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“If they had the ability to teleport themselves out of here, why didn’t they leave before now?”
“Because that’s not teleportation,” drawled a familiar voice.
No one had been sitting on the edge of the makeshift stone bonfire seconds ago. Now, Ashael perched there as comfortably as if he were getting ready to toast some marshmallows.
“That’s a parlor trick,” he went on. “It stuns the senses for a few seconds so it looks as if they’ve teleported away when in reality, they scurried out of here as fast as they could run. Still, it takes a bit of doing to momentarily daze vampire senses. Before they absorbed residual power from their goddess’ feeding, they couldn’t have pulled off such a trick.”
That explained why they hadn’t done it before, but I got why they did it now. “Fake” teleportation or no, it had still worked in getting them out of here before Bones changed his mind about letting them live.
“Ashael.” Bones said his name as if it tasted sour. “Been loitering about, watching this whole time, have you?”
“Of course not,” Ashael said with mock indignation. “My presence would have violated my race’s treaty with the other gods. I would never do that, just as I would never add a dollop of magic to the witches’ hex-dissolving-spell because the silly birds couldn’t conjure up enough power to do it on their own.”
My jaw dropped. Ashael had topped off the witches’ undoing spell in time to save us?
Denise ran across the bluffs and threw her arms around him. “You beautiful, beautiful demon!” she choked out.
Ashael laughed as he patted her back. “I am, but as I said, I would never do such a thing. That’s against the rules, and an obedient fellow like me always follows the rules.”
“Of course you do,” Denise said, laughing as she pulled away. “My mistake.”
Ashael winked at her, and then held out a tiny glass bottle to me. “Drink this before they cut the silver out of you. It’ll help.”
I grimaced. “Thanks, but if that’s more of your blood—”
Ashael was gone before I finished the sentence. Bones and Spade exchanged a look, and then Bones flew over to the stone bonfire and plucked the bottle off its ledge.
“Not blood,” he said after pulling out the stopper and sniffing the bottle’s contents. “Smells like flowers.”
It could smell like fresh manure, and I’d still drink it if it wasn’t more demon blood. Nothing against their kind, but I’d had enough of being high. Still, maybe I’d be lucky and Ashael had brought me the vampire version of Novocaine. If so, I’d never forget his birthday, assuming demons celebrated birthdays.
“If this stuff makes me pass out, or if the silver extraction does, the kid that the witches brought here is down the path in the bushes,” I said. “He’s bruised, but otherwise fine, and I gave him a new memory of what happened tonight.”
“We’ll see him home safely,” Spade said. “Now, let Crispin tend to you. You look ghastly, Cat.”
I let out a pained huff. “Thanks.”
“Cat.”
Denise came over and knelt in front of me. She didn’t speak, and neither did I. We just stared at each other, and then we started to laugh because otherwise, we might have cried. We’d both been through so much these past few days that it would take time to fully process everything. All I knew right now was that I had the best friend in the world. Oh, and that I’d never forget this girls’ getaway.
“Same time next year?” I quipped.
“Over my dead body,” Spade muttered, but Denise laughed again.
“Sure, only next time, I pick the location and venue.”
“Deal,” I said and hugged her, ignoring her protest that she didn’t want to hurt me.
“Everything’s at maximum pain anyway, so don’t worry.”
“Speaking of that.” Bones knelt next to me. “We need to get that silver out of you, luv. Want to try Ashael’s potion first?”
I took the bottle and downed it. It tasted like rosewater and I didn’t feel high, so Bones was right: it wasn’t more demon blood. Hmm. Wonder what it was and how it was supposed to help. So far, I didn’t feel anything…
Hey, I didn’t feel anything. I poked myself in the ribs, which should have doubled me over since most of them still hadn’t healed, but all I felt was the give where my finger pressed in.
“It’s the magical version of anesthesia,” I said with relief. “I can’t feel anything, so go ahead and cut away.”
Bones’s cell phone started vibrating. So did Spade’s. Bones ignored his, but Spade pulled his cell out and glanced at it. Then, he let out a sardonic grunt.
“It’s Ian, texting over and over to say something’s wrong with Cat and Denise, and to call him at once.”
“It took him three days to listen to our messages?” Denise shook her head. “Remind me not to call him in an emergency again.”
I only laughed. Sure, I’d almost died, plus I had a gruesome supernatural surgery in front of me, but now that I was free of pain, free of a deadly spell, free of the fear that I’d doomed my best friend, and free to go home with the man I loved, I was in the best mood ever.
“Yeah, well, better late than never, right?”
