She stared at me. At least her tears had slowed. “Bernard, what the hell are you on about?”
“Please, trust me. I can fix this, but I need you to get your brother’s body and hide it somewhere. Can you do that?”
“I . . . I guess . . .”
“Did the bad guys ask for anything besides Molly?” I asked. “Any information on me, or anything else?”
“No . . .”
“Good. I’ll call you when we’re done here.” I stood up and looked at Jesse. “I have an idea. We need to go.”
He blanched. “Where?”
I gave him a grim smile. “To wake the dead.”
Chapter 33
I could feel Jesse practically vibrating with unasked questions as we half-trotted out to the van, but he managed not to ask any while we were in public. At the van, I tossed him the keys. “You’re driving.”
“Where are we going?”
“My place.”
Shadow hadn’t eaten another headrest, but she had shredded her dog bed in protest of being left behind yet again. I was probably supposed to discipline her when this happened, but you try punishing a hundred-eighty-pound dog-monster and see where it gets you. I chose not to comment. This is why I bought dog beds at Costco.
While Jesse drove, I called Matthias, the doctor who had treated Lizzy after she’d been turned into a werewolf. I was kicking myself for not thinking of it earlier, but it had taken a combination of talking to Lizzy and seeing the doctors at the hospital for my tired subconscious to kick into gear and remember that I knew an off-the-books doctor who was used to dealing with magic stuff. Katia was maybe our only chance of finding whoever had taken Molly before he killed her to death. Which isn’t redundant when you’re talking about vampires. But we didn’t have to just wait around for her to wake up; we could actually do something about it. Well, maybe.
I wasn’t sure if Matthias was an actual MD. He had once treated Eli, but I had been too emotionally overwhelmed that night to ask any questions. Later, I had learned that Matthias came from an old witch family. Like most males, he hadn’t inherited the active witch gene, or whatever the phrasing was, so he knew about magic but had no access to it. Matthias had found his niche, though: he had a nice little semi-legal racket treating supernatural creatures like Lizzy, who couldn’t go to a regular doctor.
I’d known him for years, but something about the guy forbade questions about his personal life. I didn’t know if he’d been to medical school, or if he had a family, or what he did with his time when he wasn’t bailing out members of the Old World. What I did know was that he could get results.
One thing about being a slightly shady illegal doctor: you always answer the phone. As soon as he picked up, I explained the problem as quickly as I could. When he asked questions about boundary magic that I couldn’t answer, I gave him Lex’s phone number. I would probably catch hell for it later—I had a feeling the badass boundary witch would not appreciate me handing her cell phone number out to randoms—but I was too wired on adrenaline to care at the moment.
After I hung up with Matthias, I dialed Eli. Matthias lived in Orange County, which meant he might make it to the cottage before Jesse and me. Once again, I launched into an explanation without bothering with pleasantries.
“You mean that guy that gave me the injection . . . that one time?” He sounded disbelieving, like maybe I’d picked tonight to start playing unfunny but elaborate jokes. “You told him where we live?”
I sighed. “Yes, and I don’t like it either, but this is the very definition of desperate times. We can worry about home security when everyone survives this, Molly included.”
There was a long moment of silence, and I thought the call had dropped. And by “call had dropped,” I mean “Eli had gotten pissed and hung up.” But his worried voice finally said, “Scarlett . . . I love you.”
I heard it in his voice. “But?” I prompted.
“But are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
“If I don’t,” I said, my voice coming out harder than I’d intended, “I’m sure you’ll tell me.”
There wasn’t a lot to say after that.
After I hung up with Eli, I took a slow, deep breath, calming myself. Jesse must have figured out what I needed to do next, because he shot me a sympathetic look. I nodded my thanks and dialed the number written on my palm. The phone in the theater.
A witch I didn’t know answered the phone. “Get me Kirsten,” I said immediately. The witch, who sounded very young, protested that it was almost time for the next break, and could I wait ten minutes? She was probably afraid to interrupt Dashiell, but I didn’t have time for hand-holding just then. “I don’t care if you have to pull the fire alarm,” I said through my teeth. “Get Kirsten now.”
