by Jane Cousins
Hadleigh shrugged. “Okay.”
“That’s the spirit.” Quinn grinned.
Hadleigh rolled her eyes. “Yes, fine, I agree. Having the sprog in that room, logistically makes the most sense.”
“Okay. Now you can assign Vaughn to clear and strip the room. That will give you a small break from all the hovering.”
For the first time Quinn saw a spark of interest light up in Hadleigh’s eyes. Yes, it was all about knowing how to sell ideas. “Now. Paint samples.” She grabbed a thick sample paint book from under the pile of baby catalogues and flicked through it.
“Not white. Been there, done that nightmare. And I’m guessing black is wrong?”
“Now I know you’re just fucking with me. Stop being so obstinate. This baby is coming. No amount of trying to ignore it will change that fact.”
“You’re seriously trying to tell me I have to pimp the nursery walls to make the baby happy?”
“Nope, babies from what I know just want to be fed, loved and protected. Decorating... not pimping the nursery, is generally for the sake of the extended family. You know, like ours for instant. The incredibly large one, who have personal boundary issues. Who will be trooping through your house after the birth, commenting, judging, prying. The Great-Greats, the Greats, all the uncles, aunts, cousins, your parents, your brothers, their wives, oh, and let’s not forget Vaughn’s family tree. His Warrior brothers, plus their mates and... I’m forgetting someone... who could that be?”
“Maat.” Hadleigh gritted out between clenched teeth.
“Oh yes, the Goddess Maat. Though perhaps she’s too busy to care that her favourite Elite Warrior after over a hundred years of service is about to procreate? I’m guessing by the way you are still gritting your teeth and that rather large war axe in your hand that Maat has shown an interest in your pregnancy?”
Hadleigh blew out a deep, controlled breath and willed away the war axe she had called to her by magic. “Maat keeps appearing, generally with a wheatgrass smoothie in her hand, that she insists I drink. And carrying on and on about enrolling the Lump in art classes to fire its imagination. And Gymboree classes to ensure an active lifestyle. Early language classes, socialisation, music, and cooking classes. Cooking? It won’t be able stand for the first twelve months!”
Quinn chuffed a soft laugh. “Okay, so I think if you don’t want to come home one day soon and find the nursery tricked out in an Egyptian motif, you need to start making some choices, showing an interest.”
“I don’t have the time. Work is so busy at the moment.” Hadleigh frowned down at a few drops of smeared blood on the back of one hand, absently rubbing the stains away on her trousers.
Quinn hid her shudder of distaste. It would be up to Nell, as Hadleigh’s Doctor, to discuss when their cousin should begin cutting back on her beheading duties. Though Quinn would pay good money to be there to witness that discussion. Was there even such a thing as light beheading duties? “Busy parents to-be, more often than not, hire professionals to come in and decorate. All it requires is a few executive decisions on your part.”
Hadleigh sneered down at the pile of catalogues.
“Forget those. Clearly they are not your style. I will source new catalogues, but in the meantime, how about you just make one simple decorative decision, the paint colour.”
Hadleigh heaved out a deep put upon sigh. “Vaughn likes the colour yellow.”
“Yellow, perfect.” Quinn wasn’t stupid enough to enquire which shade of yellow. The painters would be eminently capable of choosing one suitable for a nursery.
Hadleigh finished her bottle of water, shifting from one boot to the other. “We done?”
“For today? Almost.” Quinn smiled.
Tackling the long list of other baby related subjects could wait for another day. Oh, Goddess. She couldn’t wait to find out Hadleigh’s thoughts in regards to baby names. No doubt they would all be weapon related like Mace, Saber or Samurai. She could only pray the kid didn’t turn out to be bookish.
“You said I only had to make one decision. Yellow, done and dusted.”
“Honestly, do you whine this much when you’re splitting skulls?”
“No.” Hadleigh sighed, even she could tell she was bordering on petulant here. “Sorry.”
