Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 103719 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 519(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103719 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 519(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
Walking off, he met V halfway and thumbed over his shoulder. “Did you get any visions about this? Did you see something about John?”
V put a hand-rolled in between his front teeth. “No. But what I’m shown isn’t the universe’s obituary section. I’m not privy to everything—in case you’re looking for some kind of good outcome because I don’t know fuck all.”
“Oh… shit.” Because that was such a useful word in a shit-uation like this.
“Look”—up came the lighter—“John’s getting the best care. And I’d be in there with them if I hadn’t had half a bottle of Goose earlier this evening—”
“He’s coded.”
V froze in mid-flick of the thumb. “Again?”
“Fucking hell. He already has?”
“Twice.” The Brother followed through on the lighting, then talked through the exhale. “In the mobile surgical unit. And I think they’re also worried about stroke.”
Every time Rehv breathed in, the scent of John’s blood magnified in his sinuses until it drowned out everything else, from the Turkish tobacco V was smoking, to the bleach-based cleaner that had been used a couple of hours before to clean the clinic’s exam rooms, to the fabric softener that had been used on the robes Autumn was wearing.
Easing back against the concrete wall, he let his mink fall to the floor. There was no going up to the Colony now. Not until he knew how bad this was going to get.
As if flatline isn’t a rock bottom? he thought to himself.
“I hate waiting,” he muttered. “I’d rather just know. Life or death. Then we can deal with the aftermath, either way.”
V shook his head. “It’s the in-between that I worry about.”
“I thought Butch was the only Catholic we had.” More Brothers arrived, Phury and Z nodding as they joined the people waiting along the corridor. “And no offense, I could do without the purgatory reference considering what’s going on. Let’s not give Fate any ideas.”
“Not what I meant. What’s worse than death is alive, but only in a breathing kind of way.” Vishous took another drag and then went over to a trash bin to ash into the basin’s stainless steel tray top. “Strokes can be particularly devastating.”
Great, something else to worry about, Rehv thought.
“By the way,” V murmured, “now is not the time, but I have the answer to your inquiry.”
“Which one,” he said absently.
“The security feed from that alley with the dead vampire with no eyes—but it can wait.”
Rehv took a hold on the male’s forearm. “No, tell me now.”
V shrugged. “Unfortunately, I got nothing. Yeah, there were cameras, but they’d been torn off their mountings. The monitoring system’s file storage only had footage from just before the killing.”
So Xhex took care of her tracks beforehand. Probably because she knew that V would get the feed.
“You did the right thing turning the body over to us,” V continued. “We were able to ID him, get in touch with his family. We kept the remains at the garage, in the morgue there.”
Rehv lifted an eyebrow. “Didn’t know you had one at that site.”
“Sad necessity.” V frowned as his diamond eyes went back to the door of the OR. There was a pause; then he spoke quick, like he wanted a distraction. “Was there a scent at the scene when you got there? We did the cleanup just before dawn, and I couldn’t track anything of significance.”
Rehv shook his head. “Nothing. Whoever did it was wearing gloves and was fucking tidy about the work. Hell, maybe they were in a hazmat suit.”
He refocused on Xhex. She was nodding at her mahmen and drawing a hand through her short dark hair while she shifted her weight back and forth, a metronome of anxiety. Getting into her grid required no concentration. The damn thing was lit up like a Christmas tree, her emotions neon bright in their superstructure, their thought balloon hovering off to the side of her body.
The defect was still there, the graph-like squares collapsing in so that some of them, many of them, were no longer three-dimensional.
And this tragedy was going to finish the job.
“So you think it’s her,” V said softly as he exhaled. “You think Xhex took out one of Basque’s illustrious patrons.”
“Maybe.”
“Okay, that’s a yes.” More silence. “But if she did, she had her reasons. You know how shit goes down at clubs better than anyone else. Problems need to be dealt with.”
If only he thought she did it to keep the peace. “Yeah.”
And now if John died? If she lost her mate, it would be a tragedy that was going to wipe out everyone, especially her. If John survived? Then she was going to get caught up in the stress of helping the male recover.
Then again, at least he’d know where she was.
On that note, no one was leaving the mountain tonight—when it came to the Brotherhood and the fighters, that was.