Page 42 of Bad Medicine

“Ms. Silver?”

I stared sightlessly at thedriver, then realized he was holding the door, waiting patiently for me toclimb inside. I did, but my mind was on the memory. “Arran,” I mumbled, oncehe’d closed the door. The dwarf. I could almost see him. He’d given me theblade. I couldn’t remember exactly what he’d said, but I remembered his nameand a dark shadow. It felt like a half-formed dream.

My lips trembled and I pressedthem together, a little overwhelmed. I was remembering. The damage would fade,and I would be okay. The relief was huge, because what else had I forgotten?Whatever it was, it would come back.

I couldn’t let Adam Thorne takemy memories.

Jared wanted to hunt Adam downand end him. If he did, the Stone Moon Pack would be his. He’d integrate themwith his pack—the ones who wanted to stay, anyway—and he’d gain numbers, power,money. He’d gain the city.

But he wasn’t going after Adam,because he knew Adam was mine to kill. He was willing to give up thesatisfaction of killing an enemy who had hurt one of his people, and he wouldstand back and let me take over as alpha of the Stone Moon Pack, just as mymother wanted. Just as my father would have wanted.

Too bad for them thatIdidn’t want such a thing. I did, however, want to kill Adam Thorne. Needed to.Had to. I’d figure out the rest when he was in the ground.

I wasn’t used to sitting in theback of a car while someone else drove, and the ride seemed to take forever.Finally, Aaron drove up a meandering road lined with evergreens, through whichI caught glimpses of human-shaped forms I was nearly certain were vampires. Atthe top of the hill sat an enormous “house” with two uniformed men standing atthe entrance. One of them hurried to open my door as soon as Aaron stopped thecar.

As I walked with him to theornate entrance doors, my heart began to beat a little faster, my stomachtightened, and my mouth went so dry I could barely swallow. My wolf sniffed theair, trying to catch the scent of danger, but I knew it was all around us.Inside, outside, and most of all, waiting with the council members who’dsummoned me.

Just inside the entrance, a vaguelyfamiliar woman waited, and only when she smiled did I remember who she was.Lilah Rose, one of the initial recruiters who’d come to my house along with Mr.Olson and Mrs. Nash. Lilah had been the friendly one.

“Lilah,” I greeted, when sheheld out her hand. “It’s lovely to see you again.” I didn’t mean a word of it.

Her smile widened and shegently squeezed my fingers before dropping my hand. “You’re looking well,Kait.” Then her smile slipped, just a tiny bit. “I’m so sorry about your recenttroubles. I’m sure you will deal with your enemy in your own time. Don’t forgetabout Saul should you need anything. He’s an excellent resource for you.”

She grew more somber with everyword, and I got a peek of the woman beneath the sunny exterior. She wasn’t a vampire,but she was the council’s emissary, so I highly doubted she was human.

“I can’t forget about Saul,” Isaid dryly. “He calls me too much.”

Her laugh was gay and just likethat, she was back to her sparkly self. “He was quite upset about your attack.”

I lifted an eyebrow. “Sauldoesn’t seem the type to get upset about anything. What is he, Lilah? Vampire?He refuses to meet me in person, but he won’t tell me why.”

She shrugged. “You will likelynever meet Saul. Right this way.”

I didn’t get a good look at theplace, but then, I was there to see the council, not take a tour. Though Icouldn’t see much didn’t mean I couldn’t hear, though, andfeel. Despitethe elders being protectors, they were also savage, ancient beings who had longsince outgrown any normal emotions such as fear, joy, or pity, and their halls wouldecho forever with the voices of past torments.

Sudden screams, hoarse anddistant, rose from somewhere deep inside the place, and I hesitated, confused.I felt something. Not pity, or sorrow, exactly, though there was some of thatin a disconnected sort of way. No, it was more…familiarity. A strange sort ofconnection or recognition, maybe, foggy and unformed, but there. “Who is thatscreaming?” I murmured.

Lilah frowned. “I hear no one,”she told me. “No one is screaming. Come, now. We mustn’t keep the councilwaiting.”

I shook my head, as though I mightdislodge the sound, and walked on. And the screams, they faded.

Lilah led me down a bare, gleaminghallway. At the end were tall double doors and another pair of uniformedguards. They weren’t large men. One of them was a couple of inches shorter thanme, and both were slender and weaponless.

They were vampires, and theydidn’t need any weapons.Theywere the weapons. I made sure not to gettoo close to them when they pushed opened the doors for Lilah and me. Even so,I could feel the cold slimy deadness of them.

And I knew they could feel mydistaste—and my fear.

The room we were shown into waslarge and echoing with tall ceilings and polished concrete floors. There wereno windows and despite the artificial lights, the edges and corners of the hugeroom were filled with shadows. And people. More guards, maybe? I didn’t know.

When I looked around for Lilah,the only semi-comforting person in the place, she was gone.

The council members sat upon adais—I could see no steps leading up to it, but there were thick, red drapes onthe wall behind them, likely hiding exits or other rooms.

It didn’t appear as though I’dbe getting near the elders this time. I could certainly live with that.

They sat on gothic thronechairs, each one different, all of them ornate and bejeweled, as imposing asthe black-garbed and ancient beings who occupied them.

And this time, the councilwasn’t made up of only vampires. The elder who’d asked me to work for them wasthere, but on either side of him were shifters and other nonhumans, twelve inall. I had no idea what most of them were.