Ecstasy Unveiled d-4

by Larissa Ione

  Making matters worse, he’d had to suspend four staff members for fighting, three for dereliction of duty, a patient had died today when a nurse had accidentally injected a lethal dose of medicine, and now the family of the dead Mamu was threatening bodily harm against all staff members. To top it all off, tension still pulsed between him and his brothers, particularly Shade.

  All this time, he’d taken pride in the hospital he and his brothers had built from the ground up, and yeah, UG was an amazing accomplishment. But now its heart—its denizens—were sick, and he couldn’t help but feel that it was his fault, that he’d neglected them somehow. And by suspending workers, he was treating individual symptoms instead of the underlying illness, but at this point, slapping on a bandage was his only option.

  “E,” Shade said, his voice drowned out by the sound of the ambulance engine, “this is freaky. Hope dear old dad doesn’t have any more surprises in store for us. Half-goats, dog-boys…”

  “I know.” Eidolon glanced at Tayla, who had just joined him. “Look, I gotta go. Runa’s waiting for you. Wraith will be here any second with an exorcist.”

  He hoped that getting rid of the ghosts would end the problems plaguing the hospital’s staff, but even if it did, this was an example of his failure to consider all potential problems that might affect his workers. He should have been practicing preventive medicine instead of waiting until an emergency cropped up.

  He should have seen this coming a long time ago, though he had to wonder why it was happening now.

  “Good. I’ll be there in five.” Shade paused. “I’m bringing in another warg.”

  Eidolon’s stomach slid to his feet. “Diseased?”

  “Looks like. Same symptoms as the first two.”

  The first two. Who were dead. Apparently, the one Sin had diseased had transmitted his mysterious ailment to another, who had come in just hours after the first warg. If Shade’s patient was sick with the same symptoms, they could be looking at a possible outbreak. Eidolon hadn’t told Sin about the second warg, but a few minutes ago he’d taken more blood from her to analyze.

  “Tell Runa to go to my office,” Shade said. “I don’t want her and the boys anywhere near this patient.”

  “You got it,” E said, but Shade had already hung up.

  Eidolon snapped his phone shut, called the triage desk with the message for Runa, and then stared at the DNA report again. “This is so fucked up.”

  Tayla stole a peek at the report. “What’s fucked up? The Smurfette?”

  “The what?”

  “Smurfette.” Tayla rolled her eyes. “You’ve never watched cartoons, have you?”

  Wraith came around the corner, his leather duster flapping around his boots. He shot Tay a look drenched with sympathy. “E’s way too starched to watch cartoons. That’s so not happening to Stewie. He’s already digging The Simpsons.”

  “He’s three weeks old!” Tayla gaped at Wraith in out-rage.

  “Almost four.”

  Tayla huffed. “Good God. I can’t believe you are raising a child. Isn’t there some sort of demon equivalent of Child Protective Services?”

  “Hey.” Wraith crossed his arms over his chest. “I have as much right to screw up a kid as anyone else. So what’s going on, anyway?”

  Eidolon really had no idea, since he’d never seen The Simpsons, and Stewie, Wraith’s son, had been named after some hell child on another cartoon Eidolon hadn’t seen. Fortunately, the kid also had a proper demon name, but Wraith and his mate, Serena, seemed to think he needed time to grow into Talon, so for now, Stewie it was. In any case, this conversation was either way over Eidolon’s head, or way beneath him. He was going to go with the latter.

  Tayla cursed under her breath. “I was just explaining to Eidolon that Sin is a Smurfette.”

  Wraith swung his big body around to study Sin with blue eyes that were very different from Shade’s, E’s, and Lore’s. Sin’s, too. “Nah. Smurfette is way hotter.”

  “What the fuck is a Smurfette?” Eidolon was seriously getting annoyed now.

  “There’s this cartoon called The Smurfs,” Tayla explained, slowly, as though Eidolon were the child here. “They’re these little blue people, and they’re all male. But one day a female shows up. She shouldn’t exist, but she does.”

