Page 63 of Once Upon a Curse for True Love
The magimedic met his eyes.“We’ll do everything we can.”
Two of them lifted Sarah Michelle onto a hovering stretcher, while a third attempted to examine Donatello’s wound.
“You need medical attention too, detective.”She frowned at the charred hole in his uniform.“That’s a severe magical burn.”
Donatello shook his head.“Later.I’m going with her.”
The magimedic looked like she wanted to argue, but something in his expression must have convinced her otherwise.She nodded.“At least let me stabilize it for transport.”
While the feds secured Graves, the magimedic applied a cooling gel to Donatello’s wound and wrapped it in a bandage infused with healing magic.The pain dulled to a manageable throb.
Behind them, the lich continued to watch with those dead eyes, even as they moved him, still contained within the energy net, toward an armored vehicle.
“This isn’t over,” he called, his voice reaching Donatello despite the distance.“We will meet again, detective.I promise you that.”
Donatello ignored him, focusing instead on following the stretcher bearing Sarah Michelle toward the waiting ambulance.The magimedics loaded her, the interior of the vehicle already humming with magical life-support equipment.
Donatello climbed in, dropping onto the bench just as the doors slammed shut.The ambulance lurched into motion, siren wailing as it sped across Salem’s leaf-strewn streets.
Chapter Twenty-five
Bleach Blonde and Bulletproof, Baby
ANDROMEDA
Andromeda burst through the hospital doors, startling an elderly couple in the waiting area.Her heart hammered against her ribs, and the antiseptic smell that assaulted her nostrils only heightened her panic.She hadn’t stopped shaking since witnessing the feeds go dark, since hearing those terrible screams cut off into silence.She nearly collided with the reception desk as she demanded to know where they were keeping Detectives Malatesta and Callidora.
“They’re being treated in the same room,” the nurse told her.“ER ward three.But only family is allowed—”
Andromeda was already sprinting down the hallway before the woman could finish her sentence.Family?She was basically Sarah Michelle’s sister.And Donatello… well, that was complicated, still unnamed, but she’d be damned if anyone was going to stop her from seeing him.
The fluorescent lights flickered overhead as she raced past gurneys and medical staff, her boots squeaking on the polished floor.When she reached Room 3, she paused to catch her breath, willing herself to seem vaguely sane before going in.
Sarah Michelle lay on the bed closest to the window, her skin pale as the stark white sheets.But it was her hair that made Andromeda do a double-take.The black-blue locks that framed her friend’s face were gone, replaced by a shocking platinum blonde that glowed under the harsh hospital lighting.The transformation was so jarring that for a moment Andromeda thought she’d entered the wrong room.
Shelly’s boyfriend, Lorcan, sat by her bed, looking as ashen as the patient herself.His usually immaculate blonde hair was disheveled as if he’d been running his fingers through it for hours, and dark circles shadowed his eyes.He clung to Sarah Michelle’s hand like both their lives depended on the contact.
On the other side of the room, Donatello occupied the second bed.Unlike Sarah Michelle, who was tucked under hospital blankets in a standard-issue gown, he was still dressed in his tactical gear—pants and boots intact, but bare-chested except for the gauze wrapped around his torso.The white bandages contrasted with his olive skin.
Andromeda stood frozen in the doorway, her gaze bouncing between the two people she cared about most in the world.Both alive.Both hurt.Both needing her.
She wavered, torn by indecision over which bed to approach first until she registered how close Lorcan hovered to Sarah Michelle.He looked like he’d bite the head off anyone who got too close to his injured girlfriend.Shelly was taken care of.
Decision made, Andromeda crossed to Donatello’s bedside, cataloging his bruises and bandages.His face was drawn, tired beyond physical exhaustion, but his eyes brightened when he saw her.
“Took you long enough,” he said, his voice rougher than usual.“I was starting to think you’d written me off.”The attempt at light-heartedness couldn’t mask the relief in his expression.
“Are you okay?”She touched his arm, needing the physical confirmation that he was warm and alive.
He caught her hand, his thumb tracing circles on her palm.“Magical lightning bolt to the side.Not my favorite experience.”He managed a crooked smile.“Doc says I’ll have a heroic scar.Might need some extra special care for the next few days.”The way his eyebrow quirked up at “special care” made it clear he wasn’t talking about medical attention.
On the day she would’ve sworn she’d never smile again, Andromeda grinned at him.If he could still joke about sex, he’d probably survive.“You’re making bedroom eyes at me while lying in an ER, you’ll be fine.”
She gave his hand a squeeze before turning toward the other bed.“What about you, blondie?This a permanent look, or a fashion statement?”
Sarah Michelle’s tired eyes crinkled at the corners.“It seems that when a soul-sucking lich drains your life force, it does a number on your hair pigmentation.”She lifted a strand of the platinum locks, examining them with a mix of fascination and resignation.“The good news is I’ve been revived and my soul is intact.But the new hair color is gonna stick around.”
“The magimedics said there’s nothing to be done about it,” Lorcan added.
