Tina took a careful breath. “What about my pregnancy, Captain?”
Windblood sat, once again placing a hand on Tina's arm.
“Do you understand that werewolves are made, Doctor? A human becomes a werewolf when bitten by one. They aren't born.”
“Okay.” Tina thought about it. “So if a werewolf has a child—or fathers a child—that child is normal?”
“No, Doctor.” Windblood spoke with blunt finality. “The child dies. Always. You see, the contagion that causes the werewolf syndrome is passed to the fetus. It starts out as human, but at the next full moon, the fetus undergoes the transformation. Because of the massive growth occurring at that stage of development, the fetus cannot change with any cohesion. It becomes a mass of disparate cells, neither human nor werewolf. But that's not all.” The hand on Tina's arm tightened. “If the mother is a werewolf, she simply miscarries and is all right. But if the mother is not a werewolf... she dies. Always.”
Chapter 17
Tina jerked her arm away from Windblood's grip. Unsatisfied to just glare at the other woman, she retreated to the wall, seeking distance.
“Why? Why does the mother die, too?” A thought occurred to her, and she jabbed a stiff finger at the captain. “Wait. I'm almost three months pregnant. There've been two full moons since I got pregnant. The baby is fine. I've had an ultrasound and seen the heart beating. And I am obviously not dead. How does that fit into your story?”
“I want to know that, too,” Windblood said. She lifted a hand to indicate Tina's body. “I've never heard of a human woman surviving the first full moon of her pregnancy, but I'm not a healer. No doubt there is much I don't know or understand. But the thing is, this is common knowledge among us. All the people who have become werewolves... it's one of the most heartbreaking results of the condition. If there was ever a case of a survival, I suspect I would have heard about it.”
Tina crossed her arms, frowning in puzzled anger. “Perhaps you're wrong. About my baby.” Her anger intensified, driving the puzzlement away. “Perhaps this is all just an elaborate scam of some kind. Perhaps there is no such thing as werewolves, and that's why my baby and I are both fine.”
She straightened, letting her arms hang at her sides as she fixed a firm stare on Captain Windblood. “I want to go home. Whatever you've got going on here, it doesn't involve me. Take me back.”
She saw the tension that rippled through Windblood's jaw.
“All right,” Windblood said, but she continued to sit, tapping the table with one finger. “But it's not entirely true that you're not involved. My people are at the Keeper's house, searching for clues. I intend for them to bring his body back here, to Kaarmanesh. I need to know what you plan to do about that.”
Tina flushed, confused and uncertain. She shook her head. “Mr. Ruth was my patient. I have my own procedures to follow. That includes notifying the authorities and performing an autopsy. You can't take his body.”
“There is no possible way for you to prevent me from taking it, Doctor Cassidy.” Windblood sounded apologetic, but Tina got the idea she was amused. “By the time you return, we'll already have it.” She leaned back in her chair, still tapping the table. “No, your best course will be to say he wasn't home when you got there, and that you never saw him. It can be a mystery for your authorities, perhaps, where the old man went to.”
“You can't be serious.” Tina stepped to the table, leaning over it to glare down—not very far down—into Windblood's eyes. “He was murdered. I can't just pretend that didn't happen. I must report it. The killer is still out there somewhere.”
“He certainly is, Doctor. I believe that's where we started this conversation. But this is not a murderer that your people are equipped to deal with. He's a werewolf, which is bad enough, but he's also a witch, which means he can use magic to accomplish his goals. Your people will not stand a chance against him.”
Tina sighed. “Have I not made it clear enough? I don't believe you. Is this some kind of role-playing game that got out of hand? Because I can tell you, it's time to knock it off and deal with reality. A man has been murdered. You can't keep playing at this.”
Windblood stood. Tina yelped in alarm to find a handcuff around her wrist, the other end attached to Windblood, who smiled and placed a gentle hand on Tina's arm. “Please don't be frightened. I am going to send you home soon. But you need to understand. I can see I’m going to have to prove it to you. You'll come with me.”
