Page 35 of Expose Me

“Your wound is infected. We need to get some antibiotics,” he stated as he finished.

“It looks fine.” I frowned. There was no pus or any other signs of infection.

“I can sense it. In your blood.” He looked down at my leg, at the spot where his hand was resting just below my wound. His brow furrowed, like the infection had personally offended him.

I brushed his hand away and got out of bed on the opposite side.

“I’ll get something better than antibiotics and be ready to search for the next Onuei by the end of the day. No need to get worked up about it,” I said as I walked to the bathroom with my shoulders back.

After a quick shower, I summoned myself a change of clothes, put my hair up in a braid, and walked out to find Zey sitting in one of the chairs at the little table. The second one was back in its spot, my dry blood blending in with the dark fabric of the seat. A paper bag and a takeout cup sat on the table.

I hobbled over, Zey watching my every move.

“What’s this?” I frowned.

“You require sustenance, do you not?” He cocked his head to the side, his expression unreadable.

“I ... yes. You went out to get me breakfast? Were you careful not to be seen?”

“Of course.” He gave me a small, amused smile as he shifted only his face into that of an older man with bushy eyebrows, then returned it back to his own.

I lowered myself gingerly onto the chair and dug into the bacon and egg bagel. I was starving. The cup was full of steaming coffee with just a splash of cream and half a sugar. He knew exactly how I had my coffee.

“Thank you.” I avoided his gaze as I took a big bite of the bagel.

“It’s my pleasure,” he replied, and I could feel his eyes boring into my skull. I focused intently on finishing my breakfast.

“Sky.” He reached across the table, as if to take my hand, but drew it back. “We don’t—”

“Have a lot of time.” I put my big-girl pants on and looked at him. He’d patched me up, fed and watered me, and now he wanted me to do my job. “I know.”

“That’s not ...” He frowned, then leaned back, looking at me like my human needs were beyond inconvenient. “Where do we get what you need to heal?”

He wasn’t going to like it, but whether I went for a healing spell or vamp saliva, I needed to rest while it did its thing. It would take a fraction of the time a wound like this took to heal naturally—maybe half a day or so—but it was time we could scarcely afford to lose.

He should’ve thought of that before letting me get stabbed.

“From someone who owes me a favor,” I said, sipping on my coffee. “Where’s the Onuei?”

“Why?” His eyes narrowed.

I rolled mine. “If I hold it, it should be easier for me to find the next one. I’ll need some time to heal when I get what I need to fix this.” I huffed and gestured to my leg. “I’d rather make sure where we go to get it is not in the opposite direction of the closest Onuei. I promise not to use it to try to take over the world.”

Zey sighed and shook his head, then pulled the crank out of his pocket. I set the coffee down and reached for it, but he held on to it when I tried to take it.

“Seriously?”

“Are you sure you’re well enough to do this now? Perhaps we should get you healed first.”

I yanked the black plastic from his grip. “Stop telling me how to do my job.”

Ignoring his disapproving glare, I closed my eyes and tuned in to the energy of the Onuei. I’d searched for magical items before, even summoned them, so I was used to the extra layer of energy that came with them. It was a kind of hum, more alive than a regular inanimate object. But I’d never felt something like this. It had been muted when I used Zey as a conduit to search for them, and I’d dismissed it as that same magical item hum I was used to. Now that I held one in my hands, could sense the full force of its energy, I knew this was unlike anything I’d seen before. It was difficult to describe, but it was ...deepwas the best word I could come up with.

To my relief, holding the Onuei definitely helped me pick up on the next closest one. The ribbons in my mind were much less frayed and brittle than they had been last time. I got a very clear sense that we needed to head to Brazil, which meant we needed a powerful witch to open a portal. But first, I needed something to heal this wound.

I knew a vampire not too far from where we were who owed me a favor. I just hoped he could help us with both problems, because I had no vamp saliva in my storage, and I didn’t know any witches in this part of Europe.

I instructed Zey on how to buy a car, showed him a picture of the most average man I could find on the internet, summoned a wad of angel feathers, and sent him out to get us a ride.

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