  Eidolon considered that for a second. “How did she get there?”

  “An evil wizard named Gargamel made her,” Tayla said. “In a lab or something.”

  “So you’re suggesting that an evil wizard made Sin?”

  “Of course not, silly. I’m just saying she’s a Smurfette. A lone female amongst males.”

  Eidolon frowned. “Did the Smurfette mate with the males?”

  “Dude.” Wraith grimaced. “It’s a cartoon.”

  “Then why are we talking about this?” Eidolon asked, and Wraith and Tayla exchanged looks that said he was a hopeless case. “Wraith, did you find an exorcist?”

  Wraith shoved his blond hair back from his face. “Yup. He’s a weird one. Left him in the emergency department to get a feel for things.”

  “Good. I’ll have him start work right away. If there’s anything he needs, I want you to get it for him.” As the hospital’s procurer of nontraditional supplies unique to demon medicine, dealing with an exorcist’s needs fell within Wraith’s job description.

  “No problem.” Wraith jerked his chin at Sin. “Did she find Lore?”

  Sudden tension took root at the mention of Lore’s name. “No.”

  “Hope he’s not dead,” Wraith said, startling Eidolon. His brother stuck his hand in a coat pocket, probably feeling up a weapon. “If he needs killing, we should do the honors.”

  Okay, yeah. That was more like it. “Wraith—”

  “What?” The challenge in Wraith’s voice was what made Eidolon back down. Not that he was afraid of going toe-to-toe with his brother, but that was exactly what Wraith wanted, and Eidolon wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction. There had been too much fighting between them lately.

  “Nothing. Just make sure Kynan has a lot of backup. If one assassin has been sent after him, there could be more.”

  “Kynan hasn’t been left without a Guardian since all this began,” Tayla said. “In fact, it’s my turn to stay with him. I need to go.”

  “Be careful.”

  “It’s no fun if I do that.” She kissed him and took off, and Eidolon took a much-needed moment to admire her swinging retreat.

  Wraith stared after Tayla, but for different reasons. “What does The Aegis think of all this?”

  “They don’t know any more than we do,” Eidolon replied, returning his gaze to his brother. “Kynan said they know a hit has been put out on him, so they’re prepared to have to fight fallen angels, but they don’t know who’s behind the hire.”

  “You know,” Wraith muttered, “life was a whole lot easier when we hated all humans and didn’t give a shit what happened to the lot of them.” He laughed. “Okay, I couldn’t say that with a straight face. I still don’t give a shit.”

  That wasn’t entirely true—Wraith considered Kynan a friend and brother, and then there was the fact that he’d fallen in love with Serena while she was still human. And he had a human father-in-law who also happened to be a member of The Aegis’s Sigil. Wraith wheeled around. “I’m going to see if Exorcist Dude needs anything, and then I’m going home to Serena and the hellspawn.”

  He jogged off, nearly colliding with Shade as their brother took a corner.

  “Where’s the fire?” Shade shouted after him, but Wraith kept going. Shaking his head, Shade stopped in front of Eidolon. “What’s going on?”

  “Sun’s up.”

  Shade nodded in understanding. As a vampire now, Wraith’s mate was all but trapped in their home during daylight hours, and Wraith didn’t like leaving her unprotected. Not that she was completely helpless. He’d had an underground tunnel built from their cellar that led into a maze of caverns with exits near Harrowgates, an
d within a month, one would lead directly to the hospital.

  “How’s the warg?” E asked.

  “Not good. Shakvhan is working on him, but he’ll be lucky to make it another five minutes.”

  “Damn.” Eidolon shoved his hand through his hair. “I’m going to set up an isolation room in case we get any more. And until further notice, I want all warg staff to avoid the emergency department and all warg patients.”

  “And I’ll inform my warg medics that they’re banned from responding to any calls that involve werewolves.” Shadows came alive in Shade’s nearly black eyes, writhing angrily. “This was the last thing we needed right now.”

  “The ghost problem should be fixed soon, so that’ll be one thing off the plate.”