Quinn smiled. “I know this isn’t your wheelhouse, Hadleigh. But putting things off, ignoring them, well, the baby’s not going to go away. Your life is about to change, big time. And trust me when I say, if we take small steps to start preparing for that change now, then it won’t be as frightening when the baby does arrive.”
“I’m not afraid.” Hadleigh declared staunchly.
Quinn’s knowing smile never wavered.
“Fine.” Hadleigh waved a hand at her stomach. “This thing scares the daylights out of me. Do you know how small they are... and I’m really tall, what if I drop it?”
“You won’t.”
“But what if I do?”
“Have you ever dropped a weapon?”
“No!” Hadleigh looked appalled at the very idea.
“Then you’ll be fine.”
“A baby is not a weapon.”
“You love your weapons. I’ve seen how protective you are of them. You clean them. You keep them safe. You handle them with care at all times.”
“I’m a Warrior, not mother material.”
“Some of the most skilled, vicious Warriors in history were mothers.”
“Really?” Hadleigh’s large smile lit up the room.
“Really. I’ll send you some links. Now. Back to the nursery. Why don’t the two of us make it a project? I’m happy to help.”
“I suppose.”
“Okay, you speak to Vaughn about clearing the room. I’ll chat with Tom and see when he has a window in his schedule to fit you in.”
Hadleigh reached over and began reclaiming her weapons. “Sounds like a good first step.”
“Wait. I think we should also talk to Fraser about painting a mural.”
Hadleigh looked unconvinced. “I don’t think I want a bunch of unicorns on the walls shooting rainbows out of their butts.”
Quinn laughed. “Fraser knows you, the last thing she’d paint would be something like that. All you have to do is call her and ask her to put some ideas together. She’s just sent a final draft of her latest graphic novel off to the publishers so she has some time free.”
“Okay, I’ll call her. But no anthropomorphic animals, they give me the willies. Bunnies in waistcoats... ick.”
“And all you have to do is tell her that. And if you don’t like any of her ideas, we can always slap that rainbow sticker up that you had planned originally.”
“Hah, so funny.” Hadleigh slipped the band of throwing knives over her shoulder. “So, we done?”
“Ooh, I just had an idea. What about asking your brother, Erik, to design and make the nursery furniture? He knows what you like and what you don’t. Have you seen all the monsters and mythic creatures he carved for the children’s library? I bet he could come up with some really cool stuff that won’t freak you out.”
Hadleigh slipped the stone dirk away in a hidden holster before picking up the broadsword and lastly, the serrated hatchet. “Hmmm, sounds like a good idea.”
“So do you want to call him or should...” Quinn looked up, she was alone. “...I? Okay, I’ll speak to him.” She raised her voice so that Hadleigh could hear over the sound of her heavy boots on the stairs. “And see myself out.” For her trouble all she heard was the closet Portal door upstairs slamming shut.
Getting up off the kitchen stool, Quinn rinsed out her cup and the teapot. Considering it was Hadleigh, this first session had gone reasonably well... they’d made some progress. Yellow for the nursery walls and Hadleigh had admitted she had concerns regarding her parenting skills.
Quinn bit back a laugh, picturing herself getting Hadleigh to practise bathing and diapering the baby using one of Hadleigh’s favourite swords as a stand in. A
h, yes, challenging times were still to come.
Her phone buzzed discreetly, the emergency alarm. Damn, fishing through her handbag she lifted her mobile to read a text from Nell. Hospital. Now.
Damn, what fresh lunacy were her extended family up to now?
Chapter Six
Quinn strode down the hospital corridor, heading towards the ICU waiting room in search of her cousin, Doctor Nell Montgomery. The restless crowd spilling out of the waiting room was not a good sign.
There were a lot of Enforcers present. Many turning at Quinn’s approach, their silence and intense expressions more than anything told Quinn how serious this was.
Damn, hesitating on the threshold, she noted Nell in a huddle with Uncle Wally, Aunt Leah, and their sons, Alec and Andrew, along with Head of the Enforcers, Elijah. She knew instantly, without anyone having to speak, that something bad had happened to twenty-one year old apprentice Enforcer, Jodie.
