Autumn Whispers (An Otherworld Novel) (9 page)

As I opened my eyes, I realized three things. One: I was lying on the floor. Two: The floor felt uncommonly good—nice and cool and smooth. Three: I didn’t think I was supposed to actually be down here.

That’s when the burning hit. My hand itched so bad I let out a croaking scream. I tried to sit up and found hands against my back, helping me. Shade was bracing me up. I shook my head, trying to clear the drone, but the buzzing grew worse, making it hard to even hear my own thoughts.

I squinted as Menolly knelt down beside me, Chase fretting behind her. “Kitten, Kitten, are you okay?”

“I . . . I . . . No.” Truth being, I wasn’t. I felt feverish and on pins and needles.

“I’ll go get Mallen.” She jumped up and disappeared from sight.

Shade gathered me up in his arms and laid me on the sofa. “Love, love . . . can you hear me? Delilah—can you hear me?”

His voice grated in my ears against the buzzing that wouldn’t shut the fuck up. It was beginning to annoy me. “Yes, I can hear you. Stop asking me that.”

“You’re burning up.” Shade pressed his hand against my forehead.

A moment later, Mallen rushed back into the room, followed by Camille. The elf looked straight out of med school but he was probably several thousand years old, and he had a calm, cool demeanor that both felt aloof and yet comforting at the same time.

He leaned over me, touched my forehead, then straightened up. “We need to get her to the FH-CSI. She needs more care than I can provide here. Smoky can take her through the Ionyc Sea. Don’t let Rozurial do it—he’s not strong enough to carry someone in fragile condition. Smoky can offer more protection from the elements out on the Sea. So go. Find him
now
. I’ll call ahead so they’re expecting her.”

Camille ran off.

Mallen turned to Shade. “Camille should go with her. Menolly—I understand that you’re needed at the Wayfarer. We’ll let you all know if anything serious happens with Iris, though I don’t expect any complications.”

Menolly looked ready to argue, but turned and headed out the door with Chase.

Shade worried his lip. “Who’s with Iris?”

“My assistant, and Hanna and Roz. I have to get back to her—this is her first labor and with twins, it’s not going to be easy. Someone find Bruce and send him in.” Mallen stared down at me. “Get Delilah a cool cloth for her head until you can get her to headquarters.”

At that moment, Smoky and Camille burst in.

“Smoky, take Delilah and Camille to the FH-CSI. A team will be waiting. Somebody—get your ass on the move and bring me Bruce.
Now
.” With that, Mallen turned and headed back to Iris.

Shade kissed me. “I’ll find Bruce, then join you at HQ. Go, love, and be safe.”

I tried to kiss him back but the fever hit me again and I started to pass out. The next thing I knew, the world was spinning—another period of darkness and I woke up in a bed in the FH-CSI.

• • •

I had no idea of how long I’d been out, but as I tried to push myself to a sitting position, Camille stepped into view and shoved me back down again.

“Stop right there. No moving. How are you feeling?” She ran her hand over my cheek, and I saw the worry filling her eyes.

I assessed my condition. Burning, itching hand? Still throbbing but much better. Buzzing in ears? Faint and muted. Feeling like hell? Check—still that.

“I’m better,” I croaked out, my throat raspy. “Water?”

She nodded, holding a glass to me with a bendy-straw in it. As I sipped, the cool water raced down my throat, easing the harshness. After a few minutes, I could breathe better, and I leaned back against the pillow.

“What happened to me? I don’t remember anything after Smoky picked me up to bring me here.” I had a few vague images of someone grabbing my arm, and I thought I might have screamed at one point, but I had no other clue.

“You were phasing in and out, but you’ll be okay. Be prepared though. You’re going to hurt like hell for a while as you recover.” Camille looked around, motioning to someone outside my field of vision. A healer joined her, staring down at me with a soft smile. She was Fae, and I’d lay bets she was part Goldunsan, from Otherworld. Her nametag read “Aswala” and she radiated a warm, welcoming energy.

“I’m glad to see you’re awake.” She fluffed my pillows and adjusted the blanket over me. “Do you know what happened to you yet?”

I gave her a brief shake of the head. “No, I just woke up. I’m not even sure . . . where am I?” I was pretty sure I was in the medic unit of the FH-CSI.

“You know that bite on your hand? Well, we know what those creatures are now. And we now know that they have a necrotic enzyme, like a brown recluse spider only worse. It helps them digest the flesh they eat. If you hadn’t gotten your lovely self in here, you could have died. As it is, we are able to counter that type of toxin, and you’re on the mend. But I won’t kid you, the pain’s going to continue for quite a while, and you’ll have a scar on your hand.” Aswala took my pulse and checked my heartbeat. Seemingly satisfied, she jotted down her findings in my chart.

The thought of a scar didn’t scare me. Hell, both Menolly and Camille had more than their fair shares of scar tissue. It was my turn, apparently. “So what are they?”

“They are children of Jenny Greenteeth and the Dark Dugald. Apparently the pair had several litters and it appears that we have at least a small nest of them around here. They’re called dreglins, and they run in a pack.” Camille let out a disgusted sigh.

Jenny Greenteeth and the Dark Dugald were both flesh eaters, and both were frightening and powerful members of the Elder Fae. Singular, terrifyingly powerful Fae, the Elder Fae were older than even the great Fae Lords. That this particular pair had decided to get their groove on and breed was both a sickening and frightening thought.

Jenny Greenteeth was similar to a kelpie, and far more dangerous. The Dark Dugald was the leader of the barguests—the Black Angus dogs, which were a lot like hellhounds. And according to what we knew, the Dark Dugald was a hellion and considered worse than a number of demons.

