His expression turned thunderous. “You will delete that.”
Emily leaned toward my phone and amusement lit in her eyes.
“No way.” She shook her head. “Mel’s keeping it so we can blow it up and frame it later.”
He studied her for a moment. “If it pleases you that much, I’ll allow it.”
Emily’s jaw dropped. She looked between Cori and me as if she needed confirmation of what she’d just heard. It must not have occurred to her he was trying to be nice under the circumstances. The guardian might not like Hunter all that much, but he did like her. He simply had a strange way of showing it.
I shrugged my shoulders and led the way toward the patient treatment area. We found Aniya and Cage standing in front of the glass door entry. They were chatting and she was smiling. It was good to see the male vampire was helping to bring her out of her shell.
“Hey, Melena,” she said, breaking off her conversation.
“How are things?” I asked.
She glanced behind her at the patient ward. “They could be better.”
I looked past her shoulder and saw Hunter sitting on a bed wearing a hospital gown. Paula was standing over him with a clipboard. There was no fear in his eyes as she spoke to him, just calm acceptance. I had a feeling it was all an act. No one could get the plague and not be worried.
“Emily, you go in first.” I gave her a gentle nudge.
Her hand hesitated on the door handle before she pulled it open. The room was full of demon magic coming from the patients. It probably made her feel even sicker to her stomach than it did me.
Emily walked haltingly through the maze of cots, wincing when she saw one guy—an older werewolf—with black marks on his nose, mouth, and hands. He lay in bed moaning in pain. The morphine drip attached to him could only do so much.
Emily reached Paula and the doctor gave her a warm smile. Ramping up my hearing I caught her telling Emily that Hunter was still in the early stages. It gave them a better chance of saving him since the antibiotics seemed to be helping those who got treatment soon enough. Emily clutched at the opal necklace on her neck and rubbed it. Some of the tension I’d been sensing from her eased.
“Hunter’s a tough guy,” Cori said, watching the same scene, though she couldn’t listen in on it. “I think he can beat this.”
“Me, too,” I agreed.
Aniya glanced at us. “His father is getting better.”
“Paula mentioned that.”
I caught a glimpse of Rob off to the right of Hunter. He did appear a little healthier than the last time I’d seen him—clear eyes and no visible black spots. I was also glad to find father and son looking at each other with some kind of warmth. Maybe they’d find a way to work things out while they convalesced.
“Do you know what might’ve helped him get better?” Cori asked.
“The antibiotics and garlic oil helped him a little,” Cage said, speaking with a deep voice, “but we think it was the Dead Sea water that finally pushed him toward recovery.”
Fresh hope rose inside me. “So it’s really working?”
“Not for everyone,” Aniya answered, looking back at the room with sadness in her eyes. “But Paula says it’s still too early to come to any conclusions.”
“How’s it been going for you? Working here, I mean.” I’d wanted to check on her for days.
Aniya hesitated. “Exhausting, but it’s also made me realize how lucky I am that I’ll never get sick again.”
“And she’s finally making friends,” Cage added, nudging her in the arm.
By the looks of him one would take him for a tough guy, but the only vibes I got from him were positive. I made a mental note to talk to him some more when I got a chance.
“One or two, maybe.” Aniya nudged him back.
“I’m not sure this is the place to be making friends,” Kerbasi said in a scornful voice. “Shouldn’t you two be in there caring for the patients?”
“Hey,” I addressed the vampires. “Do you all have any bedpans that need emptying? The guardian here needs something to pass the time.”
A brief flash of light brightened the hallway. A moment later Kerbasi resurfaced on my radar down the street from the clinic. I was fairly certain there was a coffee shop that way.
“Never mind.”
Emily came back through the door a few minutes later.
“Paula wants to start the saltwater treatment on him,” she reported. “It helped his dad so she thinks it might help him.”
“Good.”
“Mel, can I talk to you for a minute?” she asked.
“Sure.”
We found an empty exam room and shut the door. She stood in front of me shifting from foot to foot. I waited, not wanting to rush her.
“The demon magic is going to make it harder for him to fight the plague,” she began, choosing her words carefully. “And I can sense it’s getting stronger inside of him.”
“That seems to be what it does, but that doesn’t mean he can’t fight it.”
Her expression hardened. “I could break the magic and then he’d get better.”
“No,” I said, voice resolute. “The moment it breaks you could catch it. This strain is more virulent and could pass onto a human—or sensor—easily once the spell is gone.”
That was one of the things Paula had told me after she’d studied the blood work. The bubonic plague only spread through rodents and fleas, but this version had mutated. It acted more like the pneumonic plague in that it could pass by touch or even through air particles. Someone had modified the strain to make it that much more dangerous to break the demon magic—to discourage it. If supernaturals could barely fight it then humans didn’t stand a chance.
“What if we used a specially sealed room?” Emily paced across the floor. “Paula could draw my blood and then take it to him really fast.”
Our blood could only nullify magic for a few minutes after it left our bodies. Any longer and it lost its effectiveness. Emily would have to be in the next room over to pull that off, and even then it would still be dangerous.
“I know you want to help him, but you’re forgetting a few things. Even with the spell broken it would take time for his body to fight back and get better. In the meantime, he would be contagious to anyone who is not immortal. We don’t have the facilities here to keep him contained.”
She threw her hands up. “Then we build it!”
I couldn’t fault her thinking entirely. I’d thought of the same thing myself, but it was more complicated than she realized. She needed to see that.
