by Gina LaManna
I recognized a few faces as I neared the group—some familiar faces from Matthew’s bedroom earlier, though Officer Stride was thankfully nowhere to be seen. Nash was, however, and he spotted me the second I reached the bubble of people outside of Matthew’s room.
“Dani—” he called, and then, “Detective, wait!”
I ignored my brother and stormed straight to the doors. When I tried the handle, it was locked. Raising a fist, I pounded against the door, but there was no answer. The bystanders’ eyes all swiveled to face the crazed woman knocking on the door to the captain’s room.
I knocked again to no answer. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of Nash closing in on me, his face set with determination. I took a step back, lowered my shoulder and heaved it against the door.
Unfortunately, the handle turned at the exact moment my hairbrained idea to tackle a hospital door went into effect, and instead of bouncing off a locked door, it opened from the inside and I went barreling through at full force.
I lost my balance, stumbling into the room, ass over teakettle, in a straight trajectory toward the hospital bed in the center of the room. I would have tripped over one cord or another and crashed straight into Matthew if it weren’t for the set of strong arms that gripped my shoulders, stopping my forward momentum on impact.
“Whoa, there,” a deep, unfamiliar voice said. “Where you going?”
I sucked in a breath and glanced up to find a group of people I’d never seen before all crowded around Matthew’s bed. “Who the hell are you?”
The man who’d grabbed me held on for a long moment, righting me gently, as if I were a toddling infant headed for a face plant. “We’re just trying to help.”
“Dani!” Nash finally reached the doorway and pressed through the crowd, each of them straining to catch a glimpse of the action inside. He slammed the door shut. “What were you thinking rushing the door?”
“I wanted to see Matthew,” I said stubbornly into the quiet room. “I, er, knocked. But nobody let me in.”
“They’re in the middle of something,” the man still holding my arms said. He let go carefully, probably watching me for signs of further psychosis. “Didn’t want you to interrupt.”
“Who are you?” Disorientation was setting in. “You’re not doctors; where’s Anita?”
“Hey, honey, we’re just here to help.” A cute blonde in the corner of the room waved. She wore a long, flowing skirt and had bright eyes and a smile the size of Saturn’s rings. “You must be Dani.”
“Detective,” I growled. “How do you plan on helping? What is—what is she doing?”
I pointed across the room to where a young, pretty woman somewhere around my age—give or take a few years—held her hands over Matthew. In one of her outstretched palms she balanced a small vial of vibrant yellow potion. Her eyes were closed, and she looked to be mid-spell.
“Only blood innately dark—
shall feel this long-forgotten spark.
It’s then you shall begin to heal,
Once I’ve completed this final seal.”
As I watched, the woman—a witch, no doubt—opened her eyes and prepared to pour the vial over Matthew’s bare skin. He was covered only by a thin sheet at the waist, the rest of his body exposed and vulnerable.
If possible, his skin had grown paler and his wounds deeper. An inky black blood, some of it matted to his skin, still oozed from wounds. The corners of his ripped skin were beginning to turn purple—a deep, regal sort of black—as if infected. I understood without explanation that things had gotten worse for Matthew in my absence. Much, much worse.
My suspicions were confirmed as I looked to Nash and saw his face draining of blood. Turning my attention back to Matthew, I felt my lips parting in horror as the liquid tipped from the bottle and spilled over onto Matthew. It cascaded in a waterfall from her palm, then landed in thin, sparkling lines over Matthew’s skin, running in rivulets over his body.
The moment it touched his skin, it burned into a mist, surrounding his figure with a steam cloud, as if he’d stepped from a tub of boiling water into a frigid freezer. The yellowish potion settled into his cuts, pooling and mixing with the dark blood. Once the potion bottle was empty, the woman standing over him lowered her hands.
“Blood and bone and firestone,” she began. “Loose this flame, let it be thrown.”
“That’s illegal magic!” I yelled. “What are you doing to him? Nash! Who are these people?”
