The girl took the heart, smiling. “I’m very glad.”
“Do you think you could do something else for me?”
Rixaline nodded eagerly. “Of course.”
“This is a big thing to ask you. And I don’t feel like I have any right to do this, but the man who shot me, Joe, my former husband, got away with his girlfriend, who also shot one of the agents working the case. And the thing is, no one knows where Joe is.”
Rixaline’s eyes lit up. “Yes. I will find him for you.”
Donna exhaled. “You will? You don’t mind? I don’t want you to think I’m taking advantage of you.”
“I’m happy to do it. And I don’t think that at all. Not after everything you’ve done for me. Is he a supernatural?”
“Nope. A regular human.”
“Then I just need a seed. That’s what I call the little trigger that helps me locate something.”
“Like what?”
“Something of his. Or a picture of him. Or his scent. Even something he’s touched can be enough, but I have to have that seed.”
“I can provide you with that. Right after I’m done with Dr. Fox.” She looked at Pierce and Charlie. “Neo’s coming over, then we’re all going hunting. I’ll fill you in as soon as Dr. Fox checks me out. But I’ll tell you this about our expedition. It’s going to be very fast and very safe where Rixaline is concerned. And you’re not going to talk me out of it.”
“Right,” Pierce said. “Wouldn’t try.”
“Good.” She smiled at Charlie. “Let’s go meet Dr. Fox. Is he a vampire too?”
“No, he’s a gnome. They’re inherently protectors, and he’s an excellent doctor on top of that. Been the official governor’s physician since before I was here. Good man. Very skilled.”
“Glad to hear that.”
They walked into the salon.
He was a blocky, balding man with a muscular build, glasses, and tufts of gray hair sticking off his ears. He looked like the kind of guy who might have played football or wrestled in high school. He had a crinkly smile and bright eyes that gleamed like he had a joke to share. Donna liked him immediately.
Charlie gestured toward him. “Dr. Ezrun Fox, please met our new governor, Belladonna Barrone.”
He gave her a little bow, holding on to the stethoscope around his neck. “Hello there, Governor Barrone. Sorry to meet under such unfortunate circumstances, but I understand someone’s done you a great indignity.”
She laughed. “Well, my former husband did shoot me, so you’re not far off.” She stuck her hand out. “Nice to meet you, Dr. Fox.”
He shook her hand. “The pleasure is all mine, Governor. You seem to be doing well. I’m happy to see that.”
Charlie smiled. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll let you get on with it.”
She left, and Dr. Fox patted the massage table. Behind him, on one of the rolling beauty carts, he’d set out a few things. Bandages, some implements, gauze pads, a small bottle of liquid. His doctor’s bag was on the counter behind that. “Why don’t you have a seat and tell me what happened?”
Donna eased up onto the table, careful of her side. Her feet dangled just above the floor. “I was chasing my former husband, who was supposed to be dead, by the way, and he shot me. As best I can tell, the bullet went clean through my side. The impact of it knocked me down. Hurt like a son of a gun too.”
“I imagine it did.” He’d been nodding the whole time she was talking. “Mind if I take a look?”
“Please do. That’s what you’re here for.” She lifted up the sweatshirt. Bunched up, it was too bulky for her to see the area in question. “I took a shower and cleaned myself up at the house, then put these bandages over the entry and exit wounds to deal with the bleeding. Wasn’t much, but I figured it was better to have the wounds covered.”
“Smart thinking.” He rubbed his hands together slightly. Maybe to warm them up. “I need to take them off to see how it’s healing.”
“Of course. Go right ahead.”
He had a gentle touch, peeling each one back slowly. “There’s some dried blood on your skin and the bandages, but looks like the flesh has closed completely.”
“That’s good, right?”
“It is.” He didn’t make it seem like it was anything to get too excited about. She supposed a vampire’s ability to heal fast was just expected.
