I sent a tendril of power at my front door and found nothing out of the ordinary. Hopefully the murderer hadn't given up on magic and invested in some claymore mines. I wasn't quite sure I could detect those. I went to unlock the door and it opened, a horrified Josie standing there.
"What the fuck, Dot?"
"What, what the fuck?"
"I came home to a crime scene."
"Gotcha beat. I was in the crime scene."
She threw her arms around me and hugged me like she hadn't seen me in a decade or two. I patted her on the back, wanting nothing more than to continue, but I needed to hurry to get to the hospital. "I gotta run. Visiting hours at the hospital end at nine. I want to check on Jimmy."
"Okay, but I'm going with you. Consider me your sidekick until this is all over. I'm not leaving you alone at all. Not even to pee."
"Okay, but I draw the line at number two."
"Deal."
"Holy shit, is that a new car?"
"Technically, it's a SUV, but yes. That's what started this whole mess."
"Chief filled me in. I'm sorry."
"I'm okay. Jimmy, not so much. Two to the chest."
"I know. Chief said you healed him?"
"Almost completely. I have no idea how. I've always sucked at it."
"You just wanna take my job." I keyed open the car and we slipped inside. She glanced around appreciatively and whistled. "Nice."
"Thanks."
"I really need to get a car."
"You should." We pulled out of the driveway and I turned on the radio, resting my head in my hand against the driver door. "So, no Candace tonight?"
"She works at night. That's why I only get to see her during the day. She's off on the weekends, though."
"Why don't you invite her for dinner?"
"I will. Which one of your guys are you going to invite?"
"Har har har. I only have the one."
"So, where did you go tonight?"
"Dinner."
"With?"
"Jason…"
"What you up to tomorrow?"
"Dinner."
"With?"
"Shut your face, Josie."
She cackled all the way to the hospital.
Chapter 20
"How you feeling?"
Jimmy rolled his eyes.
"Sure. Go ahead. Roll your eyes at me. I'm just glad you can." I was sitting in the chair next to his bed, leaning forward on my arms. Jimmy needed a shower, but I didn't care.
"Doc says they might release him tomorrow," Dennis chimed in from the seat next to Josie.
"You shush. You're still in trouble. You were supposed to let me know when he woke up."
"Don't look at me. He was the one who stopped me."
I shot Jimmy a dirty look. He shrugged. "Sorry."
"I'll forgive you if you got a good look at the bastard that did this to you."
"No. He was wearing a mask. I didn't even get a good look at that. I opened the door and he pulled the trigger."
"But it was a guy?"
"Yeah."
That narrowed our list of suspects to half the town and half the coven. I sighed in aggravation. I was hoping he had seen more. I was hoping he could have put a stop to this hellish nightmare.
"Sorry, Dot."
I patted his hand. "Not your fault. I don't even think it was your fault you got shot. I think those bullets were meant for me."
"Then I'm glad it happened."
If he wasn't lying in a hospital bed and in massive amounts of pain, I would have hit him. Or kissed him. I wasn't quite sure how I felt about it. Instead I narrowed my eyes at him.
"Boop," he said and poked my nose.
Reaching over to touch his hip, I whispered, "Pléisiúr."
His eyes widened as he spasmed a little. I'd sent a jolt of pure pleasure into him. It was a handy little trick and fun at parties. I noticed the blanket covering his lower half twitch a little.
"That was mean."
"You booped my nose."
"I'm gonna boop your ass when I get out of here."
"Promise?"
The look on his face was worth the blush on my cheeks. Especially when Dennis gasped.
Josie simply said, "Rawr."
The same doctor that had treated me for third degree explosions walked into the room studying something intently. He didn't even notice the crowd in the room.
"I just don't understand this. Other than some serious scarring marking the passage of the bullet, you're completely fine. It might take you some time to work the stiffness out of your chest muscles, but… Yeah. I've got nothing." He looked up from what he'd been reading and saw me sitting next to his patient.
