"What? Why uh oh? Maggie - I - I don't - feel so good," Rose said, and with another sigh her head rolled to one side, her eyes blank, staring at the ceiling.
Maggie swore and checked her neck. The bleeding had almost stopped, but the towel was soaked and Rose's pulse was weakening. She only wavered for a moment before jumping to her feet and making two phone calls. One to Dr. Cavanaugh and the other to Justin Caine.
Sighing, Maggie punched in the number to his cell, counted the rings until he answered, his deep voice sending shivers through her.
"Justin? It's Maggie. You need to get home right away." She looked down at Rose, abnormally still on the floor in the kitchen. "It's Rose. Satine bit her, and Gabriel’s gone. I need help getting Rose to Doc Cavanaugh." Maggie flinched when Justin let loose with invective. She hung up, pushed her cell phone in her pocket, and sat once more with Rose.
"Stay strong, Rose. You can do it.”
* * *
Guilt consumed Justin. He sat at one end of the small waiting room, watching as Maggie paced. He should have been at the house the night before. Instead, he’d gone surfing. The ocean always soothed him and his last encounter with Magdalena had left him anything but. Not that he’d tell the witch the truth.
He cleared his throat. “I don't believe Gabriel would willingly put her in danger."
"People change, Justin." Her face had a remote, waiting look to it. With her hair pulled back into a knot on her head, her profile caught his breath.
"No. Not my brother."
The door to the waiting room opened and Dr. Cavanaugh came in still in her baby-pink surgical scrubs.
She was a small woman in her thirties, her white-blonde hair pulled back and hidden underneath a paper cap. She reached for Justin with both hands, her eyes twinkling.
"Justin. It's good to see you." They kissed, both cheeks, before the doctor turned to Maggie. She put a hand out, rubbed Maggie's arm. "You did everything you were supposed to, Magdalena. If she hadn't called you, she probably would have bled out."
Maggie visibly relaxed. "Thank you. How is she?"
The doctor gave them a weary half smile. "Intriguing. I haven't seen skin art like that…well, ever."
"Rose seemed to think it was the demon, and I believe she’s right. I keep thinking the spiral is something I know, but subverted in some way. I can't grasp the significance of it. Irritating," Maggie added.
"The spiral could very well be housing the demon. There's something about the design. It's common, but not so common, and not in the ordinary way." The doctor shrugged.
Justin broke in, impatient. "But she'll be fine, right? She's getting better?"
Dr. Cavanaugh turned to him. "Yes. She's getting better, but if she's bitten again, don't use holy water on her."
Maggie frowned. "Why not?"
"She's not totally human."
"But holy water shouldn't hurt her. It doesn’t hurt us tribreds, as a rule anyway."
The doctor shot a surprised look toward Justin. "Oh, no. That's not it. She's a Soul Chalice. Holy water doesn't do anything for or against the tribreds, but a Soul Chalice—llet's just say it's almost an overdose of holy. You can get a reverse reaction, which is what happened to Rose. Plus, she's not a demon by blood. She's a demon by possession, so toss that into the equation, and you get a double bad reaction." She turned to Maggie. “I never taught you about Soul Chalices. I didn’t know you’d need it, and I’m so sorry.”
Maggie and Justin both stared at the doctor. Justin finally got the words out. “Damn it. We had thought she might be, but it didn’t seem…how…it’s a myth, Megan. A myth.” His heart thumped hard.
"It
is
a myth. Like a Soul Stealer." The words burst out of Maggie in protest.
Doc Cavanaugh shook her head. "No myth. A Soul Chalice is a carrier of souls. They are the opposite of a Soul Stealer." The doctor rubbed her lower back and gave them a tired smile. "Very few people are Soul Stealers. The numbers have dwindled in the past centuries. But wherever there's a Soul Stealer, you'll find a Soul Chalice, doing whatever she can to rescue the stolen souls. Balance. Good and evil or yin and yang, if you wish. Usually the two Soul Entities end up killing each other."
Justin frowned. "So the marking on her stomach is that of a Soul Chalice?"
"No. I think Maggie is on the right track, that it's a house of some sort for the demon. I have some research to do on this."
"I'll help," interjected Maggie.
"Then you'll need copies of the digitals we took. I'll email them to you before I go home."
"Thanks, Megan. I appreciate it."
The doctor continued, "There is a lot we don't know. But I do know that the cells in her body are mutating. I just don't know why, whether it's the demon or the Soul Chalice kicking in. I have textbook knowledge of Soul Chalices, not practical knowledge. All I know is she'll definitely be coming into her own powers, and soon. She'll need to be watched."
"Rose was a drug and alcohol addict but recently clean." Justin shoved his hands in his pockets.
Doc Cavanaugh stifled a yawn. “Her exam shows her as perfectly healthy, no organ deterioration that would be typical of a drug addict. But that brings out another issue. Using demon powers can be quite a rush." She looked from Maggie to Justin. "For an addict, it can be a death sentence. Toss in whatever comes with being a Soul Chalice, and you've got the possibility for an even greater disaster."
Maggie cleared her throat. "But if we can figure out what spell was used to put the markings on her, do you think we can force the demon out of her?"
