A Demon Does It Better (24 page)

Jared’s eyes darkened as he leaned toward her. His fingers captured a stray curl, and allowed the strands to wrap around them. Lili held her breath as he leaned over and inhaled the scent of her hair then lightly brushed a kiss by her temple.

“I think we should leave before I think about something else,” he whispered.

She didn’t want to agree, but knew this wasn’t the time.

Lili tensed a couple times when they encountered one of the doctors and a nurse, but no one noticed her companion as Jared remained cloaked in the shadows.

She breathed a sigh of relief to find Vonnie’s room empty save for Cleo.

“She’s been restless,” the cat told them as they entered the seclusion chamber. She narrowed her eyes and hissed at Jared. When he hissed back, she arched her tail like a graceful plume and left the room.

“Now she’ll be in a snit for the rest of the day,” Lili warned him.

“She’ll recover. Just as your patient will.” Jared pulled out the leather band and ripped the charm from it. He held it up in his palm and muttered a few guttural words in his tongue.

Lili stood back, watching in horrified fascination as the demon-crafted metal started to smoke and turn black. Just as ink-colored flames erupted from it, Jared dropped it to the floor and stomped on it. When he lifted his foot, the charm disappeared, leaving only a hint of brimstone in the air.

“Look!”

Lili gasped in shock.

She stared as wet-looking black leather bonds suddenly appeared. They were wrapped across Vonnie’s body in the exact spots Cleo had warned her not to touch. There was no doubt the magickal restraints were causing their victim great pain.

“Wow, very S&M,” she said. The witch shot him a warning. “Don’t get any ideas.”

Jared grinned. “Too late.”

They both turned as Vonnie’s eyes popped open and she opened her mouth to scream.

“No.” He pushed Lili away and rested his hands an inch above Vonnie’s body as he chanted in a low voice.

Lili, the healer, watched in fascination as dark gray tendrils of mist left his palms and floated over the young witch’s body. They curled in the air, finally settling on her like a lightweight blanket. Minutes passed as the mist slowly dissolved the restraints. The moment they vanished, Vonnie instantly breathed easier and the pain left her face. She blinked slowly and turned her head.

“What happened?” she rasped.

“Welcome back.” Jared smiled down at her. He glanced up and caught Lili’s attention. “I’ll let Dr. Carter explain. You know where I’ll be.” He smiled as he leaned in to whisper in Lili’s ear, “As I told you, a demon does it better.” He left the room.

She smiled after him then turned back to her patient. She quickly checked Vonnie over. Her healing gift sensed the tears in the witch’s power and the harm done to her body. Jared was right. She’d have a long recovery ahead of her.

Lili briefly thought of contacting Maggie and asking her to drag Zane through the portal several times. Then she remembered that the Hellion witch had her own methods to make her prisoners suffer.

Zane should have stayed a mage second class without wanting more. She knew the Hellion Guard would ensure he’d be in a world of hurt before his execution. Even then it wouldn’t be enough payback for what she did to the young witch.

“What happened?” Vonnie asked, bringing Lili back to her task at hand.

While she would have preferred waiting until she was stronger, Lili knew that the truth needed to be told now. She pulled up a chair and related the story as gently as possible. Even then, she saw shock, horror, and sorrow cross Vonnie’s face.

“Why would Zane do that?” she whispered in a raw voice. “I thought he loved me.” Her slender fingers plucked the covers.

“I’m afraid he loved power more. You have a strong gift, Vonnie, and he knew drawing on that would increase his own. He didn’t admit it, but I’d say he was hoping he would be able to make mage first class without truly working at it. But what he did was slowly killing you. You would have been nothing more than an empty husk in a short time.” She knew her blunt words were hurting Vonnie emotionally, but she also refused to hold back the truth. It was the only way she could move on with her life and fully heal. Lili mentally noted to send a counselor in to talk to Vonnie and help her deal with the love of her life’s betrayal.

