I touched his head, rubbing a smidgeon of faerie dust across his brow, then moved to his mother and the nurse. Their happiness with his progress had a synergic effect, the infant’s radiance resulting in a chain reaction that brightened his caretakers like two magnificent stars. I touched the NICU nurse and saw why—until his recovery, she’d been exhausted with her job, contemplating a transfer to another department.
And until his turnaround, the mother had been positive he wouldn’t make it.
How sad, I thought, to sit day by day, nurturing a tiny life after its birth, completely without hope. I couldn’t wait to report in to Lia and Pilar that all of our work had paid off.
On my way out of the NICU, I passed a handsome doctor carrying a large vase filled with colorful crocuses and carnations. I spotted a matching bouquet on the main desk in the general maternity ward. It was nice to see that the doctors here showed so much appreciation for their nurses. I followed him, because he had a happy aura about him shining bright as gold compared to the other dismal members of staff.
Once or twice, I thought he saw me, or at the very least, sensed me, but I retreated deeper into the Twilight, as we’d been taught in our Surveillance and Subterfuge class. I could only go back one layer, but pros like Simon and our other battlemage professors could head into the darkest, gloomiest depths of the other world. From here, I watched a distorted view of him approaching a lone nurse at a station on the recovery floor. Everything was in shadows and darkness now, making it hard to see.
“These are for the whole station,” he said, “but this in particular is for you, Stacy.” And he passed her a small box of chocolates.
“Oh, thank you, Doctor Hoffman.”
The guy grinned. “No problem. So…”
She bit her lower lip and glanced over her shoulder, wary of someone watching. Then she slipped him a piece of paper.
Ooooh, romantic connections at work. I loved it! So much for the two Chatty Cathys dissing him in the employee lounge. They were probably jealous. As long as it didn’t affect the work place, why did it matter who slept with whom?
The mood of the day continued to soar.
Hot doctor took the note and continued on. I touched this nurse, too. She was deeply in love with him and had a tiny fraction of faerie blood. Just a little. One of her grandparents must have been half-fae.
“So sad about Miss Georgia. I hope they find her soon,” a nurse said behind me.
I paused and did an about-face. The two women stood near a bulletin board, both looking at a print out of a Silver Alert featuring a familiar elderly woman. I’d seen her during my last visit.
“Oh, Doctor Gregori, did you get the message I left you?” the blonde nurse called out. “About Miss Georgia.”
“I did, and I already made a call to the police about what I know. I haven’t seen her since her last appointment, unfortunately.”
Lie. The man’s aura practically lit up like a signpost. A better mage could have hidden that.
“I’ve finished with Mr. Carlos and already called him an Uber Health ride,” the doctor continued, still broadcasting a deceptive vibe that gave me the willies. “And that’s it for me today. You ladies have a good afternoon.”
He patted the nurse on the shoulder and headed off, making his way through the hospital to the parking garage. As I followed him to a BMW, I shot my pals a group text, letting them know where I was. Nothing strange stood out about the doctor or his car. I followed him as far as the hospital drive, planning to head back inside and ask Lia what more she knew about the guy, when he turned into the loop driveway rather than out to the main road.
“Hey, Mr. Carlos. Are you still waiting on your ride?” the doctor called out his open passenger window to an elderly Hispanic gentleman.
“Yes, sir.”
“Huh. They’re usually more prompt. Tell you what, why don’t I give you a lift?”
While the gesture seemed nice, something my girls had told me stuck in my head. Something about how staff weren’t supposed to take responsibility for patients outside the hospital for liability reasons.
“I don’t wanna impose.”
“Nonsense. Besides, the app here says your ride came and left.”
He didn’t even have the app open on his phone. The straight-up lie made me see red, and before it even occurred to me to sway the poor old gentleman to stand his ground, he climbed into the car and shut the door.
“Thanks so much for this, Doctor Gregori, I—” The man gasped and slumped in his seat. All I managed to see before the BMW pulled away was the good doctor setting aside a small syringe.