Jesse shot me a questioning look. Hayne was, after all, going to be just as dead . . . or, well, undead in ten minutes. “I don’t want to risk her calling the hospital herself,” I explained, and he nodded.
A few minutes later, the phone was picked up again. I was planning to open with something along the lines of “Stay calm as I tell you this,” but the first words out of Kirsten’s mouth were, “Is he dead?”
“Err . . . yes. But he’ll get better,” I added quickly. Before she could even speak, I explained about Molly feeding him her blood.
“A vampire?” Kirsten echoed, sounding crestfallen. In the Old World, different species almost never partnered with each other. It’s not like there’s some law forbidding interracial romances or anything—nobody actually gives a shit who sleeps with whom. But as it turned out, the various species tended to be sort of physically repulsed by one another. For a werewolf, the thought of sleeping with a vampire would be disgusting, and so on. There was some evolutionary reasoning for this, according to Olivia, but the takeaway was that if Hayne became a vampire, his relationship with Kirsten was effectively over.
“I mean, I’m glad he’ll . . .” she said, trying to rally, but her voice trailed off. It was pretty heartbreaking. Kirsten and Hayne had rekindled things a couple of years ago, but they’d been hesitant to fully recommit to each other, even after Ophelia was born—hence the separate houses. Kirsten didn’t exactly confide in me, but it was obvious that the two of them were still worried about the same things that had driven them apart the first time. It was equally obvious that they were over-the-moon in love. Now she was afraid they’d missed their chance, forever.
“Kirsten,” I said. “Listen to me very carefully, because I’m about to tell you a big fucking secret, okay?”
I heard her breath catch. It sounded a lot like a sob. “I’m listening.”
“You remember Ariadne, Dashiell’s archnemesis?”
“Yes.”
“And remember three years ago, when Eli disappeared for a while and no one could explain it?”
“Yes,” she said, a little firmer. Eli’s absence had almost created a serious rift between the Old World sects. It wasn’t the kind of thing you forgot.
“I . . . well, for lack of a more politically correct term, I cured them,” I said. “Both of them. And I can cure Hayne. I mean, probably. I can try.”
Jesse, who already knew my secret, said nothing, but he reached over and gave my shoulder a comforting squeeze. He also knew that both times I’d turned someone back into a human, it had almost killed me. But for Hayne, I would try again.
“That’s . . . that’s not possible,” Kirsten insisted. “I’ve never heard of a null being able to do that.”
“Yeah, neither have I,” I said wryly. “It’s hard on me physically”—I glared at Jesse as he snorted—“and no one in the Old World can know about it.” There were so many reasons for this, not the least of which was that half the werewolves would want me to cure them, and most of the vampires would want to kill me.
“But Dashiell and Will know? And they didn’t tell me?”
Oops. It hadn’t been my decision to keep this from Kirsten, but I hadn’t exactly fought to inform
her, either. In my defense, I’d been practically comatose at the time. “Yes, but you’ll have to take that up with them. More importantly, right now everyone has to think Abigail got Hayne out of the hospital and he’s hiding out somewhere recuperating.” I ran her through what had happened at the hospital. “You can send someone to help her, but it has to be someone you trust completely, because we have to keep this quiet, okay?”
“I’ve got it,” she said. She sounded like she was on surer footing now. Covering shit up was what we did. “Don’t worry about Teddy; I’ll make sure Abby gets him somewhere safe.” A pause, and when her voice returned there was a new note of coolness in it. “And I suppose, in return for saving him, you want Molly exonerated.”
“Uh . . .” Stupid, stupid Scarlett. See, this is why I sucked at everything political. The thought hadn’t even crossed my mind.
Jesse shot me a questioning look, but I just shook my head, my thoughts racing. Here it was, the golden opportunity to save my friend. No more running around, no more violence, and I didn’t even have to stop Count Asshat if I didn’t want to.
