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“When was the last time you saw her?” he asked.
“Right before I went to work. She was watching my son. She was happy. Playing with him. ”
“Where is the boy now?”
“Lyka came and took him to her suite to spend the night there. I didn’t want him to see me like this. ”
The mention of Lyka’s name got Joseph’s attention, making him wish he could spend the night in her suite, too, but he shoved his own interests aside to deal with the matter at hand. “And you had no sign that she was depressed or upset?”
Ella dabbed at her eyes with a soggy tissue. “I told you. She was happy. We were safe here—or so I thought. ”
“What do you mean by that?” he asked.
“I mean that someone had to have done this to her. She did not kill herself. ”
Joseph nodded and cupped her shoulder in what he hoped was a gesture of comfort. He was all ragged nerves and exhaustion these days, and he wasn’t sure he even remembered what comfort looked like. “Okay. We’ll look into it. We won’t assume anything. In the meantime, I need you to stay somewhere else. Can you spend the night in a friend’s suite?”
Ella nodded. “Yeah. I’m sure Lyka will let me stay, and she’s already got all of the baby’s things. ”
“Do you want me to walk you there?” He wanted her to say yes so he could catch a glimpse of Lyka, but he could tell before he finished the question that Ella was going to turn him down.
“No, it’s only a few doors down. What I want from you is to find out who did this. ”
Joseph nodded, biting back the promise that formed behind his lips. There were no guarantees that they’d find anyone, and even fewer that there was anyone to find. Beth had been in those caves a long time—much longer than Ella had. She didn’t know what Beth had been through. From all accounts, Ella had already been pregnant when she’d been taken into the demon caves. She couldn’t have known what it was like to suffer the way that Beth had.
Chances were that Beth had simply been hiding her depression from her sister to save her the pain. If so, she was a troubled woman, but a good one. For that reason alone, he would treat her death with the care and attention it deserved.
Ella left, and Joseph went to join the two men in the bathroom. The space was big enough for all of them, but Beth’s body took up a lot of room all the same. Her faded presence hung there like an empty spot in the air, sucking out all chances of happiness.
“What do you think?” he asked.
Tynan set the woman’s hand on her stomach and stood. “She has been drained of blood. ”
“I see that. She cut herself open from the elbow to her wrist. ”
“No,” said Tynan. “If she’d done that, there would have been more pooling of blood in her limbs when her heart became too weak to pump it out. Gravity would have held some inside of her body. ”
“And there would have been more staining on her clothes,” added Nicholas. “The water was hot. Would have set the blood. Plus, her head isn’t wet. I think it would have been hard to turn the shower on without at least getting hit a little before she laid back. ”
“So it wasn’t suicide,” said Joseph on a sigh. “She was killed. ”
“Drained,” said Tynan again.
And then the meaning of his word kicked in, slamming Joseph in the gut. “This was one of the Sanguinar?”
Tynan nodded gravely. “I believe so. Someone became too desperate, too hungry. ”
“We need to find him. Now. ”
“That won’t be a problem,” said Tynan.
“Why not?”
“Her blood still held the taint of Synestryn. I was working to filter it out, but there was little I could do for her. She wasn’t as bad off as Tori was, but any of my kind who drank this much from her will be desperately ill. There will probably be signs of blisters on their mouth as well, since they wouldn’t have been able to heal themselves with her blood. ”
Joseph looked at Nicholas’s scarred face. “Close the gate. We’re on lockdown. No one leaves until I say so. ”
“I’m on it,” said Nicholas, and he left.
“You,” Joseph said to Tynan, “gather every Sanguinar and check them out. Find who did this and bring him to me. Understood?”
Tynan nodded. “Of course. But please, I beg you to keep this between us. If the humans think we’re out to hurt them . . . ”
“I won’t say anything until we’ve found our killer. But you find him tonight, Tynan. I’m not letting another human under my care die like this. ”
Tynan started to leave, but Joseph stopped him. “Can you fix her arm—just the skin. I don’t want her sister remembering her like this. ”
Tynan ran his finger along the woman’s skin, knitting it shut. It left a bluish line that wasn’t quite right, but it was better than the gaping flesh that had been there before.
After Tynan left, Joseph stripped the wet clothes from Beth and left them in the tub. He picked her up and carried her into the nearest bedroom, where he dressed her in something bright and cheerful. After he was done, he arranged her body so she looked comfortable, and covered her with a blanket.
Tomorrow they would bury her and burn her clothes and bedding to make sure no traces of blood remained behind. Tonight, Beth would lie in a real bed one last time before they returned her to the earth, where she’d spent far too many years of her young life.