This was definitely one of those things I needed to report in, but it was also a moment where I couldn’t just let the guy get away and drive off to unknown destinations. I considered diving into the car through the Twilight, then realized that’d be a bonehead move to make, because what if this guy was the Plague Doctor. Was I really going to apprehend him in a moving vehicle with a disabled human in the passenger seat?
Torn, I took to the air and followed the car with my eyes while prompting Siri to call my professor.
“Calling Sebastian,” my iPhone replied. The call connected right away.
“Hey, Sky. What’s up?”
“I think I found the Plague Doctor,” I blurted. “He just stabbed someone in his car with a syringe and I’m going to follow them right now.” Assuming he didn’t tell me to take my ass back into the hospital.
“Where are you?”
“He just left Sycamore Hills Memorial. Northbound on, uh…” I gave him directions and a street, rattling off the car’s make, model, and license plate number.
“Who’s with you on this?”
“Erm…”
“Skylar.” He brought out his Dad Voice.
“I was with everyone at the hospital when this guy caught my attention. I wasn’t gonna follow him any farther than the parking garage, I swear, but then he abducted this guy! And he was lying about another patient who’s gone missing recently.”
“What did we tell you about going off—?”
“What was I supposed to do, Sebastian? How was I supposed to know he was up to no good to report in to you guys if I didn’t watch him?”
A moment of silence passed through the line, followed by a long sigh. The line muffled, and I thought I heard Simon’s deep baritone before he joined the line on speakerphone.
“We’ve discussed it and you’re to follow every instruction we give you. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir!”
“Recon only. Stay on this line and inform me of any course changes. Can you see the victim at all?”
“No, not from up here. I can get in the car through the Twi—”
“Absolutely not,” Simon cut in. “Too risky with a mage.”
“We’re coming to you. Tell us what else you know.”
As I flew, I gave them the whole story, starting with the doctor’s name, what I’d seen during both visits, and ending with the abduction. By then, the doc had pulled into a rather nice neighborhood with big houses and even bigger lots. He pulled the car into a driveway on a cul-de-sac, parking in front of a house with navy blue window trim and a cheery yellow door. It all looked so normal. So nice.
“Whoa. This place is radiating magic. Wards everywhere. He’s using an invisibility spell to carry Mr. Carlos inside. Should I—”
“Stay right there. Outside,” Sebastian commanded.
“Right.” But I hated the idea of waiting. I had no doubt that the poor old man was going to be his newest test subject. Maybe he abducted shifters and humans for his science projects.
“Get down here. White minivan to your left,” Sebastian said over the phone, then the line went dead.
Damn they got here fast. As I touched down beside the sentinels, I bit back the question burning on my tongue, because I thought you had to have visited a place to get such an accurate portal placement. And they hadn’t come alone. Petrov and Rodrigo were with them.
/>
Even worse, so was my mate, and the dark look on his face told me I was in big, big trouble.
“Um…I’m guessing you’re not happy with me right now and this is where you tell me how I messed up.”
“Oh, we’re going to definitely have a chat about this later,” Gabriel said, his terse tone not taking me by surprise. “But we have work to do right now.”
Ouch. I winced and nodded quietly.
“You can haul your little ass back to campus now,” Sebastian said to me, dashing my hopes of being involved in the capture of the Plague Doctor.
“You’re kicking me off the case now?”
“Oh, yeah. Go home,” he said in the tone of a father who had just laid down the law and sentenced his unruly teenager to a month-long grounding.
“But I did recon for you. Sebastian, please. I want to stay; I want to see you catch him. I won’t get in the way, I promise.”
To my surprise, Simon took him aside with a hand on his mate’s shoulder, definitely having a word mentally and confirming my previous theory.
About twenty seconds—which felt like an eternity—passed before Sebastian glanced my way. “You can remain as an observer, but you follow the same rules as before. You do everything we say. We say run, you haul ass the fuck out of there like your wings are on fire.”