Her assumption confirmed by the presence of Jodie’s closest friends, Shelby and Riordan, huddled together in a nearby corner, faces pale, eyes red. The air of worry and concern in the room practically beating against Quinn’s skin. Had Nell called her in to offer grief counselling?
Nell, sensing Quinn’s arrival, looked up, giving her a quick nod before leaning over to hug their Aunt Leah and disengage from the group. At the doorway, Nell grabbed Quinn’s elbow and steered her back out into the corridor.
“I’m glad you’re here. This way.” Nell started walking down the corridor, away from the ICU area.
Quinn followed, mystified. “What’s going on? Is Jodie okay?”
Nell shook her head, her honey blonde hair pulled back in a low chignon catching the light. “She’s in a coma.”
“What happened?”
Nell glanced around, they’d left the crowd well behind, so she stopped to face Quinn. “Jodie went missing during training today.”
“Missing?” Quinn frowned.
“There one moment, gone the next. For approximately seven minutes she was no where to be found.”
“So... it’s not just a trick of the light or her distorting ocular wave lengths? She physically Translocates somewhere else?”
Nell nodded solemnly. “It’s ridiculous, I know. But we all just assumed that she was merely able to turn invisible for three seconds bursts.”
“She never said anything? About another place, or location?”
“No, not according to those closest to her.” Nell grimaced. “I’m not even sure if she was aware.”
“How could she not be aware?” Quinn crossed her arms.
“A question I intend to ask her when she wakes up. The thing is Quinn, she came back splattered with blood, mud and black sand. And soaked through with what smelt like sea water. I’ve had Seb take samples, he’s put a rush on the lab results.”
“Is that why you called me, you want me to play counsellor to Wally and Leah? Because you know with Jodie unconscious, I won’t be able to access her memories.”
“No. I want you to deal with my other headache today. Come on.” Nell started walking again, plunging her hands into the pockets of her white doctor’s coat. A sure sign that she was tense and worried. Not that you would know looking at her serene, pretty face, with those big, blue, innocent eyes. Coolly outfitted today in a navy dress that ended just below her knees and drool worthy navy peep-toe Chanel stilettos.
Quinn always felt a little awkward around Nell. Though there were only a few years separating them, Nell seemed to have obtained a serenity, a peace of mind that Quinn could only envy. “Where are we going exactly?”
“The High Security Ward. There was a single vehicle accident along the Low Eastern Coastal Road. Two occupants hurt. At first glance, Chief Hughes thought it was nothing more than a car coming off second best against a freak King-high tide.”
“And on second glance?” Quinn enquired as they turned a corner, noting Chief Ramsey Hughes and two of his officers standing by the nurse’s station drinking coffee, comparing notes.
“I’d say we have a new monster of the week. Who decided to emerge from the ocean and play whack a mole with passing traffic.”
“Any monster we know?”
“That’s why Ramsey is still here. Unfortunately, the driver was knocked unconscious and pinned in the wreck.”
“And the passenger?” Quinn fought the urge to shiver as they started down a long corridor lined with closed metal doors. There was something about the High Security Ward that always gave her the willies.
“Well, that’s where you come in. From the injuries he sustained he clearly fought something off, and then managed to call for help. But both victims were unconscious when emergency crews arrived on the scene. The car a wreck, one of the doors wrenched off.”
“So the passenger is the only one with answers, but he’s too traumatised to speak?”
“Not exactly.”
“Nell?” Her cousin could be annoyingly cryptic.
“When they arrived here, the driver was the more seriously hurt. So I went into surgery with him, whilst Carl patched up the passenger.” Nell started to slow her stride as they approached the end of the corridor where a tall, burly orderly stood guard.
“And? What happened?”
“The patient Carl was working on regained consciousness and went... according to the staff, crazy. Yelling about blood. His parents. He stabbed one of the nurses with a scalpel and knocked Carl unconscious before they managed to restrain him. It took three orderlies and both Mort and Mal from security to get him strapped down.”
