Chapter 25

I wake with a start.

There's a face above my head. A face of a giant—probably the worst way to wake up.

Seeing me blanch, the giant morphs into Kit.

I sit up. "Free Virgil and secure Wrakar," I say urgently. "Don't wake him, but if he wakes up on his own, chop off his right index finger. He still has the information we need, and we don't want him committing suicide like that werewolf."

Eyes gleaming with bloodthirst, Kit hurries to do as I asked, while I leap to my feet and examine my surroundings.

Finally freed, Virgil looks groggy. I shout some orders at him, and that seems to snap him out of his stupor. Rushing toward what's left of Felix's robot, he begins to dig.

Since Ariel is closest to me, I check her vitals, preparing for the worst.

Whew. She's got a pulse.

I sprint over to Itzel.

Another ton off my shoulders. Though Itzel is in even worse shape than Ariel, she will clearly live.

I turn toward Virgil. He's looming over Felix, who looks like one giant bruise under the wreckage of his suit.

"He's going to make it," the vampire tells me, much to my relief.

And now for the check I dread the most.

Sprinting to where Valerian fell, I feel his pulse.

It's faint, but it's there.

I exhale, my knees weakening from relief. He's going to live. I didn't lose him.

Nor am I going to.

Swiping my finger over the vampire blood that's still on my face, I stick it into Valerian's mouth. I know I warned him against this very thing, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Like me, he can go cold turkey starting today.

His breathing improves instantaneously. A second later, his eyes blink open and widen at the sight of me covered in blood.

"It's not mine," I say quickly as he sits up. "There was a battle. Ariel beheaded a vampire. Promise me you'll never drink their blood after—"

"It's okay," he interrupts, and ripping off a sleeve, he wipes the blood from my face.

"There's no time for this," I mutter, pushing him away. "The others—"

"No blood," the now-awake Ariel barks at Virgil. "I'll heal on my own."

The vampire looks insulted. "I wasn't going to give you any. Enforcers don't break the law."

Good points all around. She shouldn't risk the kind of healing Valerian and I have gotten—not after all the rehab. Virgil is right as well: Giving someone his blood is highly illegal. When used in medicinal settings, vampire blood comes from an anonymous donor, and doctors know how to handle it to minimize addiction.

There's a reason I had to get it from the likes of Napoleon.

I catch Virgil's gaze. "Can you get medical help for them?"

"It's en route," he replies.

Valerian leaps to his feet and looks around. "Where's Wrakar?"

"Sleeping," I say. "Hopefully."

As one, we rush to the back of the morgue.

We find the necromancer on the floor, with Kit standing over him, sword ready for a strike.

"As soon as he's in REM sleep, I'm going in," I whisper to Valerian.

"Be careful," he replies in a low voice. "Yours isn't the only way to get the information we need."

I nod and watch Wrakar's closed eyes for any sign of movement. Then loud voices reach my ears.

It's the emergency workers. They've come to take Ariel, Itzel, and Felix.

"Don't worry. I'm blocking his sense of hearing." Valerian nods at the necromancer.

Interesting. I didn't realize his power worked even on sleeping people.

Valerian walks over to pick up Onassis's gun, then approaches an EMT dwarf and chats with him for a few seconds. When he makes his way back, I see he's also gotten himself a hygieia device.

"What was that about?" I ask, glancing at the medical workers.

Valerian hygieias me from head to toe. "I made sure they'd take Felix and company to the same hospital as your mother. And I told them to put the bills on my tab."

If we were alone, I'd probably kiss him twice—once for the disinfecting and once more for taking care of my friends.

And then maybe a third time for being alive.

And a fourth, just for me.

"Can I at least chop off that finger now?" Kit pipes up.

I round on her. "Don't. That would wake him up."

She frowns. "He hurt my friends. He has to pay."

"And he will pay," Valerian says darkly. "Don't you worry about that."

After that, everyone watches the sleeping Wrakar in sullen silence until I feel that strange sensation again, the feeling of a nearby person going into REM sleep.

I check Wrakar's eyes to be sure.

Yep. He's dreaming.

Taking the hygieia device from Valerian, I clean a spot on the necromancer's wrist and touch it with great reluctance.

A moment of concentration later, I'm in the dream world.