The Sorceress Screams (16 page)

“Can you
manipulate multiple targets at once?”

Desmond’s lips
thinned as his gaze darted around the room. A moment passed before I understood
the ramifications of what I’d asked him. If he admitted he could do this, it
would be an admission that he could manipulate the coalition.

“We’ll be
fine, Ms. Walsh.”

The stiff
response had been meant to be the end of the conversation. But he forgot
important facts. “You said yourself the only way to keep them safe is to kill
him. Are you going to do that?”

His mouth
relaxed into its usual fleshy shape. “My intent is to manipulate him into
leaving my property long enough for us to arrange for coalition back-up. I
doubt Nadir will want to cross swords with every national coven in the United
States.”

I liked his
answer. But I was still worried. Leaving Jacqueline here would paint a giant bull’s-eye
on Desmond. As annoying as he was, I didn’t want to have to start over with a
bunch of Water high priestesses if anything happened to him.

I opened my
mouth to speak another concern.

“We’ll be
fine, Ms. Walsh,” he said. “Worry about your own safety.”

I’d worry
about more than that.
Just as soon as I got access to the
Internet.

Chapter Eleven

I could barely
wait for Jacqueline and Desmond to leave the apartment with her luggage. He’d
offered to drive over with us so he could take her things back. I suspected I’d
have had a harder time getting rid of him if it hadn’t been for
Veronika
tagging along. She’d stuck her nose up upon seeing
where Jacqueline had been staying but kept her mouth occupied on such topics as
shoes and Desmond’s hot tub. I definitely hadn’t needed to know he had one and
that they’d used it.

With my laptop
atop my thighs, I scoured the Internet for antibody removal methods now that I
knew what to look for. I quickly learned there was no rapid fix. The only
methods I’d discovered required several lengthy treatments and special
equipment I doubted
Wipuk
had. A hematologist was
what I needed—one who was aware of the Underground and its factions.

I sat chewing
on my fingernails because I didn’t know how to proceed from here. How
was it
no one had ever tried to find a cure for
enthrallment? Surely a vanilla human medical treatment wasn’t the answer to
curing witches of a supernatural blood bond. It couldn’t be
that
easy.

In order to
test my hypothesis, I’d have to admit to at least two people I was a Healer:
the hematologist and an enthralled witch. It was quite a risk for something
that might not pan out. However if I didn’t try, I’d be in essence giving up on
the witches I’d saved. My conscience couldn’t handle that.

So how did I
go about finding a hematologist?

Grabbing the
Wipuk
phone book I’d found in the kitchen drawer, I flipped
to the yellow pages to the “H” section—ignoring how strange it was a
supernatural colony even
had
yellow
pages. Predictably there were no entries for hematologist. There were a few
mentions for physicians. I looked for one specializing in internal medicine,
ultimately settling on one that mentioned she was a Healer as well.

I had no idea
what I was going to say to Dr. Vanessa Yates, but I’d lose my nerve if I didn’t
call her now. Phone held to my ear, I drew in a shaky breath over the
ringback
.

A light female
voice answered. “Dr. Yates’s office, how may I help you?”

Damn. She had
a receptionist.

Of course she
did. She was a doctor. Even
Wipuk
doctors needed a
receptionist.

I cleared my
throat. “Uh, I had some general questions for the doctor about blood work. Do I
need an appointment? Or can I speak to her over the phone?”

“Is this
regarding your blood work?”

“No, they’re
general questions.”

“May I ask who
is calling?”

The woman’s
wary tone worried me. But it was too late to go back now. “
Kora
Walsh.”

“I’ll see if
she’s available.”

I held my
breath, squelching the voices in my head whispering this was insane.
That I ought to hang up.
For thousands of years vampires had
been enthralling humans. The science of blood wasn’t terribly new. Someone had
to have looked into this at some point in the past. I was just an upstart
sorceress poking her nose where it wasn’t meant to be poked.

“This is Dr.
Yates. How can I help you?”

The soothing
alto voice wasn’t at all what I’d expected. I decided she’d have dark hair
grayed on the sides and a pleasant smile. She’d have a good bedside manner. And
she’d be great at her job—of course, because she was also a Healer.

“Hi, this is
Kora
Walsh.” My attempt at speaking with confidence wasn’t
terribly convincing. “I was hoping to ask you about plasma filtering. Do you
know anything about it?”

“I know of it,
yes. I did it several times in my residency.”

“Dr. Yates,
you … you’re a Healer, correct?”

“Hold please.”
Her low heels clicked on a hard floor. A door thudded shut. “Yes,” she said
quietly. “I’m a Healer. You’re the new sorceress in town?
The
one who owns that shop?”

“Yes.” I
waited for her to give her opinion if she chose.

A brief
interval of silence passed. “I have been meaning to stop in there.”

That was
promising, enough that I decided on a new strategy, one that involved starting
from the beginning. “Did you hear about
Dea
Woods?”

“Yes.” The
doctor puffed against the handset. “It’s a tragedy.”

“Has anyone ever
studied the blood of the enthralled?”

There was a
pause. “I don’t know. Hold a moment, and I’ll pull up the Healer library.”
Papers crinkled, a computer chimed, and then she clicked and tapped around on a
computer.

“I’m sorry to
drop this on you without warning,” I said. “I know you’re busy.”

“I was just
finishing up in Sedona,” she said in between clicking. “Tuesdays I work half in
Sedona and half at home. There were no appointments for home so you’re in
luck.”