All I had to do was leverage the life of a man I liked and respected.
Of course, Hayne could survive as a vampire. He would just miss most of his kid’s life and lose his relationship with Kirsten. So it wasn’t like it was a death sentence if I refused to do it. More like an un-death sentence, pun intended.
Focus, Scarlett. I gave myself the time to take a deep breath and push it out slowly. “Honestly, Kirsten? No. I want Molly safe, but I will do this for Hayne either way,” I said into the phone. Silence on the other end. “But you should keep in mind,” I added, because what the hell, “that without Molly, Hayne would have bled out in Dashiell’s driveway tonight.”
“I understand,” came her strangled voice. I hung up the phone.
Chapter 34
When we pulled into the driveway of the Marina del Rey residence, I spotted Matthias’ vintage Cadillac already in the driveway. The three of us were hurrying inside when Jesse put out an arm, stopping me. Shadow wheeled around and gave him the stink eye. Jesse dropped his hand.
“What?” I asked.
“Maybe you shouldn’t go in right away,” he pointed out. “If he’s trying to use her boundary magic to bring her back . . .”
“Oh. Right.” Null, here. I could probably go into the house and try to keep Shadow’s cell out of my radius, but there wasn’t much point in risking it. What if they’d moved her out to the sofa or something? “Can you go in and figure out where we stand?” I asked. Jesse was already moving toward the house, with Shadow at his heels. I guess she wanted to see what all the fuss was about.
A couple of minutes later, Eli came out of the house, trudging toward me with his shoulders slumped. I looked at him in alarm. “Is she dead . . . -er?”
“No,” he said, sounding tired. “Matthias did something with his little collection of drugs, and her heart just started beating again. He’s going to give her an adrenaline shot to wake her up faster. You shouldn’t come in until she’s conscious.”
I nodded. “Thanks for letting me know.”
“We should talk, Scarlett.”
I swallowed. For the life of me, I couldn’t think of one stupid joke or quip that could deflect the tension. Not even a movie reference. “You’re right,” I said. “But can it wait until tomorrow? I’m kind of drowning here.”
He really looked like he wanted to object, but he shrugged sadly. “Fine. I’m going to the Trials to help Will with the pups.”
There was something defeated in his expression that I really didn’t like. I stood on tiptoes to kiss him. “I love you,” I said.
The corner of his mouth lifted. “I know.”
I watched him head for his pickup with a sinking feeling I couldn’t quite explain. I was still standing there a few minutes later, when Jesse came looking for me.
“Scarlett?” he said.
“Yeah. What’s up?”
“She’s awake.” He sounded a little awed, like in his heart he hadn’t really believed Matthias could do it. Couldn’t blame him there.
“Okay,” I said, giving myself a little shake. “Yeah. Let’s go talk to the big bad witch.”
Matthias met us just inside the doorway, carrying an old-fashioned black doctor’s bag. Where would you even find something like that? Probably from a vampire, I concluded. “How is she?” I asked him.
Matthias was handsome in a bland-but-excessive way that always reminded me of the actors who play doctors on nighttime soaps. If he were an actor with even a tiny bit of talent, he would be starring on his own Grey’s Anatomy spinoff for sure. “Alive, but barely,” he reported. “The bullet that your werewolf friend took out did not actually pierce her heart, which is good, but it did sever her aorta. I inserted a stent, and by the time I had her closed back up, her heart started beating again.” He shook his head a little, smiling. “First time operating on a dead patient. Boundary witches are interesting.”
Yeah, I didn’t love his tone just then. As useful as Matthias could be, he always had just a whiff of “mad scientist” around him, like what he really wanted to do was cut up half the Old World and experiment with our parts.
“Riiiight,” I said. “Is it okay for me to go near her now?”
“Yes. The stent should keep her alive, but she cannot be jostled or move around. She needs to stay on that cot.”