He wet a gauze pad with sterile solution, then cleaned her skin. When he was done with that, he palpated the area. “Any pain?”
He asked just as she winced, making it impossible to say no. “It’s not pain, exactly, but it is tender.”
Nodding, he prodded the area a few more times. Higher up and closer toward her belly button. “I don’t feel anything that alarms me, but the internal structures heal more slowly, so the tenderness is to be expected. It’s good that the bullet went through cleanly. If it was still inside you, you’d need surgery.”
“I’m glad to hear I don’t. What do I need? Anything?”
“Yes. Forty-eight hours of bed rest.”
She sighed. “And if my obligations make that impossible?”
He peered over the rims of his glasses at her. “If you’re asking for permission, you’re not going to get it.” He shook his head, like a parent disappointed in a child. “But I understand that you’re the governor, and there are certain things you need to do.”
“So you are giving me permission?”
“No. But I’m not going to give you grief over it either.” He sighed. “You can drop the sweatshirt.”
“I appreciate you not making me feel bad about what I need to do.” She let the sweatshirt fall back into place. “What’s the worst that could happen to me?”
“If you don’t rest?”
She nodded. “Or if I’m, say…more active than I should be. A lot more.”
He took his glasses off and cleaned the lenses with a cloth from his pocket. “The supernatural physique is an amazing thing. Strong, resilient, self-healing. But the speed at which that healing comes creates its own issues.” He put the glasses back on. “When you were human and you had an injury, how did you deal with it?”
“Rest and time.”
He nodded. “And you were careful with the injury. If you had a sprained ankle, would you walk on it?”
“No.”
“But now that you’re a vampire, and your body repairs itself so quickly, you no longer see an injury the same way. You think if it looks healed, you are. And in some ways, that’s true. But there’s no strength there yet.” He pushed his glasses up a little higher. “If I put some effort into it, I could push my finger through the skin where that bullet entered. It’s still very thin there. Internally, it’s the same. The tissues that are in the process of rebuilding are weak. They need time. Not as much as if you were human, but some.”
“Interesting. I didn’t know that. I’m pretty new to being a vampire. And there’s no manual, you know.”
He smiled. “There should be.”
She laughed. “I keep saying that.” Then she got serious again. “So basically, I run the risk of re-injuring myself.”
“Yes. And if you do that…” He shrugged.
“What?”
“Your body could decide to make rest mandatory. It could shut down and put you into a state of involuntary hibernation until you’re completely healed.”
She frowned. That was kind of an important thing to just be finding out. “How long would that last?”
“As long as necessary.”
“That would put a crimp in my schedule.”
“It would. There’s no telling when it could happen either, but fortunately for you, as governor, you aren’t alone much. Very little danger of you collapsing into a coma where you might be caught by the sun.”
She grimaced. “Yikes. That would be really bad.”
“Indeed.” He rocked back on his heels. “So do I need to be on call?”
She smiled tentatively. “It’s probably not a bad
idea. Sorry. I have work to do this evening that involves hunting down and capturing the man who shot me. And his equally awful girlfriend. Then I have a party to go to tomorrow night, which should be no work at all, unless you consider chitchat and cocktails work. Still, I’ll be on my feet a bit. And in heels. Is there anything you can give me to help me heal faster?”
“Rest and blood. That’s the only prescription there is. Standard human meds would do you no good. The vampire physiology metabolizes them too fast for them to be effective.”
“Right. Well, not much else I can do but be careful and hope for the best.”
His bushy brows rose. “You could delegate.”
“I could. But this isn’t just any man who shot me, Dr. Fox. As I mentioned, he’s my former husband, who was already supposed to be dead. This man is a killer, a mob boss, and a ruthless criminal out for his own best interests and little else. But besides all that, he’s a very real danger to our children. I can’t delegate his capture with my kids at stake.”
