The rune on him glowed just a little bit, and I realized that it was keeping him from my magic.
“Poor little PIB agent, killed in the line of duty.” He let out a dark laugh and raised his gun again. “With the rune active you can’t raise a protective circle. I made it for her in case PIB showed up.” He squeezed the trigger, and the next bullet took me in the stomach. I cried out and fell to my knees. My magic around Grace and the demon came crashing down as it rushed back into me. I heard shouting around me as my world went black and I started to feel cold. I was going to die by fucking gunshot wound.
Chapter Eleven
“She’s dying, Levi.”
I heard Mario’s voice, and the first thing I wanted to do was to tell him to go the fuck away. Which meant I wasn’t dying, because I could form a coherent thought.
“She’s not dying. Her heartbeat always slows when she’s healing.” Levi’s voice was soft. “She’s starting to wake.”
It was odd to have the two of them at my bedside. Normally Levi sent Clarissa to sit with me, but that was no longer an option. Of course, he could have sent Simon, but that was probably out of the question since the whole dating Mario thing was still supposed to be happening.
My eyes finally opened and I saw the white tile ceiling of the hospital and let out a sigh. “Did anyone get the bastard?”
“They were gone by the time anyone showed up to the house.” Levi sat next to me. “Liz will be in soon to take a statement from you.”
I pressed my lips together. “I can’t work my case from here.”
“Abigail, you were shot in the stomach. The fact that you’re alive is a miracle; maybe you should hand the case off?” Mario suggested.
I looked over at him. “Go away.”
“Told you she wasn’t dying.” Levi actually chuckled.
“Yes, I see that now.” Mario rolled his eyes. “I’ll be out in the hall.”
I let him leave and looked back at the ceiling. I hadn’t really tried to move yet because I knew it’d be painful. “How long am I here for?”
“Until you heal,” Levi said easily. “Mario is right; you need to pass on your case.”
I shook my head and felt the pull in my shoulder. “I know who it is. I just need to make the connections and turn in the report to the executioner.”
“A death sentence?”
“They are summoning demons to kill people.”
He was silent for a moment. “Did you catch the demon?”
“No. But the one that was there isn’t responsible for the killing at the other scenes.”
“Mario will stay during the night with you, and I will have Simon come during the day.”
“I need a potion for the pain. I don’t want the painkillers. I also need my computer.”
“You’re not working from the hospital.” Levi was exasperated. “Abigail, you need to rest and to heal.”
“Where’s Oliver?” I asked without looking at him. “He can heal me, and I can get on with my life.”
“Damn it, Abigail,” he snapped, and I finally looked at him. “You need to heal, you need to rest, not depend on him to heal you so you can rush back into danger.”
All I could do was stare at him from his outburst. “This is my job.”
“Not for much longer. Not if this is how you are going to handle situations.” He growled.
I didn’t miss the threat in his voice. “I’m not a child.”
“No, you’re not, you are heir to the vampire people.” He hissed low. “A princess.”
I locked my jaw and turned away from him, despite my body protesting. A new pain radiated in my neck, and I closed my eyes knowing what was coming.
“Abigail?” Levi asked, the anger gone.
I didn’t answer him as the noises of the hospital room disappeared and Hannah’s magic surrounded me, freezing me in place.
I could feel Ira’s fangs in me once more, spreading the burning pain that fought with the ice of the magic. I let out a strangled cry, trying to break the illusion again, but I couldn’t, and instead of it ending with me awake, it ended with me floating in darkness.
When I finally woke, Levi was gone, and Simon was sitting in the seat next to the bed, reading a book. I smiled at him. “Always the loyal guard dog.”
He laughed. “You know I’d sit by your side at any time. How do you feel?”
“I’m in a lot of pain. I was shot twice.” I looked at him. “How’s the pack?”
“Well, the merge is going better.” He put his bookmark in and laid the book on the table. “Liz stopped by while you were sleeping.”
