Never After

by Laurell K. Hamilton

  As I lowered myself into the chair and picked up the remote control, wondering what to do with myself all day, the door opened and a tall, blond nurse bustled into the room, pushing a cart with a beautiful potted plant on it.

  “Hey.” I started to stand but Delilah motioned me back into the chair. She shook her head and pressed a finger to her lips.

  “Ms. Morgan, I’m just delivering this plant that one of Mitch’s friends sent. What a beautiful philodendron.” She glanced around, then motioned to the dresser that was opposite Mitch’s bed, beneath the TV mounted on the wall. “Why don’t we put it there? I think it would be just perfect.”

  As I gathered my purse from off the dresser, I noticed a tiny camera nestled in the ceramic pot. It was aimed directly toward the door and from what I could tell, the view would include Mitch as well. I gazed at it for a moment, then stood back.

  “You’re right; that’s the perfect spot.” I gave Delilah a quick nod to show her I’d seen it, and stepped back. “Thank you. I know Mitch will appreciate it when he wakes up.”

  “If that’s all, then, I’ll be going. May I speak with you outside for a moment?” she asked. “It’s nothing important, but you need to sign a form if you’re going to stay here overnight.”

  I followed her into the hall and she motioned me off to one side and pressed a small pager into my hand.

  “Camille and Smoky are hanging out on the roof, and I’m going to be hiding in cat form down the hall. There’s a room nobody seems to use and I can sneak in there behind one of the old beds. Camille has a monitor linked to the webcam, and we both have pagers linked to yours. You press the alert button, we’ll come running.”

  I examined the pager, then slid it into the side pocket of my top. “What about the webcam? Wireless?”

  “Entirely. It’s all set up. Camille and Smoky are watching right now. You hang out here today, read, relax, maybe get in a nap in case Terrance makes his move tonight. You’ll want to be refreshed.” She glanced over her shoulder at a group of nurses who were passing by. They gave us an odd look, but left us alone.

  “What if he doesn’t come tonight?” I both feared he would, and feared he wouldn’t. Either way would be a mess.

  Delilah shrugged. “Then we deal with it tomorrow. But I think… I have a hunch that he’s around. I’m a cat; I can still smell that briny scent he had yesterday when we were fighting in the park. There was something about him—the smell of salt and seaweed and decay—and I can smell that now. Faint, but it’s here, in the hospital.”

  “Can you track it?” If she could, maybe we’d be in luck.

  But she shook her head. “No, it’s too weak. But it’s recent. Trust us on this one. Camille’s intuition’s pretty damned fine tuned, and I’ve got a nose that won’t quit.”

  I nodded. “I do trust you. That’s why you’re here with me now and not Chase. As nice as the man is, he just wouldn’t understand.” I paused, then laid a hand on Delilah’s arm. “Thank you. Thank you for everything.”

  She smiled. “Thank us after it’s over. Now go back in there and try not to worry.” As she turned and headed down the hall, I returned to Mitch’s room. All well and good to say, Don’t worry. Following her advice was an entirely different matter.

  * * *

  I opened my eyes to the sound of someone entering the room. For a moment, I wondered where the hell I was—this wasn’t my own bed—and then I remembered. Mitch. The hospital. Terrance.

  I slowly took in my surroundings, keeping still to avoid warning the intruder that I was awake. And then, remembering what Delilah said, I inhaled a long, slow breath, trying to concentrate on weeding out the scents surrounding me.

  I could smell the bleach they used to clean the bathroom, and the medications that Mitch had dripping through his IVs.

  I could smell the attempts at sterility the hospital made, but they’d never realize just how far they fell short, for beneath the cleansers were the odors of illness and injury, of old vomit and stale urine.

  Lowering myself another layer, I let the next level of scent waft over me, forcing myself to remain still as the door opened another inch.

  And there it was. Brine. Seaweed. Mussels. The decay of the sea. Terrance was here.

  It took every ounce of courage I had not to leap up, to scream for help. Instead, I forced myself to pretend to sleep while I stealthily reached for the pager that I’d stashed in my robe. But when I reached into the soft cotton pocket, the pager wasn’t there.