Tina backed up a step, aware of her vulnerability. Wherever they were, she was alone with these people. She should have played along until she was safe at home. She shook her head, lifting her chin to hide her fear. “No,” she said. “There are people who know I went to see Mr. Ruth. They'll be looking for me. You can't keep me here.”
A brow twitched on Windblood's forehead. Once again, she seemed amused. “Oh, I can keep you here, Doctor. I won't, but I could. The thing is….” She hesitated, studying Tina's face. Then she moved her arm up, and the handcuffs vanished. Tina gasped and rubbed her arm in disbelief before retreating to the wall, as far away as she could get.
“The thing is,” Windblood continued, “I want you to trust me. To believe me. When we were in the Keeper's cabin, you wanted to run didn't you? You wanted to hit me. But you couldn't move. Do you remember that?”
Tina nodded.
“That's a simple spell that all enforcement officers learn to do. A very rudimentary form of magic available to even the least magical of us. I used it to keep you with me, then again to make you come with me through the portal. You wanted to escape, but you couldn't even try.” Windblood held out her hands. “I could use it now. I could use the handcuffs. But I'd rather you came willingly. I'd rather you trusted me.”
“Why?” Tina's voice was a squeak.
Windblood's smile was a mournful twist. “I've known Clive Winslow a long time. Life isn't easy for werewolves—they are held in contempt by most Kaarmaneshians, distrusted and hated. Laws restrict their movements, limit their freedoms. They tend to hold the lowest positions in our world. Many find it impossible to hold onto a job or to their land. The restrictions are necessary, but I've always hated the prejudice against them and Clive is the reason for that. From the first time I met him, when he was trying to enter the force, he proved over and over that he is intelligent, capable, trustworthy….” She sighed. “He should never have touched you that night.” She nodded toward Tina's stomach. “Nevertheless, that is his child you carry. And there is something very special about you, or about that child, or both of you, that I am determined to protect.”
She stepped closer, but stopped when Tina straightened in alarm. “You've survived this long, and that means there is something different about you. I want to know what it is, and I want to know if it's permanent. I want to help you, Doctor. Please.” She gestured toward the door. “Come with me to my office. We'll walk out of here together, to the domestic portal. It's not the one to your world, it only ports to locations within Kaarmanesh. I'll show you a little of our world, introduce you to a few of our species. Try to prove that this is real. Will you give me a chance? For Clive's sake. For your baby's sake. Or your own.”
“Oh, fuck.” Tina hid her face in her hands, unsure of what to do. Windblood sounded so sincere.
But how much choice did she have? Dropping her hands, Tina met Windblood's gaze. “All right. Just one thing...”
“What is it?”
“I don't want to see Clive. I don't want to talk to him at all. In fact, I don't want him to know about the pregnancy.”
“What? Why?”
Tina waved a hand. It's not important. “He... he didn't want to stay.” She heard the childish tone in her voice, as if she were pushing Clive away in punishment for hurting her. Well, she was hurt, and she had yet to accept Windblood's story. “If what you say is true, I guess that's why he left. Either way, there's no relationship between us. He can't be a partner to me. He can't be a father. I don't want him to s
uddenly come around just because I'm pregnant.”
Windblood was quiet for a minute, staring at the floor. Then she nodded. “I'll make sure you don't have to see him or talk to him. I'll give you my word on that. But,” her nod changed to a no, “I can't promise to not tell him. I'll wait until you've gone home. I'll make sure he understands that he can't contact you at all. But he has to know.” A tear shimmered in her eyes, she was actually begging. “I could never face him, with a secret like that.”
Shit. Tina closed her eyes. It won't work, will it? I'm going to have to deal with him sooner or later. He'll never stay away once he knows.
By all appearances, this was a battle she'd already lost. If these people could tell by looking at her that she was pregnant, any one of them might talk to Clive. She couldn't force them all to secrecy. She'd managed to convince Ruth, but this woman... Tina opened her eyes again. No, there's no way to convince her. I'll have to be adult about this, I guess.
