Page 218 of Halfblood Deceived

“Vampire blood is useful like that,” Mari said. “Or more accurately, Zeydan’s blood. For some weird reason, Kamilla’s blood had no positive effect on you, but Zeydan’s did.” At Aella’s inquiring look, she elaborated. “You were dying on us after Kam and I finished taking out the pieces of the bullets from you. Diana was giving you a direct transfusion, but you wouldn’t stop bleeding and we couldn’t take more from her. Kamilla and I tried to heal you with magic, but the bullets had been poisoned with something that repelled us both. So we called in Zeydan, who poured his blood directly inside you and also gave you a transfusion—something that Sebastian did for Aylana when she almost died—and it worked. The pieces left of your kidney regrew into a full organ again right before our eyes and your wounds fully closed with barely any help from me and Kam.” She ran a hand through her chaotic green-yellow hair. “And don’t worry, you won’t turn into a vampire. Gargoyles can’t be turned.”

“I’m not worried,” Aella said. Her chest tightened as she turned her face to look at Zeydan, who was staring back at her with a mix of affection, fear, and concern. “I owe you my life. Again.”

He smiled, gently kissing her palm. “I still say our tally is even.”

Aella weakly returned his smile. Then she turned to examine Diana and Kamilla’s still beleaguered, deeply worried expressions. “What are you not telling me?”

“The bullets were laced with gargoyle magic, hollow pointed, and made of an alloy of silver, lead, and tungsten,” Andreas surprisingly answered. “They were full of cyanide and the goddess knows what kind of venom. The design is similar to the rounds we use to take down gargoyles, minus the poison. So it’s easy to assume that the male who shot you wasn’t trying to hurt your coworker, but to kill you.”

Aella felt as if someone had punched her in the chest. “What?” she squeaked.

Mari turned to glare at Andreas. “Where can I find a fucking stapler? Your skull needs one ASAP.”

Andreas rolled his eyes at her. “I was merely telling her the truth.”

“You could have done that nicely, you turnip,” Lex said.

“No, I don’t think he could have,” Aella said, as surprised to have defended Andreas as he was. “So, the fight was a distraction? And if it was, how could they have foreseen that I would protect Reese?”

“Those questions will unfortunately remain unanswered,” Kamilla said with a long sigh. “The ones who took part in the fight were under the effects of a spell. They didn’t even remember fighting after Aroth broke the spell.”

“And the one who shot me?” Aella heard herself ask, her voice hollow.

Luce leaned forward and placed her stuffed frog on top of Aella’s chest. She clutched it immediately.

Diana gave her an anguished, repentant look. “I almost killed him.” She ran her hands down her face and sighed. “I didn’t even realize I’d done so, but I broke both of his arms and most of his ribs, puncturing a lung. He’s a half-werewolf, so he doesn’t heal fast enough. They gave him a transfusion, so his blood memories were gone. And Kerian couldn’t find anything about the incident in his mind. It was magically deleted.” Her shoulders sagged. “I’m sorry.”

“No one can blame you for reacting as you did, Diana,” Kamilla assured her in the tone of someone who’d done it plenty of times already. And would do it a thousand times more if necessary.

“I would have done the same, or worse, Diana,” Zeydan assured her.

“Diana,” Aella called. Her sister gulped and met her gaze with teary blue eyes. “You did nothing wrong. Nothing. It’s not your fault.”

Diana sighed and nodded, but Aella had the feeling she wasn’t very convinced.

“Kerian found something disturbing in your attacker’s mind, however,” Kamilla told Aella. “He might not remember planning to shoot you, but he hates gargoyles and demons.”

“Like the witch who attacked me weeks ago,” Aella breathed out.

“Exactly like that,” Gabby said. “It’s disturbing, and too much of a coincidence.”

“I don’t believe in coincidences,” Andreas said.

“Neither do I,” Zeydan agreed. “But Kerian and Aylana’s investigation has shown no connections whatsoever between the fuckers so far.”

They remained in contemplative silence for a while. The beep-beep of the machines was the only noise in the room.

“So what now?” Aella asked.

Kamilla linked her fingers over her lap. “Perhaps it’s best if you take a few weeks off from work.”

“What? No!” Aella protested. “I can’t just not work. I like it. And I like money.”

Lex huffed. “Don’t we all?”

“It would be paid leave time, of course,” Kamilla assured her.

Aella shook her head. “I can’t just let you pay me for doing nothing.”

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