  “Good. This morning both ambulances had flat tires.”

  Eidolon growled in frustration. “And we nearly lost another patient because his respirator had been turned off.”

  “I hate ghosts—” Shade broke off at the sight of Sin, still sitting on the bed, now pawing through a medical text. He swallowed, and the shadows in his eyes settled. “Is that… her?”

  Eidolon inclined his head. “She’s been waiting a while. I need to grab her paperwork.”

  “Guess I should go say hi.”

  “Does this mean you’re willing to give Lore a break?”

  Shade glared. “I’ll do what I have to do to protect Ky, whether you get that or not.”

  “Gods, Shade! It’s not that I don’t get it—”

  Shade cut him off with a dismissive flick of his hand and started toward the room where Sin waited. E stopped him with a hand on his forearm.

  “Shade. She’s not… she’s not what you’re used to.”

  For a moment, Shade looked perplexed, but gradually, his expression shuttered. “She’s not Skulk, you mean.”

  Shade had been extremely attached to all his Umber sisters, but as the only survivor of a slaughter that had killed the others, Skulk had been special to him. Now there was a hole inside Shade that E was afraid he’d try to fill with this new female, and Sin didn’t seem to want anything to do with her newfound brothers.

  “Just don’t expect much.”

  Twelve

  Sin swung her feet back and forth over the edge of the bed like a little kid waiting for her parents in the principal’s office. Not that she knew what that felt like. She and Lore had been educated at home by grandparents who placed more emphasis on physical labor than the three Rs.

  And what the hell was taking Eidolon so long? She’d come in for the autopsy stuff, and he’d made her wait for—she glanced at her watch—a freaking hour. She practically had the entire volume of Medical Parasitology memorized, and… eww.

  She didn’t have time for this. She had a plan, and she needed to put it into action.

  Deth still felt Lore’s life force, which meant Idess hadn’t been lying. Lore was alive. So instead of trying to injure the angel with the Gargantua dagger, she was going to mark her with an assassin’s secret weapon. A tracer grenade, once detonated, contaminated everything within twenty yards with a substance that left an easily followed trail. There were limitations and catches that made them unstable, dangerous, and often unreliable in untrained hands, but Sin was an expert, and nothing had ever gone wrong with one of her grenades. No, the greatest challenge was locating the ingredients and assembling the thing.

  After she finished, she’d have to cool her heels until the devil’s hour, which was easier said than done. Unlike Lore, Sin had never been patient. Her brother would make a good sniper, could wait for days to get the one perfect, surgical shot; Sin would rather charge into a situation with all guns blazing, mow everyone down, and let God and Satan sort out the souls.

  Tired of waiting, she hopped off the bed. She’d hunt Eidolon down if she had to. The door opened before she reached it, and a Seminus wearing a black paramedic uniform walked in. With his dark hair, stern expression, and broad shoulders, he looked like a cross between Eidolon and Lore.

  “You must be another brother,” she muttered.

  “Shade.”

  “Great. Nice to meet you. Now, if you don’t mind, I have to go.”

  He seemed a little taken aback, but his expression closed off as he blocked the door. “Eidolon will be here in a minute. He went to grab the report you’re waiting for.”

  She blew out a frustrated breath. “I’ve been waiting for an hour already.”

  “He’s had some emergencies to deal with, but he’s going to get it now. Really.”

  “Fine.” She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him.

  He stared back.

  “Well?” she snapped. “You gonna stand there all day? Don’t you have somewhere you have to be?”

  “I just got off duty.” He dug into his shirt pocket and pulled out a pack of gum. “I figured we should meet.”

  Sin gestured to the door. “’Kay. We’ve met. Buh-bye.” Shade looked completely at a loss. “Why aren’t you gone yet?”

  “Why are you being like this?”

  God, what was it with these guys? “Because I just want to be left alone, okay? Is that so difficult to understand?”