"I think I just found the cause of your extraordinary luck, Mr. Duncan."
"Hi, Doc."
"Good evening, Miss Blackwell."
"Dot, please."
He opened his mouth to say something but stopped. "Miss Dot, could you… Would you mind coming with me for a moment?"
I sighed. This wasn't going to end well. A lot of people accepted weird things as just that. Then there was the other half of the population that absolutely hated inexplicable things. They needed to debunk myths and blame everything on photoshop. It helped them sleep better at night.
"Sure, Doc." I stood up, giving Jimmy a quick kiss on his forehead.
"Want me to come with you?"
I shook my head at Josie. I kind of had a feeling this was going to happen sooner or later. Hell, I'd expected it to happen with the paramedics, but they did their job and rolled their eyes.
As soon as we were in the hall, the doc pulled the door shut and stared at me. "I'm sure you must be aware of what is going through my head right now."
"That there were two miracles in two days?"
"Sort of. But you see, Dot, the one commonality between those two miracles just happens to be…you."
"You think I'm some sort of miracle worker?"
"No. I'm hoping you are."
"Pardon?" I blinked in surprise. That hadn't been the answer I'd been expecting.
"I have another gunshot victim down in the ER…"
I saw where he was going with this. I held up my hand. "Doc. You're misunderstanding something. While I admit that it would seem like I might have had something to do with this, I can assure you I didn't."
Back in Ashville, most of the townspeople knew that witches lived among them. We even had a huge population of witches. My former coven had over seventy members. Witches from far and wide migrated there as a sort of sanctuary. It became almost a symbiotic relationship, and the head of that organism was my very charismatic mother. When she wasn't hexing assholes onto people's foreheads. Halloween in Ashville had become a major holiday, rivaling Christmas in scope.
This was Cedar Falls. Witch population had dwindled down to a mere eleven and threatened to get smaller every day. There was no way in the seven hells I was going to out myself to a perfect stranger. I felt bad for the person in the ER with the bullet wound but…
"It's a six-year-old girl. Her brother was playing with the gun he found in daddy's closet. The bullet pierced the back of her skull. It's was a relatively small round, or she would have had two holes in her skull. We can't go in and get it because if we do, her brain will swell to twice the size. If we don't remove it, she's going to die anyway."
"Shit."
"So, you can see why I'm looking for that miracle right now. If I was wrong, I apologize."
"You are…n't."
I almost waited for him to shout, "Ha!"
He didn't. He closed his eyes and whispered, "Oh, thank God."
"Doc. This goes to your grave, okay. Maybe one day you'll know all about it, but I will help you this once. If I can. I'm not making any promises, though."
"Dot, the girl was dead or brain-dead either way. I won't even say anything to anyone to get their hopes up. Fuck, I'll even dress you up like a nurse to get you into that room."
"Is her brain going to
swell after I pull the bullet out?"
"There is a high probability. Why?"
"I saw an episode of a show where they pulled a pencil out of a kid's brain through his eye and he died from it."
"Medical dramas are highly intensified with scenarios. I usually laugh when I see them, but I'm not going to lie. It can happen."
"What if I told you I wasn't the only one who could do this. Let's say I pulled the bullet out slowly and another person healed the brain as it came out… Would that be better?"
"You can't do both at the same time?"
"No."
"Then, yes. It would be."
"Get two sets of scrubs. Same size. Meet me back here in a couple of minutes."
He didn't question, he didn't break down and thank me, he took off running.
I sighed and hoped I'd made the right decision. I'd practically handed my and Josie's ass to the doctor on a platter. If it weren't a little kid going to die, I probably wouldn't have. But Josie and I could always run. The rest of the witches in town…not so much.
I went back into Jimmy's room and all three were staring at me. "Paging, Nurse Josie. Nurse Josie to the ER, please."
"What?"
