The Blood Alchemist (The Final Formula Series, Book 2) (7 page)

“Damn it, would you stop?” He caught my waist again.

“I got it this time,” I said, aware of his warm palms through my thin hospital gown.

“Rowan.” Cora stood just inside the door, hands on her hips.

I made an effort not to groan. Cora and I did not get along.

“What are you doing?” She crossed the room with long, graceful strides, her heels striking the tile with a determined beat.

I realized how this must look. Was she afraid Rowan was taking an interest in me again?

“Sit,” Rowan said to me.

“Really, I have it now.”

He frowned, but took his hands away.

“What’s happened?” Cora demanded. “I’ve heard bits and pieces. First Era is shot, then I learn that she was with,” she stopped to give me a glare, “her.”

“Addie’s shop was attacked,” Rowan explained. “We were—”

“We?” Cora crossed her arms.

My head ached. I didn’t want to stand here and listen to this. I pushed off the bed and started toward the wardrobe in hopes of finding some clothes.

“Where are you going?” Cora moved fast enough to step in my path—or maybe I was that slow.

“I have work to do. Rowan can explain.” I tried to step past her, but she caught my elbow, her grip tight enough to grind the bones together.

“Rowan is not a good source of information where you’re concerned.”

“Cora.” Rowan moved closer.

Busy watching me, she didn’t immediately respond. Eyes of multi-hued blue narrowed. “I can feel Era in you,” Cora whispered to me. “You feel like an Element.”

I frowned, more than a little disturbed.

“How can you ignore this?” she demanded of Rowan. She gave my arm a jerk, causing me to stumble and almost fall into her. I could stand, but my balance wasn’t up to this.

“Let her go,” Ian said from the doorway. He walked toward us while I tried to puzzle out his odd protectiveness.

“Who is this?” Cora asked.

“Dmitri Rey, her colleague,” Ian answered. “And now that you have my name, I would appreciate it if you accede to my demands.”

“Your demands?” The sneer in her tone matched the one on her face.

I gritted my teeth as her grip tightened, but I refused to give her the satisfaction of knowing how much it hurt—or how the adrenaline pumping through my system made my head swim.

“She has just sustained a head injury that would incapacitate, perhaps kill, a mortal.”

“A mortal is precisely what she should be.” Cora released me with a shove.

I stumbled, but Ian caught me, and before I could adjust my balance, lifted me in his arms.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“You will remain in bed until the doctor clears you.” He set me on the mattress.

“But the formulas—”

“I will take care of that.”

“Her colleague?” Cora asked. “What does that mean?”

“He’s an Alchemica alchemist,” Rowan answered.

“Shit. Another one?”

“We can use Ginny’s lab,” I told Ian.

“Who’s—”

“I have burn salve to make, an antidote for the bullets, and—”

“Bullets?” Cora asked.

“You have an antidote?” Rowan asked.

“I would have had it in the vial this afternoon, but…” I let the sentence hang. So much lost. Maybe I should have left the lab in Ian’s crypt.

Rowan turned to Cora. “Walk with me. Addie needs her rest.”

“She’s charming,” Ian said as soon as we were alone.

“She doesn’t like me much.”

“I gathered that.” He walked to the darkened window. “A former lover of his?”

“His sister.”

“Ah.” He turned to face me. “Water.”

I sighed. “You don’t miss much.”

He returned to my bedside. “Dmitri?”

“Thanks for playing along.”

“Beats incineration, but you surprise me.”

I leaned back against the pillow, suddenly exhausted. “There is so much I have to put right, and if he found out who you are…” The words trailed off as Ian pulled the blankets over me.

“Why are you taking care of me?” I asked.

“I told you: you’re my guide in this world.”

“That may not be a good thing. We have a lot of work to do.”

“I gathered that, too.”

I sat on the side of my hospital bed, dressed in my crumpled pantsuit and waited for the nurse to return with my release forms. If she didn’t return soon, I was going to walk out without them. The door opened and I rose to my feet. Finally.

It wasn’t the nurse.

“Addie.” Era gave me a big grin from the doorway. “You’re up.”

“Yeah,” I managed. She looked well, but with her rapid healing, I hadn’t been too worried. I’d been more worried about what she might have remembered in the alley.

“Roe just told me what happened.” She walked into the room. “I’m pissed he didn’t tell me sooner.”

“Oh, no. Don’t be. It wasn’t anything. Just a bump on the head. They wanted to keep me overnight for observation.”

“According to the attending physician, it was a cranial fracture,” a familiar voice said from behind Era.

James stepped into the room. Thank goodness I’d sent Ian back to the lab to see what could be salvaged.