She eased off the table to stand on her own two feet. “I need him to know that I’m the reason he’s losing his freedom tonight. That the woman he thinks he killed has come for him. Because I don’t ever want him to imagine he can come against me again. I need him to know I am a force of nature. That there is no winning for him in this or any situation that involves me or my kids. Can you understand that?”
Dr. Fox nodded. “I have three sons and two daughters. All grown, all living their own lives, but if anyone were to threaten them…” He straightened slightly, pulling himself an inch or two taller. “I’ll be on call if you need me. Be safe out there. And good hunting.”
“Thank you.”
She left him to gather up his things and went back out to the living room. Temo and Neo had joined the group. They all looked at her expectantly.
Pierce stood. “What did the doctor say?”
“That I need to rest and heal but also that he understands why I’m not doing that until I’ve dealt with Joe.”
Temo got to his feet as well. “Should I bring the car around? I got everything else ready that I thought we might need. Zip ties, duct tape, tarps, bungee cords, ropes, shovels—”
“Wow, hang on there. That is everything we might need. Although not the tarps and shovels. We’re bringing them in alive.”
Temo squinted. “You sure?”
“Yes. And you have a few minutes before we leave. I need to change and get Rixaline something of Joe’s so she can find him. Also, I want to take two cars. I want Charlie, Pierce, and Rixaline in one, leading the way. Then you, me, and Neo in the other SUV. That way, as soon as Rixaline locates Joe, she, Pierce, and Charlie can come straight back here. Then the three of us will handle capturing Joe and Carmella and taking them to the FBI.”
They all gave her nods of agreement.
She looked at Neo. “Depending on the hour when we get back, you may need to sleep here.”
She shrugged. “I’m cool with that.”
Temo made a very innocent face. “We have a guest room downstairs too.”
Donna fought hard not to smile. “Okay, then. We have our plan. Everyone ready to go?”
They all nodded again.
“All right, good. I’ll get changed.” She looked at Pierce. “I also need to feed. Doctor’s orders.”
He came around to her side of the couch.
“We’ll be back shortly.” She and Pierce went to her bedroom.
He rolled up his shirt sleeve. “I’m not going to feed from you this time.”
“But it’s part of the deal.”
He shook his head. “You need to heal more. Plus, you just fed me. I’m fine.”
She cupped his face. “You take such good care of me. Tomorrow, before the party. I should be good by then.”
He gave her a skeptical look. “Pretty sure that’s not what Dr. Fox told you.”
“Hush.” She took his arm, dropped her fangs, and bit into his wrist. Energy filled her immediately, making her suddenly aware of how depleted she’d been. Healing took more energy than she’d realized. With some effort, she made herself disengage. She ran her tongue across the punctures, then let go of him.
He fixed his sleeve. “You weren’t done, were you?”
“You’re too perceptive for your own good.”
He winked at her. “That’s what makes me a great assistant. I’ll prep a thermos for you to take along. I know very well how much blood a healing vampire needs, and it’s more than what you just had.”
She smiled at him. “Thank you. I’ll be out shortly.”
“Take your time.” He left.
With the boost of fresh power flowing through her, she went into her closet and picked out an outfit. All black seemed appropriate. Jeans, T-shirt, leather jacket, and new flat-soled boots. No jewelry, save her crucifix, which was safely tucked beneath her shirt.
She started to walk out of the closet, then had a second thought and went back for one more thing. Her handgun. She wasn’t taking any chances with Joe or his trigger-happy girlfriend. Donna put the magazine in, fully loaded, then secured the gun in the back of her waistband before heading into the bathroom.
She pulled her hair back into a ponytail, then tried to figure out what seed item to give to Rixaline. She’d kept nothing of Joe’s.
Except the picture of him and Lucinda.
She grabbed it off the shelf in her closet where she’d left it in a box with the rest of the things from her safe.
There was a real sense of justice in using that photo to hunt him down. She went back out and held the little frame so Rixaline could see it. “Will this do?”
Rixaline reached for the photo. “May I?”