I lunged for her, watching as the potion on Matthew’s skin leapt into golden flames, covering his body in a blazing metallic sheen. It contrasted with the dark blood beneath and the bright fires above. Matthew lay still, as if he couldn’t feel a thing.
I didn’t make it far. Those strong hands that had stopped my fall also stopped my forward progression. “I’d leave her alone if I were you,” the man said easily, with a hint of warning. “Touch Lily, and I’ll have to remove you from the room.”
I elbowed my way out from the stranger’s arms, but he didn’t let me go. “Nash!”
It was Anita who reached me first, however. Her face was tight with tension and she wore a mask and gloves. As she came to stand in front of me, she flipped the mask off and narrowed her gaze at me. “I told you I was calling in reinforcements. This is why I asked you to stay away, Detective.”
“You’re the best nurse in Wicked. I don’t understand why you need reinforcements.”
“If you’re not aware, Matthew is the only vampire in the borough,” Nurse Anita said. “Therefore, I haven’t had much experience in treating vampires and sealing wounds, seeing as Matthew’s as impenetrable as a brick wall.”
“But who is she?” I nodded at the woman holding her hands over my boyfriend. “And why did she shoot flames at Matthew?”
“That’s Lily!” Anita said, looking mildly miffed at my blindness. “The Mixologist. She’s come from The Isle with a few of her friends to help us. If you want to save Matthew’s life, I’d recommend not attacking her.”
I shrugged myself out of the large man’s grasp, shooting him a look filled with daggers as I stepped back. “Who’s he, her bodyguard?”
Anita put a hand to her forehead, shook her head. “I’m so sorry, Ranger X,” she said, speaking to the man who’d held me back not once, but twice. “She’s not thinking straight. Normally, she’s one of our top detectives—a Reserve, no less!—but it’s...difficult for her to see Matthew injured.”
“I understand,” Ranger X said. “It’s hard to see someone you love in pain.”
I gave him another look, saw a darkly handsome man who had an impressive amount of Residuals clinging to his form. I sensed that he was more powerful than I could ever imagine.
“He’s the head of the Ranger Program on The Isle,” Nash whispered. “Engaged to Lily?”
“Er, sorry,” I muttered. “You caught me off guard.”
Again, he nodded, backed away. “Before you attack anyone else, this here is Poppy, and the one in the corner is Zin.”
Poppy, the blondie with the huge smile, grinned and waved. Zin, the other female in the corner, blew a piece of jet-black hair out of her eyes. She wore a severe bob, dark makeup and clothing, and looked more like a vampire than Matthew. She didn’t bother to offer a greeting.
“We’re both Lily’s cousins,” Poppy explained. “We came along to help. I’m a vampire, see. Lily needed some of my blood to prepare a healing potion for Matthew.”
“Then can someone explain to me how setting my boyfriend on fire is supposed to help him?” I asked. “He’s a vampire. He doesn’t do well with flames.”
The room fell silent. The only person with the answer to the question had her eyes closed, her arms still extended over Matthew’s body as the flames burned down to nothing.
We all watched as Matthew’s wounds glowed an ember-like red before eventually fading to a dull, ashen color. Once that was done, the Mixologist capped the vial and set it on the bedside table. Looking co
mpletely spent, she turned toward me and offered a tired smile.
“I wanted to explain to you before I did anything,” Lily said with an apologetic smile. “But nobody knew where you’d gone. We were running out of time, and once you did arrive... well, I couldn’t stop in the middle of my spell.”
“That was an illegal hex you used,” I said uneasily. “What sort of healer uses illegal magic?”
“I’m not a healer. I’m the Mixologist,” Lily said firmly. “And I didn’t know how else to start a flame, so I figured the department would forgive an illegal hex if it saved the captain’s life.”
I folded my hands in front of my body. I’d just used the spell too, for a lot less noble reasons than trying to save Matthew. Probably, shooting fireballs at Grey’s head was cause for suspension from the force, so the least I could do was look the slightest bit ashamed.
“Sorry I tried to attack you,” I said. “Can you explain what’s happening here? Is he going to be okay?”
