Ana sagged beside me. I kept my arm on her waist to support her. “He’s going to be okay?” she pleaded hopefully.
“We will keep him in ICU, monitor him for complications, but yes, I believe he will be fine.”
“When can we see him?”
The doctor looked around the room. “It will be a couple of hours; then you can see him. Only family, though, everyone else will have to wait. He needs his rest.”
I shook the doctor’s hand. “Thank you, Doctor.”
Tension eased in the room in waves as word was passed around. Hours later cops and co-workers slowly left the hospital. Alli and Lily took Ana to see Joaquín while I went to speak with the doctor.
“Doctor Greary?”
He turned. “Yes?”
“The police are going to need the bullet for evidence.”
“I’ll make sure they get it. He was lucky, you know. Another inch either way and the bullet would have been in some very dangerous territory.” He looked thoughtful for a moment. “Yes, he was very lucky.”
“Thank you, Doctor.”
We all breathed a sigh of relief and waited until the nurse let us see Joaquín.
* * * *
Ana still look worried but she was smiling when she left Joaquín’s room. “He looks better than I thought and he’s awake,” she said as we stood in the hall. “I need to make some phone calls, let my professors know that I won’t be back this semester.”
I held up my hands. “No, Ana, you need to finish. Go back, take your finals.”
“I can’t leave him alone, he needs me to take care of him,” she protested.
I dropped my shoulders in defeat. “I’ll do it.”
“What?” Ana and Alli asked in unison.
“I’ll take care of him, just until you finish your finals,” I added at the hopeful expression on Ana’s face. “Then he is all yours again.”
She sobered. “So it really is over between you two?” She cast a sideways glance at Alli. “He wants to see you, Leah.”
I nodded. “You should go home and get some sleep, Ana. I’ll stay. You call me if you need anything, okay?”
“Okay. Thanks, Leah.”
“I’ll make sure Ana gets home. You call if you need me.” Alli guided Ana down the hallway toward the elevators.
I took a deep breath as I rolled the tension from my shoulders then opened the door. The room was antiseptic white. Joaquín lay semi-reclined in the hospital bed surrounded by ominous-looking medical machines and tubes. His olive-toned skin, though pale, still stood in sharp contrast to the white starkness of the sheets. I stifled a sob. I’d never seen him look so fragile before.
“You stayed.” His voice was hoarse as he reached his hand out toward me.
I crossed the room and took his hand in mine. “I stayed.”
“I’m so sorry, Leah…”
I place my fingers over his lips. “Don’t talk right now,” I whispered, “just rest.”
He kissed my fingers that lay against his lips. “I’m an ass.” His voice was slurred from heavy sedation.
“Okay. You’re an ass.” I tried for a smile, it came out weak but it was there nonetheless, “but you still need your rest.”
He smiled, his eyelids fluttered; then he drifted to sleep.
I awoke to the feel of something soft and heavy covering me. Startled, I forced open my eyes and nearly fell off the chair I’d fallen asleep in.
Ian stood beside me, his fingers playing with the ends of my hair. “I didn’t mean to wake you. You looked cold so I covered you. Sleep well?” He tilted his head and smiled.
“Hell no.” I looked over to Joaquín, still asleep in the bed. “How long have you been here?”
“A while, I didn’t want to wake you. You looked so peaceful.”
I stood and stretched the kinks out. “Does he know you’re here?”
“He awoke once when the nurse came in to medicate him. He asked for you. I told him you were sleeping. He wasn’t awake long.”
“Has the doctor been back in?”
“The nurse said to expect him back in the morning. You would be more comfortable if you went home to sleep, Leah.” He skimmed his fingers along my cheekbone.
I shook my head. “I told him I’d stay. I can’t leave him.”
A look of something, sadness maybe, flashed across Ian’s face. One moment there, the next, nothing but a blank face.
He sighed. “Let’s go get some coffee then, shall we? I believe the cafe is open all night.”