“Do you think it was the trauma of the accident? Or did he have a bad reaction to the drugs?” Mundane drugs had a tendency to interact badly with some magic species’ biology. That’s why, where possible, Nell promoted her natural herbal remedies.
Nell shrugged. “Either or neither. I couldn’t pinpoint their magic lineage. They’re fast healers. Given their particular bright shade of blood... I’m guessing some kind of ability to increase oxygen levels when needed, so perhaps deep water based. And those types do notoriously badly with mundane medication.”
“How’s the patient doing now?”
“Calmer... especially now they are together. My patient had barely woken from surgery and he was demanding to see his brother. With them both so highly agitated it seemed best to re-unite them.”
Brothers? Locals? It could be anyone. But if they were family, Nell would have been using their names. So that would mean... oh, no. No! She couldn’t make a run for it. Not with Nell here and with three police officers present.
All it would take was one small misstep on her part and the police dispatcher, otherwise known as cousin Maureen, the biggest gossip in existence, would know that Quinn had high-tailed it out of the hospital. Rumours would abound of how erratically she was behaving.
Then, no doubt the old timers would bring up the stories of how unstable the Bennett Seer bloodline could be. Recounting tall tales of Quinn’s Great-Great-Aunt Deliah or Great-Aunt Pearl, notorious cracked nuts. Speculation regarding Quinn’s mental health would run rife.
Breathe, just breathe. “And you need me to...?” Thankfully her voice came out cool and steady.
“With the stabbing, and Carl’s injury, I legally can’t let Matias go until you sign off. No matter how calm he now appears and how much Nico is protesting that his brother doesn’t belong here in the High Security Ward.”
And there it was, confirmation. The crazy out of control patient she’d been brought in to evaluate was none other than Matias Yanez.
The very man she’d spent the last year avoiding. Damn Fate.
It was all Quinn could do to nod her head coolly and not plead with Nell to allow her to bow out. But that was the problem with being the one and only psychiatrist in the Sanctuary, there was no one else. She was it.
And in good conscience, could she allow someone, even surly Matias Yanez, to suffer needlessly? The man had been in a car accident, fought off some mysterious monster and
woken to find himself in an unfamiliar hospital bed being tended by strangers. That had the potential to freak anyone out.
Nell halted beside the orderly standing on guard duty, gifting him a brief smile before turning to study Quinn. “Now that he’s spoken to his brother, maybe Nico will be willing to chat further with Ramsey Hughes. Though he maintains he never saw what damaged the car or what Matias fought off.”
“And you expect me to convince Matias to tell the police who the culprit is?”
Nell heaved a sigh. “That’s not your job. You need to find out why he attacked our people. Is it safe to remove the restraints, or does Matias Yanez pose a threat to not only us... but to himself? I can’t release him without your sign off.”
Grrr, why her? But she couldn’t refuse. The brothers had been through a traumatic experience. Both had been hurt. Leaving Matias in the High Security Ward strapped to a bed would be a cruel act. She would not be ruled by cowardice, not if there was the smallest possibility she could be of help. At the very least he deserved her objective, professional opinion on the state of his mental health.
Professional. That’s all she needed to act. Be the remote, cool, unaffected observer and do her job. It would be as simple as that. Quinn eyed Nell’s white doctor’s coat. “Can I borrow that?” She had a perfect right to don a white coat, though she rarely did. But right now she could use some extra armour.
Whilst Nell shrugged out of her coat, she turned to looked at the orderly. “Will you fetch Mr Yanez and take him back to his room? And then let Chief Hughes know where he is?”
As the door swung open briefly, Quinn caught a glimpse of Nico Yanez, seated in a wheelchair, hunched low over his brother so that their temples rested closely together. His lips moving rapidly, talking low and fast directly into his brother’s ear.
“Come and find me, when you’ve finished your assessment.” Nell moved a few steps back to make room as the orderly manoeuvred Nico Yanez out into the corridor. The man’s normally tanned face was pale, his jaw clenched in pain.