A Mate Worse Than Death (24 page)

“Point taken,” Tony told him mildly. Then she turned back to the officers, “We will get that thing shut down. I’m surprised the energy signature hasn’t registered at headquarters and raised questions already.”

Hiller raised a hand.

Tony raised an eyebrow. “Officer?”

“Maybe it hasn’t been there for long. Or maybe it isn’t there all the time. Can there be an intermittent portal?”

Tony looked at Phil, who shrugged and commented, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

Tony rolled her eyes. “And he’s back to quoting Shakespeare.”

“Keep in mind that the office renovations were overseen by none other than,” and Tony chimed in with Phil as he said, “Serena.”

“It may have been there and masked, or it may be new,” Tony frowned, seeing another long set of report questions to answer at the end of this case. She also saw something else,
“So, Officer Green, I think you can leave your patient and come help with the investigation now.”

Green, who had been finishing by putting a bandage over the wound for the last five minutes
, stopped stroking the Magic-Aide across Phil’s remarkably muscular thigh, each stroke moving dangerously close to Phil’s crotch. She blushed and jumped up, trotting over to join the rest of the officers.

Tony sighed. “We can’t all search the desk, so I want Hiller and Davis doing that. I need to get the rest of you,” she nodded at the other four officers,” reviewing Serena’s work area. See if you can find out anything there that might t
ell us where she may have run.”

The officers got started and Tony went over to Phil. “You okay?”

He looked down at his leg. “That might actually leave a scar!”

“You don’t gain weight, but you scar?”

He gave her a chagrinned glance, “I should have known you would not believe that. No, it will not scar, at least not physically. But it really hurts! And I do feel great emotional damage. I think I need a hug.”

“I’ll send Officer Green right over.”

He grinned, “She might kiss it and make it better.”

“At least I know you’re okay now.”

She stood up to leave, but he reached out a hand and grabbed her arm. “Tony, find the portal’s key, but don’t open it until you are on guard. Serena may be counting on having you do exactly what you are doing. It may be a trap.”

She nodded, “Good point.”

She turned back to Hiller and Davis, ready to tell them to refrain from activating the key when Davis suddenly yelled, “I found it!” and pressed the button.

Then all hell broke loose.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Azeem and Cal had just started the hunt for the missing vampire when Officer Chan contacted them to let them know that the vamp had been at Monster-Mate’s offices, that Detective Newman and her back up had captured it, but had lost Serena and were attempting to locate her.

Azeem asked the Sheriff if his deputies would be willing to hold the perimeter while he sent in the GOOEN squad to do an analysis of the scene. Then he and Cal could split up. Cal would take him to the hospital in Charlottesville to talk to Hera
phina and then go and join his partner in trying to capture Serena.

Sheriff MacMurray, who turned out to be a tiny human, almost Elven in appearance and certainly long past retirement age, slapped Azeem on the flank. “It’d be my pleasure, sir, to he’p y’uns out with that. This shore has been one of the most interestin’ nights of my life! And I’ve had me some real doozies, I reckon.”

Cal waited for Azeem to blast the Natty for taking the liberty of slapping him like some farm animal, but instead he sat back on his haunches and held out a paw. “Sheriff, I will personally set up a training schedule in Super tactics for your men. I would like to come out myself and supervise, if that would be acceptable. It has been a true pleasure for me as well.”

They nodded at one another, and then Azeem and Cal headed back to their car, moving as fast as they could.

“What the hell?” Davis yelled as a stream of huge gray wolves poured out of the doorway he had just opened. “How did wolves get in there?”

Phil stood up as he saw the door opening, “Those are Changelings, not wolves! We need to get them back into the portal! Serena is manipulating dimensions and Beings with that door! They must go back!”

Tony ran to the office door and called down the hall to the other officers to return. They came in on the run and tried to form a protective ring around Phil, who was still having trouble standing on the leg that had been shot. The Changelings, who obviously hunted together, were circling the ring the officers had formed, creating a standoff. Each group watched the other, looking for a weak spot, waiting for action.

At that point, Serena came stalking out of the portal, her characteristically bouncy attitude and pink couture now replaced with head-to-toe black leather, thick enough to act as body armor, her blond curls slicked back into a severe braid, and her ridiculously high peep-toe pumps replaced with ridiculously high spiked black boots. She carried a sword and as she walked, swiping it through the air in a business-like way that suggested she looked forward to drawing blood.

“I had hoped that stupid creature would do what it was made for without assistance just one damned time,” she hissed, h
er girly-girl voice acid sharp.

Tony and Phil exchanged a look and Tony asked, “The vampire didn’t work out so well?”