She waved a hand again. “All right. You just make sure he doesn't show up on my doorstep.”
She almost felt Windblood's relief, it was so strong. She suspected that goodwill would come in handy for what came next. She turned to the door. “So show me your world. And let's step on it, okay? I need to get home.”
Chapter 18
They couldn't make this stuff up.
Walking through the domestic portal offered Tina the greatest proof. She could pretend the people she saw were just in costume and makeup, devotees of some elaborate role-playing game. The village of Poentreville could be a collection of quaint buildings for their stage. But the portal: a rectangle stretching from the ground to a few feet higher than Tina's head. It was about four feet across, a shimmering translucence stationed a few blocks from the sheriff's office where they'd taken her for questioning.
A doorway in the middle of nowhere.
Windblood let her walk around it a few times to convince her there was nothing on the other side.
Tina held onto her distrust. “Why didn't the other portal—the one in the forest—shimmer like this one?”
Windblood stood with crossed arms, watching Tina as she strolled. “This is an active portal,” she said. “The one in the forest is indicted. It's been closed, and remains under guard until we find the werewolf.”
Tina turned to stare at her. “So, even if he tried to get back, he couldn't? You effectively trapped him in my world.”
“We didn't know he was there. All indications were that he'd returned to Kaarmanesh. That's what his ward made us think. It took a while to get the ward translated. I told you, he's a witch. A powerful one, as it turns out.”
Then Windblood took her arm, and in three steps took her through the portal. The first step was leaving Poentreville. The second was shimmering grayness. The third was into a cavernous room, bustling with all kinds of people, coming and going through a line of portals stretching in both directions.
Tina yelped and wrapped both of her arms around Windblood's. “Dear God, where are we?” She turned to stare at the portal they’d emerged from, then around the room. It was like any travel station anywhere, with people standing in clumps or lines, talking to others or ignoring everybody, greeting newcomers or waving good-bye to those departing.
Windblood pulled her forward so others could step into the portal they'd come from. “We're in Farendale. It's on the island you call Manhattan.”
“What? We got all the way across the continent by stepping through...” Tina gestured at the portal behind her, but turned back when Windblood headed for the outer doors. She scrambled to stay close as Windblood explained.
“The domestic system has been in place for millennia. It's based on spells woven into the fabric of magic. The witches have a guild that maintains them.”
“Are they the same as the portals to… to my world?”
“Not exactly, although I believe the underlying principle is the same. The portals between worlds are a natural occurrence of the dimensional boundary.” She glanced at Tina and shrugged. “It's complicated.”
“I bet it is.” Tina nodded. They left the building and she stopped to take in this version of Manhattan. The first thing she noticed was there were no skyscrapers. The architecture was different—more of the old-fashioned quaintness she'd seen in Poentreville, with odd angles and curves in unexpected places. Textures and color were different, too. She stopped to touch a wall, her fingers sliding on smooth warmness.
“What are the buildings made of? Do you have steel?”
“Yes, we do, but it's not normally used in construction.” Windblood didn't stop her hurried walk and Tina jogged a few steps to catch her words. “I don't have time to explain everything. Let me just say that our technology is based on magic, and leave it at that. After we solve our immediate problems, I'll be glad to answer all your questions.”
They turned into a building with orange and blue awnings. People stepped aside to let Windblood pass, with curious glances at Tina. Windblood ignored them, ushering Tina into an elevator as she continued to talk.
“Will you let one of our healers examine you? She can do it in my office, and I assure you, the exam is non-invasive and painless. I need to know and you need to know what's happening with your child and with your own body. These are not issues that your medical establishment is equipped to deal with.”
Tina thought about that as she followed Windblood through a large room filled with people and equipment, just like any cop bullpen anywhere. She gave them a quick glance, her mind elsewhere. As a doctor, what would she do with a patient carrying the child of a werewolf? Once she was past the disbelief, that is.