“Yeah?”
“She dropped your computer off and said call her when you wake up and feel up to talking.”
Liz knew me well if she brought my computer. “Did someone go get the Hummer?”
“I think Mario did.”
I sneered at the name. “Okay, I don’t have a phone right now. Melody stepped on mine.”
“Levi brought one; it’s on your table.”
I looked toward the table. “Perfect. Anyone feed my cat?”
“Yeah, I did. Mario said he went and couldn’t find cat food, just an empty dish. He assumed that you hadn’t gone grocery shopping.”
I snorted. “He didn’t talk to my cat either did he?”
“Said there was no reason too. Don’t worry, I did.” Because Simon knew the truth.
Which meant that Merick would be stopping by at some point, which was good. I knew where I had seen those runes before now. On a dead body at one of Ira’s labs.
I reached for my phone and cringed. “Will you please hand me my phone?”
He did as I asked and his hand lingered for a moment before he took mine and squeezed. We didn’t exchange words, but we didn’t need to. He was trying to offer me comfort.
“Thank you.” I scrolled through my phone, luckily for me, a quick entering of a password and my contacts were downloaded from the cloud.
I called Liz.
“Abby, you’re just trouble aren’t you?” Her voice was half joking. “Next time you go after a PIB agent, call for back up.”
I snorted. “Well, I was hoping I could catch more flies with honey. I wasn’t expecting to be bombarded by a demon and a warlock. Nor was I expecting to be shot.”
“Twice. You were shot twice, and he had all intentions of killing you.” The joking fell from her voice for a few moments.
“You know, someone trying to kill me is pretty typical.”
I didn’t miss Simon nodding and rolling his eyes. It made me smile.
“Boss Man wants me to put you on medical leave.”
I groaned. “Please don’t.”
“You’re in the hospital Abby, what are you going to do from there? Summon the demon to you?”
She was joking, of course, but it really wasn’t a bad idea. The thought of the demon in the hospital made me shake my head. Scratch that, it was a horrible idea. “I can do research and find the paper trail and evidence I need to put in the report.”
She hesitated. “Okay, then I’m going to put you down as restricted to office work.”
I blew out a raspberry. “Just until I get out of the hospital.”
“We’ll see what doctor’s orders are.”
I was currently not liking having a team lead. “I’m going to be fine.”
“You were shot in the stomach. Oh, my God, you are so stubborn. I’ll be in later to take your statement.” She disconnected, and I put the phone down on the bed.
Simon couldn’t hide his smirk. “She’s good for you.”
“Shut up.” I glared at him but then gave him a small smile. “Even though Levi probably threatened for you to be here, thank you for coming.”
“You know I’d do anything for you, Travis even offered to help.”
I rubbed my eyes with my good hand. “That witch he hired? He’s going to want to find another one.”
“Why?”
“Because she’s probably go
ing to skip town, and trust me, she’s a whole bag of bad juju you don’t want to deal with and not the type of magic you want around your club.”
He nodded. “Will you redo the wards then?”
“Yeah, whenever I get out of here.” I lifted up the blanket to take a peek at my stomach; it was of course covered by a pink floral hospital gown.
The door opened, and the doctor walked in. “Hello Ms. Collins, I’m Dr. Newport, I’m in charge of your care. Have any of the nurses been in since you’ve been awake?”
“No, when can I go home?”
“Not for a while. We need to make sure you won’t contract an infection from the damage done by the bullet. You were lucky that it missed major organs and arteries.” He flipped through the chart at the foot of my bed. “Honestly Ms. Collins, you’re lucky to be alive. I have a feeling a lot of that has to do with the fact that you’re a witch.”
That was very possible. “Thank you, doctor, but I’d like to go home as soon as I can.”
Simon stood. “I’m sorry, she’s stubborn. I’ll make sure she understands that it’s not really an option right now.”
