all times. All her neighbors knew that if they had a problem, even in the middle of the night, they could go to Elena and she would help. With her credentials, she could have practiced medicine anywhere. But she’d chosen to come home. To be a permanent part of the neighborhood where they’d grown up.
“I’ll be ready in a minute and—”
“No.” Teresa stopped her with one quiet word. When Elena looked at her in question, she continued. “You can’t come with me. It’s too dangerous. Too risky. If they know about me, then they’ve done their homework and they know you’re my best friend. Elena, they’ll be watching you.”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Elena admitted grimly, then narrowed her eyes. “Which means they could be watching the clinic right now.”
“Possibly,” Teresa said, feeling that odd prickle of danger at the back of her neck again. “But I had to risk coming here. You don’t have to risk your life.”
“It’s my life.”
“I won’t let you,” Teresa told her.
After several long, tense seconds, Elena muttered a curse and said, “Fine. I’ll give you what you need.”
“Thanks. I owe you.”
“No, you don’t.” She walked to the clinic supply cupboard and started rummaging around. “You said he’d been shot. How badly?”
“Bad.”
Elena looked at her. “Is he dying?”
“No.” Teresa was sure about that at least. Her Eternal was immortal. Shot to hell, in pain and losing his magic to the cloying pull of white gold, but he wouldn’t die. “I just need something to dig the bullets out with and—”
“Right.” Elena continued to riffle through the contents of the cabinet, tucking surgical implements, gauze bandages, alcohol, antibiotics and pain pills into her bag. Then she handed it over. “Take this and get moving.”
“Thanks, Elena. Knew I could count on you.” She started for the door, then stopped, turned and came back. Throwing her arms around the other woman, Teresa gave her a hard, fast hug. “You should disappear for a week or two, Elena. You don’t want to be around here when they don’t find me.”
“Don’t worry about me. Just make sure they don’t find you.”
Teresa hugged the bag to her chest. She had to leave, but there was more to say before she did. “Have you seen any strangers in the neighborhood today?”
Elena rolled her eyes. “You mean besides the dozens of tourists hoping to step into a vortex and find the answers to the universe? No.”
“Right.” Teresa frowned, glanced warily down the hall at the front windows and at the rain-drenched street beyond the glass. No one was out there now, but that didn’t necessarily mean a damn thing.
“Elena …”
“Save it. I’m not going to run out on my patients, Teresa.” She folded her arms across her chest and shook her head for emphasis. “You have responsibilities—well, so do I.”
She had known even as she suggested it that Elena wouldn’t run. “I don’t want you getting hurt because of me.”
“If I’m hurt, it’s not on you, Terry,” Elena said, reaching out to take her friend’s hand. “It’s on the freaks who are chasing you.”
“Small consolation if you’re dumped in a prison,” Teresa told her. Just the thought of her friend becoming one of the disappeared women terrified her. She could take fear on her own behalf. That was the legacy of witchcraft. But Elena’s only crime was knowing a witch. Sadly, these days that was all it took.
“God, you’re stubborn.”
Elena managed a weak smile. “There’s a news flash. Look, I know you’ll be leaving. But once you’re safe, find a way to let me know, will you? You don’t have to tell me where you are.” She paused and admitted, “In fact, it would be better for both of us if you don’t. But at least let me know you’re alive.”
“I will,” she promised, hugging her best friend as if it were the last time. And maybe it would be. When she stepped back, she said softly, “Elena, don’t tell anyone you saw me tonight.”
“Who would I tell? Not like I’ve got a social life.” She tried to smile again, but nerves, sorrow and fear chewed at the edges. “Where will you go?”
Good question. Teresa didn’t have a clue where she and her mystical bodyguard would end up. Her grandmother’s visions had predicted the rise of her magic. The coming of a tall man who would protect her. And a dangerous task whose ending was unclear.
Thinking about the Eternal waiting for her sent a ribbon of heat winding through her system and she