Flesh Circus (36 page)

He nodded. The fringe on his jacket trembled, and he turned on one heel. “Sounds like a busy night.”

“Aren’t they all.” I followed him out, past other curtained enclosures. Some were open, the machinery of saving lives standing
by for the next high-adrenaline emergency. Some were closed, the curtains drawn to grant a sliver of privacy. Someone groaned
from one, and a murmur of doctor’s voices came from another. Mercy General’s ER was always hopping.

The nurse at the desk just gave me a nod and pushed the phone over, then went back to questioning a blank-eyed man in Spanish
through the sheet of bulletproof glass as she filled out a sheet of paperwork with neat, precise scratches. The patient swayed
and cradled his swollen hand, pale under his coloring, and smelled of burnt metal and cocaine. I kept half an eye on him while
I punched “9” and my own number.

He picked up on the first ring. Slightly nasal boy’s voice.
“Bruja?”

“Gilberto. This better be good.” I regretted it as soon as I said it. He wasn’t the type to call me for nothing.

As usual, he didn’t take it personally. A slight, wheezing laugh. “Package for you,
mi profesora.
Wrapped up with a pretty bow.”

“A package?” My mouth went dry. “Gilberto—”

“And the man who delivered it still here.
Uno rubio,
in a suit. Says he’ll wait for you.”

A blond?
The dryness poured down, invaded my throat. “Gilberto, listen to me very carefully—”

A slight sound as the phone was taken from my apprentice. I knew, from the very first breath, who was waiting for me at home.

“My darling Kiss.” Perry’s voice was smooth as silk, and full of nasty amusement. “He’s quite a winning elf, your new houseboy.
And so polite.”

Think fast, Jill.
My heart leapt, and the scar on my wrist turned hot and hard, swollen with corruption. As if he had just pressed his lips
against my flesh again. “Pericles.”

Saul went stiff next to me, his dark eyes flashing orange for a moment.

The hellbreed on the other end of the line laughed. “I have a gift for you, my darling. Come home and see it. I will be content
with the boy until then.”

He dropped the phone down into the cradle, and I slammed the receiver down, pulling it at the last moment so I wouldn’t break
the rest of the phone. The man on the other side of the glass jumped, and the nurse twisted in her chair to look at me. I
didn’t bother to give a glance of apology, just looked at my Were.

Saul’s eyes met mine, and I didn’t have to explain a single thing. He turned so fast the fringe on his jacket flared, and
headed with long strides for the door that would take us out toward the exit. I was right behind him. The scar on my wrist
twitched under the flayed cuff of my trench coat, and Saul’s stride lengthened into a run.

So did mine.