Lily chanced a glance at Nurse Anita. “I think so. He should be.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Nash tsked behind me.
“Sorry,” I said dryly. “Can you please tell me what that means?”
Lily smiled. She was pretty in a very human sort of way. One of those girls next door with the big, wide eyes and silky brunette hair, and a certain sense of innocence. Completely the opposite of me with my white-blond hair and super loud mouth that often lacked a filter.
“This was the first time I’ve come up with a vampire-specific healing potion,” Lily said, “so I had to be creative. Unfortunately for Poppy, I made her prick her finger a few times so I could test it on her. I wouldn’t have hurt Matthew, Detective.”
I felt worse and worse by the second. “I know, I’m sorry. I’m—well, I guess I was a little out of control when I came in here. It’s just that someone attacked him this morning, so when I saw you shooting illegal fire at him, it sort of set me off.”
Lily gave a light laugh, then shot a warm glance at the man behind me. “That’s what X is for,” she said easily. She paused to share a quick, private look with her fiancé before turning back to me and clearing her throat. “I assume you want to know about the magic I used to heal the captain?”
I nodded, moving closer to the bedside when she gestured for it.
“A vampire’s defense system burns rapidly through normal medicines and even magical potions,” Lily said, pointing out Matthew’s wounds. “It’s worse for the captain because werewolves and vampires do not mix. Whatever magic caused these injuries is acting like a poison to Matthew.”
I swallowed hard, trying to wipe away the hefty blood loss and sticky blackness from my memories.
“None of Anita’s potions would have worked,” Lily said. “Normally, Matthew can heal himself quite quickly—but between the werewolf magic and the amount of blood he lost, he wasn’t healing faster than he was diminishing.”
“You had to solder the wounds.”
“In a magical way, yes,” Lily said. “I created a healing potion then sealed it inside of Matthew with flames. As you’ll see, it’s stemmed the bleeding and locked the potion inside. I used a combination of a special mint leaf grown on The Isle, chamomile, and lavender to sooth, and then ginseng for energy and a hint of Poppy’s blood. It made the potion familiar enough to Matthew so that his antibodies wouldn’t automatically reject it.”
“You came up with all that in...” I hesitated. “An hour?”
“It was an emergency,” Lily said with a thin smile. “I’m used to it.”
“I don’t know how to thank you.”
“Just find whoever did this,” Lily said, “and make sure it doesn’t happen again. This is a truly awful, horrible thing someone did to your boyfriend.”
“The captain,” I corrected, embarrassed. “They attacked an officer which is the equivalent to suicide. At least, for their freedom. There isn’t a cop around who won’t be looking for the culprit.”
Except maybe Stride, I thought. Nash and I shared a tense glance, and I knew he was thinking the same thing. I didn’t want to think about the tensions with the rest of the wolves in the precinct. It wouldn’t be easy. Especially if the chief continued to play puppet to the greater NYPD.
Lily reached for the vial on the bedside table, pocketed it into the travel belt around her waist, and then turned toward Anita. “I think we’ve done all we can. If there’s anything else we can do, don’t hesitate to ask.”
Anita nodded. “Thank you, Miss Locke. Your help has been much appreciated.”
Lily smiled again, a gesture that seemed to come naturally to her. She then turned to me, clasping my hands in hers as she gave a comforting squeeze. “He’s going to be okay, I promise. I’m truly sorry this happened to him.”
Then she leaned forward, gave me the briefest of hugs, and stepped aside before I could react.
Poppy barreled toward me for a hug next. “I hope you’ll come to The Isle for a visit just as soon as your boyfriend is healed. We’ll get you and Matthew set up with Midge in the best room at the B&B. It’d be fun to spend more time around another vampire.”
Zin, the woman with the black hair and golden eyes, managed a succinct nod before trailing after her two cousins. Only Ranger X lingered behind as the three women left the room.
“I’m sure I’ll be seeing you soon, Detective,” he said cryptically. “Take care.”
