his incubus friend, and knew I’d never be okay with her going near demons like them. Not without me.
“We’ll work something out.”
I got up and walked into the control room where Chris sat at one of the computers. He pointed at a monitor and shook his head to let me know they were trying to run a trace and not having much luck.
“You can’t trace me. I made sure of it,” Sara said softly.
“So I see.” I waved a hand at Chris, who was typing on the keyboard. “You picked up a few tricks.”
“Yes, and some new friends.”
I suspected her new friends were the ones blocking our trace. One day soon, I hoped she’d tell me how she’d come to know someone who could outmaneuver Dax on a computer.
“Listen, I have to go,” she said suddenly.
I didn’t want her to hang up because I didn’t know when I’d hear from her again. “Call me tomorrow,” I said as I walked back to the living room.
“I will,” she promised, and I thought I could hear a smile in her voice. “Good night.”
“Good night. And, Sara, happy birthday.”
She didn’t respond, and I hoped she’d heard me before she hung up. But it was enough to know she was okay and no longer angry with me.
Chris came into the living room. “I take it you two made up. At least, you’re looking better than you did an hour ago.”
I stood by the window staring at the dark street. “She still won’t tell me where she is.”
He let out a short laugh. “And that surprises you? This is Sara we’re talking about. She’s going to make you work for it. At least she’s talking to you again.”
“I know.”
“She’ll come around soon. Give her a few days.”
If I had a few days to persuade her, I wouldn’t mind, but Los Angeles was becoming more dangerous by the day. And if those New Mexico vampires showed up here, it was going to get a lot worse. We were running out of time, and so was Sara.
* * *
I opened the bathroom door and walked down the hall to my room with dripping hair, a towel wrapped around my waist, and my phone in my hand. Shutting the door behind me, I threw the phone on the bed, pulled off the towel, and began to dry my hair.
Tonight, we’d gotten word of a possible nest in Long Beach, and we’d ended up killing six vampires and recovering two human bodies. It was the third nest discovered here in the last two weeks. Los Angeles would soon be overrun at this rate.
The alarm clock beside the bed said 2:00 a.m., making dread coil in my stomach. Sara should have called by now. Last night when she’d called, she’d sounded off. She kept reassuring me she was fine and just a little tired, but my gut told me something was wrong.
Not knowing where she was or if she was okay was killing me. I hadn’t slept much since I left Westhorne, but the last two nights, I’d barely closed my eyes.
My phone rang, and I practically dove for it. I didn’t know the number, but Sara used a different one each time she called.
“Sara?”
There was a short pause. “No, it’s Jordan.”
“Jordan?” Alarm raced through me. “What’s wrong? Where’s Sara?”
“She’s here.” Jordan’s voice caught. “She’s really sick. I-I don’t know what to do.”
Sick? Sara was half Fae and half Mohiri. She shouldn’t get sick…unless she’d been poisoned by some kind of demon venom again. “Where are you?”
Jordan didn’t answer.
I forced myself to stay calm. The last thing I needed was to scare her away. “She didn’t want you to call, so you’re afraid she’ll be mad at you?”
“Yes.”
“But you did the right thing,” I said. “You wouldn’t have called me if it wasn’t serious. Tell me where you are, and we can have healers there in a few hours.”
“She won’t forgive me for this,” Jordan said before she gave me the address.
I was dressed and out the door in under a minute, nearly bowling over Chris in the hallway.
“Where’s the fire?” he called as I sped past him.
“Jordan called. Sara’s sick.”
He ran outside behind me, and the two of us roared away from the safe house. I knew the city well, and it was easy to find the address Jordan had given me. Less than ten minutes later, I pulled up to an old firehouse, and my Mori began to flutter wildly when we sensed Sara inside. Relief crashed over me, weakening my knees for a few seconds.
The door opened before I reached it, and a pale-faced Jordan greeted us. She led us up to an apartment on the second floor where Roland, Peter, and another young man stood waiting for us in the living room. I barely saw them, my eyes going to the pile of blankets on the couch.
I pushed past the others and gently lifted the edge of the blankets until I saw Sara. Her face was colorless except for the purple bruises beneath her closed eyes, and she shivered despite all the blankets and the warm apartment.
My hand trembled when I caressed her cheek and brushed a few strands of hair off her face. Touching her was like breathing for the first time in a week, and the persistent pain beneath my breastbone disappeared.
“Sara?” I laid my hand against her cool skin, but she didn’t move. “Sara, can you hear me?”
“She’s been going in and out like that all day,” Roland said. “But this time she wouldn’t wake up. We were going to take her to a hospital, but we decided it was best to call you.”
“I called Tristan. He’s sending the jet.” Chris walked into the living room. “How is she?”