“Understood.”
“Your Prismatic Barrier remains up at all times.”
“Copy.”
This time, he cracked a bit of a wolfish grin. Looking at Sebastian, it was easy to see what had attracted Simon to him. He was a ridiculously handsome man, dark-haired with the prettiest blue eyes and long lashes. And incredibly fit and huge. One of his biceps were like five of mine.
“You are brave fae,” Petrov said, his expression brimming with approval. “Very ballsy. I like you.”
I felt elated at such a compliment. Then I saw Gabriel’s frown.
Shit.
“You know, she wasn’t exaggerating about the wards,” Sebastian said. He held out his arm—every dark hair stood on end, like he’d been zapped by lightning.
Simon nodded to him. “You want to check the perimeter and disable those wards, or shall I?”
“I got it.” Sebastian dropped down on all fours and loped away as a black streak of fur and teeth, vanishing easily between the wards as if he could see them with his werewolf eyes.
Maybe he could. Yet another shifter mystery for me to ask about when Gabe was in a better mood.
“You really think this is our guy?” Rodrigo asked.
“I don’t know, but he definitely stuck Mr. Carlos with a needle.”
“Caught for being sloppy. His mess is our gain.” Rodrigo clapped me on the shoulder and gave me a brief, sympathetic squeeze. “I can’t decide if you’re good or bad luck, short stuff.”
Gabriel’s frown deepened.
Sebastian returned. He didn’t shift back, but Simon was looking at him and talking—too quietly for me to hear. I slanted a look at Gabe and wondered if we’d ever communicate that way.
Before I had the chance to give voice to the question, Simon stepped over and called for our attention.
“All right, it’s time. Skylar, you stay behind me when we go in. Your only job here is to maintain a Prismatic Barrier between us and him,” Simon directed. “Gabriel, I want you in the air. He may have warded the windows but that chimney is a chink in the house’s armor. Sorry, but you’re going to get dirty.”
“Not a problem.”
We split up into three teams. Despite having the utmost faith in everyone present, I couldn’t help but think back on the attack in Chicago. An entire battalion of sentinels hadn’t been able to bring the Plague Doctor down. Then again, he’d set the stage to his advantage. This time we had the element of surprise on our side.
Simon waited until my Prismatic Barrier was in place, then he held up his hand and made a silent countdown from three.
While I never forgot that Simon was a badass, I did sometimes forget that he was physically strong as well. His boot hit the door right next to the knob and bashed it open without any effort. An echoing bang resounded from the backside of the house where Petrov and Rodrigo made their breach. Seconds later, Gabriel swooped from the fireplace over the startled doctor, who had been sitting on the couch with a beer in his boxers like it was a normal afternoon.
His laziness didn’t last more than a heartbeat, then he was on his feet and on the offensive. The first spell struck my barrier and fizzled out, a weak blast attack that would barely have ruffled Sebastian’s hair even if it had hit. The doctor teleported, skipping from the living room to the connecting kitchen. Rodrigo laid him out with a punch to the face and down he went.
It was rather anticlimactic when it came right down to it.
“This is our Plague Doctor?” Petrov nudged the fallen mage with his foot, rolling him onto his back. The man’s nose had been smashed, a font of blood dribbling into his mouth and down his face.
“Possibly,” Simon said, but he sounded doubtful. “Let’s get him secure and find the man he took from the hospital.”
Keeping out of the way as told, I stepped back while Rodrigo secured magic cuffs around the fallen doctor. Simon gestured for me and Gabe to follow him. Sebastian, still in his wolfen shape, led us through the house and upstairs.
We found Mr. Carlos in the first room to our left, and he wasn’t alone. Five other senior citizens lay in cots attached to identical medical equipment. They had IV drips and heart monitors attached to their still bodies.
