“I see,” Commander Sylvan returned. “I can tell that your partner is one for the Med Center and the strange creature cuffed to your back seat must be The Beast, who we will, of course, put in a secure cell. But you look unharmed yourself, Commander Stonev.”
“I am the one you must lock away,” Stone said harshly. “I am the one who hurt Cassandra. As for The Beast, he must have medical treatment, if he still lives—I shot him with a blaster just as he was transforming.”
Cassie wanted to protest that it wasn’t true—that Stone wasn’t to blame. But when she tried to speak, her voice came out as a whisper and no one heard her. In fact, she couldn’t even hear herself.
“You hurt your partner?” Commander Sylvan sounded doubtful. “Why, Stone?”
“I did not want to,” Stone said stolidly. “Nevertheless, I did. She has also been injected with a serum made from the Amaryllis Fatalis plant. She needs a full exam including…” He swallowed hard and his voice went harsh and low. “Including a rape kit.”
This time, Cassie did manage to speak up.
“Stone, no!” she croaked, her voice harsh and painful from all the screaming she’d done earlier. “He didn’t,” she managed to get out, looking at Commander Sylvan. “Stone didn’t…”
“All right. All right, Officer Steel.” Commander Sylvan leaned over and took her hand in his. “It’s all right,” he told her soothingly. “Clearly a lot has happened to both of you and there are some…problems to be ironed out. But don’t worry, we’ll get to the bottom of it.”
“Thank you,” Cassie managed to husk out. And then the blackness took her and she didn’t wake up again until much later.
“She’s been through a lot,” an unfamiliar female voice was saying. “Her blood work looks like chemical soup!”
“Poor thing!” another female voice answered, but this one sounded familiar. “I wonder what happened to her?”
“Kat?” Cassie croaked, opening her eyes, which felt like they had lead weights tied to them. “Kat, is that you?”
“Yes, doll—it’s me.” Kat sat on the side of her bed and took one of Cassie’s hands in both of her own. She peered anxiously into Cassie’s face. “Are you all right? My friend, Liv, here says it looks like you took a beating!”
“Not exactly a…a beating…” Cassie coughed harshly, her throat was still raw.
“Oh, here—I know your throat is a mess. Now that you’re awake, we can take care of it.” The owner of the unfamiliar voice who Kat had called, “Liv,” was a pretty woman with blonde hair and silvery-gray eyes. She held a cup with a metal straw in it up for Cassie to sip, which she did.
Something cool and sweet rushed into her mouth and the minute she swallowed, it seemed to coat her ragged throat with a healing chill. Also, she began to feel more awake and alert.
“Oh!” Cassie widened her eyes in surprise and took another sip. She finished the entire cup and when Liv pulled it away, she put a hand to her throat. “It doesn’t hurt anymore!”
“That’s Kindred medicine for you,” Liv said, smiling as she tapped the empty cup. “Isn’t it great? You know, I had so many cases of strep throat when I was a kid—I would have killed for this stuff!”
“I bet.” Cassie coughed experimentally and nodded. “Yeah—it’s really all better.”
“Well, that’s more than we can say for the rest of you,” Kat said, eyeing her critically. “What happened to you, doll? It’s clear somebody hit you in the face more than once and there are bruises all over your hips and thighs.”
“Whatever it is, you can tell us.” Liv patted her arm comfortingly and lowered her voice. “Your partner said that you needed a rape kit done? If that’s the case—”
“That’s not the case!” Cassie exclaimed. She sat up in bed and groaned—she ached inside. “Ugh—it feels like somebody went after me with a jackhammer!”
“That’s kind of what it looks like too, hon,” Liv said seriously. “Look, I can tell you’ve had some pretty rough sex recently…was that consensual?”
“Yes,” Cassie said firmly. “Yes, it absolutely was. And it was Stone but he had to do it. I would have died otherwise.”
“You would have died if he didn’t diddle you?” Kat looked supremely skeptical. “Care to explain that, doll?”
Cassie took a deep breath. This wasn’t something she really wanted to disclose but she was afraid if she didn’t, Stone’s guilt over what had happened would send him straight to jail. He had already tried to have himself locked up once—she didn’t want him to try again and possibly succeed just because she was too embarrassed to admit the truth.
“Okay,” she said to Kat and Liv. “I’ll tell you everything. But I’m only going to tell this once, all right?”
“Got it, doll.” Kat squeezed her arm. “Go ahead—spill it.”