How would it affect the mother? Why did the women die? Did the fetus release a toxin? This made some sense, as Windblood had said a werewolf mother does not die. She would already have the werewolf mutation in her body, so there would be no negative reaction to the fetus.
Did werewolf females carry a litter? Tina gasped, her hand flying to her stomach at the thought. Windblood turned back, anxiety painted on her face. “What is it? Are you in pain?”
Tina waved her off with a hoarse laugh. “No, no. I agree with you, it would be a good idea to see one of your doctors. I have a lot of questions.”
Windblood nodded. “Good. I had my assistant contact her already. She'll be here momentarily.” She entered an office, motioning Tina to a small couch against the wall, while she sat at the wooden desk, its top strewn with papers.
Tina glanced around, taking in the desk and matching file cabinets under a window. She shook her head. “This all looks so normal. No computers or typewriters, but otherwise, it's just like a human's office.”
Windblood shrugged. “Form follows function, I guess. We're bipedal mammals, just like you are. We have similar needs, so therefore our jobs and tasks are similar. We have machines like you do.” She waved a hand over her desk and a blue shimmer appeared in an uneven circle about two feet across. She grinned at Tina's gape. “It's called a tascrum. Clive says your computers fulfill the same function these do, including,” she gestured to the papers on her desk, “printing what we need on paper. But you've had computers for less than a century. We've used some form of these machines for thousands of years.”
She pulled a small strap off her wrist and held it out. Tina took it with some hesitation, relieved when nothing happened. She frowned at it, turning it in all directions. It could pass for a watch or cell phone, with a flat gray screen taking up the center. There was nothing else on it, although its warmth tickled her palm. She turned her frown on Windblood. “What is it?”
“The official name is Horgan's Rent, but everyone calls them straps,” Windblood said. “We all receive one at birth. A strap is bound to its owner—containing all official information about that person. Name, age, species, health status, job, clearances... all kinds of things. The basics can be accessed by anyone. Any person is required to relinquish their strap to an authority figure upon request. For instance, I can examine a prisoner
's strap to learn who they are, where they live, whatever. I can't keep the strap, however. After a few hours, it teleports itself back to its owner. They are also communication devices, similar to your cell phones.”
Tina handed it back to Windblood. “It sounds like you have a totalitarian society. Do your authorities have complete control of the populace?”
“We have laws, just as you do,” Windblood said. “I don’t consider our society totalitarian, but perhaps you'd best make your own judgment about that.”
A soft knock turned their attention to a young woman standing in the doorway. She smiled in Windblood's direction, but her eyes were intent on Tina. The visitor's short hair was white, but her skin was smooth, firm, and black as midnight. Her eyes were a deep brown, with long lashes that curled up to brush the bone where her eyebrows would be, if she'd had them. She was as tall as Windblood, but did not have that woman's elegant, pointed ears, or her austere bone structure. Not an elf, then. Tina wondered if she was human.
“Sensa Shandari, thank you for coming so quickly.” Windblood's tone was respectful. She came around her desk, placing a hand on Tina's shoulder. “This is Tina Cassidy, a human from the Flatlands. You can see why we need you.”
Shandari sank onto the couch next to Tina, moving with liquid grace. She took Tina's hand in hers and gazed at her with quiet intent. Tina's heart gave a leap as she noticed a tiny white shimmer deep within Shandari's pupils.
“I'm pleased to meet you, Tina.” Shandari’s voice was low and pleasant, filling Tina with warmth. “I understand you were not aware your mate was a werewolf. May I examine you and the fetus? It will take just a few minutes, and can be done as we sit here.”
“How...,” Tina stopped to clear her throat. “How do you do it? What does an exam entail?”
“I See into your body.” Shandari gestured to her eyes. “It is my skill—to See a patient's body in all its aspects and know what is in balance and what is not. It should not hurt you, but I confess I have never examined a Flatlander before.”
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