Page 117 of Demon's Bluff
The things I do for Cincy,I thought, head down as I pulled my shoulder bag closer and shuffled past the robes stinking of burnt amber to find the defunct stasis curse and put it in my pocket beside my last forget potion. The bag stank; I could not take it downstairs, and I reluctantly stuffed it under the seat before getting out.
I snapped the chair open with a hard-won practice, the sound of the frame securing in place tingling through me with the memory of helplessness and vulnerability. I wasn’t that person anymore. I wouldn’t be that person ever again. And yet my jaw clenched in a remembered frustration as I pushed the chair to the truck’s back door and locked the wheels.
Elyse had gotten out, her brow furrowed as she scanned the lot, gaze lingering on the camera above the entrance. “You’re just going to walk in with him?”
I put Kisten’s feet on the floor, groaning as I pulled him upright.I’m sorry, Kisten.“Pretty much,” I said, then blew the hair from my eyes. “I could use some help.”
Elyse nervously inched closer, her hesitant grip growing stronger when we took his weight and half slid, half carried him to fall into the waiting chair.
Hard part over,I thought, glad no one was back here. The black skywas brightening, and I quickly got his feet on the footrests and ran the strap around his waist.
“Could you get the door?” I asked, and Elyse shut first his, then my door before quickly jogging to the building. Elyse probably wasn’t on the hot sheets for breaking out of I.S. holding anymore, but Scott might still be searching for her. And I, of course, was a known entity. Neither of us was in any sort of disguise, other than our general lack of usual style, and Elyse kept her head down to avoid the cameras.
Still crouched before Kisten, I put my forehead against his knees. I loved Trent, loved him to the ends of two realities. But I would do anything to see Kisten’s smile one more time. He wasn’t dead twice yet, fighting for his undead existence.
I stood, unlocked the chair, and began pushing it over the uneven pavement. Kisten’s hands looked uncomfortable and unnatural on his lap, but Elyse was waiting at the door, so I ran Kisten up the ramp, the rhythmic bumps easing into a soft rumble as we found the tiled floor inside.
“Morgue is downstairs,” I said as I angled her to the elevators. Which in hindsight was a stupid thing to say. I wasn’t nervous. Or maybe I was, seeing as I was about to steal a body with the head of the coven.
“No door attendant?” Elyse said softly from my elbow. “That seems sloppy.”
“Far end of the lobby,” I said, nodding to the woman staring at us from behind an outdated computer. She reached for a phone, and I shook my head, one hand leaving the chair grips to make the gesture I’d seen Ivy give the night guard.
Sure enough, her face paled and her reach pulled back. I exhaled, relieved. She thought I was on the city’s business. If I had my days right, Piscary had just bought the farm, a fact that wouldn’t come out for a few days. I was currently in a magic-induced coma battling a Were curse. Again, something hidden from the press. It was a golden span where I could walk the city as a ghost, my alibi absolute.
“Shouldn’t we…” Elyse said as she walked beside me.
She was staring at the stone around my neck and I shook my head.“Believe it or not, I’ll get farther as me. I was here a few days ago with the FIB looking at some Jane Wolfs.”
Her eyebrows rose. “The ones your alpha killed.”
Clearly she’d done her homework. “He didn’t kill them.” I scuffed to a halt before the shiny doors and hit the call button hard. The woman at the desk was watching us, that frown of hers making me wonder if she had recognized Kisten. “No one knew it was possible to turn a human into a Were. They committed suicide.”
“Sure, who wouldn’t,” she muttered. “Can you imagine suddenly turning into a wolf when you weren’t biologically designed to?”
The cheerful ding startled me. “It was an accident.” Head down, I pushed Kisten in, then swung him around to face the front. Elyse had already hit the button for the morgue, and I stood there, arms over my chest, not happy at the reminder. I still felt bad about it. I was the one who had given David the focus to hold on to. But if I felt bad, David had been devastated.
“You might want to fill your chi,” I said, glad that Newt hadn’t so much as singed her. “It’s too deep for a ley line.”
“Slick is up top,” she said, and I bobbed my head, pulling heavily on the line until the lift dropped too deep and I lost it. I was at a disadvantage. Kisten, though, was safe underground, and I clenched the chair harder to hide my trembling fingers.
Elyse glanced at me. “You okay? You look a little rough.”
Her eyes were on my death grip, and I forced myself to relax. “I loved him once,” I explained. “He deserves better than this.”God, Kisten. I am so sorry.
The elevator dinged and the doors opened, cutting our conversation off. Her expression closed, Elyse strode out into the bland hallway, glancing both ways before following the blue arrow and the faint scent of pine disinfectant. “We could have left him at the library,” she said, pace slowing to let me go first as we passed a gurney taking up half the hallway.
“I don’t want to leave an empty drawer. And besides, the library is open. Someone might come down and find him. He’ll be safer here.”
“Fair enough.” Elyse made fists of her hands and then shook her fingers out. “How do you want to play this?”
Did she just ask for my opinion?“Ah, you have access to a line, but Iceman knows me. We go in. Confirm there’s a John Doe Vamp here. Then knock Iceman out.”
“Can do.” Her hands flexed in anticipation as we wove our way past abandoned gurneys and wheelchairs to a set of battered double doors. The sign over them proudly proclaimed,Cincinnati Morgue, an equal opportunity service since1966.
Be right back, love,I thought as I left Kisten parked in the hall. Jaw tight, I stiff-armed the door open and walked in, Elyse trailing behind. I had no building ID. Not even a fifty to bribe him.Piece of cake.
“Yo, Iceman!” I said boldly, scaring the college-age kid behind the metal desk.