Dr. Newport gave him a skeptical look and then looked down at the chart. “You’re looking at a minimum of three days.”
Which meant that I wasn’t going to be able to make it to the meeting with Ira. Panic started to fill me, did that count as breaking the truce? “Thank you, doctor; I don’t mean to sound ungrateful.”
“You’re a Paranormal Investigation Agent, Ms. Collins; I’m sure you’re just itching to get back to the job.”
I nodded. “Thank you.”
“I’ll send the nurse in to take your vitals and take care of any other needs you have.” He signed something on the chart and then walked out.
I looked at Simon. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll—”
“Go get you coffee.” He cut me off and gave me a grin. “I’ll be back.”
“I need to make a few phone calls anyways.”
“Don’t go anywhere.” He winked at me and left the room.
Like I could go somewhere, I was in pain, there was an IV attached to my good arm, my bad arm was in a sling, keeping it close to my body, and even breathing seemed to hurt my stomach.
I needed Clarissa’s pain potion. I sighed and grabbed my phone. I dialed Merick and waited for him to answer.
“You’re awake finally.”
“Yeah, demon attack, gunshot wounds, I’ll catch you up later. I know where I first saw the runes. It was on a body at one of Ira's old labs.”
He chuckled. “Always thinking of work Abby, thank you for the connection. Do you need anything?”
“I have some of Clarissa’s pain potion left, will you bring that and my big book of everything? Also, did you talk to my uncle?”
“Yes, he’s agreed to do the spell, but then you ended up in the hospital.”
I let out a sigh. “It wasn’t the plan.”
“I know it wasn’t. I’ll be there in a little bit. Who does Levi have watching you?”
“Simon, for now. I have a feeling that Mario will be back tomorrow.”
“And you’re going to stand for that?” Merick couldn’t keep the laugh out of his voice.
“I’m not really standing for anything right now Merick; there’s a hole in my stomach.”
And he started laughing harder. “Okay, I’ll be there in a bit.” He disconnected the call, and I settled back into the bed, focusing on my breathing to try and cut the pain down.
The nurse came and went by the time that Simon came back with my coffee. He set it on the little tray that slid over my bed.
“What did the nurse say?”
“He gave me some painkillers, checked everything, and then went about his job. He said that I can try to get up and walk a little later if I want, but I can’t push it too much because I can tear my stitches.” I took the coffee with my good arm. “Everything is so fucked up right now.”
Simon sighed. “Had Nick been here, you would have had back up. Hell, I could have gone with you if you wanted a neutral party.”
“And you would be dead because my magic failed. It was three against one. It was a stupid choice not to go in with back up, and it almost cost me my life. But that’s not what I’m talking about.”
He raised a brow. “What’s happened since we had dinner?”
“Mario led me into a trap with his maker and Ira. Ira’s ability is apparently to cause flashbacks to his feedings, I found out some things that I need to confirm, my uncle traded my safety for his, Clarissa’s killer still isn’t caught, but I think the two cases are connected. I…” I frowned. “Simon, I have nowhere to turn because I can’t trust Levi and Mario completely, Clarissa’s gone, and I’m waiting for Liz to disappear like Nick did.”
“You have Merick and me.” He slowly pried the coffee out of my hands and set it on the tray. He took my hand and kissed it.
I felt myself break, I tried to keep the sobs down, but I bowed my head and let the tears fall. Simon rolled the tray away and climbed on the bed and slowly pulled me to him. I put my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes.
“You’ve been through a lot, Abby.” He kissed my head. He let me lean my head on him while he stroked my hair. I ran out of tears at some point, but I didn’t move. I wanted the comfort and moving would have hurt.
He pulled back finally. “Drink your coffee.” He handed it back to me before moving the tray.
I sipped the cooling liquid and sighed. “Thank you for letting me cry on you.”
“Of course, what kind of guard wolf would I be if I didn’t.” He laughed and went back to his seat. “Besides, you obviously needed it.”
