Page 74 of Bent Out of Shade
His niece swung around to face us, concern etched into her delicate features. “I don’t understand it. I’ve already healed a cracked rib and her abrasions. Her blood is circulating as expected, and according to the vampire physiology I studied, she’s fine, if a bit malnourished.” She licked her lips nervously.
Tatiana crossed her arms, fixing the young woman with an impatient look. “But?”
“All sedatives are gone from her system, but I can’t wake her.” Juliette turned worried dark eyes on me. “There’s some kind of interference that wasn’t there before.”
I looked at the floor, where Sabrina’s shadow should have been. “Does it feel like Banim Shovavim magic?”
“No. Can you sense dybbuk residue inside her?” She blotted her forehead with the back of her hand. “That’s normally not a thing, but with a vampire?” She shrugged helplessly. “We’re in uncharted waters.”
I checked, but there was no trace of any.
“I’m sure it’s just the result of a vampire losing its shadow, and she’ll wake up when it grows back.” Juliette did a pretty good job selling her theory but couldn’t completely keep the strain from her voice.
“If her shadow grows back.” My voice was steady, but it sounded very far away, like someone else was speaking. Ohrists lost their magic and even went into convulsions when I severed their shadows, but this was the first known vampire shadow sever. It was a whole other ball game.
We’d been so caught up in removing the dybbuk from the feral vampire that we hadn’t considered this could play out differently than usual. I could say that was on all of us, but in the end, my scythe had dealt the blow.
Something flickered over Laurent’s features, then he shook his head, placing a steadying hand on the small of my back. It barely registered.
By saving Sabrina from dybbuk possession, had I thrown her from the frying pan into the fire? I felt like I’d been taken apart and rearranged in a way that was all sharp angles and raw edges.
A buzzing noise started up in the kitchen like an angry hornet.
I flinched and Laurent bunched my shirt in his fist like he could physically keep me from the next thirty seconds, but this was one call I dare not miss—almost as much as I feared answering it.
Tatiana elbowed me aside in the kitchen and swiped my cell from my hand before I could answer. “Hello?”
My stomach plummeted. Her concern in sparing me was sweet, but I would have rather spoken to Vincenzo directly than wait to have it conveyed.
She narrowed her eyes at whatever Vincenzo was saying, his voice too low for me to hear, but Laurent had his head cocked, eavesdropping.
I tugged on his sleeve, my eyebrows raised in question, but he held up a finger.
Emmett and Juliette had remained with Sabrina.
“Your fiancée is with us but we’re going to keep her sedated for a while longer,” Tatiana said, cool as a cucumber. “She’s been through a lot and needs to sleep. Meantime, you need to present yourself to Zev BatKian, which you have yet to do. Or should I personally let him know of your visit?”
There was silence on the other end, and I threw her a thumbs-up, receiving a smirk in return. Zev loved his protocols so whatever “presenting himself” to our master vamp involved for Vincenzo, it would buy me—us—time.
Sadly, my triumph was short-lived. This was merely a stay of execution unless—until—Sabrina woke up. I braced my forearms on the counter, my head bowed.
“Tell me where she is!” Vincenzo’s voice boomed out of the phone.
Tatiana’s eyes went glassy. “She’s—”
Fuck. She’d been compelled. I snatched the cell away. “You have to follow proper protocol.” My words came out in a rush. “Don’t force Sabrina to go up against Mr. BatKian’s wrath over something so easily avoided.” Some sliver of self-preservation made me shut up before I babbled out the full predicament that Sabrina faced, and I snapped my mouth shut.
Laurent wrapped a struggling Tatiana in his arms. She wasn’t compelled anymore, she was swinging for the phone like she could send her magic down the line and fry Vincenzo.
Vincenzo let out a harsh breath. “You are right. Mi amor, she’s been through enough.”
I turned my strangled laugh into a cough. You don’t know the half of it.
“Who took her?” he said.
“We’re working on that.”
“Work faster,” he growled.