“Ah, so no harm done then.” Era gave me a big grin.

“True.” I offered a half-hearted smile at the quip and then hurried on before the silence grew awkward. “I’m just waiting for the release forms.”

“It’s been taken care of,” James said. “And now Era says we’re going shopping.”

“Shopping?” I asked.

“You lived in your lab, right?” Era walked over to me. “You have nothing to wear other than…that.” She eyed my pantsuit.

“You don’t have to—”

“Yes, I have to.” She took my arm.

“Does Rowan know you’re here…with me?”

“Why do you think I have the bodyguard?” She waved a hand toward James. “Lord forbid I go out on my own. Unsupervised.”

“Hey,” James said.

“I’m not saying I don’t want to hang out with you, but I know the real reason you’re here.”

“To scope out the ladies’ dressing rooms?”

Era snorted. “Nice cover.”

I watched the exchange, wondering at the relationship between the two of them. Era had had a big crush on James…before. He’d been kind to her, making nothing of the schoolgirl’s adoration she’d laved on him. But she was cured now, a young woman only a few years his senior.

She turned back to me. “Shall we?”

I didn’t know how to get out of this and turned to look at James. Certainly he didn’t want to spend the day shopping—with me.

“You might as well come along,” he said. “She won’t leave you alone until you do.”

I could only stare at him.

“He’s right.” Era looped her arm through mine. “You might as well come willingly.”

Unable to come up with a response, I let her lead me toward the door.

Shopping with Era wasn’t as bad as I feared. Once past the initial awkwardness, I began to enjoy myself. Well, I didn’t enjoy the shopping, but Era made it fun, even if I did spend a lot of time talking her out of short skirts and baby-doll T-shirts. I needed sensible clothes like jeans and shirts that hid my tattoos.

I felt I was making good progress when she showed up at my changing room door with a black dress.

“That’s not what I’d call appropriate lab attire.”

Era laughed. “No, but it would be appropriate for my premiere.”

“Your what?”

“Next week the Cincinnati Art Museum opens their Young Artists of Cincinnati exhibit. Ten local artists will be featured, and my photos made the cut.”

“Are you serious? That’s incredible.”

“Yeah. It’s cool.” Her cheeks flushed. “Anyway. Cora pulled some strings, and they’re doing a sneak peek the night before. Everyone who means anything to me will be there, so you have to be, too.”

It took a moment to make my voice work. “I’m touched that you want me there, and thrilled for you at this honor, but I don’t think I belong.”

“Don’t belong? Addie, if it weren’t for you this wouldn’t be happening. The pictures I took when I was damaged…” She shook her head. “It was sad.”

I rubbed my forehead. Yes, it was.

Era pushed the dress into my hands. “Please. You’re the true guest of honor. I wish I could tell everyone what you did for me, but Roe insists I not tell anyone. He thinks it’ll draw the wrong kind of attention to you.”

“Era—”

“Please?”

I released a breath, unable to refuse her. “I want you to clear it with Rowan first, but I’ll try on the dress.”

“What’s going on with you and him?” she asked.

I turned to hang the dress on the back of the door. “What do you mean?”

“You won’t do anything without his permission, and he, well…”

“Doesn’t want you spending much time with me?”

“What? No. He spent most of this morning complaining about some assistant of yours.”

“They didn’t get off to the best of starts.” I shrugged.

“I thought it had something to do with his looks. Rowan kept referring to him as
the pretty boy
.” She flashed me a big grin. “I thought he might be jealous.”

“I’m sure that’s not it.” I reached for the door. “Let me try on this dress, and we can get out of here.”

“Addie.” Era caught the door. She glanced back over her shoulder, then to my surprise, stepped into the dressing room with me and pulled the door closed.

“I don’t know if I should say anything, but…” She bit her lip. A pause and then she plunged on. “When I’m near another Element, say within a few feet, I can feel what they are.”

Unease fluttered in my stomach. “Okay?”

“Addie, you feel like an Element to me.”

I remembered Cora’s words at the hospital. How she could sense Era in me because of the Formula.

“Hey.” Era took my hands. “Do you need to sit down? All the color just drained from your face.”

“No. I’m fine.” Should I tell her the truth? Tell her how I used her blood to brew the Final Formula and damaged her in the process?

Era’s grip tightened. Concern still creased her forehead, but a hint of a smile teased the corner of her mouth. Then it hit me. If Era wasn’t aware that her blood had helped make me immortal, then she thought this…Element-ness came from somewhere else. I had a strong suspicion where.

“Era, what are you saying?”