I stopped by Joaquín’s bed and laid my hand across his forehead, he stirred, but didn’t awaken. “Okay.”
The intoxicating smell of coffee filled my lungs as we stepped into the cafeteria. I bought two of the largest cups of coffee they sold and sat with Ian at an empty table. He was silent for an awkward amount of time. “What is it?”
He looked up as if I’d just suddenly appeared in front of him. “Excuse me?”
I reached over and touched his face. “Where were you just now? What’s on your mind?”
“I have some news to tell you and I am trying to determine the least upsetting way to tell you.”
“Just spit it out, Ian. I don’t like games.”
He sighed. “This is no game, my love, I assure you.” He leaned closer to me, barely a breath of space in between us. “I have received word that a Marquis has gone rogue. The Marquis have kept it a secret so as not to harm our chances of legal citizenship.”
“Is this rogue vamp the one causing our problems?”
“It is possible.”
I took a sip of my coffee. “There’s more.”
He smiled. “Always perceptive. Yes. There is more. This particular Marquis is one of the most violent of our kind. She has not been supportive of legal citizenship.”
“Why not? Legal status will enable vampires to come out of hiding, be part of the world you live in without hiding in the shadows.”
“We will always hide in the shadows, my love. Even legalities cannot protect us from the sun.”
I waved my hands as if to erase his words. “You know what I mean.”
“Yes. It is not just for vampires, my love. It is for all supernaturals.”
I opened my mouth to say something then closed it again. I hadn’t known that. “What about demons?”
Ian answered. “Demons would not be covered under the new law. Demons do not have free will and are only controlled by the one who calls them forth.”
I blew out a breath.
“It also exposes us for what we truly are. We will no longer be able to pretend that we are human. It has its drawbacks as well.”
“Okay, but why would this rogue vamp start killing people here?”
“She is looking for the power source she feels here. She has been targeting only women and two of those were shapeshifters. They have more power than humans do; she can feel that, she feeds on it. We suspect that she has been using new vampires and demons to kill for power; then channeling that power for herself.”
I shook my head. “I still don’t understand. This is not the only place with that kind of power. Why here, why now?”
Ian cradled my face in his hands. He gently caressed the area furrowed by tension between my brows. “You.”
I raised my eyes to him, waiting for the rest of the sentence. His eyes grew dark, almost black.
Realization crept up on me with a wave of horror. “Me? What does she want with me?”
“She can feel your power, she craves it.”
“So, what? I’m sending out fucking power vibes to every vampire in the area?” I struggled to keep my voice low. Mustn’t let the mortals hear about the big, scary monsters.
“You send, ‘power vibes’, as you put it, to every person with supernatural powers in the area, yes.”
“Shit.” I took a big long gulp of coffee. “How many are there?”
“Many, but it is only one we need to worry about now. You need to let me put you into hiding, wait f
or the legalities to be over, then she may consider it too late and leave.”
“May? Who the fuck is she? What if she doesn’t, what if she still wants to feed on my power, then what? I stay in hiding forever? I can’t, no, won’t do that!”
“Just for a while. Just step back for a while, wait and see what happens in the next couple of weeks.”
I stood. “I’m not a wait-and-see kind of girl, Ian.” I drained the last bit of coffee from my first cup, grabbed my second and started to leave. “I have people who need me here, not in hiding.”
“Joaquín?” he accused quietly, standing.
“I promised Ana.” I walked into Ian’s arms and wrapped myself around his waist. I squeezed him tight and breathed in the rich scent of him. “I’m not choosing him over you, Ian.” I looked up into his eyes. He was looking over my head so I had to take both of my hands and guide his eyes back to me. “I’m not. He’s got a bullet hole in his chest, his sister needs to go back to college for finals and I’m all he has left.”
“Be cautious, my love. At least allow me to protect you.”
“You can’t be with me in the day, Ian.”
“There are others I trust who can.”
I sighed. “After Joaquín heals. When Ana gets back, we’ll deal with this. One problem at a time.”