I did. “What am I going to do for three days in the hospital?”
“You’re not going to be staying in the hospital.” Oliver’s voice came from the doorway. “I’m going to heal most of the damage, and you’ll be going home. Still on strict bedrest though, Abby.”
Merick walked in behind him, his face was blank, and I couldn’t tell if he agreed or not with my uncle.
“Why not heal it all the way?”
“Because Ira has already received word that you are injured.”
“This is going to be like the time you turned me over to Tomes isn’t it?”
Simon’s eyes grew wide. “He’s going to hand you to Ira?”
“No, I’m going willingly because there’s a truce in place, but if Ira is expecting me to be injured and I show up perfectly fine, he’ll start to question Oliver’s abilities, because I’m sure he knows that Oliver is visiting me. Ira’s not stupid.”
“Exactly, and healing is not a skill listed on my resume. It’s a rare ability, and Levi hasn’t taken in anyone new who might be able to do it.” He shook his head. “I don’t like this at all, niece.”
“You’re not the one sitting in the hospital with two bullet holes in her, imagine this from my perspective.” I tapped my head with my good hand. “Nor are you the one with a nasty vampire bite side-effect. Asshole.”
His smirk quirked up, and he shook his head. “He’d know the moment I fixed that, but now, a spell, anyone can do that for you.” His eyes slid to Simon. “Well, except the wolf.”
“Or Mario.”
Both Merick and Oliver growled at the name.
“Heal her first, let them keep her one more night, and then she goes home. We can’t do the spell in the hospital so that will have to wait.” Merick crossed his arms. “I can’t believe you’re going to go back to meet with Ira.”
“She goes to the mansion. Levi will not allow her to be alone when she’s still injured.” My uncle looked right at me. “Do not fight him on that, please Abigail.”
“I. Have. A. Job.” I ground out. “Do you people not understand that?”
“And I believe that Agent Jefferson put you on desk work.”
How was it that my uncle knew everything? “Fine. Where are you going to do the spell?”
“When you go home
during the day to get more things. Simon will be with you, Levi will believe you are safe.” Oliver looked at Simon, and he let out a sigh. “You know I’ll do anything for her.”
“Good wolf.”
“Be nice,” I growled. “And when the connection is gone?”
“Ira won’t be able to use it against you in the meeting. Which is what he was planning on doing.”
I closed my eyes and leaned my head back. “I hate vampire rules. How is that not against the truce?”
“Ira was not to touch you, speak to you about certain things, and in exchange for that, you would not attack him or use your magic.”
I wrinkled my nose. “That leaves a lot of things open for him. Not for me.”
“You can take your weapons,” Merick pointed out. “Defend yourself without magic.”
Seeing as my magic failed earlier and I now had two holes in me, it wasn’t a bad alternative. “He’s going to kill me. I know it.”
“No he won’t Abby, he wants you alive for now. He’s forcing Levi’s hands in a lot of things. It’s part of his game; you have time to think through your moves.” Oliver motioned to me. “Play it right, and you’ll be the one who lives.”
I sighed. “Okay, come on, let’s get on with the healing.” I glanced at Simon. He smiled and excused himself as his phone rang. I wanted to call him back, but I knew he had other things to worry about.
Oliver worked his magic and left. Merick handed me a bag that had my big book of everything and Clarissa’s potion in it. “Your uncle playing for both sides is dangerous.”
“I can’t say anything.” I shrugged my good shoulder; it’d been decided to leave some of the damage on the shoulder that was shot. I took the top off the bottle with Clarissa’s potion in it and downed the liquid. Part of me mourned that I’d just finished off the last potion she made for me.
“I’m living with a member of the Cult of Ra, going after a demon that shreds people, and facing down Ira. Oh not to mention, I’m going to cast a truth spell on my uncle. And you’re going to help me.” I let out a wicked grin and started flipping through my book.
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