Seventh Seal - Jacquelyn Faye Page 0,54

being honest. And not poking and prodding me while I was unconscious."

"Judging by my waiting room, I think you get enough poking and prodding." He chuckled and wiggled his eyebrows.

For the first time in a very long time, I blushed. "You have no idea."

"No, but I can imagine. Go on. Get out of here. You're taking up a valuable hospital bed."

"How much do I owe you.?"

"You were never a patient here. Can't charge you." He winked and left me standing there.

A nurse came in moment later with a set of hospital scrubs. "I managed to save your shoes, but they were about the only thing not soaked in blood," she said and set them on the bed beside me. She turned to leave, but stopped and faced me. "You're real, aren't you?"

"Last time I checked?"

"I mean witches. What those assholes were protesting in the square. You're really, really real, aren't you?"

I opened my mouth to deny it, but I stopped myself. A vague recollection of a nurse eating her lunch and running for her life stopped me. She was there. "Does that scare you?"

"Honey, I was in the square. I just saw shit that would scare a doctor's handwriting straight. You weren't the bad guy."

"No. Those were vampires," I answered slowly. "But not all of them are like that."

"It wasn't them that scared me, either. It was the crazy look in those assholes' eyes. Especially Dr. Materos. You had literally just saved his life when he pulled a gun on you and shot you. Those are the things that scare me." She shuddered but then flashed me a brief smile. "You keep true. And tell Candy that Roberta says hi. And we really miss her here."

"You haven't seen her since she left?"

"No?"

"She works at the coffee shop in the bookstore."

"I'll have to stop in there for lunch one day." Her eyes brightened a little, but Candace did that to everybody.

"Her fiancé is my–" I stopped myself from finishing that sentence. "Best friend. Tell 'em I sent ya."

"I will." She flashed another small smile and gave me a nod, leaving me to get dressed and get the hell out of there.

∞ ∞ ∞

"We missed the movie." Jimmy huffed, but I could tell he wasn't serious.

"I'm sure I can think of some way to make it up to you." I chuckled in the seat next to him.

"Not tonight. I'm taking you home and putting you into bed. A bullet in the brain counts as a 'Not tonight, Honey. I have a headache.'"

"That's just it. I don't. I feel fine. It's kind of scary."

"It is," Dennis added from the back seat. "But it's also fucking awesome. If you'd been a normal witch, you would have died tonight."

I could feel the sadness radiating from him like heat. He'd been scared. They all had. Until they saw the wound close and my continued breathing. It was the only reason Materos was sitting in a cell and not a grave. Even still, it had been close. Yuki, believe it or not, had been the voice of reason.

As soon as I had walked out of the hallway into the waiting room, Jimmy, Dennis, Shea, Dar, and Yuki had swooped me outside the hospital to tell me who had shot me. They'd been almost disappointed I'd already found out. After he pulled the trigger, Dar shifted into a hell hound, Jimmy hit him with a right hook, Shea had his dagger pulled and an arm around his neck as he was falling to the ground. Dennis was casting a petrification spell, while Chief was drawing his gun. But it was Yuki who dislodged my little assassin and put herself between Materos and everybody else, shaking her head sadly. All she had said was, "No."

And they listened.

I owed Yuki big time.

"So, what happened to the rest of the OWLs?" I looked over at Jimmy for an answer.

"As soon as Materos shot you, the rest of the OWLs scattered like vermin. They wanted nothing to do with Materos or the murder charges."

"That was smart and kind of cowardly."

Jimmy nodded. "Please don't do that again."

"Do what?"

"Get shot. Even though we saw the wound close and you not dying, we knew you were going to be okay, but still. That was one of the most horrific moments of my life."

I nodded and gave him a reassuring kiss. "I'll try. So, what is going to happen to Materos?"

Jimmy just shrugged.

While he deserved whatever he got, I still couldn't shake the nagging feeling that