“To quote Hamlet, ‘When sorrows come, they come not in single spies, but in battalions.’”
I put my arms on his shoulder, stood on tiptoe and kissed him. “I know.”
Just then Dr. Greary walked up. He looked questioningly from Ian to me. “I am going to discharge your, uh, fiancé in the morning. He will need someone to stay with him a few days.” He cleared his throat. “Would that be you?”
I fought back the urge to groan. “Yeah, that would be me.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“You don’t have to give up your bedroom, Leah,” Joaquín told me for the sixth time.
“I told you Joaquín, I’ll be fine on the couch. You have easier access to the bathroom from here and the bed is bigger.”
“Big enough for two.” He waggled his eyebrows at me.
“Keep that up and I’ll drive you home and let you fend for yourself.”
“Come on, I know you still care. If you didn’t, I wouldn’t be here.”
I walked over to the bed and sat beside him. “You’re right, Joaquín. I do care, but not the way you want me to. Not anymore.” I stood to leave.
“Wait.” Joaquín grabbed my arm. I stared down at his hand until he removed it. “I’ll behave.” He raised his right hand. “Honest. Just two friends watching TV together. We are still at least friends, aren’t we?”
I sighed and grabbed the remote. “What do you want to watch?”
“How ’bout an old movie. What’s on?”
I smiled. One thing we’d always shared was a love for old movies. We would spend Saturday afternoons watching low-budget films and pick out all the flaws. We’d eat popcorn, laugh and snuggle on the sofa. I hadn’t thought about that in months.
Simplicity.
I didn’t get enough of that these days. I settled back on the pillows. Joaquín and I were close enough that I could feel the heat coming off his body in waves. I shivered. “Are you running a fever, Joaquín?” I placed my lips on his forehead. His skin was cool but I felt the mood in the room change.
“It was worth getting shot, Leah, just for your kiss,” he teased.
I moved away. “You promised you’d behave, Joaquín,” I reminded him.
He held his hands up and smiled wickedly. “I’ll behave.”
We caught the movie midway through. We’d seen it so many times already that we took turns reciting the lines.
I was laughing as I answered my phone. “Wolfe here.”
“Hello, my love.” Ian’s voice slid over the phone.
“Ian. I didn’t expect to hear from you so early.”
“Am I interrupting something?” he asked suspiciously.
“We’re just watching an old movie. Jealous?” I teased.
“Perhaps. I have called with news. The Marquis and the government are preparing a press release. We are running out of time. We need to work up a plan to keep you safe.”
“I am safe, Ian.” I was getting a little tired of being picked at and it was coming out in my voice.
“I do not doubt your abilities. But she is not like anything you’ve ever come across before. She will stop at nothing until she has your power, your soul.”
“Who, exactly is she?” I turned away from Joaquín and lowered my voice. “And how, exactly can she do that?”
“There is only one way. She will kill you, Leah. You must take precautions.”
The fact that he’d called me by my name spoke volumes. “Okay, we’ll compromise. Let’s meet tomorrow night and we will discuss it.”
“All right, but I will pick you up and bring you here. Until then, do not leave the house and be very, very, cautious.”
“I always am.” I fought back the fear creeping up my spine. “Goodnight, Ian.”
“Goodnight, my love.”
I hung up and set the phone back into the case at my waist. I needed to prepare for something regular bullets wouldn’t kill. I got up from the bed reluctantly. I wanted to crawl under the covers and hide, pretend all of this insanity wasn’t real. That didn’t work when I was a kid and it sure as hell wasn’t going to work now.
“Problem?” Joaquín winced as he sat up a little more.
I shook my head. “No, but I’ve got some stuff to do, Joaquín. Get some sleep.”
“I know I screwed up, Leah.” He reached his hand toward my face, stopped and let it drop back to his side. “I know I don’t have the right to ask anything of you after what I did.”
I held up my hand to stop him and shook my head quickly.