I gave them a brief rundown of what had transpired in the hallway. Josie looked worried, Dennis looked shocked, and Jimmy looked proud. He rubbed my back as I sat back down next to him while we waited for the doctor.
He slipped into the room and handed me two sets of scrubs. "I'll be out in the hall. Come out after you've changed and make sure you wear the masks. All the nurses at the hospital know each other. You two will stick out like sore thumbs. Walk behind me, I'll cover any questions."
"Okay, Doc. You realize how much we are putting on the line right now, right?"
"I do. Trust me. This stays between us. I could lose my license if this goes bad, but I'm at the point where I don't care. That little girl didn't ask for this."
I nodded, feeling the same way.
I stood up and stripped, pulling the scrubs on. Jimmy didn't hide his stares. Dennis was polite and turned around. He'd seen both of us naked before, so I shrugged. Dennis was a gentleman.
"Perv," I whispered to Jimmy.
He wiggled his eyebrows.
"We'll be back," I said and headed out of the room, Josie right behind me.
"Coven healer, huh?"
"Yep. I'll get you a nametag."
"With sparkles, please. Maybe a unicorn."
The doctor didn't say anything to us, just led us to the elevator. He held up a keycard and hit the button for the first floor after the sensor beeped.
"I'll handle the bullet, slowly. You dump as much healing into her little head as she and you can handle. Good plan?"
"Good plan."
"What kind of healing? What kind of power?" The doctor seemed genuinely interested. "Better question is what are you?"
"Witches and magic, Doc. Real honest to goodness, turn you into a toad, stir big cauldron witches. You wanted to know, now you do. We're real. And we're not new age witches, either. My mother is six-hundred-years-old. I'm nearly a hundred. Josie is the same age as me. Now you know why we like to keep a low profile…"
He looked skeptical but nodded his head.
"So, are you going to dance and chant?"
"You'll be in the room with us in case it doesn't go as planned. It's easier to show than tell."
The door dinged, and he headed straight to the ICU ward of the ER. He donned a mask from his pocket and walked us straight into her room, closing the door behind us.
"This is Makayla."
The little girl was lying on her stomach on the bed, her head tilted to the side with an oxygen mask strapped to her face. The wound on the back of her head had been shaved and slathered in a yellow liquid, I tried not to look inside the wound. I could feel dinner threatening to rear its ugly head.
"Lady bless."
"Pray to whomever will help," he said somberly.
"I'm going to have to touch the wound directly. With my skin. Is that okay?"
"Dot, an infection is the least of this girl's worries right now. Wash your hands in the sink over there first, but I'm not too worried about it. Mr. Duncan didn't get an infection."
I nodded. Josie and I both scrubbed our hands anyway.
"I'll go first and touch the wound. You put your hands on her head and heal like a level seventy cleric. Got it?"
"Yes, Lady."
Josie had gone into serious mode. The severity of what we were about to do really sank in. "Lady guide us," I whispered.
I put my fingers over the hole, gently.
"Tarraing an miotail as an fhoirceannadh," I said and let a tendril of my power enter the wound. After more than a few moments, I could feel it. It had entered the back of her head and angled up, emerging on the top of her brain, wedged against the inside of her skull. I could feel her in there, too. There was some damage, but I could still feel that light that was her. She was curious as to what I was doing, and I sent her a mental wink. I could hear her laughter all around me.
"Sweet, sweet girl," I said aloud in the room.
I wrapped my power around the tiny piece of metal and pulled. It took a moment before it started moving slowly, back the way it had gone in. "I've got it, Josie. It's moving. Start."
It started as a soft glow around me. I wasn't the bullet, but I was the power wrapped around it. Everything around me filled my senses and Josie's power wrapped us in warmth. I could feel it tickling Makayla. I'm sure I was smiling back in the little room.
Slowly, I pulled, giving Josie plenty of time to close the channel as we passed through it, almost like a zipper. Finally, I felt metal with my fingers. I opened my eyes and saw the glint of it under the lamp above us. I didn't stop, drawing it through the hole in her skull until the tip slipped free. I dropped it on the bed next to her and let Josie work her magic.