“Sure.” Donna handed it over. “It’s probably been a while since he touched that, so I don’t know if—”
Clouds of gray and black covered Rixaline’s eyes, and she seemed to stare at something no one else could see. After a moment, her lips parted, and she shook herself. Her eyes went back to normal.
“Are you okay?” Donna asked.
Rixaline nodded and handed the photo back. “I know where he is. And the woman in the photo. And the accounts.”
Donna took the frame. “I don’t need to know where Lucinda is. But what accounts are you talking about?”
“The ones that match the numbers on the back of the picture. They’re in Grand Cayman.”
Frowning, Donna opened up the frame and this time pulled the photo out. A piece of paper covered the back of the photo. That paper was what had the L and J printed on it. Underneath that was the actual picture.
And on the back of that were two strings of numbers.
“Oh,” Donna said. “This just got interesting.” She snapped a pic of the numbers with her phone and texted it to Rico with a note. Grand Cayman accounts, Joe & Lucinda.
Then, with a smile on her face, she was ready to hunt.
Chapter Twenty-four
The two SUVs drove out of the parking garage and onto the street. Charlie was behind the wheel in the lead vehicle, since she knew the area better than Pierce. He was in the passenger’s seat, and Rixaline was in the second row behind them. Donna wanted it that way. The tinted windows made the dhamfir much harder to see, and that seemed smart, considering that taking her out of the penthouse probably wasn’t the wisest move.
Necessary to accomplish Joe’s capture. But not wise. Not for Rixaline’s sake.
Especially after Donna’s encounter with the fae, something she hadn’t told anyone about. Of course, Temo knew, but he’d kept it to himself, as far as she knew.
He was driving their vehicle with Neo in the passenger’s seat. No real reason for that arrangement other than Donna liked whatever budding romance was happening and wanted to encourage it.
Worried about Rixaline being threatened, she’d given Pierce her gun for protection. She wasn’t sure what good it would do against the fae, but she wasn’t taking any chances that her new ward would come to harm. Not while Ri
xaline was under Donna’s grant of sanctuary and certainly not while Rixaline was helping her.
Donna’s phone buzzed. She checked it and saw Rico’s response to her text. Excellent. Looking into it. Thanks. And I’m sorry tonight didn’t go better.
Me, too. But that was about to change. She was also hopeful those account numbers would turn into solid evidence. She called Pierce next.
He answered right away. “Hey.”
“Put me on speaker?”
“Sure.” A small beep came through. “Okay, you’re live.”
“Thanks. Rixaline, how far do you think?”
“I don’t know the area, but there’s still some road left to go. The signal in my head gets stronger as we get closer, and by that I can tell we have time left. Just not how much.”
“No rush. Just curious. Do your thing. And thank you!”
“You’re welcome,” Rixaline said.
“Pierce?”
Pierce came back on. “You’re off speaker now. How are you feeling? Nervous?”
“Not nervous, just charged up and ready. Thank you for taking care of Rixaline. That’s really important to me. I don’t want her, Charlie, or you getting hurt.”
“We won’t, I promise. Plus, we have Charlie to look after us. Don’t forget she’s got some skills too.”
“I’m counting on that. See you back at the penthouse.”
“You got it.”
She hung up and tucked her phone into the back pocket of the passenger’s seat before putting her thin black gloves on. She wasn’t going to risk taking the phone with her and getting it smashed up. Not that she couldn’t afford a new one, but that would be such a hassle.
“Everyone have their gloves on?” Donna could see that they did, but she wanted the reassurance.
Neo raised her hands to show Donna, and Temo said, “Yep.”
Donna leaned forward a little. “I was thinking when we get there, what if you do one of those mini quakes again, Temo?”
That got Neo’s attention. She looked at him with great curiosity. “A mini quake? What’s that all about?”
Donna answered for him, knowing how modest Temo was likely to be. “Temo is a descendant of Mafui’e, the Samoan god of earthquakes.”
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