“Lovely. So now we have to track them down and get rid of them. We can’t let them just camp out and prey on anybody wandering by, and if they are flesh eaters, you know they won’t limit themselves to Supes. They’ll go after FBHs, if they haven’t already.” I wanted to get up and chase after them, but when I tried, both Camille and Aswala pushed me down again.

“You aren’t going anywhere for another hour or two, until we make sure you’re stable. You seem to be responding well to the antivenin treatment, and the healing magic.
If
you are feeling better in a few hours,
then
we’ll let you go home, but you have to go right to bed when you get there. No running around till tomorrow afternoon, and absolutely no fighting for a day or two. If you can’t promise, we won’t let you out.”

I restrained a snort. “Sure, no problem.”

Aswala leaned down to whisper in my ear. “We’re going to make sure your sister and friends know about this so they can haul your ass back in here if you break your promise. Got it?”

Startled by her take-no-prisoners attitude, I stammered a “yes” as she gave me another shot of something and took Camille off to the side. I had the feeling Camille was getting an earful of Aswala’s orders.

After she finished, I motioned to Camille. “What about Iris?”

“She was still in labor when we left. She probably has a while to go before the babies are born. I imagine we’ll be home before then.”

“Where’s Shade?” I looked around, wanting my fiancé. My lover anchored me. Over the months I’d learned a lot about strength and self-acceptance from him.

“Remember? He stayed home to hunt down Bruce, who apparently wasn’t around when Iris went into labor, and I gather it took longer than he expected. Bruce is never going to live that one down.” Camille let out a laugh. “Smoky will be back to get us the moment he gets my call.”

A few other memories began to phase back in that had been lost in the sudden onslaught of fever. I shot straight up. “Menolly! The Wayfarer!”

Camille hung her head. “She called half an hour ago. I won’t lie—it’s bad. They extinguished most of the flames, but the place is still smoldering. We won’t know till morning how badly the bar was damaged, but it’s not good. Menolly didn’t have much to say. She’ll be here soon, though. Chrysandra’s fighting for her life, and so are several others—customers who were caught in the flames. We may never know how many vampires died—they would have been dusted by the flames if they were caught.”

This time, I laid back down without being shoved. Chrysandra had been with the Wayfarer for years. She was there when Menolly took over and had helped her during the transition. She was easily the best waitress at the bar and she and Menolly had become friends.

“You don’t think . . .” I didn’t want to verbalize what was going on in my mind and I hoped Camille would understand what I was asking without me having to spell it out.

Her thoughts must have been running in the same direction because she sucked in a deep breath. “I know what you’re thinking. I hope to hell Menolly doesn’t decide to sire her.”

“How close . . . how bad . . . is she . . .”

“Chrysandra’s dying. There’s no chance for her to pull through, and Menolly doesn’t know that yet. I plan on being there when Menolly walks in to check on her. Maybe I can stop her, if her instincts get the better of her.” Camille glanced up at the clock. “Speaking of, I guess I should go wait for her. You rest. And by the way, Kitten . . .”

“Yes?” I stared at her defiantly, knowing what she was going to say.

“Aswala told me what she told you. Don’t you dare think of trying anything exerting for the next few days. Though, your hand is going to be hurting so I doubt you’ll be able to do more than bitch and moan.”

She sounded all too gleeful and I waved her out with my left hand. When she was gone, I looked down at my right hand. It was swathed in bandages, but at least it was still there. Necrotic bites could so easily cause gangrene, and I had movement and feeling in my fingers—all too much for comfort.

I shrugged, then flipped on the television, bored. The news was on and they were showing clips of the Wayfarer, engulfed in flames. I caught my breath, staring at the brilliant tongues of fire licking the building. Luckily, the shops next to it had been spared, but I had a sick feeling that morning wasn’t going to see more than a pile of rubble where the bar used to be.

Wincing at the announcer’s flippant tone, I changed stations until I found a nice, brainless rerun of
Jerry Springer
. I knew it was trash, and Camille and Menolly constantly teased me about it, but the truth was that I was a total fan girl and was crushing hard on the dude.

For some reason, he tripped my trigger and I fantasized getting locked overnight in a supermarket with him, and meeting in the junk food aisle where he’d drag me to the ground and fuck me like hungry bunnies.

By the time the “Shocking Family Secrets” episode was over, I was beginning to worry. Camille wasn’t back yet and I hoped to hell there wasn’t a crisis going on in Chrysandra’s room. Since Aswala wasn’t around to stop me, I pushed back the covers and slipped out of bed. A wave of dizziness and nausea hit me, but I pushed it down and headed slowly for the door, making sure my gown was firmly tied shut. An IV was in stuck in my arm, but it was hanging on one of those poles and I was able to roll it along with me.

The way was clear as I peeked out into the hallway, and I scurried out, holding onto the wall with one hand while I rolled alongside my drip-bag buddy. As I passed each open door, I glanced in—there weren’t that many rooms in the medic unit and Chrysandra had to be here somewhere.

I was about to run out of hallway when I saw her—in the ER at the end of the corridor. The doors were closed but I was tall enough to see a group of healers next to Menolly and Camille through the windows. They were gathered around a bed that appeared to be cordoned off behind clear plastic curtains. One of the healers looked engrossed in casting a spell, another worked furiously at some machine to which she was hooked up.

I pushed through the doors and Camille turned, letting out a little noise. Menolly’s back was turned to the wall and her shoulders were shaking.

“Don’t even say it.” I moved over to her side and turned to look at Chrysandra. “Oh Great Mother . . .”