Vonnie took a deep breath. She turned her head away, staring at the wall. Lili remained quiet, but she kept her hand resting lightly on the witch’s arm to let her know she wasn’t truly alone. She knew there was a lot for her to process. Treachery by a so-called loved one was never easy to understand.

“He was the first man I ever loved,” Vonnie said softly. “I thought we’d spend our lives together. I knew he was ambitious. I just didn’t know his aspirations would go this far.” She pulled in another cleansing breath. “I hope he suffers greatly before they kill him.” She turned back to Lili. “Will I recover?”

“Of course.” She smiled. “It will take time, but you’ll regain your full power. For now, you’re to rest.” She checked her stats again and jotted them down on the computer tablet hanging on the end of the bed. “I’d like you to stay here until tomorrow, then we’ll move you to another room. I just want to make sure you’re all right.”

“Thank you, Doctor.” Vonnie’s smile was wan and still held pain, emotional and physical. Her lips trembled with the tears she appeared not to want to fall.

Lili smiled back and stroked her arm. “The pain of betrayal is never easy to get past,” she murmured. “But the time will come when the agony will lessen.” She brushed her fingertips across the young witch’s forehead and left her sleeping again.

Lili knew Vonnie would brood over Zane and his deception. Being seven hundred-plus years old meant that Lili didn’t sweat the small stuff. Instead she called on her hexy friend Blair to craft an appropriate revenge spell.

“Note to self,” she murmured as she stepped into the elevator car. “Ask Blair about renewing that scab spell on Larkin’s ass. He really hasn’t been punished long enough for cheating on me.” She was still smiling when she arrived at the main floor.

***

“What, no Fancy Feast?” Cleo asked in a snarky tone as she watched Lili check the roast and tuck it back into the oven. “You better not share my catnip wine, either.”

“Did you know some cats are locked away in crates when company comes?” Lili sang out as she opened a nice bottle of Bordeaux and allowed it to breathe.

“Ha! As if that would work for me.” The feline deliberately coughed up a hair ball. “Oopsie, my bad.” She offered a toothy smile devoid of any apology.

Lili zapped the hair ball and returned to her kitchen work.

“I thought there was a one-cat rule.”

“You’re not a familiar. Maybe I should send you down to Jazz’s for a visit. I’m sure Fluff and Puff would love having a playmate for a while.”

Cleo shuddered. “Not after the last time, thank you very much. My tail was in tatters, no thanks to those insane bunny slippers!”

“Yes, quite a battle you started.” She looked up at the sound of the doorbell.

“Oh sure, believe them. Their credibility is in the toilet.”

“Just behave tonight,” Lili told her as she headed for the front door.

“Cute house!” Deisphe told her as she walked in carrying a large pink bakery box. “A chocolate champagne torte to die for.” She handed her the box.

“Thanks.” She guided her back to the kitchen. “I thought you’d be happy with a roast.”

“Carnivore, that’s me.” She grinned at Cleo, who bared her teeth back. “Don’t worry, kitty, I’m not here to tread on any paws.”

“I’ll be in your bed,” Cleo told Lili while ignoring their guest. She sauntered out of the kitchen with her tail held high.

“Ignore her. She’s usually in a snit when someone doesn’t acknowledge she’s queen of the universe.” Lili handed Deisphe a glass of wine.

“More than just the Nile, huh?”

Lili nodded. “She’s popular in the pediatrics ward—proof she’s not all bad.”

“I heard that!”

Witch and Were shared a soft laugh.

Lili wanted desperately to start asking Deisphe how well she knew Sera, but she tamped down her frustration and concentrated on serving the meal. She liked the Were and didn’t want her to feel she had only invited her in hopes of pumping her for information.

Instead of her usual paper plates and her frequent practice of eating at the breakfast bar, Lili set the small table in the tiny dining room and kept the music on low. Dinner was eaten at a leisurely pace where the two laughed and talked.

