Witch Untold by Debbie Cassidy

Chapter Twenty-Six

Mel met me in the foyer of Magiguard HQ and led me to the lifts reserved for Magiguard staff. The building was registered as a regular business, a front to hide its true purpose. There were even human employees, but only Magiguard had access to the upper floors, with the humans being oblivious to the true purpose of this building.

We exited onto the lab floor and Mel led me to a neat hospital-type room decorated in calm cream and rose shades. There was one window hung with slatted blinds, a single bed, a side table, and a TV. Wren was sitting on the bed eating a bowl of cereal and watching cartoons. At the sight of me, he dropped his spoon into the bowl with a slosh, scrambled across the bed, and threw himself into my arms. Yeah, I was totally ready to catch the dude.

Damn, I’d missed his cute face.

“Cora…” He snuggled into me and my prickly heart melted.

“Hey, buddy.” I hugged him before pulling back to peer at his face. “You ready to go home?”

“Wren ready, Cora.” His cheeks bunched in a smile.

I turned to Mel. “Thanks for taking care of him.”

Mel beamed and nodded, dark hair bobbing. “It was a pleasure.” She dimpled at Wren. “If you change your mind about the medicine, then let me know, okay?”

Wren pouted. “Wren not take nasty medicine that stop Wren protecting Cora.”

I looked down at him. “You don’t have to protect me, buddy. If you want the meds, you should have them.”

He shook his head firmly. “Wren don’t want meds. Wren want to be strong and protect Cora.”

The stubborn jut of his bottom lip told me there would be no arguing with him.

“Okay, okay, if that’s what you want.” I settled him on my hip. “Okay, we’ll be off, then.” I made ready to jump back to Grimswood.

“Wait.” Mel held out her hand. “We need to talk.”

* * *

I’d cometo pick up Wren, but it seemed I’d be taking Sloane home with me too. I should be happy about that, but what Mel told me left a cloud over my head.

Wren clung to my back as we entered Sloane’s room, similar to Wren’s but slightly larger. The Elite dozed, wreathed in sunlight streaming through the window. She’d woken earlier, her stats were good, and Mel had filled her in on what had happened, but not on the results of their efforts to save her.

She looked so normal, lying there with color in her cheeks, silver hair mussed from sleep, making me want to run my fingers through it to fix it. Instead, I lightly touched her hand.

Her eyelids fluttered open and her gaze zeroed in on me. “Hey, Cupcake, you come to take me home?” She gave a dry chuckle and winked at Mel. “The food here is terrible.”

Yeah, I’d be taking Sloane home, all right, because there was nothing more to be done here. My throat pinched and my chest ached.

The news wasn’t great.

She must have read my shitty poker face because her brow furrowed in a frown. She closed her eyes, shaking her head slightly. “Fuck. I knew it was too good to be true. Just tell me.”

Mel had waited for me to get here to deliver the news. Probably wanting to make sure Sloane had some moral support from someone who knew her.

She smiled briefly now, the I’m-about-to-deliver-shitty-news-but-we-must-look-on-the-bright-side smile. “Sloane, we succeeded in eliminating the strain of virus that creates ice walkers but were unable to completely eliminate the base virus that causes vampirism.” She paused for a moment to let that sink in, and from the look on Sloane’s face, it had. “The strain that infected you was too strong for our antiviral to eradicate completely.”

Sloane opened her eyes and fixed her attention on Mel. “Just spell it out, Doc.”

“You have the vamp virus, Sloane.”

Sloane sucked in a sharp breath, pushing herself into a sitting position. She stared at the light streaming in from the windows that kissed her skin.

“I’m sitting in sunlight. I can’t be a vamp. I don’t feel…different.”

“Pire X works in two ways,” Mel explained. “Depending on the outlier it’s administered to, it either eliminates the virus or neuters it, and it doesn’t work on humans at all. In your case, the virus has been neutered. You won’t turn fully into a vamp, but your physiology has changed, and you will need to ingest blood a few times a month.”

Sloane’s chest heaved. “Will I have fangs?”

“Regular vamps are able to eject their fangs at will, but in your case, they’ll only appear when you need to feed.”

“I’m not doing that.”

“You won’t have a choice,” Mel said softly. “You feed or you die. But you’ll only need to feed twice a month as long as you avoid excesses of emotion such as rage or desire. We’ve found that those can bring on bloodlust, which is different from regular hunger.”

Sloane’s gaze flicked my way, then back to Mel. “I’m not feeding off anyone.”

Mel smiled kindly. “I understand. We can arrange bagged blood. We’ve done that for other outliers in the same situation as you.”

I studied Sloane, no idea how she’d take this. Would she rage, cry, fall apart? She’d been changed against her will.

She ran a hand over her face and let out a weak laugh. “Fuck it, at least I’m alive. At least I’m not one of those fucking ice walkers.”

Oh, thank God.

“That’s the spirit!” Mel patted Sloane’s hand. “I’ll run some final tests and arrange for blood to be delivered to Grimswood on a monthly basis. We can provide a cold storage unit too…”

Sloane pushed off the sheet covering her. “Yeah…whatever. I just…I want to go home.”

Her voice cracked slightly, and my heart went out to her.

Mel nodded. “Your clothes were ruined, but there are some fresh clothes that should fit you on the chair. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you need anything.”

She left the room.

Sloane got out of bed and headed for the chair. They’d stripped her to her underwear of femme boxers and sports bra. Her body was all lean muscle as she dressed in angry, jerky movements, her back to me.

Yeah, she was so not okay with this.

I set Wren on the bed. “One moment, buddy.”

He tore his gaze from Sloane and raised huge, sad eyes to mine. “Sloane not happy at all,” he whispered.

No, she wasn’t, and there was nothing I could say that would help. But I had to try. Her body tensed as I approached.

“I’m fine, Cora,” she said tightly.

“What? No Cupcake?” I injected a teasing tone into my voice.

Her shoulders slumped. “You should stay away from me.”

“Kinda hard considering we work together.”

“Work is fine, but other than that, I don’t want you around.”

Her words stabbed me in the chest. “Why would you say that? We’re more than work colleagues. We’re friends.”

She exhaled heavily. “You won’t be safe with me. Not any longer.”

“What the heck?”

She fisted her hands. “Mel said the bloodlust would be stronger when fueled by emotions like rage and desire.” She turned to face me, electric blues so dark they were almost indigo. “Do I have to fucking spell it out for you?”

My heart stuttered and then my pulse did the fandango. No, I didn’t need her to spell it out for me, because it was written all over her face.

“Sloane…” Words tangled on my tongue and a cocktail of emotions churned in my chest.

I cared about this woman, desired her, and she desired me…cared about me, and—

“Don’t.” She turned her head away. “It can’t happen, so don’t. Let’s just go home.” She shrugged on her jacket, the only item of clothing that wasn’t ruined. “When the Sons of Adam find the bastard that did this to me, I want to watch them put him down.”

And I intended to be by her side when that happened. Not just to watch Razor Smile get taken down, but to make sure the Sons of Adam kept their fangs out of her.

They wanted her dead, and I wasn’t entirely sure removing the original strain of infection from her system was going to be enough for them.

But I’d make damn sure I found out.