Chapter Ten

The doctor is in; time to tickle your funny bone.

Arriving at Oliver's home and despite being held up by Oliver, Eva swayed heavily, her head feeling like it was stuffed full of cotton. One part was due to the lack of sleep over the day and another part was due to Oliver swooping her out of the Suburban and moving with breathless speed. No longer feeling like her body burned from the inside out due to the hellhound's bite, she now felt a cool numbness spreading throughout her.

Without sitting her down, Oliver barked out, "Where's my witch?" His breath panted out as he scanned the room, apparently not seeing whomever he was looking for among the group sitting casually around the room.

Cradled in the comfort of his arms, Eva pressed a light hand to his tense chest, not sure if it was to comfort him or herself.

It's all good, she tried to tell him, but despite the fact that her lips moved, no words came out. It doesn't hurt anymore; maybe I'm better. He felt so good, both warm and cool at the same time, that Eva just wanted to stay curled up against his cool body and close her eyes for a minute. As they drifted closed, she remembered his voice had been begging her to keep her eyes open. With a guilty flash, she forced her heavy lids back open to focus on the room.

Reclining in a chaise lounge with a glass of red wine—well, maybe—was an elegant, black-haired woman. Eva"s addled mind realized that most likely the long-stemmed wine glass held Ravyn's dinner.

Wait, dude, that's Ravyn Sinclair. Despite hearing the truth of Oliver's words during the night several times, in no way did she imagine that the famous actress would casually be sitting in this stranger's home. Rayvn. His friend. A vampire. What a strange, strange dream.

Yup, it's dinner, Eva concluded when Ravyn lowered the glass from her full lips, and the thick substance slowly slid down the side back into the bottom of the glass. Wait, does that mean Ravyn is a vampire too? Didn't he tell me his friend was a vampire? Maybe? Wait! Whoa, I just thought all this . . . It makes sense if Oliver is, and they're best friends, probably lovers . . . Eva scowled. Yeah, lovers making beautiful vampire babies together. Not that it matters to me, not one bit.

Bleary eyes fluttering from the force required to keep them open, Eva noted the menagerie meeting inside the living room with windows tightly closed, but still brightly lit from within. One man stood guard near the door where they entered, drawing himself up taller although Eva was still coherent enough to see his disappointment with Oliver failing to address or acknowledge him.

"Hey, State Farm Jake," she slurred toward the disappointed and then confused khaki-clad guard.

"I'm not Jake," he began, but already Oliver had blurred past him and any possible introductions the man in khaki could have stumbled through.

After Oliver's abrupt movements, attempting to focus on the other man proved to be a bit more difficult. He was farther across the room, behind the chaise but within touching distance of Ravyn, and he may have been moving, but at this point, Eva couldn't swear to anything. Once the figure settled into place, a gurgle of laughter escaped her, and a sluggish finger managed to point in the general direction of the tall-large man, her eyes going wide with recognition. The hand on Oliver's chest lightly tugged at his no-longer-white shirt.

"Heyyyy, I know him! Look, it's Thor the talking, tuxedo-wearing dog." Slowly, the tongue twister managed to work its way free from her cotton-filled mouth.

A loud, unlady-like laugh escaped Ravyn's mouth. She didn't even attempt to hide her glee. "She does know you, Thor, you dog."

Ha! She'd made the beautiful woman laugh. If they were laughing, then she couldn't be dying, right?

The man growled lightly under his breath, and Oliver returned it with a half-feral growl of his own that echoed off the room, causing the man to nod and drop his eyes.

"Where is that witch?" Oliver demanded as the group bobbed and weaved around them, turning fuzzy as the light grew too bright for Eva's eyes. "I pay her to—"

Eva weakly slapped a hand toward Oliver's tense jaw. "Calm down, cash more bees with shugar, or you cash more honey wif flies." She slurred out her words, feeling her eyes roll up. Then she hastily jolted her eyes open again as the remnant of memory demanded in a harsh tone that she remain awake.