  He cocked a brow. “No, actually. But maybe if you got to know us—”

  “I don’t want to!” She shoved him out of the way and swung open the door, needing to get away from the crushing pressure of sudden family. “Just stay away from me. I’ve lived over a hundred years without you, and I certainly don’t need you now.”

  She didn’t need anyone. She’d learned a long time ago that she couldn’t rely on anyone but herself. Not even Lore. He’d left her when she’d needed him the most, and though she understood why he’d done it and she knew he was trying to make it up to her, some part of her just couldn’t fully lower her defensive shields and let him back in all the way.

  Trust, as her old master used to say, was evil and insidious. And he’d know. He’d taken her off the streets when she was vulnerable, made her trust him, and then he’d forced her to do… things. He’d taken advantage of her ability to kill and her need for sex, and he’d used them until her soul had shriveled.

  Even before he’d come along, trust had made her believe that her mother would love her. She hadn’t. It had made Sin think her grandparents would always be there for her. They’d died. It had made her believe Lore would take care of her. He’d abandoned her.

  No one would abandon her ever again.

  Except, that really wasn’t true anymore, was it? She’d come close to letting Lore back in, closer than she’d thought possible. And now he was gone. Sure, it wasn’t logical to blame him this time, any more than she should blame her grandparents for dying. But logic had never been her strong suit.

  She stalked away from Shade, heart pounding and hoping he wouldn’t chase her down. Problem was, she didn’t know where she was going. She’d come via the Harrowgate, but she didn’t remember the way and when she was freaked, her senses dulled. She couldn’t sense the gate at all.

  An exit loomed ahead, double sliding doors. Quickly, she slipped through them and found herself in an underground parking lot that didn’t appear to have a way out. Didn’t that just figure. After wandering around for a few minutes, she gave up, but there was no way she was going back inside the hospital. Not yet. She just needed a few minutes of peace and quiet, with no annoying brothers watching her every move.

  The last two days’ events had taken a toll on her, and although she could use a quart of Lore’s homemade rotgut and a week-long nap, she figured the best she was going to get right now was a few minutes of hiding herself away. Exhausted, she sank down onto the pavement next to a black ambulance.

  She wasn’t there for more than thirty seconds when she heard footsteps. Groaning, she buried her head in her hands.

  “Fuck off, Shade—”

  “Not Shade. Conall.”

  Startled, she snapped her head up, and no, the guy standing there was definitely not her brother. It was the ext
remely hot vampire paramedic she’d seen wheel in the warg she’d killed. The one with the funky silver eyes and sandy blond hair. Mr. Personality.

  “You okay?” he asked gruffly.

  “Ah… yeah.”

  “Then why are you skulking around my ambulance?”

  “I wasn’t skulking. I was resting.”

  “In a parking lot.” He gave her a dry look. “On the ground.”

  She shoved to her feet. “Do all medical personnel take classes on how to be obnoxious? Because I thought maybe it was a brother thing, but I’m starting to think it’s a medical thing.”

  “You’ve got one hell of a chip on your shoulder, don’t you?” The vampire opened the back of the ambulance and tossed a nylon bag inside.

  Sin frowned. “You don’t even know me.”

  “And let me guess,” he said, sounding utterly bored. “That’s the way you like it.”

  “What, are you psychic or something?”

  He laughed, a deep, melodious sound that rang through her. “I’m over a thousand years old. I’ve seen it all. You, sweetcheeks, are nothing new.” At what must have been an outraged expression on her face, he laughed again. “Come on. Surely you can’t think you are the only female out there who’s had a rough life, had her heart walked on, been kept in a dungeon for three centuries, blah, blah, pick your trauma, and are now stomping around with all this pent-up anger you spill like acid on everyone who tries to get to know you.” He narrowed his gaze at her. “How close am I?”

  Sin’s mouth worked, but nothing came out. She finally snapped it shut to avoid looking like a fish gasping on the bank of a river.

  “That’s what I thought.” He made a shooing gesture with his hand. “Now, run along and go be caustic with someone who cares. Oh, wait, no one cares, do they? Because you won’t let them—”