Page 57 of Bite of Passage
There was also the bracelet he gave her.No matter the hurtful words he tossed at her, he’d gone to the dwarves to have them make this for her.He’d once spoken of the dwarves, that he didn’t trust them, saying they despised vampires.For her, he’d suffered their attitude.He’d faced VanFliet, whom he must’ve known lurked in the area.
She worried nonstop about the people she’d left behind, him in particular.The healer instinct in her said Skarde needed someone to make him remember what it was like to have fun and live.She wasn’t exactly a theme park tour guide overflowing with infectious positivity, but something about Skarde brought out the lighter side of her own personality.She’d never in her life had a frank conversation about the craziness of her boobs, not even with Val.One wardrobe malfunction in this world and she’d hide in embarrassment.She’d also never talked dirty simply to see if she could get a guy off.
Beep.Beep.
Her desk phone flashed a call from the main ER floor.
Back to work.She answered the phone.
“Gemma, sorry to interrupt your lunch, but there’s a patient who came in and he’s asking for you,” the supervising nurse on the ER floor said.
“What’s wrong with him?”
“Motor-vehicle accident.He’s nuts and won’t let anyone touch him but you.He’s bad.Hurry.Curtain six.”
“On my way.”
Maybe it was someone from her building, not that she was buddy-buddy with any of her neighbors.Maybe it was an old patient she’d connected with.Who else did she know well enough for them to request her?
She navigated the busy floor to the area reserved for trauma patients.Two nurses and one of the interns stood around the bed, waiting to stabilize a pale man she gauged to be in his early twenties.One of his arms appeared to be broken.Glass was still strewn in his hair.Deep cuts shredded his face and nose.His head looked swollen and bruised.
“Don’t touch me,” he gasped as one nurse reached for his arm.“Gemma Leight.I need Gemma.”
“I’m here,” she announced as she moved closer.“Do we know each other?”
His clear brown eyes locked on to her.He grabbed her wrist and rolled it while murmuring what she recognized as a spell.It didn’t seem malicious.He touched the exact spot Fontaine had lit up.Thank God, it didn’t glow.Thatshe’d never be able to explain to her cohort.“The medicinal.”
Said as fact.
His gaze filled with relief as it met hers.
Her gut cramped.Friend or foe?“I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”
“Who is he?”the intern asked her.
Someone from another realm.Probably a warlock or mage.
Gemma shrugged a silentI-don’t-know.
The guy pulled her close and rasped out, “They’re here.Assassins.They’re dangerous.I jumped over here to warn you, but they’ve killed me.”He drew in a deep, shaky breath.“You’re our last hope.You have to go back.The vampire is in trouble.”
“How do I get to him?”she whispered without a shred of doubt the patient meant Skarde.
“Don’t let them have it.Don’t let them get—” He grabbed her hand as his pupils dilated, his breaths stopping.
The monitoring machine they’d managed to hook up to him cried out a warning as the man’s blood pressure dropped and he went into atrial fibrillation.
On autopilot, she helped perform CPR.Drugs were pushed.A tube was shoved into his throat and breaths were given.But it was useless.He was already gone.
As his limp hand slipped from hers, she felt something still in her hand.A small piece of paper.The one on which she’d written her name when messing with Skarde’s feather quill.On the other side of the paper was written:Don’t let them get the crystal.
ChapterTwenty-Four
Knock.Knock.
A peek through her apartment’s peephole showed a cop.She hadn’t been home more than five minutes.Cold sweat broke out on her back.
Knock.Knock.