“There’s more over here,” Gabe called from the room across the hall. Another six beds, these filled with younger victims, two of them barely out of their teens by the look of it. The last room had no victims, but had been set up like what I imagined a brothel looked like, complete with gauzy curtains and silk sheets. A bloodstain stood out against the light beige carpet.
I wanted to vomit, but I held on. I’d asked for this when I wanted to become a sentinel. I was seeing the raw and gritty side of police work.
“This guy isn’t the Plague Doctor,” Gabriel said in a quiet voice. “He’s a Dog Leech.”
“A what?”
“You haven’t learned about those yet this semester, but…” He dragged in a breath. “They’re assholes who abduct humans. Sometimes even faeries, and put them into medically-induced comas to leech their blood. They’re fed enough nutrients to remain alive while their blood is harvested day after day. Eventually they disappear forever. Sometimes the corpses are sold to darklings. You know. Fresh meat.”
A sour taste flooded my mouth.
“Looks like this guy had a profitable little side hustle going on,” Simon said in disgust. He inspected one older woman’s wrist. A pair of puncture marks had been sealed beneath a translucent bandage. “Bagged blood and live feeds. You two step outside and call this in. Tell them we require several ambulances.”
Sebastian laid a hand on my shoulder and gently guided me from the room.
Hours passed before we returned to campus, but I’d been kept so busy helping that it flew by. While all the victims had been carried out by medical teams, nosy neighbors had gathered around to see what the fuss was about. Not a single one of them had ever suspected something untoward was happening in the house. They all had the same impression—the nice doctor was a quiet neighbor who never appeared to be doing anything illegal.
“Skylar, come with us. Gabriel, we’ll see you later.”
Anticipation made my hands and lips tingle the whole walk to the sentinel training compound. I followed them inside and ignored the persistent vibration from my cell phone. I’d barely given my friends the minimum of what was going on.
“Have a seat, Skylar,” Simon said, gesturing to a tiny chair that didn’t look big enough for me, let alone the shifters and battlemages who no doubt found their way into it. He and Sebastian sat next to each other in matching armchairs behind the desk.
So, this is what it felt like to be in the hot seat. It
literally felt hot, and tiny and stifling, and they seemed five feet taller than me, so much so I wondered if the seat was shrinking the longer I sat in it.
No way. That’d be cruel.
“Skylar, what were you thinking today, following Doctor Gregori?”
I resisted the urge to squirm. “Like I said before, he was setting off red flags, so when I caught him lying, I followed him to his car.”
“And you didn’t think you should have brought one of the other sentinels with you?”
“Well, they were with Lia and Pilar.”
“Which is where you should have been,” Simon stressed. “You went off alone long before you came across the doctor.”
Heat crawled up my neck to my ears. Anxiety over my potential punishment, and their disappointment in me, drowned out the success of taking a dangerous monster off the streets.
Too bad it wasn’t the monster we all wanted to apprehend.
“I was doing a—”
Sebastian cut me off. “We gave specific instructions that no students were to leave the campus or your work assignments without permission. This is for your safety, Sky. You don’t even have the required two hundred hours for a license yet. Times are dangerous right now, and we can’t risk any student losses anymore. Not after last time.”
“But—”
“There are no buts,” Simon said. He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “There will be a disciplinary measure for this.”
“She did call us,” Sebastian said, surprisingly coming to my rescue. “Maybe that calls for a little leniency.”
Wait, I’d always had him pegged as the bad cop of their Good Cop, Bad Cop image.
“She did,” Simon agreed, mouth twisted into a frown. “If you hadn’t called, you’d be out of the program right now—”
“What!?”
“—at least until next semester.”
“You’d do that?”
The big mage’s brows raised toward his smooth scalp. “You think I wouldn’t, if it meant you’ll survive training to become a licensed sentinel?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Yeah. So are we,” Sebastian admitted. “But you left your work assignment and—”
The Plague Doctor (The Paranormal University Files: Skylar Book 4) Page 20