  Shit! It must have fallen out while I was sleeping! What the hell was I going to do?>

  I fumbled around, trying to sense whether anybody was near me, and to find out where the damned pager had gone to. I prayed that I hadn’t knocked it off the bed while I was sleeping. Of course, there was the webcam, but I didn’t trust Camille and Delilah to get here before Terrance had a chance to kill Mitch. And he would. I knew he would.

  As the door swung open all the way, soft footsteps slipped into the room, followed by a second pair. If it had been a nurse, she would have come in matter-of-fact. The night nurse had already woken me up once when she came to check on Mitch. And the lights stayed off this time, so it was a pretty good bet that whoever this was, was up to no good.

  And then I felt the pager. Damn it! The thing was down by my left foot. If I scrunched down to get it, Terrance would notice. If I tried to move it up to my hands using my feet—again, he’d notice. What the hell was I going to do? The minute I gave myself away, he’d go after Mitch and then after me. There was only one thing I could think of—scare the hell out of him, then take off running and pray he’d follow me and leave Mitch alone.

  I dreaded the onslaught of nurses we’d face—they’d immediately call Chase. But I had no choice. The question was, would it work? Could I startle him enough to give me time to punch the button on the pager and get out the door before he caught me? There was only one way to find out.

  I sprang up as fast as I could—which wasn’t as fast as I’d hoped—let out one piercing shriek, and grabbed the pager. As I punched the red button, I expected to hear a commotion outside, but instead all I heard was Terrance letting out a blast of obscenities that would have made even Camille and Menolly blush.

  “You want me so bad, you come and get me,” I shouted, running for the door.

  Terrance—I could see him clearly now; he was with Lon—looked at Mitch, then back at me, then at Mitch again. As I thundered out the door, he growled and motioned to Lon.

  “Get her. We’ll deal with him later. We can’t have her spreading the alarm.” He headed my way and I darted into the hall, looking around frantically for something to use as a weapon.

  Then I noticed: There were no nurses at the nursing station. Where the hell—

  “I’m going to make you wish to hell you’d never laid eyes on me,” Terrance said as the door swung shut behind him. “Make it easy on yourself and stop right now. Obey, and I’ll kill him neat and clean. If you make me chase you, I promise you the stupid seal will feel every single cut I put into his body, and you’ll be there watching. And I’ll make sure that before he dies, he knows exactly what I did to you back in Cobh, and what I’m going to do to you now. You and that whelp in your belly. You’ll bear a child, all right. Mine.”

  I backed up against the wall, counting the seconds. Where were they? Where were Delilah and Camille and Smoky? They promised they’d be here!

  Whimpering now as fear set in, I backed up against a cart full of meds. I glanced down and saw two syringes there—fully loaded with… whatever was in them. It looked like the night nurse had just left the cart sitting in the hall as she was making her rounds.

  I slipped in front of the cart and slid my hands behind me, grabbing one of the syringes. It could have anything from vitamins to sleeping meds in it. The former would be only of shock value when I hit him with the needle. The latter might actually do some good.

  I sidestepped my way to the wall beside the cart, and backed up agai
nst it, hiding the syringe behind me. “Terrance. Please rethink this. Don’t do this—it’s been a hundred years. For all you know, my mother’s people might have died out. Why bother? We live in a different age. Hell, if you want to rule so badly, head over to Otherworld. The world’s a lot harsher there, and a lot more welcoming to our kind.”

  He arched one eyebrow. “If I wanted to go to Otherworld, I would. And your mother’s people are alive and thriving. Do you really think I’m that stupid? I have a network of informants scattered from here to Ireland. I’m a prince among my own people, remember? While it may not mean much to some selkies, the crown still counts for something with the Finfolk and the roane.”

  I moaned gently as he lithely stepped in front of me. “Okay, bitch. It’s time to leave. Let’s go say good-bye to your boyfriend and then be on our way.”

  As he reached for me, I panicked and brought the syringe around, stabbing hard and deep into his neck and pressing the plunger. He screamed and backhanded me, knocking me against the wall. Lon stared dumbly at me, then at his boss, obviously not knowing what to do.