“Being an Element is all about balance. Our magic, the four of us together. But we’re not just magic, we’re also human, and humans seek out a mate.”

“And…”

“It’s Rowan. It’s his magic I feel in you.”

I resisted the urge to shake my head. “How is that even possible?”

“Why not? Everyone knows that necromancers form soul bonds. Why should it be limited to Old Magic? You’re bound to Rowan.”

Why did that sound familiar? Oh, Lydia. She’d said something about Rowan claiming me—then smirked. And like Era, she didn’t know how I’d made myself immortal either. Heat climbed my cheeks.

Era grinned. “You get it now.”

“You’re saying that anyone with any sensitivity to magic will think—”

“That you and Roe…” She winked. “Yes.”

“So, any Sensitive I meet will assume, and ask him about it?” Dear God. And on top of everything, he could no doubt sense Era’s essence in me, but to protect her, he let people think it was him.

“Well, most people are intimidated by him.” Era shrugged.

I rubbed my temples with both hands.

“Addie?”

“What a mess.”

“What do you mean?”

I knew I should tell her what really happened, but I didn’t have the courage. I stopped rubbing my head and looked her in the eye. “He’s an Element; I’m an alchemist. That sums it up.”

“He said that?”

“No, I did.” I gripped her shoulders. “Let it go.” The last thing I needed was her playing matchmaker.

She gave me a frown. “This isn’t a common thing.”

“Please, Era.”

She studied me a moment longer. “Fine, I won’t nag you, but…think about it, okay?”

I suspected that nothing short of agreement would make her leave me alone. “All right.” I waved her toward the door. “Now let me see how this dress fits.”

She smiled over her shoulder as she walked away. “Then we’ll go for lunch.” She opened the door. “Rowan’s meeting us.”

I released a breath and watched the door close behind her.

Era took us to a restaurant downtown. With the dark wood trim and the old world pictures on the walls, it had the feel of a British pub, though on an up-scale side. Rowan stood just inside the front door, his dark wool coat draped over one arm. He wore all black today, his slacks and mock turtleneck sweater the same dark shade. I made an effort not to notice how close the sweater fit.

“You’re late,” he said in greeting.

“Love you, too, Roe.” Era rolled up on her toes and kissed his cheek.

“I’ll just accept the chastisement,” James said. “I’m not kissing you.”

Rowan gave him a look that was supposed to be annoyance, but I caught the flicker of amusement in his eyes.

“Did you get us a table?” Era asked.

“Of course.” Rowan raised a hand and a waitress hurried over. Had she been standing around waiting for his signal?

Rowan fell in beside me on the way to our table. “How’s the head?” he asked.

I refrained from a flippant comment. “Better.”

“No headache?”

“It was gone when I woke.”

He nodded, but said nothing else.

The restaurant wasn’t overly crowded, so it surprised me when the waitress led us to an empty room and a table near the window. No doubt Rowan had requested a private meal. We ordered drinks and an appetizer before turning to the menus.

Rowan’s phone rang, and he glanced at the screen before bringing it to his ear.

“You ought to turn that thing off for meals,” Era grumbled.

“We just sat down to lunch,” Rowan said after listening for a moment.

“Or we were trying to,” Era added.

“It’s no problem,” James spoke up. “I can go.” He dropped his napkin on the table and rose to his feet. He had no trouble hearing the other side of the conversation—from across the table.

“He’ll be right there,” Rowan said into the phone. He ended the call and got to his feet as well. “Donovan will have a change of clothing for you,” he said to James.

Apparently it had been Donovan on the phone. “What’s going on?” I asked.

“Three men in camo rented a cabin just east of Cincinnati,” James said. “Donovan’s already there, but he didn’t want to go in alone.”

“Does he think your brothers rented the place?”

“It’s a possibility.”

“How did Donovan find out?” I asked.

“The local police,” Rowan answered. “I gave them their names. The security footage at the hospital provided the rest.”

I looked at James, but if it bothered him, he didn’t show it. “They want you back. Do you think it wise—”

“They surprised me at the clinic last October. They won’t get the jump on me this time.” He turned back to Rowan. “I’ll change in the restroom. You mind getting my clothes?”

Rowan raised an arm, gesturing for James to lead the way.

I watched them go. I didn’t expect James to have much love for his brothers, but I did expect him to make excuses for their behavior. In the past, I was sure he would have. Now he seemed to accept Rowan’s judgment.

“I thought it was just girls who went to the restroom together,” Era called after them.

I bit my lip to keep from laughing.

James made a face at her before leading Rowan from the room.

“Good one,” I told Era.

“It’s even funnier knowing they’re going to the john so James can get naked.”