"That was the most incredible thing I've ever seen."
I wanted to say, "Thank you," but just like before, I passed out.
Chapter 21
I came to in a private room, Josie in the bed next to me. I groaned in exhaustion. I hadn't thought about the chance of me passing out after expending all that power. I hope I didn't land on Makayla.
I sat up and shook Josie. "Wake up."
"Did you get the license plate?"
"Of what?"
"That fucking semi."
I laughed. If she was okay to crack jokes, she was fine.
"Good work, " I told her and patted her leg.
"You owe me food. Lots of food. And ice-cream."
"You're cheap."
"You know it."
The door opened. I jumped in surprise, but it was just the doctor. "Congratulations, Makayla woke up before you two."
"She okay?"
His nod and his smile were music to my eyeballs. "You guys want jobs? I seriously wouldn't mind you putting me out of business."
"If you could feel how we feel right now, you wouldn't be asking. It's like a hangover. From schnapps."
"That bad?"
"Yeah. And it feels like a dehydrated grizzly shit in my mouth. Got any water?"
"I can do better. Maybe some electrolytes will help."
He slipped out of the room and came back with a clear plastic jug and two cups. He splashed some in each one and handed them to us. I downed mine and held it out for more. It wasn't bad. "What is that?"
"Pedialyte. It's like Gatorade without the coloring and corn syrup."
Almost immediately I felt a little better. I downed the second cup and had risen to sub-human. "That's pretty cool. I might have to stock up on that."
"Science meets magic. Whoda thunkit."
"How did we get here?"
"Your nice fireman friend and a blonde nurse who seemed to know you."
"Blonde nurse?"
"Candace," Josie said. "She works here."
"She's a nurse?"
"Yeah."
"Why didn't you say something?"
"Hey, Dot. My future girlfriend is a nurse. There."
"Girlfriend?" The doctor seemed intrigued.
"Long story."
"Well, she went and got your fireman friend. And we brought you here. Don't worry, nurses sometimes pass out. Nobody thought anything of it."
I nodded and shrugged, too tired to care anymore. I lay back on the bed and closed my eyes.
I heard voices around me but didn't pay attention, drifting in and out. I don't think I'd ever been that tired in my life. When lips pressed against mine… That woke me up. I didn't open my eyes though. I just melted into the kiss.
Then I realized it wasn't Jimmy.
I pushed him away slowly until his face came into focus. Chief was hovering over me and gave me a soft smile. "What are you doing?"
"Well, isn't it customary to wake a sleeping princess with a kiss?"
"Pretty sure that's illegal in forty-nine states…"
He had the sense to look embarrassed. "Dot. I'm sorry. I didn't think you would mind."
"I didn't. I'm just glad it was you."
"Are you?"
I thought about it before nodding. "Yeah. Trust me, I enjoyed it."
"Thank the Lady. Now I don't have to arrest myself."
"Hmm. Maybe you should. I wouldn't mind having you in handcuffs for a little while…"
I made him blush. "I heard about your new side job." I opened my mouth to defend myself. "Don't. I'm glad you did it. Not only did you save the little girl, you saved the family. If she'd died… I don't even want to think how that would go. The father even turned in his handgun to be destroyed."
"Really?"
"Yeah. He was a pretty avid gun nut, too. You should see the stickers on his truck. I'd imagine they'll be the next to go."
"So how did the doctor explain her recovery?"
Chief sat down next to the bed. "Said he walked into the room and an angel was standing over their daughter. She reached right in and pulled the bullet out."
"No, he didn't."
"Yes, he did. See, that's the thing with magic and miracles. You have to preach to the crowd. He knew what would sell and what wouldn't. Mr. Akin and his family were far more likely to believe in the power of angels than the sexy witch in room 118."
First Moon : A Reverse Harem Tale (Lovin' the Coven Book 1) Page 15
