Page 91 of Demon's Bluff
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“The library?” Dr. Ophees’s handsgripped the wheel of her electric convertible tighter as we stopped at a red light.
Elyse, who had insisted on taking the front seat, beamed a comforting smile. “It’s closed. But we have a way in. Go left here. There’s parking at the delivery bay.”
The older woman’s fingers tapped a frustrated staccato, and I leaned forward, uncomfortable at her obvious mistrust. It had followed her like a stray dog ever since leaving the hospital. Not that I blamed her. “Is this a problem?” I intoned, feeling like Al as I sat in the back and glowered.
“Yes, it’s a problem,” Dr. Ophees said. “I can’t claim a published charm as my own.”
“Oh!” Elyse immediately relaxed. “We aren’t here because the charm is. We’re here because that’s where she stashed her old boyfriend.”
I wasn’t sure what Kisten was, but “old boyfriend” sounded so…in the past, even if it was correct.Who are you doing this for, Rachel?“It’s a new charm. I guarantee it.”
“You guarantee.” The light changed, and after a telling moment of hesitation, she turned down the less busy street. “Your guarantee means goose slip,” she added, grip easing.
Whatever…“Down that alley,” I said, and the car slowed to make the sharp left.
“Better and better,” Dr. Ophees muttered, but I could see her reliefwhen the tight drive opened into a large paved courtyard between four buildings. There was another alley exit right in front of her, plenty of room for deliveries—or a quick departure.
She brought the car to a halt beside a dumpster and shut off the engine. “Okay. Clock is ticking,” she said as she pulled her purse onto her lap and opened the door.
I scooted to follow her out of the little two-door, hesitating when the woman slammed the door in my face. Annoyed, I shifted to the other side of the car, vowing never to put Al in the back seat again. Elyse was already out, striding up the smooth, stained cement steps to the delivery bay door, leaving me to manipulate the seat by myself. Ruffled, I got out and slammed Dr. Ophees’s door shut right as Elyse yanked the rolling gate up in a noisy, somehow-comforting clatter.
Dr. Ophees was decidedly wary as she popped the trunk to get her box of materials. I guess having me and that big knife alone in the back had been too much for her.
“I can’t believe she came out here,” Elyse said as I scuffed up the stairs to join her. “We could mug her and steal her car and no one would know.” She watched Dr. Ophees stand at her closed trunk, box at her feet, her phone in her hand. “I’m not saying we would, but damn! I thought you were trusting. How did she survive this long?”
The whoosh of an outgoing email sounded, and I smirked. She survived because she was a badass. “Have you felt how much line energy she’s packing?” I said as Dr. Ophees headed for the steps.
“Yeah. I get that, but it’s almost too easy to nullify a ley line practitioner.”
Tell me about it.
“There could be five big men waiting to jump her,” Elyse continued, whispering as we went inside and hit the call button for the freight elevator.
Dr. Ophees lingered in the sun coming into the open bay as the old machinery clattered awake, the woman pulling in line energy slow and easy in case we went too deep and she couldn’t tap a line.Smart.“Okay.” Iturned my back on the older woman. “First of all, picking your take from the basement of the hospital is stupid when there are a dozen trusting people wandering the streets. Second, even if we wanted to mug her, your synapses are singed, and since I’m pretty sure she’s seeing past our glamours, she knows I have a big vampire hickey, telling her I’m stupid and therefore easy to overcome. Third, she just emailed someone where she was. Fourth and most important, she deals with the undead. Alone. They wouldn’t put her down there by herself if she couldn’t handle a surprise attack from someone potentially stronger than her.”
The elevator clunked into place and I wrestled the gate open as Dr. Ophees joined us.
“And lastly, if you try anything, I will flatten you to the walls, sweet thing,” the doctor said pleasantly as she pushed past us to confidently take the back of the elevator.
“She also has really good hearing,” I said as I joined her there to leave Elyse to fumble the gate down and hit the descend button.
The lift hummed and clunked into movement, and we all stared straight ahead as the floor seemed to rise over our heads and darkness took us. “Sorry,” Elyse said, clearly uncomfortable. “I just think this is a huge risk for you for little benefit.”
Dr. Ophees scrolled through her social media feed until she lost connection and put her phone away. The ley line, though, remained secure as I knew it would. “I did an aura check before I got out of the car. There’s no one alive in the building bigger than a mouse. The undead won’t touch me. I am their last resort and they know it. I think that makes me safe enough.”
Damn…I was starting to like the prickly woman, and I eyed Elyse as if to say,See?
“Oh, I agree that this is stupid,” Dr. Ophees continued. “But I didn’t become a doctor to watch people die, even if they are already dead.” The stuff in the box shifted as she moved it to her hip. “I was put in charge of the undead after I saved the second life of someone a colleague misdiagnosed, and I workso wellwith the occasional survivor that they decided to keep me down there.”
It was bitter, and Elyse jumped to open the gate when the lift ground to a halt.
“At least it pays well,” Dr. Ophees muttered, and I stifled a sigh, going first into the dimly lit hallway. They probably moved her there because no one wanted to deal with her ego; the woman was smarter than them, and she knew it.
“He’s in the rare-book locker,” I said, not liking the whispers our feet were making.
“I’ve never been down here.” Dr. Ophees’s pace slowed as she noticed the books we were passing. “Can you check these out?”