There were times I had to wonder why I was even here. There had been days when I hadn’t had any direct patient contact, other than what I obtained working with the residents, and it left me feeling a little bit guilty.
“I’m going to get a cup of coffee,” I said, getting my feet and logging out of the computer.
“I’ll let them know.”
I disappeared along the hallway, heading back into the lounge. It was empty, though I had suspected it would be. We weren’t so quiet today that there was any time for the residents to sit back here and unwind. It was the middle of the day, at a time when there would be others working, and typically the only times when we had people coming back here and relaxing were during the change of shift or when we were slower.
I wasn’t much of a coffee drinker, but on days like this, I figured it couldn’t hurt to have some caffeine in me to help keep my mind clear. I would’ve preferred tea, or even a Diet Coke, but we didn’t have those here. Most of the people in the ER were coffee drinkers, and that was what we had.
After pouring myself a cup, I took a seat, leaning back on the sofa. It reminded me of the one in Barden’s office, which wasn’t nearly as comfortable as this one. I leaned back, closing my eyes, holding onto the coffee. As I did, I took a few steadying breaths.
“I need your help.”
I looked around quickly, spilling coffee on my lap. There was no one in the room with me. Where had that come from?
“I need your help.” It came again. This time it was clear where it came from—and who it came from.
“Kate?” I felt foolish speaking her name allowed, especially as her voice had come from within my mind, but why would she have called out to me? It was the first time I’d heard from her in over a year—long enough I couldn’t imagine she was even still alive.
“Find me.”
“How?”
“Find me.”
I trembled, the coffee jittering in my hand, and I forced myself to set it down, worried I might spill more if I continued to hold onto it.
I waited for her to say something more, but the voice in my head became even more distant, disappearing altogether. I hadn’t imagined it. I knew I hadn’t, and in the moment where I had detected it, I had also felt a surge of interconnectedness with Kate. It was there, a distinct sense, and yet, now it was gone—now she was gone—that sense was gone. Everything had faded, disappearing back into nothingness, leaving me feeling empty.
Getting to my feet, I paced around the room. Kate needed me. Barden was gone. There was no evidence of Veran and Cynthia. What choice did I have but to try to find her?
I might have been able to create a few additional spell coins, but would they be enough for me if we decided to try to cross the Veil? Even when I had thought about it before, I wasn’t sure if I would have enough strength to do so, but now I had heard the summons within my mind, I couldn’t help but feel as if there was a need for me.
Pulling out my phone, I tapped in Brad’s number.
“What’s up, babe?”
“Babe?”
“You don’t care for it?”
“I guess that’s fine,” I said.
“I thought you were working today. Everything okay?”
“Can you… can you cover for me?”
There was a pause on the other hand. “Why?”
“It’s my grandfather. He’s not doing well.”
Without hesitating, Brad said, “I’ll be right there.”
He hung up, and I continued pacing in the room. I hated asking Brad and hated having to keep this from him—at least, I had to keep from him the real reason I needed his help. I wasn’t sure how Brad would react, and whether or not he would even understand. It was difficult for anyone to understand what I was going through. I wasn’t even sure what I was going through.
My mind was racing, thinking through what I would need to do as soon as Brad got here. I would head back to the condo, grab all of the spell coins and I could—including my collection we’d taken off of John Adams and Matt, and then I would need to go to Darvish. We would have to find a way to cross the Veil.
If Kate was reaching out to me, then maybe she was reaching out to him, too. Then again, maybe not.
It didn’t take long before Brad arrived and joined me in the lounge. “Thanks for covering for me.”
“Any time. You know, I’m sure we could ask Alan to cover. I could go with you…” There was an earnestness in his voice and were it any real situation with my grandfather—or even with Barden—I would have him do so. I thought about how he had been introducing me to his family, and bringing me into his world, and as close as we had become over the last few months, I thought I ought to do so—and needed to—but I was having a hard time knowing what to do, especially with what I was going through.
“Maybe it’s nothing. As soon as the shift is over, why don’t you stop by and check in with me?”
He nodded.
I stood on my toes, kissing him briefly. “You’re the best.”
“You’d better say that.”
I grabbed his hand, holding it and squeezing for a moment before finally letting it go. I didn’t like leaving him. If I did cross the Veil, there was the possibility I’d be gone for far longer than a few hours. If time passed differently on this side of the Veil, it meant I could lose too much time. If that happened, what would happen to Brad and me?
There was no time to think about it. Instead, I needed to focus on my friend and what she needed from me.
It didn’t take long for me to reach the condo. When I was there, I piled food into the food dish for Lucy the cat, filled up her water bowl, whispering to her how I hoped I wasn’t going to be gone so long that she would starve, and then found the pouch with all of the spell coins stuffed in it. I thought about getting Barden’s wand, but if he was in danger on the other side of the Veil, I couldn’t be drawing on his power. Instead, I would have to use my own.