Serena giggled as she walked over to her Changelings, planting the sword tip and standing next to what was clearly the alpha. “Poor Haldis. She was indecisive before she died and indecisive as the undead. Lilith had finally talked her into telling her father about their relationship. They told me all about it, asking for advice on how to break the news to him. They had been covering it up for years because of him.”

Phil nodded. “Haldis only dated other Changelings.”

“King Holstrom is a bit old-fashioned. Probably would rather have a dead daughter than a daughter who mixed race,” Serena giggled again, reminding Tony of Adonis and suggesting that somewhere along the way, crazy must have gotten contagious. “I gave him his wish.”

“You murdered two of his daughters,” Tony reminded her. “And Signa Engstrom was married and had children.”

Serena hissed, “Signa was collateral damage. She came to check on her sister after the news about Lilith got out. She knew about their bonding and came by Haldis’ apartment, where we were keeping her. I knew that second murder would cause problems. The first one was difficult enough! I had no idea that vampires retained any of their personalities.”
“What do you mean?” Tony asked.

“I had to force
the vampire to kill both Lilith and Signa. We had to make them bleed to get it go after them. It turns out that the vampire retained just enough memories of its old life to be reluctant to harm friends and loved ones.” She looked at the nails on her left hand, still sporting a perfect French manicure. Then she looked up at Phil and sighed. “I had so hoped to ruin you and get the Geas to destroy you like it destroyed Adonis, but at least now I will have the pleasure of seeing your face as I kill you.”

She barked out an order to the Changelings, who went on the attack. The officers had regulation stun guns for Supers and the NASH guns, but the Changelings were on them so tightly that it made shooting almost impossible. Instead, the six officers were grappling with the animals, trying to keep from being eviscerated by claws or bitten and attempting to get the stun guns on them to take them down.

Serena moved in toward Phil, her sword up and out, ready to behead him, a move which would end even his long life, no doubt, if she could carry the move through. Without thinking he brought up his hands and gathered power, and as she planted her feet and began to swing, he threw his hands out at her. A net, like those in the NASH guns, landed on her and dragged her to the floor, where she sat screaming obscenities at the demon and calling to the wolves to free her.

In the midst of all of this, Phil realized that Tony had been uncharacteristically silent. He looked over at where she had been and saw that she was on the floor, writhing. She had fallen within the protective ring, so she wasn’t being attacked by a Changeling, but whatever was attacking her wasn’t visible. He dropped to a crouch, screaming as he felt something rip, then reknit under the Magic-Aide. He couldn’t scar, but he could hurt and bleed.

Reaching for her hand, he called to her, “Tony! Tony, what is hurting you?”

As soon as he touched her, she calmed a bit, no longer thrashing around. Her eyes still shut, she muttered, “Who are you? Are you me? What do I do?”

Phil put both hands on her shoulders and shook her. “Tony, look at me.”

“Uh, Mr Akkadian? Sir? The wolves?”

The wolves lay in loose ring around Phil and Tony, stunned by the officers who had managed to subdue them quickly enough to avoid any fatalities, but several of them were dripping blood from claw marks, and Office Green had been bitten.

Phil looked up at the goblin officer who had spoken to him. Then he glanced over at Hiller and Davis. “They are Changelings. They must go back through the portal. Push them through!”

Hiller and Davis nodded and the officers started moving the stunned Changelings through the entrance.

Phil turned back to Tony. He pulled her into his lap, wincing as he pulled too much of her weight onto his wound. He wiped the tears away from her closed eyes, wondering what the hell this could be. As he watched her face, he remembered her reaction at Naama’s cottage to the Vision she had received in Fairie. “Talk to me, sweetness. What do you See?”



She sighed, a hitch in her breath from crying that broke his heart. “She’s in the room again. She’s so tired! They ask too much from her. She’s tired and hungry and she can’t fight it anymore.”

“Fight what?” When she didn’t answer, he shook her, “Fight what?”

“The Change!” Tony’s eyes popped open and she screamed.

After leaving Lieutenant Azeem at Jefferson Hospital to check on Heraphina and take her statement if she was able to give it, Cal had checked in at the SCI Bureau via f-light on his way back to D.C. He took the fastest route he could, but he was still an hour outside the city when he got the call that changed his route to Wise Daughter Memorial Hospital. The next excruciating hour of driving seemed to take far longer, and he regretted not pushing for a dragon to get at least part of the way to the Casters’ cabin. When he finally arrived, he found Tony’s parents in the waiti
ng room, holding hands tightly.

“Anthony, Amanda, what’s the word?” Cal asked as he rushed toward them.

Anthony shook his head, “We’re still waiting to hear from the doctor. That fellow Akkadian was with her, and he got to go in with the medical team to the examining room.” He turned to look at Cal. “Calvin, what’s going on? What’s happening to her?”

