“What?” she shouted at the ceiling. “We aren’t moving fast enough for you? Impatient bitch.”
“It’s a woman?” Benicio asked.
Jaime flourished a hand at the claw marks down her face. “Either that or a demon with talons. Fights like a woman, I’ll tell you that much.” She fingered her scalp and winced for effect, then looked at me. “You don’t see any bald spots, do you?”
I lifted up in my seat for a better look, then shook my head. “Nothing a good brushing won’t fix.”
“Thank God. Last thing I need is—”
Jaime’s head whipped back so fast her vertebra crackled. Lucas, Benicio, and I all jumped from our chairs, and even Cassandra stepped forward. Twin indentations appeared on the side of Jaime’s neck. Before anyone had time to react, the dents punctured through the skin and blood spurted.
Cassandra shouldered me aside. Jaime yelped, her hand going to her neck as she backed away from Cassandra. Blood gushed over her fingers. Lucas reached to grab Cassandra’s arm, lips parting to cast a spell. Then he saw that I wasn’t trying to stop Cassandra.
“It’s okay,” I said to Jaime. “Let her—”
Jaime’s bloodied hands shot out to push Cassandra away.
“She can—” I began, but Jaime’s scream cut me short.
Cassandra reached for Jaime, but Jaime kicked her back. Arterial blood continued to spurt from Jaime’s neck. As Lucas dove to grab her, I cast a binding spell, but it failed. Benicio was on the phone, calling for help. By the time a medic arrived, it would be too late, but there was no time to tell him this. I cast the binding spell and, again, in my panic, fumbled it. Lucas grabbed Jaime’s arm, but it was slick with blood and she yanked free easily. She was fighting blindly now, kicking and hitting at anything that came close.
“Jaime!” I shouted. “Let Cassandra—”
Lucas tackled Jaime. She fought, but he pinned her down. Cassandra bent over Jaime. Blood sprayed Cassandra’s face as she lowered her mouth to the wounds. Jaime screamed and bucked, throwing Cassandra off, but when she jerked upright, the wounds had closed, leaving the tiny punctures invisible from where I stood.
Jaime scrambled to her feet, then hesitated. Her fingers went to the side of her neck.
“Vampire saliva stops the bleeding,” I said.
“Oh,” Jaime said, face reddening.
She swayed. Lucas caught her before she fell and guided her over to the chair, which I reclined before she sat down. When she tried to sit upright, I gently restrained her.
“Lie down. You lost a lot of blood. Lucas, could you—”
He stepped through the cabin door bearing a large glass and a carton of juice.
“Perfect,” I said. “Thanks.”
As I helped Jaime drink some of the juice, Benicio asked whether we thought a blood transfusion should be arranged. Cassandra said it wasn’t necessary, that the amount of blood Jaime lost would replace itself without intervention. She’d know, I guess, so we took her word for it. When Jaime finished the juice she lay down and closed her eyes.
“They aren’t supposed to do that,” she mumbled.
“Do what?” I asked.
She yawned. “Kill the messenger.”
Another half-yawn, then Jaime’s face went slack. I put my fingers to her neck. Her pulse was steady. I pulled the blanket up over her and turned to the others.
“She’s right,” I said, keeping my voice low. “No matter how upset the ghost might be, it makes no sense to try to kill Jaime. She’s the only one it has any hope of communicating with.”
“Unless it knew she wouldn’t die,” Lucas said. “If so, then one could construe it as a message of sorts, telling us that it not only knows of Cassandra, but recognizes her by sight and knows that a vampire can stop blood flow.”
“It’s a vampire,” Cassandra said.
“Not necessarily,” I said. “It knew that you could stop the bleeding—any supernatural who’s studied vamps knows that. As for the bite marks, they were probably intentionally vampirelike, to drive home its point about you.”
“They weren’t vampire like. They were vampire.”
“But—”
“I know the bite of a vampire, Paige. I also know that there is one in this room besides me. I’ve been around long enough that I can recognize my own kind faster than you can recognize a sorcerer.”
“If our ghost is—or was—a vampire, that would explain why it can’t make contact with Jaime,” Lucas said. “It’s trying to do the impossible.”
I gave a slow nod. “Meaning that necromancers never hear from dead vampires, not because they don’t exist, but because wherever they exist,