“You aren’t considering the risk we’re taking using this building as a private clinic. Vampires are out there right now compelling the humans who live or work nearby so they won’t get suspicious, but we can’t compel the whole city. If we start ordering special equipment and modifying this place more than we already have—which could take weeks—we’ll draw even more attention. Never mind how much it would all cost.”
Her lips trembled. “Can’t Lucas pay for it?”
She was killing me. This was one of those times where I didn’t know what to say that would help. So I did the only thing I could think of, pulled out my phone.
“Call him and ask.” I handed it to her.
She shifted on her feet. “Can’t you ask him?”
“It’s your idea.”
She reluctantly took the phone. I stood there and listened as she gave all the same arguments to Lucas as she’d given to me. I’d never asked him to help like this before. It was sort of nerve-wracking, considering it set a precedent, but if anyone could talk sense into her it would be him. I trusted Lucas to do the right thing—whatever that was.
She finished her explanations and there was silence. Emily gripped the phone so hard I thought it might break. A tear fell down her cheek as he began to reply.
“Do you love him?” Lucas asked.
“Yes.”
There was a grunt on the other end of the line. “Enough that you would do anything to save him?”
“Yes.”
Another brief moment of silence. “Draw up plans for how this room would need to be built according to the Center for Disease Control specifications. Make a list of the supplies that would be needed and estimates on manpower. You would also need to find volunteers to do the work since most of us are busy taking care of the afflicted. Do all that and I’ll consider it.”
“But I don’t know how,” she complained.
“You assume I do?”
“You’re smarter than me. Can’t you figure it out?” she asked.
“Perhaps. But I would have to sacrifice my efforts here—which could result in other people’s loved ones dying—and I would have to cancel my plans tomorrow night with Melena. She would have to go without me. Is that what you want?”
More tears streaked down her face. “No.”
“Then you either come up with the plans or you have faith that Hunter is strong enough to survive this without your blood. The choice is yours.”
Damn. Why hadn’t I thought of all that? Maybe I should have been getting Lucas’ help sooner than this, though I’d have to draw the line at confining her to Siberia as he occasionally suggested.
Emily drew in a ragged breath. “What if he isn’t strong enough?”
“Look at Melena,” he ordered.
“Okay.” Her blue eyes met mine.
“Now tell me. Has she ever given up on me for even a moment?”
“No,” Emily replied.
“Then if you and Hunter truly love each other you must believe he’ll fight to live—for you. Am I clear?”
A resigned look came over her eyes. “Yes, sir.”
“Good.” He hung up.
She handed the phone back to me. “Can we stay the night here?”
“No.” I shook my head. “Kerbasi will have half the patients thinking suicidal thoughts if we stick around too long, but we can stay for another hour and then come back in the morning.”
She sighed. “Okay.”
I swung the door open and nearly toppled the guardian to the floor. Damn. I was so close. He straightened and attempted to paste an imperious look on his face.
“I would not have half the patients attempting to commit suicide. I’d offer to help them.”
I punched him in the nose.
“Ow.” He pressed his hands to his face, attempting to stem the flow of blood. “What was that for?”
“Being annoying.”
Chapter Sixteen
It wasn’t often I got to ride on Lucas’ plane, but I enjoyed it when I did. The seats were wide and comfortable with extra leg room and it was stocked with plenty of food and drinks. Lucas and I sat in the front seats of the passenger area and the others farther back.
We’d left early that afternoon, a couple hours before sunset. The vampires had to come onboard inside body bags, but as soon as it was safe we let them out. Kariann had been having a lively argument with Kerbasi about the merits—or lack of merits—of abstinence ever since.
Derrick was reading and Fallon sat in stoic silence. In short, it was boring enough I managed to get a nap and caught Lucas doing the same. His attempts at healing lately must have drained him because his energy levels weren’t at their highest, though he was still powerful enough for what we were about to do.
He turned in his seat. “Did Emily decide what she would do about Hunter?”
“Yeah. She went online as soon as we got home and started researching the plans you proposed. After about an hour, she gave up.” I smiled. “Thanks for that.”
He nodded. “She’s gotten used to everyone doing everything for her. It was time she learned that even in the supernatural world things don’t just magically happen without some effort.”
“No kidding.” I rubbed my face.
For most of the night and morning, I’d been on the phone coordinating between DHS and Yerik. The raid seemed to grow more complicated by the moment. I’d been out of the military for too long and forgotten all the red tape and extra provisions that had to be in place when dealing with human elements.
“Think you’ll ever ask to lead a raid again?” Lucas asked, giving me an amused look.
“You better shoot me if I do.”
His chest rumbled with laughter.
***
Agent O’Connell stood waiting for us in the hotel lobby. Yerik and two of his people—a vampire and a werewolf—were also there. We checked in at the front desk and Fallon took the bags up to our rooms. Kariann, Derrick, and Kerbasi followed the rest of us to a large conference room DHS had reserved. With all the tech equipment set up it was more like a command center.
There were more than twenty humans tapping away at laptops, talking on phones, or checking equipment. A large screen on the wall showed live video feed of the entrance to the warehouse facility where Jerome and his people were hiding out. No supernatural could have gotten that close without the sensors detecting them. We could have sent in human spies, but they couldn’t have pulled it off as well on such short notice.
“They set all this up for you?” Kerbasi asked, gazing around as we made our way across the room.
“For the mission, guardian.” I gave him a stern look. “And you are not going to cause a disruption while we’re in here. Do you understand?”