Pain burrowed behind his eyes, throbbing as it worked its way down his spine. He tried to ignore it, but when things like this happened—when he failed in his duties to protect the humans under his care—the pain was always worse. It was like it knew when he was weakest.
Joseph left the suite to crawl into his shower and wash away the grief and loss the last few hours had left on him. His shoulders bowed. He felt older, weaker. As he passed Lyka’s suite, his feet slowed as he lingered outside of her door.
Seeing her always made him feel better—distracted him from the pain—and right now he would have given nearly anything to feel even a little better. But Ella needed comfort more than Joseph did, so he kept walking.
Chapter 19
Rory’s hands kept slipping on Cain’s blood. There was so much of it. The duct tape was coated and slick, making it impossible for her to tear off strips.
She used her teeth, and tasted something vile. Her tongue went instantly numb. She didn’t even hesitate to turn her head and spit the horrible substance from her mouth.
Ronan cast a quick glance over his shoulder at her. “Don’t you dare swallow that. He’s poisoned. ”
Eww. He didn’t need to tell her twice. She wiped her tongue on her sleeve as she settled for wrapping Cain’s arm without tearing the tape.
She didn’t know how he was still alive after all the blood he’d lost, but she could feel his presence dangling at the other end of the luceria, keeping her from freaking out.
Ronan spoke into his phone. “We need help. . . . Three Handlers and at least eight or nine demons. . . . Cain’s been poisoned. I’m going to need blood. ”
Rory had just started adding another layer of tape to the first, insufficient one when Ronan said, “Come take the wheel. I need to tend him. ”
“Where do I go?”
He went through a few screens on his phone, sparing only an occasional glance at the deserted road. “GPS will lead you to a Gerai house. There’s a tracking device in the van, so they’ll be able to see where we’re headed. ”
They did an awkward maneuver that put her behind the wheel. She gripped it tight, and sought out Cain’s weak presence. She gathered it close, trying to reassure him that he was going to make it.
Rory had lost too many people in her life. She’d just started caring about Cain. It wasn’t fair that she’d lose him, too. Not now. Not so soon.
Then again, maybe it would be better if she didn’t grow any more attached to him. A man like Cain would be too easy to sink into and let hersel
f be carried away on pretty wings of trust—trust that he’d return her affection. Trust that he’d survive.
No one could promise her that, not even someone as powerful as Cain.
And if she hadn’t believed that before, she did now. He bled just like anyone else. That meant he could die just like anyone else.
She didn’t realize she was pulling away from that faint, familiar essence of his until she felt him lurch for her. She’d been sliding back into herself, cutting him off as if he were already dead.
Here he was dying and she was abandoning him, just to save herself a little pain.
So fucking selfish.
Rory slipped back to where she’d been, offering a silent apology. She wasn’t sure if he could understand her or not, but for now it was all she could do. The closer to civilization she got, the more she had to concentrate on seeing the road rather than what others saw.
“I’m not going to be able to go much longer,” she warned Ronan. “My visions are getting too thick, and I won’t be able to see through them. ”
Ronan didn’t answer. She glanced in the rearview mirror and saw him bent over Cain’s body. He was stripped to the waist, and so pale she hardly recognized him. Only the lifelike image of the tree seemed familiar.
Someone nearby opened their fridge, and the blinding light seared her eyeballs. She hissed and held the wheel straight, hoping that kept them on the road. The van slowed without her foot on the gas. She felt the looser ridge of gravel at the edge, and eased the van back to the left.
Finally, the vision passed and her eyes adjusted again to the darkness. It dawned on her that she’d been driving without the lights, using Cain’s power to allow her to see.
She was getting way too accustomed to having access to magic. It came easily to her. All she had to do was listen to her instincts and things happened. Just like magic.
Cain groaned in pain, and she took that as a good sign.
“How’s it going back there?”
A cold blast of air sucked the heat from the van. Ronan sent Cain’s bloody tape-covered clothes out the window. “He’ll live. Assuming we don’t run into demons before help arrives. ”
“I could hold them off again. Like I did before. ”
“Yes, but for how long? Dawn is hours away. ”
A trio of visions shoved their way into her brain all at once, blinding her with their intensity.
“Don’t slow down,” said Ronan. “There are still traces of blood on us. ”
“Can’t help it. I can’t see a damn thing. ”
“Let me. ”
They did the awkward tango, switching places, only this time it was harder with her unable to see much of anything. As the visions cleared, she saw that Ronan was in bad shape again. Pale, gaunt, shaking. She wanted to offer him her blood—he had saved Cain after all—but she worried about it leaving her too weak to keep them safe.
“I’ll be fine,” he said, as if he’d heard her thoughts. “I’ve lived through much worse than this. Go back there and clean off as much blood as you can. ”