Don't Hex and Drive (Stay a Spell #2) - Juliette Cross Page 0,79
her picture on your phone.”
“She’s here?” I didn’t even try to deny the fact I was stalking her online.
He dipped his chin and headed for the side entrance to the hospital yet again.
“Jules phoned me half an hour ago to make sure my guys knew she was coming with Isadora.”
“So what are you doing here?”
He gave me one of those mind-your-own-business looks. Which never worked on me. “Just checking up on things.”
“You could do that from the comfort of your home,” I noted as we entered near the stairwell and nodded to the vampire guard, Roland, in the shadows.
“Shut up, Devraj. You’re one to talk.”
I laughed when he traced up to her hospital room. I did the same, cloaking myself in glamour so the nurses wouldn’t even note the rush of wind as we passed. Gabriel was at the door, also cast in glamour so that no one but vampires might sense him.
I eased into the room behind Ruben, hearing soft feminine voices. The gentle timbre of Isadora’s clutched me in the gut, reminding me how deep this witch had her hooks into me. The funny thing was that I was perfectly okay with being at her mercy. If she only knew, what would she do?
“I can’t thank you enough,” said Emma from the bed.
“You just rest up. You’ll be good enough to go home by tomorrow.”
A subtle glow shimmered on Isadora’s skin, proof she’d been using her Conduit powers heavily. Emma’s gaze shifted to us. And though I’d erased her memory of us last time, she didn’t seem afraid of two strange men entering her room. Probably due to Isadora’s extensive healing, calming her down to her bones.
A Conduit’s power could have a similar effect as an Aura who could transform people’s emotions. A powerful Conduit healing could change the energy make-up of a person so entirely that their whole demeanor changed—calmed and soothed by the witch’s magical shift of earth energy into the human body.
How did I know all of this? Because I’d been doing extensive research on Conduit witches over the past week. Yeah, I had it bad.
Isadora looked over her shoulder, meeting my gaze. Those sweet eyes widened before she turned back to Emma. “We should go. Take care of yourself.”
As she rose, Jules did, too. But as they passed, I reached out a hand and touched Isadora’s forearm, stopping her. “Will you wait a few minutes? We need to talk.”
Her startled gaze shot to mine, her heartbeat spiking.
“I don’t think—”
“About Emma,” I clarified, realizing she thought I wanted to talk about us.
Which I did. But now that I knew why she was pushing me away, I’d have to bide my time and figure this out.
“Oh. Yeah. Of course.”
Jules sidled closer. “We’ll wait in the parking lot downstairs. The nurses won’t understand why we’re lingering.”
Witches couldn’t use glamour like vampires, so they were here as legitimate visitors. I nodded, then they left.
I sat next to Emma, pushing my glamour to engulf her so she wouldn’t panic at my nearness. Even if she didn’t remember what had happened to her, she’d have the residual effects still deep in her memory. Like PTSD, she’d likely be wary of strange men getting too close for a long while.
“Hi, Emma. Can I hold your hand? I just want to take a look.”
“Sure,” she said easily, even smiling, completely entranced.
I swept in quickly this time, hoping to find something new that I might’ve missed. Something that would finger Blake as the man we were looking for. Or one of his entourage. But nothing new. The same memories emerged from her subconscious. Mostly fuzzy. The voice of the man who fed off of her. The sound of a distant church bell still ringing clear. If I could only pinpoint that bell. But there were hundreds in the New Orleans metropolitan area.
When I pulled out of her mind, she was in a deep sleep. I put my palm to her forehead, making sure she wouldn’t remember meeting us this last time. Her spirit felt at ease now, and I wouldn’t jeopardize her sanity or wellbeing by coming again. The human mind was resilient but also fragile. Especially when a supernatural started tampering with it.
I stood. Ruben asked. “Anything new?”
I shook my head. “Let’s go.”
We streaked through the hospital, landing outside in the parking lot beside Jules’s car five seconds later.
Isadora gasped when we appeared beside them. She clutched her chest. “I hate it when y’all do that.”