"If it's a spell, then theoretically it's possible. The question is could she survive it?" Dr. Cavanaugh shook her head. "I just don't know. I wouldn't want to take the chance, frankly."
"When can we take her home?"
The doctor turned to Justin. "Later this morning, when she wakes. I'd rather keep her here for a couple of days for observation, but I also don't have the staff." She shrugged. "We gave her a transfusion of human blood and she didn't have an adverse reaction to it, so she should be fine in a few hours. She was very dehydrated, and her blood pressure was in the basement, so she’s on an IV to build up her fluids." Doc Cavanaugh frowned. "That's going to take some time. If you want to wait, feel free, but you'll be more comfortable elsewhere I'm sure." The doctor stepped back and would have disappeared down the corridor, but Justin's sharp voice stopped her.
"But what about the vampire bite? How do we rid her of its call?"
Dr. Cavanaugh turned around and grimaced. "You know the answer to that as much as I do, Justin," she said, reproof in her voice. "There is nothing we can do. She will need to learn to resist it, to wall it out for the rest of her life, or she will be at his mercy." She turned to Maggie. "I'll email those pictures to you in a few minutes."
"Thank you."
Dr. Cavanaugh waved at them on her way out.
"This is
so
not fair."
Justin took a deep breath. "Yeah. I know. Let's get to work, shall we? By the time we get to the office, you should have those photos."
Maggie turned to him with a sneer. "I'm a floozy, remember? A nobody in Kendall Sorbis' floozy train. I can't be trusted and I can't do anything to help you. You don't even
like
me. Why in hell would you want to work with me?"
After the guilt and strain of the morning, Justin snapped. He walked purposefully toward her, taking a dark satisfaction as she backed away from his energy. He kept coming until she pressed against the waiting room wall. He put his hands on the wall on either side of her shoulders, caging her there but not touching her. "I've made mistakes," he began through gritted teeth.
"Oh, goody, confessional time," she gibed. "Seriously?"
All thought of talking to her fled his mind. Justin bent and kissed her, a hard, punishing kiss of frustration. The softness of those pink lips, the taste of her almost undid him and he fought to keep his hands on the wall, fought not to take her in his arms and claim her. He inched closer to her heat and reveled in it.
After a momentary hesitation she softened against his chest. Her arms slipped around his waist and her lips opened, allowing him inside. Her hands stroked his back and he lost himself in her taste, in the lush curves pressing up against him.
His mouth gentled as he realized she trembled beneath his kiss. He slowly eased back from her and studied her face. Her eyes were closed, her lips parted as she struggled to take a breath. He kissed those perfect lips again once, gently, and tried not to smile when her lips clung to his.
This time he pushed himself away from the wall. He took a breath to steady his world. "See? I make mistakes. Judging you too quickly was obviously another one."
Maggie's eyes fluttered open and for a moment he saw the vulnerable side beneath the bluster. Then her brown eyes blazed in anger. "Don't you ever touch me again, or I'll knee you right in the balls and turn you into a donkey."
Justin shrugged. "Don't tempt me and we'll both be able to walk freely. Meet me at the office in half an hour."
Maggie drew herself up, her eyes frosting over. “I will check my schedule and arrive when I have some free time. Unlike you, I have a
real
job.” She switched to Italian and let out a stream of rapidly spoken words. Her long black hair shimmered in the overhead lights as she stormed out of the hospital, hands gesticulating, still speaking in Italian.
Justin watched her go and wondered how he'd ever manage to think straight with her around. He heaved a sigh and made a mental note to pick up coffee from CaféGo.
Lots and lots of coffee.
* * *
Gabriel brooded his way across town until he made it back to Twisted. Glad to have something to take his mind off Rose, he circled the place. It was early enough for the legitimate business to be closed and light enough for the vampires to have gone to sleep for the day.
He gave a quick look around, noted the lack of an alarm system, and frowned. No alarm meant they had guards. He really didn't want to get into another fight. After changing from his demon aspect back into the human one, he'd had one hell of a headache that was just now ebbing.
But maybe... He went to the back parking lot and gave a quick look around before leaping up and over to the second floor balcony. The window he'd used the night before hadn't been re-secured. Sloppy work.
He slipped inside the building and stood, eyes closed, listening with one part of his mind to the mental rumblings beneath him. The vampires, of course, were silent, but he could feel at least a dozen of them down below. Dangerous to have a basement in the alluvial soil of Santa Monica, but he figured vampires could pretty much survive anything, claw their way out of absurd situations. If he were vampire...
Nope. Not even tempted to go there, and he never had been. His mind strayed to Rose and the bright flame of her made him smile. Every minute he spent with her set her apart from Satine, and their similarities lessened. Rose gave him something he'd never thought he would feel again. Something no one had ever thought to give him.
Hope. He rubbed his chest as the emptiness in him expanded. His demon prowled inside him, waiting for him to lose control.
Wrenching his brain back to the task at hand, he sorted through the scents and mindwaves of those in the building. Aside from the vampires, he counted a dozen lesser demons and no less than five weres. He couldn't tell what animal, but their energy signature flared down his skin, even from a distance.
He did another mental sweep, tensed just as the gun cocked at his forehead.