“We’ve sure had some excitement at the hospital lately,” Deisphe said, lifting her wineglass in a toast, as Lili insisted she remain seated while the witch cleared the table. “And here I thought we’d have a quiet spell for a while.” She wrinkled her nose.

“No such thing.” Lili brought the torte back into the room along with plates and silverware. By unspoken agreement, they moved to the family room with their dessert and refilled their glasses of wine.

Lili forked up a bite of the torte and moaned as the rich chocolate exploded in her mouth.

“Tell me about it.” Deisphe grinned, doing the same. “This bakery is a killer and so good. The owner is a witch. If I didn’t have the metabolism I do, I’d probably weigh a thousand pounds.”

“So true.”

“So what do you need to know?” Deisphe took another bite. “You want to know something you couldn’t ask at the hospital, true?”

Lili’s laugh escaped her lips. “I do.” She knew honesty was always the best policy, even if she didn’t constantly follow it. But she felt the need to find someone she could trust at the hospital, especially since she couldn’t rely on Jared’s assistance. “I mentioned my friend Sera to you before.”

The Were nodded. She paused and sipped her wine, then studied Lili.

“Sera didn’t just take off, did she?”

Lili shook her head. “I don’t believe so. It’s not Sera’s nature. She has the same work ethic you do. She never left anyone hanging and was always ready to help out during emergencies, even if her shift was over. And she was truly gifted with healing charms. We talked every day after she moved here. Then she said something odd about the hospital, and before I knew it, I hadn’t heard from her for a few days. I contacted some friends living here, and they checked up on her. Her apartment was cleared out, and word at the hospital was that she’d left without notice.”

“You don’t believe any of it.” The Were cradled her wineglass between her hands.

“Not at all.”

Deisphe was quiet for several moments. “Like the others,” she murmured.

Lili nodded. She got to her feet and went into the kitchen. She returned to the family room with the wine bottle and topped off both glasses.

“How many unexplained absences of hospital staff have you noticed since you started working there?” she asked, settling back in her crimson chair with her bare feet up on the matching footrest.

Deisphe blew out a breath and looked upward in thought. Her lips moved silently as if she said names. She sighed. “If you don’t count screwups who left before they were fired, I’d say between eight and ten.”

Lili felt a chill travel down her spine. “The same way Sera did?”

“They just didn’t show up at work one day, calls to them weren’t returned, and they were never heard from again.” Deisphe slipped off her flats and curled up on the couch with her legs tucked up beneath her. “Lots of gossip about what happened, but no one really followed up on it.” She frowned in further thought. “Although…”

“Although what?” Lili leaned forward.

“I could be wrong, but I’d say every one of them was fairly new to the hospital. I don’t think any of them had been working there any longer than six months or so.” Her golden eyes darkened. “This isn’t good, is it?”

Lili agreed. “It’s not. I would think even the authorities would feel that number was a bit high.”

“There was no reason for an investigation. It’s not like anything was stolen. The Dragon Lady just bitched about how she’d have to rework schedules and went on how it wouldn’t hurt for them to call in and say they were outta there.” Deisphe took another bite of the rich torte. “You have no idea about your friend? Is that why you came out here?”

“None at all, and yes, that was one of the important reasons for my coming back, but I also felt another need to return to San Francisco.” Deep inside she felt that Sera was the catalyst for her meeting Jared and, she hoped, finding a way to have him released from Dr. Mortimer’s antiquated idea of medical care.

The Were nodded. “Count me in. If there’s anything I can do for you, I’m there, okay?

Lili felt the warmth expand inside her. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

“So, on to fun topics. Did you see that new medic handling the portals for the badly wounded?” Deisphe fanned her hand in front of her face. “Talk about smokin’! Plus, he’s a Wereleopard. I’d lift my tail for him anytime.”

The witch laughed so hard she almost choked. “Why do I get the idea it won’t be safe to go into the portal area for a while?” she said once she regained her breath.

“At least have some style while you’re at it!” could be heard from Lili’s bedroom. “You cubs have no idea how to properly seduce a male.”