“I don’t know,” I replied roughly. I’d treated countless battle injuries, and I’d never felt as helpless as I did in that moment.
I sat on the edge of the couch with my hand cradling her face. “How did she get like this?”
Jordan came forward. “We don’t know. She was fine until two days ago. She woke up with a headache and said she was too tired to get up. I gave her some gunna paste, but it didn’t help. Then she started saying how cold it was here, and we wrapped her in blankets. She was worse when she woke up today, and she barely ate anything all day. All she does is sleep.”
I frowned. “Two days ago? That’s the day after you went to Draegan’s.”
“Yes.”
“What happened there?” I asked. “Why did you go there in the first place?”
“They went to help me…against my wishes.”
A young man with dark blond hair stood behind the couch, looking at Sara with an expression of worry and affection that made my Mori growl possessively. The man looked familiar, and it took me a minute to recognize the blond biker from Sara’s memorial service. I remembered how grief-stricken he’d looked, and I couldn’t help but wonder what his connection was to her, and how he’d come to be with her on the other side of the country.
Roland came over to stand by the blond man. “Nikolas, this is Greg McCoy, a friend of ours from home. Greg, this is Nikolas Danshov. He’s Sara’s…”
“Mate,” I finished for him.
Greg nodded. He didn’t smile, but his expression wasn’t hostile either. “She told me about you. Don’t you think she’s a bit too young to be mated or whatever you call it?”
“No.” I wasn’t about to justify our relationship to him or anyone else. “Where do you come into all of this?”
He scowled at me before he answered. “My uncle died last month, and I came here to take care of his things for my aunt. I ran into Sara and the others a few days ago and asked them to stay here. I didn’t like her being out there, staying at hotels. She might have these powers, but LA’s a bad place.”
At least we agreed on that. “You’re human?”
“Yeah.”
“Los Angeles isn’t particularly safe for humans either.”
“I know,” he said gruffly.
“What was Sara helping you with?” Chris asked Greg.
Greg rubbed the back of his neck. “Draegan held a blood debt against my uncle. When my uncle died, the debt fell to me. Sara got upset when she found out, and she went to see Draegan without telling me.”
I looked at Jordan. “What the hell were you thinking, going to see a gulak demon? Don’t you know what he could have done to you?”
Jordan flinched and crossed her arms defensively. “I told her it was a really bad idea, but she wouldn’t listen. She would have gone alone if we hadn’t gone with her. Besides, Sara can hold her own against a demon. She killed a ranc and a gulak that night.”
“So I saw. What happened there?”
“We got there around ten. The demon on the door wouldn’t let Roland and Peter in, so Sara and I went in alone. Draegan was playing Glaen with some other demons, and when we found out what it was, Sara said she was going to play him for Greg’s debt.
“She said Glaen wouldn’t hurt her because she’s half Fae. She beat Draegan, and he passed out. We started to leave and his goons tried to stop us, so we took care of them. That’s it. We came back here, and we haven’t left.” Jordan bit her lip. “Is-is she going to be all right?”
“Yes.” I told her fiercely because I wouldn’t accept anything else.
Sara shivered so violently I heard her teeth chatter. I tucked the covers around her, but it didn’t help. She whimpered, and the sound tore at my heart.
I stood and kicked off my shoes as I pulled off my jacket and tossed it on the floor. Sara didn’t move when I lifted the blankets and positioned my body behind hers on the couch. If she couldn’t warm herself, then my Mori would do it for her. I pulled her back against me and wrapped my arms around her to give her as much of my body heat as I could. I ignored everyone in the room as I focused on easing her discomfort.
The others drifted away to talk, leaving Sara and me alone. Long minutes passed before her shivering began to subside, and she relaxed against me with a small sigh.
“You’re going to be okay,” I whispered against her ear.
My Mori shifted, distressed about its mate, and I could feel it trying to push its strength to Sara through the bond. I knew it was a futile effort. Only a completed bond allowed you to share your Mori’s power with your mate. Otherwise, I’d give her whatever she needed to get well.
Time crawled as I waited for Sara to wake up. Every now and then, someone would come over to check on her. I didn’t know if it was my body heat or touch helping her, but she seemed to be resting more comfortably.
An hour later, I felt her stirring. She pushed weakly at the blankets covering her and made a small frightened sound.
“Shhh,” I murmured.
She grew still. “Nikolas?”
The emotion in her voice when she said my name made my heart constrict. “I’m here,” I said softly.
Quiet sobs began to rack her body, and I pulled her closer, wishing I could draw her pain into me.
“Don’t cry.”
After several minutes, she grew quiet again, except for a few sniffles.
“How do you feel?” I asked.
“Rotten,” she said hoarsely. “What’s wrong with me?”
I kept my voice calm, not wanting to upset her. “I don’t know, but we’ll figure it out.”
