* * *
“Aughhhh!”
I sat bolt upright, screaming. That felt familiar. And other things that weren’t so good, I thought, as the room slurred violently around me.
Only it wasn’t a room. It was a van, or maybe an ambulance. It wasn’t the usual, boxy shape, but it was kitted out with a lot of medical gear, much of which seemed to be attached to me.
I stared at it, but didn’t take it loose. Not because I was being a good patient, but because my brain had finally caught up and was making connections to things. Things that had seemed random, but were suddenly coming together into a picture.
One I really didn’t like.
And then somebody grabbed me, and I lost my train of thought.
It was Marlowe, who was still there and still yelling, maybe because the van had swerved when I screamed and clipped a line of cars. It righted itself, briefly going up on two wheels in the process, and then we were off again. And Marlowe was in my face, furious brown eyes glaring into mine.
“How did you know that would happen?” he demanded, shaking me. “How did you know?”
“Let her go!” Somebody was tugging ineffectually on his arm. “Damn it, if you pull out the IV—”
“I’ll let her go when she answers the question!”
“You’ll let her go now.” That was Louis-Cesare. He was propped in a corner, among half a dozen other vamps, none of whom appeared to be conscious.
Kit sneered at him. “You’re in no position to give orders—or condition, either, after all that!”
“But by tomorrow, I’ll be back to normal.”
Louis-Cesare didn’t reference the butt kicking.
I guess he thought it was memorable.
And, apparently, Kit agreed, releasing me with one of those cat noises he likes to make.
I fell back against a very inadequate pillow, which I wasn’t complaining about right now. And noticed that I did have a needle in my arm; I guess I’d lost a little too much blood. Might account for why it took energy to breathe.
It didn’t explain what had happened to the rest of them, though.
“What happened to them?” I panted, looking at the piled-up vamps.
“Spell,” Radu said, from somewhere behind me. “They’re all right. They’re just stunned.”
“It wasn’t a spell!” That was Kit again. “There’s no spell that can do that, not to us!”
“That’s all very well for you to say. It didn’t hit you.”
They continued arguing while I concentrated on breathing. It wasn’t going well. “Oh God.”
“No, it’s Kathy.”
I stared up into the pleasant face bending over me, and thought it looked slightly—
Oh.
“Crown Royal.”
“No, Kathy.”
“Well, I could use . . . a drink, Kathy.”