A flurry of erratic red hair blocked the rest of the room from her fading line of vision and a gentle voice chided, "Boss Man, I'm here. I've gotten everything ready. Calm yourself." Scents of cinnamon and earth enveloped Eva as the colors moved around her and tendrils of the hair tickled her face. Closing her eyes, she told herself, now she could rest. Surely, now she could rest.

Cool hands pressed the spot on Eva's calf that had grown inflamed again despite numbness throughout most of her body. Eva couldn't stop the moan of pleasure that escaped her at her soothing touch. "Ah, girl, that hellhound got you good, but I'll get you taken care of. I'm Danika." The same cool hands brushed her sweat-laden hair away from her face, smoothing it gently behind her ears. The same cool, soft hands, so much like Gram's, gently pried open her eyes, while Danika's green darted around, examining them, before releasing them to slowly close in relief from the bright, hot air.

"She's Delta." Oliver's arms tightened around Eva, offering both comfort and protection, as he corrected the witch.

Witch?!Belatedly, his demand for a witch fired alarms off in Eva's head. I'm dead or dying. There is no, no, no . . . no what? Already, the heat had driven the thought from her mind. Vampires, witches, and werewolves, oh my!

"Today, I want to be Danika. Come on, Boss Man. I'm set up in the first room down the hall. Just bring her in there." Delta/Danika snapped her fingers at Oliver, and he swiftly followed the red pixie down a hallway.

I wish I could get him to do that, crossed Eva's mind, but she couldn't get her mouth to form words.

Eva felt herself being placed onto another bed. "Got to stop meeting like this." When no response came, she doubted that she'd spoken the words aloud. Maybe she'd just thought them. So damn hot. Was it possible for a person"s blood to boil from the inside? Could someone survive if that happened?

A cool, wet cloth pressed to her lips, and she instinctively drew the coolness into her mouth, feeling a rush as the taste of chamomile and mint seeped past her lips. Gram? Gram?

"Keep having her sip or suck on that until she can't drink any more." The red-headed witch's no-nonsense voice left no room for its listener to disobey.

A rush of air stirred up beside Eva as one gentle hand switched to another, pressing the infused water cloth to her mouth as she feebly tried to suckle on it.

Delta began examining Eva's swollen calf. Eva winced as she mouthed the cloth, wanting to scream against the returning pain. Her leg felt so tight, she wondered if it were possible it could split open, and her stomach lurched despite the cool chamomile. Squeezing her eyes closed against the pain, then once again remembering the persistent demand that they stay open, Eva forced them back open but was unable to focus on the flurry of activity around her.

Can I rest yet? She couldn't remember now if he'd told her to open her eyes or close them.

"Ah, sweetie, it got you good." Clicking her tongue sympathetically as she swiftly pulled back the shredded leggings from Eva's legs, Delta added, "I think you're going to want to sleep through this."

Oh, precious, that means I can close my eyes. It just felt like too much work to close them now though.

Eva heard Oliver grudgingly admit, "My compulsion won't work with her. She's either enchanted or immune. There's been no time to determine the cause." His smooth voice, so low and comforting, nearly made her weep as its dulcet tones caressed her.

"I've given her blood four times, and it's burning off quicker each time."

Eva struggled to tell him that it was okay if he needed her to sleep again now. She would; however, each time she opened her mouth wide enough to speak, more minty water filled it.

"I can take care of that." Reaching down, the flurry of red hair pulled out a small jar, tipping it around in the light before placing a pinch in her hand. Tossing her hair over her shoulder, she leaned in close to Eva's face, so close that despite her fading eyesight, Eva could see the gold speckles dancing and moving in the woman's green eyes, the same gold that streaked through her red hair.

So pretty, Eva thought.

Then Delta blew the dust and whispered, "Somnum." The dust expanded, then expanded again, sweeping toward Eva's face and filling her nose, eyes, and ears with the impossible, expanding powder. Then

darkness came; sweet, sweet darkness.