Page 105 of Forsaking All Others

“I didn’t send it to them,” he mutters, “I don’t want that cunt queen anywhere near my business or my house. I sent it to the premier human laboratory in Rome.”

“The one that facilitates the supply of donated blood?”

“Yes. I apologise, Jag. I was sure they’d be professional and discreet. Apparently not. They put my butler through half a dozen people before he finally got to the bottom of the story.”

“And?”

“And they lost it.”

“Fuck!”

I shake my head and consider my next move.

“And the other task?”

“Destroying the Italians?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve got someone working on it. You have to understand, you’ve supplied me with very little information — it’s like hunting for a needle in a haystack. Tracking is your expertise, not mine.”

“I have more clues,” I growl, pulling the bullets from my jacket pocket and studying them as I speak. “Two bullets. You should be able to trace them to their owner.”

“How did you come by them?”

“I had them sucked out of my chest by the Italian,” I mutter. “She claims her people wouldn’t dare assault one of us, but the proof is in the pudding.”

“They shot you?” His tone is incredulous.

“With silver bullets, no less,” I snort, rubbing the dried blood off one of the bullets and frowning as I see the words carved into it.

“Fuckers!” Falcon snarls, “brother I’ve let you down. I apologise. I’ll get right onto it. No mafia prick shoots my best man and gets away with it.”

“Speaking of best men,” I murmur, the words on the first bullet now coming into focus: ‘No Other.’ The other simply says; ‘Asumpta.’

“CUNT!”

“I said I was sorry,” Falcon grunts.

“Not you,” I shake my head, chuckling despite myself. “The bullet. It’s not from the Italians.”

‘And I owe my own an apology.’

“How do you know?”

“It’s a message from Asumpta.”

“Christ, is she still haunting you?”

“Haunting, hunting,” I sigh, self-consciously placing my hand to my chest where there’s no evidence at all that I was ever shot.

‘No evidence because the moment I drank Cat’s blood, I healed.’

“Look, Asumpta aside. Have you ever tasted blood that healed you from a wound instantly? Have you heard of something like that?”

“Is this why you sent the blood sample?”

“Yes.”