“What if she has to pee?” I asked.
“I put in a catheter,” he said, amused. “It will last six to twelve hours, and then the bag needs to be changed. Dashiell should be able to find you a nurse, if you can’t do it yourself.”
I thanked him as I hustled him toward the door. Matthias told me he’d send his bill to Dashiell, which would probably be entertaining for me later.
Katia looked like hell. The phrase “death warmed over” was accurate on many levels. She was lying on the camp-style cot with every pillow in the house propped under her, and a sheet draped over her nude upper body. She still wore her pants, though blood had dripped into them. Her skin, which had been a healthy tan when we’d first met, was now bone white with just the slightest tint of green. The magic that kept her from dying didn’t actually speed her healing, so she wasn’t going to be a threat to anyone for quite a while.
The cot filled up almost half the room, and Matthias had pulled in a kitchen chair on top of that. All in all, I was reminded of the cell where we’d visited Molly. Had that really been earlier today? Jesse took the chair, and I leaned on the wall inside the doorway. Katia’s sullen, sunken eyes glowered at us.
“We weren’t properly introduced before,” Jesse said conversationally, “but I’m Jesse, and this is Scarlett. Who are you?”
No response.
“Okay,” Jesse said easily. “How about we start with what we already know? Your name is Katia, you’re obviously originally from Russia, and you’re a boundary witch.”
“And she works for Count Asshat,” I reminded him.
“Yes, of course, thank you.” He turned back to Katia. “You’re helping a vampire enslave women and pimp them out for fun and profit.”
Katia’s eyes narrowed and she opened her mouth, but then snapped it shut. She shook her head with a tight smile. Nice try. “You’re a witch,” I pointed out. “Not a vampire. Why are you serving him?”
Her lips were pressed together in a thin line. “You also helped this same vampire frame a friend of ours,” Jesse continued. “Molly. What do you have against her?”
Confusion flashed across her face, so fast I almost missed it. “You do know Molly, right?” I asked. “You’ve met?”
I couldn’t be sure, but I didn’t see any spark of recognition from Katia, like “Oh yes, Molly, that bitch who ruined my life.”
Jesse must have thought the same thing, because he said, “Did she do something to hurt you?”
Maybe it was the soft, sympathetic tone, but Katia actually shook her head slightly. I resisted the urge to fist-
pump. We had contact.
“If she didn’t do anything to you, why set up Molly?” he persisted. “There are plenty of vampires in Los Angeles.”
“She lived with those girls. Good candidates,” Katia answered, giving a little shrug. “Your friend was a . . . what’s the word? A patsy.”
Jesse looked at me, and I could read his thoughts. What if she didn’t actually know anything else? If she was just a . . . henchwoman, or whatever, it was possible that Count Asshat really hadn’t explained his motives or his plans to her. If that was the case, we were fucked. And we had just wasted a lot of time reanimating a dead witch for nothing.
Then I caught the hint of gold glinting at her neck, a chain that disappeared under the sheet. Without speaking, I went over and tugged it out. Katia lifted one hand to fend me off, but was too weak to do more than bump her fingers against my wrist.
At the end of the necklace swung a small gold medallion, the size of a silver dollar. I let go and took a step back, triumphant. Then I reached into my own shirt and pulled out the little medallion on a chain. When I drew it out, Katia’s eyes widened. I held it up to the pendant dangling near her face. “I found this in Molly’s backpack,” I said. “You’re wearing the same necklace around your neck.”
Chapter 35
Katia’s brow furrowed, and she reached out a trembling hand for Molly’s necklace, glancing suspiciously at us, like the whole thing was a plot so we could smack her wrist. When neither of us made a move, she took it from me and slowly raised it to her face. “That is not possible,” she said after examining it for a moment. “I do not know what this is, but there is no way this Molly is one of Oskar’s—” Her eyes widened.
“So that’s his name,” Jesse said casually. “Good to know. Why couldn’t Molly be one of Oskar’s girls?”
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