Marked (13 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY

F
ight!” someone shouted, cutting through the wall of music around Cacy. “Fight!”

The cry was coming from near the exit. Dec stopped dancing and plowed through the crowd. Cacy followed. When she emerged from the bar, her breath caught in her throat. Dec dove forward, shouting “Len, no!” just as the night supervisor sent Eli flying over the wall and into the canal below.

Cacy sprinted toward Len, who spun around, rubbing his shoulder, right before she punched him in the face. He bent over, clutching at his nose, and she kneed him in the balls, sending him to the pavement. She kicked him in the side and hissed, “If you touch Eli ever again, I swear I will tie you up, drop you in the Common, and laugh when they find your body.”

She leaped over him and hit the edge of the wall. Eli was standing in the chest-deep water a few feet below her, clutching his head. He looked like he had no idea what had happened to him. Dec was shouting to the other paramedics to block the boat traffic upstream so that Eli didn’t get crushed against the wall by an errant AV.

“Eli,” Cacy called. “Hey.”

Eli looked up, blinking and shaking his head. He spat a mouthful of water into the canal, making Cacy’s heart sink. “Cacy?”

Cacy looked over her shoulder. “Trevor! Get your ass over here and help me!”

Trevor, who’d been standing on the wall and stopping traffic several yards down, jogged over.

“Help me pull him out,” she ordered. “You’re the only one who’s strong enough.”

“We’re getting a rope—”

“We can reach him. I want him out of that fucking water
now
. Dec! You too!”

Dec appeared at Trevor’s side, his hair sticking up at funny angles like
he’d
raked his hand through it. “He’s gonna need—”

“I know what he needs,” Cacy snapped. “Get him out, and I’ll take care of him.”

Dec and Trevor looked at each other for a second. “I’ll hold your legs,” Dec offered. “You’re stronger.”

Trevor nodded and bent over the wall without another word. Dec knelt at his feet and wrapped his muscled arms around Trevor’s calves.

“Eli, lift your arms,” Cacy called. The way he was standing there, dazed and staring,
he’d
obviously hit his head. Cacy was terrified
he’d
lose consciousness and sink into the disease-infested water again. Every second he spent in that toxic soup shortened his life. She wanted to scream in frustration. She wanted to murder Len and his two little sidekicks, who both lay groaning on the pavement.

Eli looked up again and shakily raised his arms, allowing Trevor to grab his hands. “Hang on tight, man,” Trevor called as he started to pull. The massive muscles across Trevor’s back flexed as he lifted Eli from the water. “Shit, you’re heavy.”

Cacy leaned over the wall herself, reaching for Eli. She caught his arm and pulled, too, bringing Eli back over the canal wall with a final, wrenching heave. He rolled from the wall onto the sidewalk, coughing and gagging.

“Eli,” she said softly, kneeling by his head. Brown rivulets of canal water snaked through his blond hair. He blinked furiously; the water was probably burning his eyes. “We have to get you back to the station. Can you stand up?”

“Cacy, I can call a unit to transport him,” Dec said as he squatted beside them. He discreetly pulled his Scope from his neck, opening it just enough to look at Eli through it. He snapped it shut quickly. “He’s not Marked,” he mouthed.

But that wouldn’t save him from being desperately ill, from suffering permanent disability or organ damage. It only meant he wouldn’t die.

Cacy looked into her brother’s eyes, willing him to understand her feelings. She
needed
to take care of Eli. “It would take at least fifteen for them to get here, and another fifteen to get him to the hospital, where he’ll sit for hours because he’s not critical. But by the time they get to him, he will be. I’m going to take him back to the station.” She tapped her Scope.

“What are you doing? He’ll be nearly invisible there. If you lose track of him, he’ll be trapped there.” Dec looked at her like
she’d
lost her mind.

She laid her palm on Eli’s back. “He’s solid and visible in the Veil, Dec. I don’t know why, but I’ve seen it myself. It’s a long story.”

Dec’s mouth dropped open for a second. “Regardless of what you and he
can
do, let’s think about what you
should
do. You’re not supposed to use it like that,” he whispered. “He might see—”

“He’s barely conscious, and I don’t really care, anyway.” She glared at Dec. “You think Rylan would sentence
me
to death over something like this? No way. And I’ll take anything less than that with a smile on my face. Help me get him up.”