  At that moment, I heard a high-pitched warning cry and looked up to see Delilah, Camille, and Smoky hurtling down the hall. Smoky passed right by me and grabbed Terrance around the waist, squeezing with a mighty grunt. Terrance turned blue and fainted.

  Lon wheeled around, intending to run, but I was feeling my oats now, and I stuck out my foot and tripped him. He went sprawling at Delilah’s feet, and she promptly gave him a kick so hard I could hear bones breaking. I shuddered as Camille took me by the hand and moved me to the side.

  Smoky looked around. Still no one in sight. He frowned, then turned back to me. “What do you want me to do with him?”

  I stared at the dragon. He was offering me what I wanted. What I needed. But could I ask someone else to kill for me?>

  If I let Terrance live, there was a chance the Pod would vote to let him go. There were still plenty of members there—mainly female—who resented the fact that my infertility problem had been cured and that Mitch was off the market now. Some selkies mated with whomever they wanted, but Mitch and I… he was my one and only. And I was his. I sucked in a deep breath, not knowing what to say.

  As I knelt beside his prone form, trying to build up my nerve to do the job myself, he suddenly went into convulsions. I jumped back, not sure what was going on, and we watched as Terrance spasmed again, then fell silent.

  Camille felt for a pulse. “He’s dead,” she said, standing up. She picked up the needle that I’d stabbed him with. “What’s this?”

  “I don’t know—I was using it to try to buy time so I could get away. What does it say on the cart? It was in that tray right there.” I pointed to the tray.

  She glanced at the label on the tray, then looked at me. “Insulin—meant for a Juanita Chalker. And a hefty dose, at that. Must have thrown him into a hypoglycemic shock and killed him.”

  I stared at Terrance’s body. He was dead. I’d killed him. I glanced at Lon, who was staring at me, pale and wan.

  “Call Chase,” I said. “I guess there’s no harm in telling him what happened now. Turn Lon over to him. Meanwhile, where are the nurses that work this floor?”

  Lon groaned from the floor. “They’re locked up in the cleaning closet. Terrance and I forced them in there. He didn’t want any interference and figured we’d be long gone by the time they broke out.”

  Smoky reached down and lifted Lon by his collar, letting the man dangle with his feet a good ten inches above the ground.

  “You not only endangered the two selkies, but also the lives of every patient on this floor. I should just crisp you and eat you right here, but I think I’ll let the humans have their way with you. But mind you this—if you’re ever set free, and you ever come near this selkie and her mate again, I’ll find you and use your bones as toothpicks. Understand, little man?”

  Lon nodded, his eyes wide, and I felt a rush of warmth in my heart for Camille’s big lug of a husband.

  * * *

  The sun was setting over the water as Mitch, in his wheelchair, and I stood at the edge of a grassy area just beyond the Daybreak Star Indian Culture Center in Discovery Park, staring out over the Shilshole Bay. Camille and Delilah were a little ways away, sitting on the grass. We were all bundled up. It wasn’t cold, but a chill definitely hung low in the air.

  Mitch reached up with his uninjured arm to take my hand. I leaned down and pressed a kiss to his forehead. We still didn’t know what would happen when he tried to shift—the pins in his other arm were there for good and the elders of the Pod couldn’t give us an answer, either.

  Luckily, marine Weres—unlike most other Weres—weren’t affected by the full moon. Why, we didn’t know, but we shifted when we wanted. Perhaps it was because the ocean was already aligned to the moon, with its effect on the ebb and flow of the tides. Or maybe we weren’t truly Weres, but some other type of shifter… But the upshot was, Mitch wouldn’t have to transform until he felt ready. I could feel his longing, though, to bathe himself in the Ocean Mother’s waters.

  Camille brushed her hair out of her eyes and looked over at us. “So is everything okay?”

  Mitch and I glanced at each other; then Mitch nodded. “Yeah… I understand why Siobhan kept her past a secret.”

  “I wanted to forget the past,” I said. “I almost had myself convinced that all my lies were real, that what happened with Terrance had been a nightmare. But I guess you can never run away from your problems. Sometimes you have to face them head-on and defeat the demons that reach out of the dark to grab hold of you.”