What sort of clothing what I need on the other side? I didn’t know how to dress and didn’t know what weather to expect there, but if nothing else, I would bring a jacket. I figured jeans and a short-sleeve shirt would be beneficial, and anything more I would have to find on the other side of the Veil. Regardless, I would likely be dressed strangely for that side.
It occurred to me I was in no way prepared for what I was planning. What was I even thinking, trying to cross the Veil? I had magic, but I didn’t have the kind of magic which would make a difference on the other side. But I couldn’t shake the sense of Kate’s voice ringing in my head. She wanted my help. How could I do anything but help my friend?
Racing down to the car, making sure the door was locked behind me—and not just locked, but magically sealed—I found my way over to Barden’s warehouse. Once inside, I looked around, and found it was quiet. There were a few people working today, unlike the last time I’d been here, which suggested that though Barden might be gone, his empire had not stopped operating.
Passing through the main part of the warehouse, I headed to the back, forcing my way through the doors, and reached his office. There was no sign of Darvish anywhere. I made my way back out to the main part of the warehouse and looked at each of the cubicles. The people there were unfamiliar to me, and I didn’t know whether I could even ask them for any assistance. Rather than doing so, I made my way back out of the warehouse.
I had the names of other dark mages I’d worked with when it came to Barden, but I didn’t have any way of reaching them. Taking a seat in my car, I had one other option, but it was one I didn’t want to have to use.
Finding the marker was relatively easy. I held it in the palm of my hand. It was different from the other spell coins I’d made. There was power within this token and it connected me to Jean-Pierre. In doing so, it connected me to his power. Squeezing the coin, I sent a request through it.
The last time I’d done it, I hadn’t known how long it would take for him to get back to me, though I wasn’t surprised he’d r
esponded quickly. Jean-Pierre owed me a debt, and I had a sense from him that he hated owing someone anything, particularly a hedge mage like myself.
This time, as I squeezed the coin, I sat in the front seat of the car, staring straight ahead and looking at the warehouse. There was no sign of movement in or out, and there was no evidence of magic anywhere around me. That should have been my first sign when I arrived. Though there was an undercurrent of power, that steady swirling energy which suggested there was magic somewhere here, there was no active activity, nothing to tell me that Barden or Darvish or any of their ilk were even here.
Could Darvish have gone after Barden on his own? It was something I wouldn’t be surprised to learn he’d do. I had little doubt Darvish would have far more success than me in reaching Barden. With his experience on the other side of the Veil, Darvish might be able to reach Barden. If he had also heard the summons from Kate, then there would be a reason for him to go.
“Drive.”
I tried to turn, when a sudden desire to look straight ahead overwhelmed me.
“Drive, Dr. Stone.”
I put the car into drive and started off down the street. “You know, Jean-Pierre, you could arrive like a normal person.”
He somehow slipped into the front seat and sat next to me. There was a presence to him, an energy. I glanced over, noting that he was dressed in a pinstripe blue suit like an aging CEO.
“I am not a normal person,” he said.
“I don’t think anyone’s going to debate that.”
“Why did you summon me?”
“I need your help.”
“Again, why did you summon me?”
“I received a call from my friend. I haven’t heard anything from her in a year or more, and all of a sudden…”
“You are concerned about this, combined with what you have heard from Barden’s men.”
“I think that makes it a good reason for me to be concerned.”
“I would concur.”
“In this case, I don’t know why she called.”
“How did she reach you?”
“I heard her voice in my head.” It sounded strange to admit it, and yet, in this case, I was talking to an elder vampire, something else which should be strange to me. At this point in my life, it was no longer the strange situation it once would have been. Now there was nothing more than relief at Jean-Pierre coming to offer whatever help he might be able to provide.
“Has she done that before?”
“She hasn’t spoken in my head before,” I said. There had been a sense, and perhaps she had spoken to me, though it had never been as clear as this time. This was a distinctive voice, almost as if she had actually been there, and this had been more distressed than the last time. That time, she’d been distracted, offering me a hint of help, enough to ensure I was protected against the vampires. And that time, she had been calling to ensure I was protected. This time, she was calling because she needed help. Could she have discovered I had mastered magic in a certain way?
“You intend to go after her?” Jean-Pierre asked.
“I think I have to.”
“There is no have to when it comes to this. You choose whether or not you do this for your friend.”
“Exactly. She is my friend.”
“I can’t cross the Veil, if that is why you summoned me.”
There had been a part of me hoping Jean-Pierre would be willing to go, but I hadn’t expected it. He might owe me a certain debt, but I didn’t think it would extend to risking himself in a place he had already told me was dangerous. “You could. One of the other house vampires has done so.”