She tried to turn toward me, and I lifted her, wanting to see her face.
Her emerald eyes were full of anguish, and her face was wet with tears. She looked pale and tired, her hair was a mess, and still she was the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen.
Her hand came up to touch my face, her cold fingers softly tracing my lips and stroking my forehead.
I had imagined her touching me this way, but nothing had prepared me for the emotions that crowded my chest and tightened my throat until I could barely breathe. I’d missed her more than I could put into words, and the pain in her eyes told me I hadn’t suffered alone.
“I’m sorry I didn’t call,” she whispered.
I smiled and kissed her forehead, and she laid her head wearily against my chest.
“It’s okay,” I assured her. “Go back to sleep.”
The sound of a phone ringing awoke me two hours later. With Sara safe in my arms, it hadn’t taken long for me to succumb to much-needed sleep.
Chris walked over to us and spoke in a low voice. “Tristan wants to talk to you.”
I eased out from behind Sara and went into the kitchen where Chris’s phone lay on the counter.
“How is she?” Tristan asked as soon as I said hello.
I looked at the small figure buried beneath a mountain of blankets. “I wish I knew. I’ve never seen her like this.”
“She’ll be okay. We have some of the best healers in the world, and two of them are on the way to you. Seamus and Niall are with them. They insisted they be the ones to go.”
I let out a deep breath. “Tell them to hurry.”
“I have Margot on the line now. What are Sara’s symptoms?”
“She’s cold and sleeps a lot. Jordan said she hasn’t been eating since she got sick, and she had a bad headache when it started.”
Tristan repeated what I’d said to Margot. The two of them talked for a minute before he came back to me. “There are two demon species in North America that can give you some or all of those symptoms. Sara would have been bitten by one of them to get their venom in her system.”
“What demons?”
“Wirm and goccan demons,” Tristan said.
I pressed my lips together. Wirm demons were highly venomous, and their bites were fatal to humans. My Mori would protect me if I was ever bitten by one of them, but Sara’s Mori wasn’t strong enough to help her. And there was no telling how her Fae side would react to a demon bite. Goccan demons lived among humans. They were poisonous, but they tended to keep to themselves. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d heard of one of them biting someone.
I called Jordan into the kitchen. “Is there any chance Sara was bitten by a wirm or goccan demon?”
Her eyes widened, and she shook her head. “No. Not a chance.”
I released the breath I was holding. “Tristan, did you hear that?”
“Yes. Margot will be there in less than two hours. Try to keep Sara comfortable until then.”
I hung up and went back to the living room. Sara was still sleeping soundly, and she didn’t stir when I sat on the couch and moved her so her head was on my lap.
“They’ll figure out what’s wrong with her at Westhorne, right?” Roland asked after a long silence.
“Tristan is sending two healers with the jet,” I told him. “I don’t want to wait until we get her home.”
Chris entered the living room. “Good idea. Do they have any ideas what it could be?”
I shook my head. “There are several species of demon with venom that can cause some of these symptoms, but according to Jordan, they didn’t come into contact with any of them.”
“Tell us again what happened at the party,” Chris said to Jordan.
She repeated what she’d told us earlier. “She didn’t eat or drink anything except the Glaen, and the only demons I remember her touching were the ranc and the gulak. The only other demon that got close to us was an incubus.”
I stiffened, thinking immediately of Draegan’s friend Rhys. “An incubus?”
Jordan snorted and grinned. “Sara would have fried his man parts if he’d touched one of us. Trust me. My girl doesn’t mess around.”
I smiled at the pride in Jordan’s voice. She and Sara had grown close, and I was grateful she’d been with Sara out here. Although, that didn’t make me feel better about Sara being anywhere near an incubus.
Chris leaned against the wall by the large window. “How was she after she drank the Glaen? It’s a powerful drink from what I hear.”
Jordan shrugged. “She was kind of silly, like she was drunk, but not staggering. She even hugged me.”
Roland snickered. “Sara hugged you? That must have been some good stuff.”
Chris looked at me. “Could her Mori be sick from the Fae drink? She’s only half Fae after all.”
I’d seen faeries drinking Glaen at Adele’s and at other clubs like hers. It was their version of alcohol, and what Jordan was describing was the effects of the drink on them.
“My Mori is fine.”
I looked down at Sara, relieved to see she was awake and to hear her Mori was okay. “How are you feeling?”
She made a face. “Same. Thirsty.”
Jordan ran to the kitchen and returned with a glass of water and a straw. She held the glass while Sara sipped the water. “Better?” she asked.
Sara smiled wanly. “Yes.”
“If it is a venom, it won’t take long for the lab to figure out which one,” Chris said, distracting me from Sara and Jordan’s conversation.
“You guys can identify every type of demon?” Peter asked.
