Page 95 of Demon's Bluff
I couldn’t take my eyes from Kisten. “I’m all ears,” I said, feeling overdressed in my spelling robe.
“Perhaps…”
I followed her gaze to the syringe on the table. There was a little blood left in it, and I bobbed my head, hands shaking when I decanted a drop onto my finger.
“Utraque unum,”I whispered as I touched it to Kisten’s lips, sure Dr. Ophees heard me when she didn’t say anything.Both into one.
“That should do it,” Dr. Ophees said, and I broke the circle holding the aura. It was a simple spell, and slowly, like bees into a hive following their queen, the aura settled onto him, coating him in a veil that would fool his mind into thinking his soul was still there. The aura would do nothing to help him fight Art’s virus—but he would not starve to his second death in front of me or alone in some forgotten tunnel, and with that demon stasis curse, he wouldn’t decay in front of me after he died from Art’s virus, either.
A ragged gasp for air startled me, but it was only Kisten taking another breath. He had not woken. He wouldn’t.
“Dude.” Elyse came closer and poked at him. “It worked.”
“Don’t,” I said, pulling her hand away when it threatened to pull his borrowed aura from him.
“Sloppy, but it’s holding.” Dr. Ophees’s gaze was unfocused. “Ten percent? It is acceptable. I lose thirty percent of my patients from simple starvation as their body repairs itself. A few more days of aura will make a huge difference.”
Oh, yeah.I renewed my grip on the lines.Evulgo, Jariathjackjunisjumoke,I thought, laying a hand on Kisten’s chest as I opened a more certain link to the demon collective.I take the smut for the use of this fee-for-use curse, in return for ten percent of the aura gathered, to be stored under my name and given to this vampire at need.I shivered as I felt the curse slip into the public domain. I was being noticed. I had to get out of here.Ut omnes unum sint,I added to seal it, then dropped the collective from my thoughts before the rising buzz of inquiries could zero in on me.
The curse was registered. As long as Dr. Ophees used it reasonably often, Kisten wouldn’t starve.
“I give him three additional days.” Dr. Ophees squinted at me as if looking for the smut I’d just taken on. It was about the same as lighting a candle. I’d made out like a bandit. “He will still die,” she added as she saw my smirk. “Two versions of the vamp virus can’t exist in one body.”
My eye twitched. “I know. But with your sponsorship, the spell will clear FCSA and maybe save someone else.” I lifted my hand from Kisten’s chest. “You still have fifteen minutes left of your lunch hour. You want me to write it down?”
Oblivious to my sarcasm, she went to the table, inspecting the waxed scrying mirrors before carefully putting them in the box. “No, I’ve got it. I’ll scrape the pentagrams when I get back to my office.”
She didn’t care about Kisten. She didn’t care about the vampires she could save. All she wanted was to get out of that basement, and an ugly feeling knotted about my chest. “You’re welcome,” I said, ignored but for Elyse watching with wide eyes, silent as she shifted her attention between me and the doctor. “Why don’t you escort her upstairs?” I asked Elyse, wanting to be alone.
Elyse pushed away from the bookcase, her brow furrowed. “Sure. I’ll walk you up.”
Dr. Ophees tucked the box of supplies under her arm and strode out without another word, her head down over her phone as she texted someone.
I watched her go, sure she was going to spend the rest of the day—hell, the rest of her life—perfecting it. She’d be saving the undead by the end of the week, get her upgraded lab by the end of the month. I’d given the ego-driven woman more than a spell. It was an escape from her personal hell and a shot at redemption, payment for the elixir to soothe the pain of Kisten’s passing.
And as I gave Kisten a kiss on his forehead and dragged Elyse’s chair closer so I could sit beside him and hold his hand, I decided it had been worth it.
Chapter
23
It felt odd driving upthe long, five-mile driveway to Trent’s estate. The flickering of the low sun through the mature forest was familiar, but the nervousness plaguing me was not. At least not for a long time. Elyse wasn’t much better, her eyes on the sky and her fingers fiddling with her hair whenever we met anyone. I don’t think she liked its straw-blond spelled state, but because I’d used the transposition stone to disguise her, she looked the same to me.
That any oncoming car might hold Trent was a real worry despite the both of us having borrowed the images of two random people on the street. We both now appeared vaguely like elves: slim, angular facial structure, straight blond hair. It was a thin disguise, but because I’d used a demon curse, it would hold up to a cursory elf or witch spell checker. It could only be severed by me or the harsh, unaided scrutiny born of knowing it was false—the certainty of one’s will. And seeing as there was no reason to doubt who we were, it would hold.
I promised Trent I’d never break into his home again,I mused, fingers tightening on the steering wheel. That I hadn’t actually made that promise yet somehow made it worse, not better.
“We should have taken the Cadillac,” Elyse muttered. “Rentals can be tracked.”
“And you think a stolen Caddy can’t? They won’t track a rental until they know it’s missing, and it was in the detail area. Besides, their firstthought will be screwed-up paperwork, not theft.” It was Kisten who had taught me how to borrow cars that wouldn’t be missed, and my chest hurt. I’d just left him there. What if I never got back?
The young woman brought her gaze from the sky and scowled at me. Her concern, though irritating, was well-founded. I’d taken the time to scrape the rental barcodes off, but if they ran the plate at the front gate, we might have trouble.
“Bullying our way in,” she said. “If there’s a way in through the stables, why aren’t we doing that?”
“Three reasons.” I grimaced, not caring about her ego issues. “The stables are busy right now with foals and have more security than Trent’s front office. We can’t go in over the pastures until after dark, and I don’t know how long they hold Trent at the I.S. after I arrest him. Besides, the pastures are monitored. Anything bigger than a badger shows up on their heat scanners. But mostly it’s because I will be breaking in through the stables in a few months, and I don’t want them to know they’re vulnerable and plug the hole.”
Elyse pulled the visor down to look at herself in the vanity mirror, head tilted to gauge her new, model cheekbones. “I still say this is risky.”