Flesh and Blood

‘No.’ She smiled weakly, floating closer. ‘I’m here. It’s just hard to make myself visible too far out of the loop.’ She wiggled her fingers in front of her. They were as sheer as steam. ‘As you can tell.’

‘You look great.’

She ducked her head and a curtain of brown hair hid the blood streaking the front of her sweatshirt.

‘I don’t care about that.’ He pointed to the dark stain. ‘Or that.’ His finger moved in the direction of her throat, where the flesh lay open like some kind of horrible flower.

She twisted, hiding that side of herself. ‘Don’t.’

‘Fi, it’s okay.’ Shoulda kept his mouth shut.

‘It’s not okay. I am not okay.’

She flickered again and he wondered if she’d rather disappear than deal with her reality. He couldn’t blame her. He’d wished that for himself once upon a time. Before her.

‘You’re going to be fine. You’ll see.’ He ached to hold her, to pull her against him and tell her everything was going to be okay, even though he was no closer to saving her than he had been a few hours ago. If anything, he was further from his goal.

‘You’re a bad liar.’ But her smile widened. ‘How did it go with Dominic?’

He dropped his head. He shouldn’t have told her about going to see Dominic, but he’d wanted to give her hope. What an idiot he was.

‘Not well, I guess.’ She laughed but the sound was almost a sob.

His head jerked up. ‘I’ll figure it out. I will. Don’t worry.’

She flickered, thinner than when she’d first shown up. ‘What did he say?’

Doc couldn’t bring himself to tell her. ‘I’ll talk to him again. Make him understand better.’ And he realized he meant those words. He would give Dominic one more shot. If he still didn’t offer up the required blood, Doc would find a way to get it. By whatever means necessary.

‘He won’t, though, will he?’ She started to cry, her image wavering and blinking in and out.

‘He will. He will. Don’t cry, baby.’ Doc had to get Fi back. ‘I didn’t mean to upset you.’

She shook her head, her hair swinging free where it wasn’t clumped together with blood. ‘I don’t know what’s worse – remembering what my life was like before we went to Corvinestri, or not remembering. Too late now, I guess, since it’s all coming back.’

His mouth opened, but he kept quiet. She’d gone to Corvinestri because of him. He was to blame for this and he knew it. Sorry only went so far. ‘Maybe I should go. Give you some peace.’

‘No.’ She turned to face him full-on. ‘The only peace I have is with you.’ Tears shimmered on her lower lids and streaked her pale cheeks. ‘Don’t leave, please. Not yet. Not until the sun comes up.’

‘You got it, baby.’ Anything to keep more tears from falling or causing her any more pain. He leaned against one of the storage containers and nodded toward the deck beside him.

She crossed her legs and floated down beside him, the brush of her ethereal form cool against his body. ‘Tell me about the first time we met.’

He laughed. ‘Again?’

‘Yes. I love that story.’

‘I’m aware.’ He began the story just as he had the last two times. ‘It was the second full moon after I’d been cursed, and the first one since my pride had thrown me out. Mal found me in an alley.’

‘Saved you from a pack of wild dogs, you mean.’

‘Yeah, that. He brought me back here—’

‘That was right after I tried to leave him and realized I couldn’t.’ Her mouth twisted a little.

‘I guess he thought fixing me up and letting you keep me as a pet would make you feel better. Course, in my animal form, there was no way for him to tell I was varcolai—’

‘And hardly an acceptable pet for a young woman such as myself.’ She snickered, pursing her mouth when he shot her a look.

‘Or anyone,’ he added. Not that he minded being her pet now. ‘For the length of the full moon, three nights and three days, I was barely conscious, unable to shift into human form even if I’d wanted to.’

‘Until … ’ The glee wrapped her voice like a Christmas ribbon, and he felt a thousand times lighter.

‘Until one warm afternoon, you carried me out into the sunshine, holding me in your arms like a … like a … ’

‘Baby doll,’ she whispered, barely controlling the naughty trill that sent her words an octave higher and his spirit soaring. ‘Except, I wouldn’t normally scratch a baby doll’s belly.’

He couldn’t help but smile. ‘Which is what woke me up and freaked me out into shifting back to my human form.’

The giggling started right on cue. She always cracked up during this part of the story. ‘Right in my arms. You knocked me down.’ Her laughter faded until she could speak again. ‘It’s not every day you end up with a large black man lying on top of you.’

‘Thankfully,’ he added, chuckling at the remembered image of her sprawled beneath him and looking shocked out of her skin.

She sighed and silence settled peacefully between them for a few minutes. He glanced over. Her eyes were closed, her head tipped back, a soft smile curving her mouth. He’d be thrilled, if she weren’t so see-through he could count the rivets in the storage container they leaned against. She wouldn’t last much longer. The thought stripped away his joy.