Chris smiled. “It’s a necessity in our line of work. We’ve been cataloguing demons for almost a millennium.”
Peter whistled. “Damn.”
“Sara, your hand is like ice!” Jordan cried, pulling my attention back to them.
“C-can’t get w-warm,” Sara stammered, shivering.
I reached out to touch Sara’s face as Jordan leapt to her feet. “Nikolas, look at her. I think she’s turning blue from cold.”
I lifted Sara easily onto my lap and wrapped my arms around her, pushing my body heat into her. Jordan covered us with the blankets as Sara curled into a ball and pressed her shaking body against mine.
When Sara let out a small moan of pain, I knew my heat wasn’t enough this time.
“Fill the tub with hot water,” I ordered Jordan who ran to do it. I held Sara and rubbed her back and arms while the tub filled. She clutched my shirt and held on to me like she was afraid to let go.
“It’s ready,” Jordan called.
I stood and let the blankets fall away. Sara cried out as I carried her to the bathroom and set her down in the large claw-foot tub full of hot water. As soon as I sat her in the tub, her weakened body slid down. I caught her before her head went below the surface.
The tub was big enough to fit both of us, so I got in behind her and pulled her back until she rested against my chest, submerged in hot water almost to her neck. I vigorously rubbed her arms, but she continued to shiver uncontrollably. Her head fell forward, and she wept brokenly. I could feel her slipping away from me.
“Stay with me, Sara,” I pleaded, hugging her tightly.
“I’m scared,” she whispered.
Her words terrified me because she sounded like she was giving up.
“I did not chase you halfway across the country to let you leave me again,” I said. “You are one of the strongest, most stubborn people I’ve ever met, and you are going to beat this. Do you hear me?”
She didn’t answer, and I raised my voice. “Do you hear me, Sara?”
“Yes,” she mumbled.
Seconds later, I sucked in a breath as the water around us began to fill with golden specks that multiplied before my eyes.
“Look!” Jordan cried.
“What is that?” Roland asked as he and the others pushed into the bathroom to see what was happening.
Jordan smiled broadly. “It’s her magic – or the water magic. I’m not sure which.”
Chris stood behind Jordan. “Whatever it is, it’s helping. Her color is improving.”
I’d never seen Sara’s water magic, and I stared in awe at the glowing particles that were attaching themselves to her wherever the water touched her. Immediately, her shivering stopped.
She sighed and sagged against me.
“That’s it. Hold on, Sara,” I said against her cheek. “The healers will be here soon.”
Her hand touched mine where it rested on her waist. “Don’t leave me,” she murmured almost incoherently.
“Never,” I vowed, pressing my lips to her temple.
The water continued to glow even after she lost consciousness, and her skin stayed warm to the touch. I remained in the tub with her, afraid to take her away from the magic keeping her warm.
It wasn’t until the healers arrived an hour later that I stood and carried her to one of the bedrooms. As soon as I laid her on the bed, Jordan and the healers shooed me from the room so they could dress her in dry clothes.
I paced outside the bedroom door until Margot opened it and gave me a kind smile. “You can bring her to the couch. It’s a bit warmer in the living room.”
I picked Sara up and brought her to the couch where I covered her in blankets again. Then Margot knelt on the floor beside the couch and checked Sara’s vitals.
“We’ll hook her to an IV to give her some fluids until we can get her home. The medical ward is being prepped for her now.”
“Prepped how?” I asked.
“We’re setting up to run blood panels as soon as she gets there so we can test for venoms. The lab has all the known antidotes on hand, so we’re prepared in that area. We also have a mobile healing bath we can use to keep her core temp up.”
I was reluctant to leave Sara, but I knew I was hovering, and Margot needed space to do her job. I went into the kitchen where Chris and Jordan were talking about the trip home. Seamus and Niall had come with the healers to provide extra security for Sara, and they were outside standing guard now.
Roland and Peter were accompanying us to Westhorne as well because Sara would be distressed if they didn’t come with us. Tristan would arrange to fly them to Maine once Sara was out of danger.
“Sara!” Roland shouted.
I ran into the living room to find Sara curled into a ball on the couch, clutching her head and crying out in pain. Margot lay on the floor six feet away, looking dazed, and the other healer stood across the room.
I moved past them toward Sara and came up against a wall of energy that sent electric shocks through my body. I recognized the same power Sara had used on me back at Westhorne.
“Sara,” I yelled, trying to push past the barrier that burned the longer I touched it. I watched helplessly as she stiffened and let out a small scream.
The air in the room shifted, and out of nowhere, a tall, blond man appeared near the window. Ignoring the rest of us, he started toward Sara.
I moved to intercept him. “Stay away from her,” I snarled.
He kept coming and fixed me with a hard stare. “Let me help her, warrior, if you want her to live.”