Dec’s face was solemn as he wrapped his arms around Eli’s chest and helped him to his feet. Eli lurched away from him and retched into the canal, sending an icy bolt of panic through Cacy’s gut. She pulled the Scope from the chain around her neck.

“Not here,” Dec snapped. He turned to the small crowd that had gathered behind them. “Take these three inside and get them cleaned up,” he ordered, waving at Len, Manny, and Gil. “We’ll take care of Eli.”

As the crowd shuffled back and some of them started to help Len up, Dec and Cacy ducked under Eli’s arms and carried him toward the alley next to Bart’s.

“I can walk, guys,” mumbled Eli, trying to pull away from them. “I’ll be fine. I’ll just go home and shower.” He lifted his head, winced, and leaned heavily against the brick wall behind him.

“You can’t,” Cacy said, praying he wasn’t about to fall over. “You’ve probably been infected with half a dozen bacterial diseases. And you obviously have a concussion. You’re coming with me.”

She brushed her thumb over her Scope, opening a window to the Veil. She looked at Dec. “I’ve got this. He can walk, so I can handle it.”

“I guess I’ll go manage the fallout.” Dec stalked out of the alley.

Cacy pulled her Scope wide and stepped up close to Eli. “Hey, I’ve got you. Just stay close to me, all right?”

“You’re the boss,” he said, lowering his head onto her shoulder. He smelled like a cesspit, but Cacy didn’t care. She lifted the Scope over their heads and lowered it around them, then helped Eli step over its edges. He shivered, soaked and chilled in the frigid air of the Veil.

“Hang on, baby,” she whispered. She flipped her Scope and focused hard on the locker room of the EMS station, pressing her thumb against the warm metal engraving, willing it to open a window to where she needed to go.

“Oooh. Pretty.”

Cacy’s head jerked up from her Scope.
She’d
recognize that raspy voice anywhere and knew it signaled trouble. Her arm tightened protectively around Eli’s waist. Despite the icy dread oozing down her spine, she smiled confidently as she swiveled her head around, looking for the owner of the voice. “Well, thanks. I love compliments.”

The voice
tsk
ed. “You’re not my type. But
he
is.” Glowing red eyes stared at Cacy from the depths of the alleyway.

Eli tried to lift his head but didn’t quite succeed. “Cacy?” he whispered.

“Shhh. It’s all right.” Cacy backed out of the alley, dragging Eli along with her. He stayed upright, but just barely. She turned toward the alley as the Ker stepped into the open. Cacy’s hand rose to Eli’s neck, and she held his face against her shoulder. “What’s up, Mandy?”

Spiteful and unnecessarily cruel, Mandy exemplified everything Cacy hated about the Kere. She clicked her lacquered red claws together and cocked her hip as she eyed Cacy and Eli. Her stilettos left little holes in the squelchy cement as she shifted her weight. “Cacy Ferry. Is this a
live
human? And are you planning to share?”

Cacy scoffed, working hard to hide her fear. Not for herself. Mandy couldn’t touch her. But Eli . . . what if she was here to Mark him? Could she be persuaded not to? “He smells like a sewer. You want him?” She skimmed a hand down Eli’s soaked shirt and flicked the filthy water toward Mandy, who skipped back with a squeal. “I didn’t think so.”

Eli shivered and stood up straight, still leaning heavily on Cacy. She twisted around until she was between him and Mandy. Eli flinched. He had probably seen Mandy’s glowing red eyes. Shit.

Mandy grinned and licked her lips, revealing her glistening fangs. “Hi, gorgeous.” She turned to Cacy. “Oh, hell. I’ll take him, smell and all.”

“Don’t even think about it,” Cacy snarled, cursing herself silently as Mandy’s eyes widened with interest. Eli’s hand, knuckles bleeding and raw, slid over Cacy’s collarbone. He pulled her back against him, like he was trying to protect her. It made her heart ache.

Mandy’s eyes glittered with predatory curiosity as she looked them over. After a few seconds, she stuck her bottom lip out. “I have business to attend to, anyway. Places to go, people to Mark. But I’m thinking we need to hang out, Ferry. You keep very interesting company. I’ll see you soon.” She turned in place and was gone.

Cacy sagged, and so did Eli.
He’d
probably used the last of his energy to get through that encounter. She turned so she could support him, sinking into the sidewalk under his weight.

“What was that?” he said into her hair.

