Revenant

No witnesses, her mother always told her. False Angels’ tears are an aphrodisiac to some, toxic to many. You don’t want to accidentally poison someone.

Now that the False Angel enchantment was fading, Blaspheme’s tears were probably not liquid sex or toxic anymore, but she didn’t want to test that theory. Not that she planned on crying, but as tired as she was, she couldn’t take any chances.

Gem made promises to check in soon and left Blaspheme to observe the surgery in peace. Thankfully, everything was going well, so well that at some point, she dozed off. She woke four hours later to the sound of the door swinging open, and a boar-like Guai nurse named Chu-hua entered, her hooved feet clacking on the floor.

“Gem asked me to bring you these lab results,” she said in her squealing, piggy voice. “She brought you a sandwich and coffee earlier.” She gestured to the tray of food with one hand and handed her a folder with the other.

Blaspheme gazed out at the surgery, which appeared to be winding down. “Thank you, Chu-hua. And please thank Gem for me.”

Chu-hua smiled, her top lip catching on her tusks, and then she ducked out of there in another clack of hooved feet.

Blas looked down at the folder. Patient name: Gethel.

She scanned the contents quickly, but the intercom buzzing interrupted her. She looked out the window at the operating theater to see Soduchi giving her a thumbs-up through the glass.

Relieved, Blas shot out of the viewing area, her stiff legs protesting as she stepped into the hall and paced while she waited for Soduchi to come out of the OR.

Thirty seconds into her pace-fest, a tingle in her spine alerted her to a presence, and she knew exactly who she’d see when she turned around. Sure enough, Revenant was sauntering down the hall, his long legs eating up the distance, his black leather coat flapping around his boots, his predatory gaze fixed on her.

Geez, he was punctual. Yesterday she’d told him to come back tomorrow, and here he was, six o’clock in the morning, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. She, on the other hand, must look like she’d slept on a bed of nails.

Groaning softly, she watched him approach. He might be the sexiest evil bastard in existence, but dealing with him was the last thing she needed right now.

“Revenant,” she said. “Can I meet up with you in fifteen minutes? You can wait in the UG lobby or in my office at UGC —”

Naturally, Soduchi came out of the OR at the same time Revenant stopped in front of her.

“Dr. Soduchi,” she said quickly, heading him off before he could start off his report with the words Your mother. Gods, this masquerade was turning complicated, messy, and stressful as hell. “How is the patient?”

“I couldn’t do anything about the previous damage, but she’s out of immediate danger. Bane is finishing up with her.” Soduchi tore the green surgical cap off his head, revealing his severe blond high-and-tight that suited his hard-core personality. “I assumed she threw a clot as a result of a surgical complication, but it turns out there was a foreign blockage in the inferior vena cava that resulted in her heart attack.”

“A foreign blockage? What kind?”

He opened his palm. In it was a tiny, shiny object that looked like a crystal sesame seed. “I have no idea what this is. I’ve never seen one before.” It must have killed him to admit he didn’t know something.

Revenant held out his hand. “May I?”

Soduchi looked to Blaspheme, and when she nodded, he dropped the thing into Revenant’s palm. “I doubt you’ll be able to determine its source —”

“It’s a tracking device,” Revenant said, and Blas would have been amused to see Soduchi’s arrogance swatted down if she hadn’t been so busy wrapping her mind around what Rev had said. “Angelic in origin.”

Soduchi’s expression tightened. “How do you know?”

“Does it matter?”

Blaspheme could practically smell the testosterone clashing in the air between the two males as Soduchi growled. “Who are you?”

“He’s a friend.” Blas jumped into the fray before things deteriorated beyond something she could control. “Well, his, ah, friend, is a patient of mine.”

“Your friend could use a lesson in respect.”

Revenant laughed, flashing fangs. Which, for some reason, made her think of the vampire porn at her mother’s house. Not what she needed to be thinking of right now. Still, she wondered what Revenant’s fangs would feel like buried in her throat.

Stop it.

“What’s your name again?” Revenant asked. “So Douchey? Well, So Douchey, the day I respect a weremutt is the day my dick turns into a hot dog. So why don’t you run off and find yourself a nice Milk-Bone.”

Soduchi’s eyes bugged out of his head. “You unimportant fuck —”

One minute, Revenant and Soduchi were there in front of her, and the next, they were several yards down the hall, with Revenant pinning the doctor against the wall with his forearm across Soduchi’s throat. The writing on the gray walls, Haven spell inscriptions, began to glow and pulse as the threat of violence rose up from Revenant.

She couldn’t hear what he was saying to the other male, but whatever it was, the doctor went as white as a banshee on the night of the new moon.

A moment later, Revenant was next to her, and Soduchi was scampering away in the opposite direction. If he’d had a tail, it would have been tucked between his legs.