“Thank you.”
My response was breathy because she had no idea how much I appreciated her
answering my stupid questions
and
being brave enough to speak to me when everyone else avoided me.

“Let’s see.”
Dr. Yates typed a few words. “It seems there were a few documented cases of
attempts to cure thralls using blood transfusions, but the patients either died
from a lack of blood or there was no change.”

“Were there
any cases of plasma filtering or
plasmapheresis
?”

She typed in
the new words. The quiet roll of a scroll wheel sounded in my ear. Several taps
of the keys meant she’d typed more followed by another click. The suspense
lifted my pulse.

“Intriguing,”
she said at last. “There’s nothing for either in relation to a
vampiric
blood bond.”

“Do you think
it could be done if the blood bond was just an antibody in the infected
person’s system?”

“Yes. The
question is if removing the antibodies would cure the patient permanently or if
the body is altered to the point where it would generate new antibodies.”

That was a
very good question. And I didn’t have the answer. I drew in a deep breath
because I would never be able to take back what I was about to say.

“I can show
you which antibody it is. Would you be willing to help me test this?”

“Yes. Where
should we meet?”

****

I met Dr.
Vanessa Yates at her
Wipuk
office—a sedate blue
painted room attached to the front of her adobe house situated in
Wipuk
Hills. She didn’t have a receptionist for her
Wipuk
office. I was okay with that.

Vanessa, like
most witches, was an attractive woman with long brown-black hair rather like
Viho’s
except with gray on the sides. Her face was a
mixture of nationalities. The straight European nose, pointed lips and widely
spaced almond eyes made her look as if she had some Asian ancestry in her
immediate family. She’d tossed off her white lab coat in favor of a white
T-shirt and jeans. I liked that she’d gotten comfortable.

Soon after
arriving, I persuaded her to ask
Dea
Woods for a
sample of her blood. The excuse we gave was a new treatment Dr. Yates was
working on to block a vampire from tracking his thrall.
Dea
,
of course, was eager to give blood for the cause. The Earth witch and her
Guardian arrived within a half hour, plenty of time for me to describe the
antibody I’d spotted in
Dea’s
blood at lunch.

Vanessa let me
hide in her kitchen while she drew
Dea’s
blood. The
doctor sent
Dea
on her way with the promise she’d be
in contact as soon as she learned anything. She then fetched me to her
microscope.

Beside her
workbench, I called on Healing to show me the antibodies. The glowing crimson
specs appeared even in the blood in the test tube. Magic amazed me daily. Now I
had to figure out how to share my findings with the good doctor. In a wild
attempt at the impossible, I willed
Healing
to
illuminate the antibodies for my companion.

The doctor’s
startled gasp a half second later was a promising response. “Is that them?” she
whispered.

I hadn’t noted
any change. “What?”

Dr. Yates
extended a finger toward the small glass tube.
“The glowing
inside the test tube.”

“Yes. I’ve
used Healing to illuminate them for you. I don’t know if it’s altering their
make-up. But that is the antibody the seven enthralled witches had that neither
Desmond Marino nor I have in us.”

“Did you check
any female witches who weren’t enthralled?”

“No.” My
shoulders slumped because in my haste to continue my research, I hadn’t
finished my experiment. “I should have before I bothered you.”

“Check me.”
Her rounded eyes fixed on the glowing specs.

I willed
Healing
into her, checking for the antibody as I’d done with
the others. The report returned a negative answer. “You’re clean.”

“Good.”
Vanessa exhaled in relief. Her body drew up into a tight line as her tone went
professional. “I’m going to try replacing the plasma to see what happens. If
there’s no adverse effects
, then I’ll work with
Dea
to do a
plasmapheresis
over
the next week.”

I settled back
on the hard sofa in her office, nibbling my fingernails until we knew more.

****

The deadbolt
and door chain were engaged as the sun slipped beneath the horizon. A little
metal wasn’t going to help much if Nadir Khan tracked me to my apartment.
There’d be no way to keep him out if he really wanted in.

I curled up
into the far corner of my futon with my laptop on my thighs. For a lack of
anything better to do, I researched other ways of isolating antibodies. I was
counting on Dr. Yates to be the brains on this one. She knew how important this
work was.

It boggled the
mind that no Healer had looked into a treatment for those affected by a
vampire’s thrall. True, the Healer faction was small in number and had
primarily been focused on the health of
their own
familial units and tribes, but they’d been collaborating for decades. What had
been their focus if not this?

Was the treaty
the communities had signed centuries ago to blame? It might be an act of
sedition for a vampire to enthrall a witch, but that didn’t make humans safe.
Whatever the case, something had to be done.

The knock at
my door at quarter to nine made my heart pound like a jackhammer chipping away
at concrete. I sat motionless in part fear for what was on the other side and
part hope they’d go away before I found out. The second knock broke my frozen
pose. Any
Were
, shifter, or vampire would have heard
my heartbeat through the thin walls.

I got to my
feet, moving with soft steps. A head of carelessly spiked sable hair with a
waved lock left of center was the first thing I saw through the door’s peephole.
Then Maximo’s half smile became the focus as he lifted his head. He knew I
watched.

I undid the
dead bolt with cautious speed. And in a show of trust I wasn’t feeling in the
slightest, I removed the chain that would have kept the door shut. He’d easily
be able to rip the thing off the wall if he’d wanted. Leaving it fastened would
only anger him unnecessarily.

“
Hola
.”
The
amiable spread of his lips showed bright white teeth. His canines were pointed
but no more so than mine. The mere hint they could change made me suppress a
shiver. “Can I come in?”