Rick’s blood had been used to try to give himself the were-taint. This was why Rick had been targeted. So that Jason might infect himself. I went to the sleeping room, passing the null room on the way. It had been jimmied open, Loriann having used brute force and intellect where magic wouldn’t work.
I tapped on the sleeping room door. “Mud? It’s over.”
The door wrenched open and Mud threw herself at me, grabbed me. Cherry was barking like a maniac, jumping all over me, racing up the hallway and back. Mud held me away. Her eyes searching me. “Are you’un all right? Are you shot? Turn around.” She shoved me around and back. And yanked me into a hug. “I was scared as a deer chased by coyotes.” She shoved me back and said, “Cherry, come. Stay.” The dog ignored her and I caught the small springer by the collar. Mud demanded, “I want me a gun.”
I was befuddled. And amazed at the young woman who, only last week, it seemed, had been my baby sister. “No gun. But staying with me put you in danger. I don’t care how sick the Nicholsons are, you’re going back.”
Nell narrowed her eyes at me. “Ain’t no way, sister mine. I ain’t going.”
“Why not?” I demanded. “Give me one good reason.”
My little sister showed teeth at me in fury. I realized I was going to have to pay for braces, but that thought shredded and vanished like a wisp of candle smoke on the wind. “Larry Aden is out on bail and he’s back home on church property. That there is the real reason Sam brung me to you’un.”
SEVENTEEN
“What were the bracelets?” Margot asked. Her dark-skinned face was slightly gray with shock.
The team was in the conference room, eating pizza provided by Soul, who just happened to drop by. Lucky that. Or not. Maybe something else, as if she had been notified. Or as if she knew things.
The Assistant Director of PsyLED was curled up like a cat, with her long skirts wrapped around her bare feet on the chair seat in the corner of the conference room, her shoes on the floor. She was all in silvers and grays today: platinum hair and dark eyes, silver earrings, and a shalwar chemise type dress, pants, and shawl in a gauzy fabric that looked cool and comfy. And not at all regulation. I sent a glance to JoJo, with her turban and shimmery skirts. Jo was more dance club than Indian, but there was a definite correlation.
Soul, like the rest of us, was working on her laptop and analyzing the video footage, trying to deal with the facts and the trauma of the attack, chatting with PsyLED DC and the National Guard and probably someone in the Department of Defense, tryign to get us backup. Her gaze kept shifting to Rick, evaluating, worried. She had said her reason for being here, was to keep an eye on her only mostly para unit. She had explained that she was here solely as an observer, but she warned us that how we handled this situation would impact future para units.
No stress there. No. Not at all.
It was a few hours before dawn and things had settled down some after the paramedics and city cops left. The emergency team—who had entered wearing double pairs of gloves and white Tyvek biohazard unis in the presence of werecat blood—had bandaged Margot’s arm and worked to stabilize Loriann before carting her to UTMC, running lights and sirens. Evidence had been collected by our team and by the FBI evidence collection team jointly, something FireWind worked out. No one had mentioned to any of them that Margot might go furry.
Soul had sent a request to the Dark Queen, Jane Yellowrock, requesting that one of her Mercy Blades come and try to keep the taint from taking. Rick claimed that Mercy Blades had the ability to keep a human from getting the were-taint. It hadn’t worked on him, however. Jane hadn’t responded. I had sent a similar request with identical results. Nothing. I wondered if Jane was suddenly out of range, in some arcane Cherokee ceremony, or on a ship at sea. No one knew and Alex wasn’t answering his cell either. Sudden radio silence wasn’t like Jane.
“The cuffs are similar to these,” T. Laine said, tapping a key on her laptop. Overhead, a series of photos of bracelets appeared, looking like something a museum might put together. “I contacted the leader