  “What happened to Terrance’s cronies?” Delilah stood up and sucked in a deep lungful of air, keeping a wary eye on the water. Even though the waves were a good distance from us, I could see her pull back. I wondered what it would be like to be so afraid of the water. For me, the ocean was an embracing mother, a refuge and sanctuary.

  “Chase wrote it up as self-defense, and the Pod’s indicted Lon for attempted murder and kidnapping. They also caught the other one—Keith—and both of them are going before the Tribunal. I doubt they’ll make it out alive.”

  “Good riddance,” Camille said. After a moment, she turned a dazzling smile our way. “So, did I hear talk of a trip to Scotland?”

  “In a bit.” I tried to repress a smile, but it broke through anyway. “But first, we’re going to Ramsey, on the Isle of Man, where my mother will meet us. Her people still live there, and so I’ll be able to meet my relatives on her side. This is the first time I’ve spoken to her in over a hundred years. She thought I was dead all this time.”

  Mitch laughed. “I still can’t believe I actually married a princess.”

  “I’m not a princess, you doofus.” I grinned.

  “Yes you are, or you will be, once they verify your birth with your mother.” He shrugged, then winced. “Ouch, remind me not to do that again.”

  “I take it you’re reclaiming your rightful heritage?” Delilah clapped her hands. “It’s just like a Cinderella story!”

  “Cinderella story, my ass,” I said, snorting. “Prince Charming can go suck rocks. I’ve met my true love and he’s a contractor.”

  After a moment, my smile faded. “Seriously, I have no idea what will come of this. My mother can visit her homeland, but she can’t rejoin her people—it’s been too long and they’re pissed at her for keeping it a secret from me.”

  “What about her parents? How do they feel?”

  “My grandmother insists that I be entered into the rolls of the Pod, even though I was born into my father’s people. She says since my mother was abducted, I didn’t have a choice as to birthplace, and that I’ll be given dual status with both the Puget Sound Harbor Seal Pod—my Pod of choice—and the Isle of Man Selkies—my mother’s people. We’ll fly there about six weeks before our daughter is born. And she’ll be born into my grandmother’s people, and given dual status, too.”

  “What if they want you to r
eturn home to rule someday?” Camille dusted off her dress as the clouds began to roll in.

  I stared at the water as it broke along the shore. What would I do? Would I ever return to my mother’s people to accept the crown? I loved it here; I loved the freedom that being just Siobhan Morgan gave me.

  Queen and princess—those titles required a certain loss of freedom. Did I want that? Would Mitch ever accept that?

  “I have no idea. Our daughter can make up her mind when she comes of age—we won’t influence her either way. But for me… I think I’d like to stay here, if I can. But who knows what will happen?”

  “What about Terrance’s people? Will they come after you for revenge?” Delilah asked.

  I shook my head. “No, not if everything goes right. They think he died in an accident. That way the Cobh Selkie Pod and the Finfolk won’t take revenge on my mother’s people. But someday, if my grandmother calls me to help her, I may not have a choice.” I looked down at Mitch and he squeezed my hand. “Would you go with me if that happened? If I’m called to lead a war?”

  “I told you before,” he said quietly. “I’ll follow you anywhere. You’re my mate, my love. If you rise to be a queen or a warrior princess, I’ll be at your side. You and our daughter come before anything or anybody… or any place.”

  A sharp breeze picked up and I felt the tides of change whip in on it. The world wasn’t what it used to be. Times were changing. If I ever became queen of my people and one of our women was stolen away, we’d do everything in our power to rescue her—and with technology, we’d stand a good chance. No more marriages-by-capture for me or my kind.

  The Supes and Fae of the world were adapting along with the humans, and our cultures had to adapt. It was imperative, if we expected to thrive.

  A sharp kick against my stomach startled me and I laughed.

  “She’s going to be a fighter, our Marion is,” I said, patting my belly.

  “So you’re naming her after the café owner?”

  I nodded. “She helped us in our time of need. I’m going to honor her request. Our Marion will grow up knowing that she’s a new breed of selkie—that the old ways are changing. She’ll be on the cutting edge of that change, and I hope, one day, she’ll leave her mark on the world.”