Cacy didn’t answer. Maybe Eli wouldn’t remember this. There was a decent chance—with the hit to the head
he’d
taken, the postconcussive amnesia might keep him from recalling things that happened in the hours after the injury. On the one hand, she hoped that was the case. On the other, she didn’t want him to be hurt that badly.

She clutched him against her as she slid her thumb over her Scope again, opened the portal, and yanked it wide, relieved when it revealed the station locker room. Eli leaned against her, his eyes half-shut. She pinched his chest, and he twitched. “Don’t you dare pass out on me.”

“Hey, be gentle,” he mumbled against her neck, sending a shiver down her spine.

She peeked through the hoop. Thankfully, the locker room was empty. It was hours into the shift, and the paramedics who weren’t at the bar would all be in the garage or out on a call. Eli sighed as the hoop descended over him and the warmer air of the locker room hit his goose-bumpy skin. He opened his eyes and scanned the room. “How the hell did we get here so fast? Weren’t we just outside the bar?”

She guided him to sit on a bench and snapped her Scope back to the chain. “I called a taxi,” she explained. “You must have blacked out. I’ll be back in a second, all right?”

She held her breath while she watched him consider that, then let it out as he lowered his head into his hands. Concussion. Definitely.

Mentally reviewing all of Eli’s possible injuries, she sprinted to the supply cabinet and grabbed everything she needed. By the time she made it back to him, supplies piled in her arms, Eli was standing up and swaying in place.

“I want to take a shower,” he said to no one in particular. “I’ll be fine once I get this gunk washed off me.”

He clumsily stripped off his shirt, revealing his tight, defined torso. Cacy caught her breath. Even covered in canal water and smelling like hell, he looked like a god. Too bad he wasn’t actually immortal. “Eli, I need to treat you, or you’re going to get very sick, very soon.”

“I’m fine. I’ll be fine.” He stumbled away from her, leaning against the wall with his shoulder as he lurched toward the shower room.

Cacy followed. She couldn’t stop him unless she wanted to hurt him more, which was tempting, but not likely to be good for him in his present state. “Eli. Stop. Slow down. Okay. Stop now.”

He ignored her, walking unsteadily toward the last stall on the left. He fumbled with the button of his pants as he leaned against the tile wall of the shower room. His fingers couldn’t seem to manage it, though. He raised his head and looked at her, clearly embarrassed. “A little privacy, please?”

Cacy laughed. “Stop being such a jackass. Do you realize what a crappy patient you are?”

“You’re not the first person to tell me that,” he said quietly.

Cacy heaved an exaggerated sigh and set her supplies down on the bench in the shower stall. “You’re driving me crazy.”

For some reason, Eli seemed to find that really funny, but he stopped laughing and sucked in a sharp breath as she reached for his pants. He caught her wrist. “Um, maybe you shouldn’t—”

“Eli. You’re drunk and concussed. You just took a bath in toxic canal water. Let me help you, or I’m going to hurt you.” She shoved his hand away and unzipped his jeans, pushing them down his lean hips, trying to ignore the tight feeling low in her belly.

“I think I’ll keep this layer,” he said, nodding at his boxer briefs. Not that they hid much.

“For now. Get in there and sit down,” she said breathlessly, trying not to stare.

Eli sank down onto the bench, and Cacy scooped up the antibiotic eyedrops. She stood between his legs and tilted his head up. “Look at me. Keep your eyes open.”

He smiled, staring at her with the sweetest expression on his face. “No problem.”

She stared into his eyes for a moment, relieved to see his pupils were of equal size and reactive to the light. It took a few moments to tear her gaze away.

She administered the eyedrops and thoroughly swabbed out his ears and nose. He obediently swallowed the concussion-safe extra-strength analgesic she gave him, and then he put his hands on her hips. “Shouldn’t you be getting the same treatment?” he asked. “You got water all over you.”

She gave him a small smile. “I’m immune to those diseases,” she said gently. Normally, she would have put up a show of taking all the medications herself to keep from raising suspicions, but she was worried about Eli and didn’t want to waste time engaging in a charade. And . . . there was a sneaky little part of her that wanted him to know everything about her.

He nodded, like
he’d
expected her to say something like that. While he gargled with the antibiotic rinse, which would kill any remaining bacteria in his mouth, Cacy turned on the shower. “The only thing we have left is the systemic antibiotic.”