Cal shook his head and reached his large hand out to put it on both of theirs. “I don’t know. But you’re girl, she’s one tough cookie. Whatever it is, she’ll kick its ass, uh, butt, and come out on top.” He insisted, “You just gotta believe, am I right?”

Amanda sniffed and rubbed tears off of her cheeks and nodded. “Calvin, you’re not only right, that’s exactly what Berthell said when she called us to check on Antonia’s status.”

Cal beamed at her, “See? If B and I agree, that’s just how it is.” He sat in a Super lounger across from them. “But I’ll just hang out for a while and make sure.”

“Oh Cal,” Amanda said in a tight voice, the brave smile she tried to give them flickering in and out like a flame in a high wind, “shouldn’t you go on home to Berthell and little Newman and the rest of your spawn?”

“B told me to get my sweet cheeks down here and keep you two company. I think Melly and Fred are camped out with my spawn, so it’s all fin
e for now. We just gotta wait.”

“You’re a good man, uh, ogre, Calvin Kelly,” Amanda told him.

Cal blushed and shrugged.

They sat in silence for a bit, but finally a doctor came back to talk to them. The news wasn’t what they wanted to hear, but they followed him back to the newest ICU ward. The glassed walls of each separate room in the renovated ward were meant to deal with a variety of different possible extreme patient conditions, magical or mundane. They walked up to the unit that Tony lay in and stood in a silent group, watchi
ng her for a moment, horrified.

Tony was on a bed, strapped down with restraints. Her eyes were open but unfocused and tears streamed down her cheeks, while her mouth moved constantly, talking and crying. She wasn’t screaming anymore, but it seemed that if she could have, she would have. She didn’t have the energy left to do it. Her body wasn’t still, but shaking and jerking, her muscles and tendons as tense as those in her face. Next to her, standing over the bed, was Mephistopheles. Dressed in black doctor’s scrubs, he leaned over Tony, talking and moving his hands all the whil
e.

When Anthony Newman saw him standing over his daughter,
he started to charge for the door. “What the hell is he doing to her?”

Before he could get into the room, Cal snagged him and pulled him back. “Hang on, there, Anthony. Doc, say, what is Mr. Akkadian doing?”

“Watch,” he said, pointing in the glass.

As Phil continued to pass his hands over Tony, her body relaxed and lowered completely to bed. Her face relaxed, and she sobbed a few breaths. Her eyes shut, but it seemed to be at her command rather than by reflex.

“I’m sorry. I thought he was almost done when I went to get you, “ the doctor continued. “Whatever is happening to her, I wasn’t getting any results with mundane medical tests or medicines. We tried everything we could think of. Then we brought in our magical practitioner, but she got nowhere either. Mr. Akkadian offered to try his own magic. He stopped the seizure for a few minutes.” The doctor shook his head. “He thinks this attempt may last longer.”

Phil looked up and saw the family and nodded at them. He then turned back to Tony and leaned down to hear her. He nodded and brushed her hair back from her face before turning to the door to come out and talk to the family.

“What the hell, Akkadian--” began Anthony, but Phil held out his hands.

“Not hell. Something or someone in Fairie is projecting through her.” He looked up at Anthony and Amanda, “Did you realize that your daughter has the Sight?”

“The what?” shouted Anthony. “What do you mean, the Sight?”

Cal stepped back, then leaned in and grabbed Phil’s shoulder with one meaty hand. “Are you sure?”

“She had two episodes while we were on the investigation in Fairie. Did you read her report?”

Cal
pressed his lips together grimly. “She didn’t put that in her report.”

“Oh my. Well.” Phil ran one hand down his pointed beard. “She had a premonition on this side as we were about to enter Fairie. Then while we were there, she experienced a Sight. It knocked her out, but it didn’t cause these spasms.” He paused and looked over at her. She was still resting quietly, but when Phil went out, she turned her head to the glass partition.
She saw them all looking at her and tried to give them a smile, so like Amanda’s earlier attempt that poor Cal started tearing up.

“Why is this worse than the one in Fairie?” Anthony asked, bewildered by his daughter’s distressed state. “What happened to exacerbate her condition?”

Phil shook his head. “I don’t know why this is worse, but it was exposure to Fairie that brought it on. There was an illegal portal set up in my office by the main suspect in the case she and Cal are working. That suspect went through the portal. We were attempting to locate it to follow the suspect, but one of the officers opened it to a trap. We were attacked by the suspect and her minions. I think because it sat open, it allowed some kind of connection to get through that affected Tony, not just as severely, but more severely than the Sight in Fairie. What I don’t know is why it is still affecting her now that we’ve removed her from the vicinity of any open portal.”