so worried in my life. What will I do if something happens to her? I love her, Ember. I was going to propose to her on Beltane. What if—”
“No. No what-ifs. Put all those thoughts on hold till the doctor can talk to us.” I glanced up to see Herne striding down the hallway. At that moment, Talia texted me.
i’m on my way. i stopped to pick up yutani.
“Talia’s on her way with Yutani. They’ll be here soon.” I patted his arm as Herne hurried over to Viktor’s other side.
“Hey, man, what happened? Where’s Angel?” Herne asked, frowning as he looked around.
“She went to find out if the doctor can tell us anything.” I tapped Viktor’s arm again. “Hey, big guy, tell us what went down.”
Viktor wiped his eyes on his sleeve. “I was supposed to pick her up after she was done for the day. She took today off and was spending it at the library, and she had a book club meeting tonight. I was late getting there, and as I drove up, I saw the ambulance and cops. I had a feeling… I just knew, you know? You know when your gut just screams that something’s wrong?”
“Yes, we know. What happened?”
“Sheila was waiting at the bus stop. I guess she thought I forgot to pick her up, and I had forgotten to text her that I was going to be late. While she was waiting, some doped-up streep pushed her against the wall and demanded her purse. There were witnesses but they weren’t doing anything to stop him, because he had a knife and people are fucking afraid to get involved. She gave him the purse, but I guess she wasn’t fast enough because he went nuts and slashed her throat. She collapsed, and the fucking SOB went full psycho on her, kicking her in her ribs and hips. Nobody even tried to stop him. There were five people at that stop and not one fucking person tried to intervene.”
I wanted to say they were probably scared, but right now it wasn’t a good time to take anybody else’s side. “Did the cops catch him?”
Viktor shook his head. “No, but some woman got a picture of him on her phone, and she called 911 after the guy staggered off. She’s in surgery now. She bled so much. There was blood everywhere, and she was lying so still.” He paled, shaking. “What if she dies? I was supposed to be there. If I had been on time, she wouldn’t be lying on a hospital bed now.”
“Take it easy,” Herne said. “This isn’t your fault. There are always a dozen if-onlys for every trauma in life. You weren’t the junkie who cut her.”
Angel returned at that moment. “The doctor will be out in a while to talk to us. Meanwhile, does Sheila have any family in the area? They want to contact them.”
Viktor closed his eyes. “Oh my gods, is it that bad? Yes, she has a sister who lives in Port Angeles, and her mother lives over on Bainbridge Island. I have Sheila’s phone with me. I’ll call them.” He headed over to the desk, his shoulders slumped.
I let out a sigh. “Did the nurse say anything else?”
Angel shook her head. “No, though he asked me if Sheila was religious, just in case. I told them she’s pagan so they’re bringing in a priestess.” She paused, then added, “I think it’s bad. What are we going to do for him if—”
“No,” Herne said. “I won’t let Viktor go there, and we aren’t going there either unless and until it happens. He needs us to be strong.”
“You guys, he told me he was going to propose to her on Beltane, so…” I shrugged. “Look, Talia and Yutani are here.” I nodded toward the door, where they were walking down the hallway toward us. Talia saw me and they headed over to where we were standing.
“What happened?” Yutani asked.
“A streep attacked Sheila. He robbed her, got freaked, and slashed her throat.” I motioned to Viktor, who was still on the phone. “He’s talking to her family now. We don’t know how she’s doing yet.”
At that moment, a couple of cops walked in, one of them Erica, a friend of Viktor’s and one of our best contacts. She zeroed in on us immediately.
“Viktor around? Oh, I see him.” She glanced at the desk. “Any news?”
I shook my head. “Not yet. Viktor’s talking to her family. Did you catch the guy?”
Erica shook