“It was a mistake for him to do so. And he did not stay long. The dangers were too great.”
“That’s not what I’m asking.”
“Then what are you asking, Dr. Stone?”
I slowed the car, turning toward him. It terrified me, but at the same time, it was what I thought needed to happen, especially if I was going to go someplace where I was going to be putting myself into the danger I worried I would be.
I took a deep breath, meeting his gaze. There was an intensity in Jean-Pierre’s eyes, almost as if he knew what I was going to ask for. And, I had to realize, it was possible he did know. Perhaps he had a way of reading my mind, of determining the things I might need, or perhaps it was merely the fact I had called to him. It was possible he’d anticipated what I might need. Either way, there was a distinct sense of excitement on his face.
“I think you know what I’m asking of you.”
“I think so, too. And yet, I would like for you to say it.”
“Why?”
“Because for this to have any value to you, you must request it.”
I took a deep breath, staring at him, and a shiver worked through me. I hated that this was happening, and that it had come to this, but what choice did I have? The moment I did this, the moment I allowed Jean-Pierre to truly make me his familiar. I would change. It was possible I would change to the extent that I could no longer have any sense of normalcy. I think that was what worried me the most. I didn’t want to lose the sense of normalcy I already had, and furthermore, I didn’t want to lose the connection I had with Brad. It was the best relationship I had experienced, and to lose it now, after we had only discovered it, left me with a surprising ache.
But this was Kate. This was someone who had helped me without any regard for herself. This was someone who had offered her home to me, and who had shown me there was more to the world than I had ever known. This was the person I owed everything to. I didn’t have many friends—real friends—but Kate was certainly the best of them. In the time I had come to know him, Barden was a friend as well. I had to believe something had happened and he had gotten caught up in trying to help Kate, which meant he had risked himself on her behalf. With my type of magic, I wouldn’t be able to do enough to protect him. I wouldn’t be able to do enough to protect Kate. What I needed was more.
Taking a deep breath, I turned to Jean-Pierre. “I would like to formalize the relationship between us. I want you to make me your familiar.”
With a smile and a flash of fangs, Jean-Pierre leaned toward me.
11
I sat alone in the car, dried blood on my neck lingering, and something within me changed, though I didn’t know what it was. Jean-Pierre had left me, as there was nothing more he could offer me. I was alone, staring out the front window, hands on the steering wheel. The sensation of the bite had been a mixture of feelings. There had been the surge of pain, though it had been brief, as Jean-Pierre had claimed. After it left, there was a surge of cold, a sense that reminded me of magic being used, and then it had faded, and with it came a feeling of flushed energy.
I worried about that. I remembered asking him whether the bite would somehow turn me, but he claimed it would not. There had to be a different intention, and a different process, in order for me to be turned by a vampire. What he was doing now was little more than symbolic, and yet, there was something more than symbolic to it. If it granted me the strength and speed he’d promised, then maybe it might be enough for me to be able to have whatever I might need in order to protect Kate and to reach Barden on the other side of the Veil.
A tap on the window jerked me away, and I looked over to see Darvish standing there. I blinked. He hadn’t gone after Barden?
“Darvish?”
“What are you doing here, Dr. Stone?”
“I came here looking for you.”
“I…” He frowned, cocking his head to the side as he stared at me. “What happened?”
I reached my hand my neck, and wiped away the remains of the blood, and grimaced. I had hoped to conceal it from others. I didn’t want anyone to know what had happened to me. “Nothing.”
“Are you sure? It doesn’t exactly seem like nothing.” Maybe he didn’t know what it was.
“I got a message from Kate.”
He took a step back, frowning. “How?”
�
�By that, I assume you didn’t get the same message.”
“I didn’t get any message.”
“Then where have you been?”
Darvish glanced along the street. “Is this really the best place for us to have this conversation?”
“Where else would we be having it?”
“I would suggest we go into one of the warehouses, or even just in the car.”
He made his way around the car and took a seat next to me. As he did, a surge of magic flowed from him, and I suspected he was sealing himself inside, closing off the outside so anyone else who might be around wouldn’t be able to listen.
“Do you care to tell me what happened?”
“I was at work and I heard Kate. It came from within my mind,” I said, tapping on the side of my head. “She asked me to help her. To find her.”
“Are you sure it was Kate?”
“Who else is going to talk inside my mind?”
“I don’t know. How many others have you formed that sort of connection with?”
There was something more to the way he asked which suggested he knew exactly what had just happened, though he hadn’t pushed. “Kate is only one who has the ability to talk inside my head. She’s in trouble.”
“We already knew she was in trouble.”
“And yet, this was the first time she came to me asking for help. I don’t know what’s going on, but I do know we need to find a way to help.”
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