Once Ranger X was gone, I turned to Nash. “What did he mean by that?”
Nash shrugged. “The man’s smarter than anyone I know, and his powers are legendary. I wouldn’t ask too many questions.”
I shrugged it off, then finally inched my way toward Matthew’s bedside. He seemed calmer now, his face scrunched up in an expression of concentration instead of pain. I was relieved to see he’d stopped bleeding, relieved Anita had called in the big guns.
“He’s going to be okay?” I whispered again, needing it to be true. “Are you sure?”
Anita stepped up next to me and put her pudgy arm around my shoulder. “I promise. But he’ll need to be heavily sedated for the rest of the day and into tomorrow.”
“He’ll be very upset he missed so much.”
“I’m very upset,” Anita said. “He churns through painkiller quicker than anyone I know. It’s pumping non-stop and costing this hospital an arm and a leg.”
“I’d like to stay.”
“I know you would, honey,” Anita said, “but I think Lily is right. You have to get on with the case. If anything changes with Matthew, I’ll let you know.”
A retort burned on my tongue, but the more I considered it, the more I knew she was right. When Matthew came around, he’d want me to lay off the case, so I might as well take advantage of this time when he couldn’t protest. I knew he’d prefer I left things alone. That I didn’t cause waves among the wolves, but I couldn’t sit around and do nothing. It wasn’t in my blood.
My best bet was to get moving while he was still unconscious. And I knew exactly who I needed to see.
Chapter 14
“Oh, there you are!” Willa’s mother smiled brightly in the hospital hallway. “I figured you’d turn up sooner or later.”
“Ms. Bloomer—er, Kady,” I said. “How are you?”
“Great, dear.” She grinned hugely and raised her arms to show me the bundle of flowers blossoming against her chest. “I’ve got so many blooms now that Juno has been helping in the gardens that I like to come to the hospital and share them. When I was stuck in here recently, it made all the difference to have something bright in view. Speaking of, I’m so sorry to hear about Matthew.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“He’ll be okay?”
“They’ve told me he will,” I said with a shrug. “Unfortunately, I can’t stick around. I have to run out on a case, but I’ll be back this evening.”
“I understand. Well, whenever you have a spare moment, Willa was looking for you earlier.”
>
“Great, thanks,” I said, adding another line to my never-ending to-do list. “I’ll catch up with her in a bit. Unless it’s urgent?”
Kady shrugged. “Everything is urgent with Willa. But I don’t think it’s life or death, if that’s what you mean.”
As I left Kady humming, sticking peonies and sunflowers and sprigs of greenery in every vase she passed, I marveled at the one-eighty she’d done. Just a few weeks back, she’d been on the bad end of an illegal drug, and it had sucked the life from her very bones. Just a few weeks of good health, and she had transformed into a new person.
In fact, when I’d first turned the corner, I’d thought it had been Willa and not her mother. These days, the resemblance between Willa and Kady was almost uncanny. Blond locks, bright eyes, hair curling in a happy sort of wiggle toward her head. They made for quite a pair.
Kady’s obvious recovery was enough to lift my spirits as I deposited my guest badge at the front desk and slid out the hospital doors. I made the short trek to the precinct next door and didn’t bother to greet anyone on my way inside.
Word must have spread through the department because the air sizzled with tension. Each hallway I turned down, eyes flicked toward me, then flicked away, as I made my way up to the chief’s office. It was clear nobody quite knew what to say, and it was hard to blame them. I didn’t have words either.
I pounded on the door and then waited impatiently for a response. At the chief’s call to enter, I stepped inside with slow, deliberate movements as I fought to keep my temper to a minimum.
“Dani—”
“You did this to him,” I said, my resolve crumbling. “This is your fault. The second you pulled Matthew off the case, it made him look guilty.”
“Detective, I wanted to say—”
“Pull me off if you want—that’s neither here nor there,” I said. “But you put a huge target on Matthew’s head, and the wolves went straight for it. You should have stood up for him, Chief, NYPD be damned.”
