Page 41 of Bad Medicine

Lucy burst into tears, shotfrom her chair, and hurried around the table to throw her arms around me. “I’msorry. I’m sorry.”

My mother hovered behind me,and Joe half-rose from his seat, unsure what to do. But finally, the overwhelmingpain lost its hold, and the nausea it caused receded. I took a long drink ofice water. “I’m good,” I told them.

Lucy kissed the top of my head.“Youaregood—and I love you. No matter what you do or who you go after,I’ll always be on your side.”

I patted her arm. “I know,Luce.” And I changed the subject once again. “Joe, how is Max doing? I want tosee him.”

“Kait.” He sat back down.“Look, I’m just going to say it. Max is fucked up right now and he doesn’t wantvisitors. He’s blaming himself for you nearly dying and the pain you wentthrough. Not only that, but he had to watch as they…” He pressed his lipstogether and shot a look at my mother. “He’s traumatized. He’s fucked up, andhe’s going to need a little while to come to terms with everything.”

I nodded, but I couldn’t stoptears from stinging my eyes. “And physically?” I asked.

“He was a little banged up, butphysically, he’s fine. He wanted to go back to the office and start filingcases of people who need to see you, but…” He shrugged. “It’s too soon.”

“Absolutely,” I whispered.

“Kait.” Frustrated, he leanedacross the table and took my hand. “It’ll be okay.”

“Everything will be okay,” mymother murmured, but her voice was dull and her gaze was turned inward. Shewasn’t really present in those few seconds, and I would have given much to knowwhere it was she’d gone.

Because I knew without a doubtit had something to do with me, and from the look on her face, it wasn’tanything good. Maybe she, like Lucy, thought I was just a killer, no differentfrom a psychologically damaged shapeshifter who murdered human women.

And maybe…

Maybe they were right.

ChapterTwenty-One

“The car is waiting out front,Ms. Silver.”

I frowned at the phone. “Whydid you send a car for me, Saul?”

“You have an appointment withthe council.”

Shit. “I forgot.”

“No matter. Get into the car.”

“I’m bringing my blade.”

“Bring whatever you want.”

Shit.“Cool.”

It’d been two weeks since myattack, and I was nearly back to normal. I had returned home, as well, becausemore than anything, I needed to get my life back. A stranger—courtesy of MayorHedrick—sat at Max’s desk, doing Max’s work, because Max wasn’t ready to comeback. Maybe he never would be.

I missed him, but I wasn’tgoing to approach him until he was ready for me to.

Everything had slowed downwhile I’d been taking some time to heal. I hadn’t gone after Adam Thorne yet,because I absolutely had to be at full strength before I faced themotherfucker. But tonight the council had sent for me, and I had a feelingthings were about to frantic up a bit.

My rest period was over.

Joe had gone to check on Max,so I asked Lucy to tell him I’d be back soon and not to worry—I was pretty surehe wouldn’t have been permitted to tag along, and he’d have argued about that.I put on the belt from Saul, then slipped my demon blade into its sheath. Aftera slight hesitation, I ran my fingers over the blade the “spirit dwarf” hadsupposedly given me, but I wouldn’t be taking it with me. Some of my memoriescontinued to elude me, which was irritating. I wanted to remember getting thedwarf blade. Surely it was important, or he wouldn’t have given it to me.

I wore a long jacket with roomypockets—for one, because it was cold outside and if I ended up fighting I couldtake the jacket off, and two, I liked pockets. They held things I might need,like protein bars, a wallet with some cash, my ID, a tiny stash of holy waterand salt, my cell phone, and a small spirit trap. Sometimes a girl just neededsome pockets.

The driver was waiting by thecar and when I approached, he opened the back door for me. “Good evening,” hesaid. “My name is Aaron and I’ll be your driver tonight.”

A memory, vivid and strong, slammedinto my mind. Aaron. Arran. “I remember,” I whispered. “Almost.”