He let his head drop back on his shoulders, eyes to the ceiling. “Can I at least explain?”
“No, Joaquín, I don’t want to hear it.” I stood and walked toward the door. “That’s the beauty of breaking up, Joaquín. I don’t have to care about what or who you do anymore.”
His expression grew angry. “Is it Ian, Leah? If he wasn’t around you’d be lying in this bed with me. Are you sleeping with him?”
I clenched my fists at my sides. “And you don’t get to care about what or who I do anymore.” I smiled my sweetest sarcastic smile and left the room, slamming the door behind me. I let out a stream of obscenities under my breath as I walked to the hall closet and pulled out a blanket and pillow. I slammed the door and threw the bedding on the couch. I was pissed. Not only at Joaquín, but also at my own confusion over how I felt about him, over how I felt about Ian. I’d spent the whole damn morning convincing Ana to go back to school, to finish her finals. No matter how I felt about Joaquín right now, Ana worked too hard to get into college to blow off her finals. I’d do this for her and as soon as she returned, I’d kick his ass out. My battered heart couldn’t take much more abuse.
I took a quick shower and slipped into a pair of old sweatpants and a tank top that I’d left hanging on a hook on the back of the door. I brushed back my hair; then made my way into the kitchen and brewed a fresh pot of coffee.
Ian never told me who she was but I’d taken a calculated guess that she had the same vulnerabilities as all vamps. I spent the remainder of the night replacing the bullets in my guns with the silver-augmented hollow point ones I’d reserved from the last vampire case I’d been on. No point wasting the silver ammo on humans, regular bullets did the trick just fine and cost a hell of a lot less.
After checking and re-checking the locks on both the doors and windows and tucking my Glock under the couch cushions, I let exhaustion pull me under the warm, dark blanket of sleep.
At first I thought it was Joaquín, the quiet sound of footsteps. Too many footsteps though, too many for one man. The acrid stench burned my nostrils and eyes.
Demons.
Only demons could smell that bad.
An acid scent mixed with sulfur and death. I reached for my gun before I opened my eyes, trying to judge how many and their position in the room. Their yellow eyes glowed like beacons from their extremely tall and thin bodies. At the end of each hand were thin, jagged claws. The jet-black skin that covered their bodies was knobby and squirmed along them like its own living entity. They were closing in slowly but if they wanted the element of surprise they were going to have to do something about their smell.
I rolled onto the floor and took out two of them before they could shift back to mist form. They dissolved into dust, the putrid smell of them worse as they disintegrated. Damn, they smelled worse dead than alive, or was it undead?
Another demon materialized in the far corner. I fired again cursing the crappy position I had from the floor. It turned to smoke as the bullet whizzed past it and took out part of the living-room wall. The demon materialized again and sped toward me. I dropped flat on the ground and rolled, but not in time to stop those jagged claws from slicing me from mid-stomach and scraping along the width of my back as I rolled. Ignoring the pain, I rose to my knees just in time to see a fourth demon coming in from behind me out of the corner of my eye. The first was working as a decoy to keep my attention while the other ambushed from behind.
Smart little bastards.
I put two bullets in the demon behind me. The remaining demon diverted away from me and headed to the hall. To my horror, Joaquín chose that moment to stumble out of the bedroom, gun in hand, with the demon headed straight for him.
“Get back!” I shouted to Joaquín as I pulled myself up to run toward him. I buckled in pain and felt my blood pour down from the wounds on my body.
The demon entered Joaquín’s body. The black mist of demon enveloped him. His eyes glowed demon yellow.
Joaquín took a step forward, his gun still in his hand. I gripped my arms around my stomach and ran to him as his fist came out and made contact with my face. I felt my eye burst with pain as I staggered back to my feet.
My front door burst open. I turned and shakily aimed my gun at the door. Relief swept through me.
Ian.
In a blur of speed, Ian had crossed the room and taken my gun from me. He stood in front of me protectively and aimed my gun at Joaquín.
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