a woman to draw attention—even for something as seemingly innocent as a conversation with a stranger. You never knew who might be watching.
At that thought, Teresa sent a quick look around the rain-drenched street. She couldn’t see a soul except the woman she had just bumped into. That should have made her feel better. Instead, she felt a cold crawl along her spine, as if there were unseen watchers keeping tabs on her every movement.
She started walking again, flicking another quick look over her shoulder as a half block farther along, she ducked into the doorway of Elena’s clinic. The CLOSED sign was on the door, but there was a light on in the back of the building.
Teresa knocked, rapping her knuckles wildly against the glass. “Come on, Elena. Be there.”
As if she’d been conjured, Teresa’s friend stepped into view, irritation stamped on her features until she recognized Teresa at the door. Then she hurried over, unlocked it and pulled her inside.
“Teresa, what are you doing? Are you crazy or didn’t you notice it’s raining?” She took a step back, relocked the door and shook her head. “You’re soaked.”
“Yeah, I noticed.” As warmth seeped into her, Teresa looked out the window at the pouring rain and the deserted street beyond. Shadows loomed all around, but they were empty—nothing seemed to be hiding, biding its time. So far. She didn’t see anyone out there, but the tingle at the back of her neck that told her danger was close was only getting stronger. Yes, it was just a feeling. But it was one she couldn’t afford to ignore.
Turning back to her friend, she blurted, “Elena, I need your help.”
“What is it?”
“MPs.”
“Oh, my God.” Elena’s face paled and her dark brown eyes went wide in alarm. She threw a quick look at the street, then grabbed Teresa and pulled her deeper into the clinic, away from the windows and any prying eyes. She hustled her past the narrow coffee table scattered with magazines, past the waiting room chairs and down the hall into her own office. The scent of burned coffee stained the air along with the scent of fear and, of all things, Teresa thought with an unexpected smile, bubblegum. But then, Elena did treat a lot of kids at her clinic.
“Where are they?”
Teresa looked at her best friend and felt Elena’s fear as starkly as she did her own. Not surprising, since they’d grown up together, the two of them sharing every major and minor milestone along the way. They’d met in first grade and had bonded over their mutual disgust of boys.
As the years passed, they’d seen each other through misery and laughter, triumph and pain, and each of them had grown into her own gifts. Teresa’s was a legacy of power, while Elena had the gift of healing. They were true sisters. Not of blood, but by choice.
They were family.
Elena was short, a little too curvy for modern fashion and far too smart for her own good. If she asked all the questions Teresa knew she wanted to, it would only make things more difficult for her. Her wide brown eyes were worried and her short black hair looked as if she’d already shoved her hands through it a hundred times that day.
“I lost the guys chasing me in the desert,” Teresa finally said in answer to Elena’s question. Though she wouldn’t tell her friend just how she’d left those feds behind. Even knowing about the existence of witchcraft didn’t negate the fact that a man made of fire was pretty hard to believe. “But there’s no reason to think those guys were alone in this. There are probably more of them here in town.”
Her friend sent a wary glance toward the front of the clinic, then said, “You’ve got to get out of here, Teresa. Don’t even go back to your place. I’ve got some money here. It’s not a lot, but—”
“No.” Teresa pulled in a breath and said, “Money’s not what I need.” If she needed it later, she’d find an ATM somewhere far, far away from here and make a withdrawal there. “What I do need is some medical stuff. The … man who saved me was shot. He’s still got the bullets in him and I have to get them out.”
“Bullets? As in more than one?” Elena shifted into practicality in the blink of an eye. “How bad is it? Major organs?”
She moved to get her black bag that she kept fully stocked at