Page 57 of Born Wicked
“Well, before you do any of that, we need you to come down to the police station with us,” I say with a slight tilt of my head.
“Why?” she demands, confused.
“Oh, there’s a lot…a lot, I need to catch you up on,” I say. “But we need to be to our appointment with the Superintendent in twenty minutes. So, most of it’s going to have to wait until after.”
“Juliet,” Elena says, her tone sharp and demanding.
“Come on,” Mason says. He takes his sister’s hand and starts toward the door. “Juliet has a handle on all this. You just have to trust her.”
I arch an eyebrow at Elena as she walks past me. “I really don’t like being out of the loop,” she says.
“I know,” I respond. I look back at Dev. “You think you can handle whatever crazy thing happens next while I go deal with some council stuff?”
“Go,” he says, giving a nod. “Chicago needs you, but not here, at least for a few hours.”
I chuckle, shake my head, and walk out behind the Godfrey twins.
“I need to check on Sigrid,” I say as I make a detour into the labor and delivery unit. I snatch the vials for the gifted, and all four of us make our way back down to the first floor. It’s quiet, not a patient in sight as we walk down the hall of the emergency room.
I push the door open, and it’s a pretty damn good feeling, seeing the look on both Sigrid and Malcolm’s faces when Elena and Tabitha walk in right behind me.
“It worked,” Sigrid says, rising to her feet. She immediately crosses to Elena, taking her into an embrace. “You’re awake.”
“I’ve certainly seen better days,” Elena says with a smile. “But anything beats lying in a coma.”
“I am so happy to see you,” Sigrid says, and she just reminds me all over again why I love her so much and took to her immediately. She’s warm, caring, genuine. “And I have good news,” Sigrid continues, her eyes shifting over to me. “I can feel it. It is not all the way returned, but I no longer feel numb. My gift is coming back.”
A relieved, happy laugh escapes my lips, and I rush in to claim my own hug. “Finally, things are turning around here.”
“Which means we’re celebrating,” Elena says. “At the Nocturne, just after sundown on Saturday. Please let all the gifted know.”
“Which reminds me,” I say as I reach for the box behind me. I hand it to Sigrid. “I don’t know if there’s more antidote than this. I’ll keep a vial to send to the lab so we can duplicate it if need be. But take this, give it to all the gifted who have been affected. I’ll ask Lily to go with you.”
Malcolm takes the box from Sigrid. “Thank you, Juliet,” she says softly.
I nod. “Alright, I have to get out of here. Time to spring our last council member from jail.”
“Go. I will see you later,” Sigrid says.
CHAPTERSIXTEEN
I’m not evensurprised when there is a limo waiting at the curb when we step outside. There is Patrick, opening the door for us. I follow in after Mason and Elena, and then Tabitha slips right in after.
“So, the gist of what you need to know in the next couple of minutes is that Sebastian was the one who did this,” I say. My stomach turns to stone as I say the words. “To the gifted, the vampires. I’ll explain his reason why later, but yes, he’s the worst.”
Elena makes a gasp of rage and shock, but I don’t give her half a second to say anything. We’re short on time. “Roman and I confronted him. There was a serious altercation. Sebastian ended up taking off, and no one has seen him since. That was seven weeks ago. Chicago got a new Superintendent of Police, and she started poking around and, for a minute, thought I killed Sebastian.”
“Which you should have,” Elena says in dark annoyance. She’d look a lot scarier if she wasn’t so green-ish looking and sweaty like she’s burning through a fever, which she is.
“But then Roman had to go and be a complete moron and turned the attention to himself,” I move on, barely resisting grinding my teeth at the recollection. “He got himself arrested when they found Sebastian’s blood in Roman’s apartment.”
“Roman is sitting in jail?” Elena asks as she arches an eyebrow. The smirk that’s forming on her lips says she’s more than a little entertained by the thought.
“Yep,” I say, popping the P sound in annoyance.
Suddenly, Elena makes the grossest heaving, gagging sound. “Hold that thought,” she says, holding one finger up. She rolls the window down, and throws up. She’s a shaking, sweaty mess when she pulls her head back in.
“Shit,” I say, handing her a bottle of water. I press the back of my hand to her forehead. She’s warm, but not so much I’m worried. She’s still better than she was earlier.