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‘It would be counterproductive,’ he interrupted.
‘Whatever.’ I pulled off my other trainer and unzipped my jeans. ‘So I’m finding a vamp that will.’ I tugged the jeans down over my hips, then stopped and looked up at him warily. ‘Rosa.’
Pinpricks of rage flickered in the depths of his eyes, then disappeared. ‘I do not see how wearing Rosa’s body will help the situation.’
I swallowed. ‘Rosa—She’s—Her body is still a vamp, so when I activate the spell ... I have the same capabilities as a vamp. That way I can feed on the girl.’ I ignored the nervous twist my stomach gave; I’d never fed on blood before as Rosa, only venom. ‘You can be my failsafe.’ He didn’t answer, so I took it as agreement. I let the jeans drop around my ankles and kicked them off, leaving me standing there in my socks and shirt and the magicked-up white bikini bottoms. There was no sign of the spell-tattoo on my left hip; the Glamour of the bikini covered it. I tugged the briefs down, noting absently that Tavish had made me a true blonde, and looked, but there was still no spell-tattoo. I traced my fingers over the skin of my hip, concentrating. After a month of not using it, the magic should be jumping eagerly, almost forcing me to activate it. But I could feel nothing. Damn. I wondered again if something was wrong with the spell. Or maybe the Glamour Tavish had tagged me with was interfering with it? Time to get rid of it.
‘Scissors,’ I muttered to myself and gazed around. I spied a pair on a nearby trolley. When had that appeared? Didn’t matter, either I wasn’t paying attention, or Malik was still skewing my perceptions. I grabbed the scissors and bent over, flipping the blonde ponytail so it hung down in front of me.
‘Miss Taylor,’ Neil Ba
I peered impatiently up at him. ‘What?’
‘As I understand it, you and the vampire here think that the only way to save the girl is to feed on her?’
‘Yes,’ I said. Trust him to pick now to interfere. ‘If you’ve got a problem with that, you’ll have to save it for later.’
‘Oh no.’ He smiled, his eyes lighting with happiness. ‘I’ve no problem, not if it will save her soul.’
I blinked at him in surprise.
‘But I think there is a better solution to whatever it is you’re pla
I stood upright and stared at him, trying to get my head round his idea. I looked over at Bobby, slumped in a heap, still clutching the carving knife, surrounded by a wider pool of blood. I’d completely forgotten about him—and by the looks of it so had everyone else. But he was a vampire, he’d survive, except—‘You said he’s dying?’ I asked Ba
‘God has graced me with the ability to see our souls.’ He steepled his hands together, pressing them against his lips. ‘When our earthly bodies are dying, our auras gradually thin until our souls are released and can travel onwards into the glorious light of God’s majesty. It is a wondrous moment to witness’—his face fell into concerned lines—‘unless our souls are too weighed down by earthly sadness and pain to travel upon their journey.’
‘Sounds great,’ I think, ‘but what has that got to do with them?’
‘Both the young girl’s aura and the vampire’s are almost nonexistent, Ms Taylor.’ He clasped his hands tighter. ‘They are dying. Thaddeus and I have been praying for them both, but it might not be enough. I fear that their souls are too heavily laden to reach Our Lord’s heaven. The girl’s might be trapped here as a ghost or spirit, and as for the vampire ...’ He shook his head, despair settling on his face.
I turned to Malik. ‘Is he right?’
‘I ca
‘No, I mean about Bobby dying. He’s a vamp, he shouldn’t be dying.’
Malik lifted his chin and inhaled. ‘He is young, and if it has been sometime since his master fed him, he will be weakened. The magic in the restraints that contain him will also block his bond with his master, so yes, he is possibly suffering in the same way a human would with that injury.’
‘Do it then!’
He stared at me, expressionless. ‘Do what?’
‘Cut the crap, Malik.’ I stuck my hands on my hips. ‘You’re playing the master puppeteer, busy pulling everybody’s strings in this show, so tell them to take the girl over to Bobby and let him feed.’
He stared at me, speculation in his eyes. ‘You ask a lot, Genevieve. My interference in their minds is minimal, just enough to encourage them to do what the circumstances and their training are already urging them to. And of course, to ensure they see us as nothing to be concerned with, since we do not need their medical help.’ He waved a hand in an all-encompassing gesture. ‘To direct their minds in something alien is a more difficult task.’
‘But you can do it?’
‘If I wished to.’
‘Name it,’ I sighed. ‘Your price. It’s a one-time deal, though, nothing more.’
He raised an eyebrow. ‘Are you offering me a sidhe bargain, Genevieve?’
‘It’s what you want, isn’t it?’ I said drily. ‘Why else would you be hanging around, directing the proceedings?’
‘Why else, indeed,’ he said slowly, then clapped his hands together, making me jump. ‘But it is too great an offer to be decided on in haste.’
‘Three choices then, but I get right of veto, and if I don’t like any of them, then we settle on one offer of blood, okay?’
‘Blood in whatever way I choose to enjoy it.’ He smiled slowly, letting me glimpse fang. It wasn’t a question, but an obvious statement of his intent.
My heart flip-flopped. Damn. Why did he have to be so beautiful as well as a manipulative bastard? ‘So long as no one gets hurt.’
‘So long as no one else gets physically hurt,’ he amended.
My heart flip-flopped for an entirely different reason. Specifics like that were sonot good. Was I really going to make a bargain with him? I’d been pla
‘I agree,’ I said.
‘No.’ Malik’s pupils flared briefly with bright flames. ‘I do not agree.’
My mouth fell open in shock. He was refusing? ‘What do you mean, you don’t agree?’ I demanded.
‘I do not wish to make this bargain.’
‘But what about them?’ I waved my arm at the girl and Bobby.
‘They are not part of this concern, Genevieve.’ His words slipped over me like a chill shadow on a sun-kissed autumn day and I shivered, goosebumps pricking my skin. Then his gaze turned inwards, his expression almost bordering on pain.
Around us, the hallway erupted into calm but determined action.
The hovering guard strode over to Bobby and, removing his hands from the knife, pulled it out. It came free with a wet ripping sound that had Neil Ba
Grace efficiently removed the shunt from Moth-girl’s neck and the other doctor, Craig, carried her as carefully as if she were breakable to lay her alongside Bobby. Bobby’s eyes fluttered and he raised his head, lips drawing back from his fangs. A yellow gem in his headband sputtered, then fizzed out. Beside me, Malik shifted, a small movement of discomfort. Then Bobby lowered his head and Moth-girl jerked as he struck. The soft noise of sucking whispered through the hallway as Grace and Craig pulled themselves to their feet and moved over to the orange visitors’ chairs.