Bad Blood (Book 4 of The Warden series) (17 page)

He could tell she was trying to remain civil to appeal to his logic, but he was beyond appeals. Her behavior was downright sketchy and he wasn’t going to let her get away with keeping secrets from him.

“No!” She finally yelled.

Danato felt a shock in his hand that traveled up his arm through the bone. The loud
crack
that came with the pain echoed off the high ceilings. He pulled his hand from Cori where the pain emanated from.

He turned around with the intention of threatening Efrat to leave them be, but the wide eyes from the room, including Efrat’s, told him that he was not the source of the shock. The fear on Cori’s face registered as high as Duke’s had when he smashed his phone.

Danato let the many questions regarding her static acquisition pass, and he reached to take her arm again. He needed to get her out of here and away from Efrat.

She yanked her arm back before he could grip it again. She pulled her pistol from her holster and aimed it low on his body. He stopped. The look on her face was still fearful, but there was no mistaking the determined eyes that were begging him to stay away.

“Cori,” he tried to sound calm, but that was gone now. “Put down the gun.”

She shook her head. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m so incredibly sorry. There just isn’t enough time.” She frowned. “I can’t screw this up. It’s life or death.” She backed away slowly.

He took a step forward and she stopped. “You won’t kill me,” he said certain that he was right.

“No, but do you really want to see if I’m accurate enough to maim.”

She continued to back away and he let her even though he was feeling sick to his stomach with rage. As she passed Belus, he spoke with the quiet, calm voice that he was no longer capable of. “Cori, you asked us to trust you.”

Her gun stayed true, but her gaze moved to Belus. “No, I asked
you
to trust me.”

“Kid, you need to put down that gun before you make this worse for yourself.”

“I don’t care about myself right now. Everything I’m doing right now is for you. I know you don’t understand, but I’ve already been given permission to break the rules. I’m going to fix this. I’ve failed you once; I’m not going to do it again.” She could see his brow dip slightly, but he didn’t bother asking what she meant.

She backed into the bars behind her and handed Efrat her keys to unlock his door.

“I’m not letting him leave with you,” Danato said. “I will give the order to shoot him.” Danato gave a nod to the men to be on the ready for his command. They were all excellent marksmen. He had no doubt they could hit him and miss Cori.

For a moment, Cori looked panicked, but when Efrat emerged from the cage, she simply stood in front of him. Given that Efrat was still a head taller than her, he still wasn’t concerned for his men’s aim, but he couldn’t trust that a sudden movement wouldn’t cause her to be in the path. To save her life, he may have to risk wounding her.

The decision wasn’t long on the ducat for voting though. Efrat pressed his hand against the bars behind him and a bright blue current twisted over the bars. Guns ripped from the guards hands and clanked against the metal: one, two, five.

Cori’s gun, along with her hand, slammed against the cell too, but as the energy dissipated, she pulled it back and held it on the men. She backpedaled down the corridor, half-pushing Efrat, and half being pulled by him. One of the guards, understanding the danger, ran after his gun.

He dove to the ground, plucked up the gun, and aimed his weapon. “No!” Cori yelled and pushed in front of Efrat as he prepared to strike the man before he could fire.

Danato didn’t have enough time to yell before the gun went off. Efrat gave up his shot, and shoved Cori back out of the path. His shoulder was thrown back from the impact. The other guards joined the fight and went for their guns, but Efrat swung around and bolted all of them. Three men flew through the air, while the other two got the privilege of catching them.

Cori holstered her gun, and pulled on Efrat. He tried to throw another bolt out, but she screamed, “Stop!” and pushed his arms down. She nearly dragged him away from the fight, and Danato could only watch her go.

What the hell had happened between 8:05 that morning and now to cause such a shift in character? What madness had prompted her to side with the elemental that had tried to kill her?

32

Cori traversed the east stairs, and tried to remember how Efrat had taken her. They were on the wrong side of the building for the freight elevator. They had already climbed two flights of stairs to the seducers level. Luckily, Efrat was doing well enough with his wound not to require her assistance.

“The blood, they’ll track us,” Efrat said wiping a drop away with his shoe. “We don’t have much time. They’ll fan out and find us.”

“Shut-up, this is all wrong.” Cori pulled his flannel over shirt off his back and wrapped it around his arm just as he had for her. She could tell she was hurting him, but she couldn’t slow down. “I was the one who was supposed to get shot. What happened?”

“You said you got shot helping me escape,” he said.

“I did? You remember that? That must have been part of the real timeline…but we changed the outcome. Belus said the endpoints might be fixed, but if I didn’t get shot in the arm that means they are negotiable. I don’t know if that’s good or not. I didn’t return to a new 8:05 morning, so this is all real. Which means Danato will remember this. Shit! Come on, the freight elevator is still the only safe place to hide out.”

She grabbed his hand and tugged him along behind by his good arm, while she continued to babble. “I’m starting to lose the tenuous grasp I had on my reality. I think my ricochet just lost momentum. I don’t have my 8:05 safe zone to clear my head. I may need your help to figure out where and when I am.”

“How is this possible?” He gasped in awe.

“I don’t freaking know. It has something to do with you bolting me right in front of the time bubble.” She could see the elevator ahead and ran for it. Efrat stayed with her keeping up a pace that she hadn’t been capable of when she was the one with the gunshot wound.

She pried at the doors, but in the end, Efrat reached above her and helped her open them. They slipped inside letting the door clamp shut again. Efrat fell to the floor of the elevator, exhausted from the effort of running. “I meant your hands.” He panted.

“What?” Cori hissed confused by his words as much as the situation. She reached for the first aid kit that was conveniently in the corner. She was mad that she was now in the position of helping him. She should have been grateful not to have a bullet hole in her arm, but any deviation in the timeline might mean they won’t make it in time to save Belus. She just didn’t have enough information to start making adjustments.

At least some things were starting to come together. She understood why Danato had a gun on her when she found Belus. She also knew how hard it was for him to let Efrat save Belus. Neither of them were doing their best at making friends this morning.

“My hands!” Efrat grouched at her ineptitude for English. “You never told me how you are able to touch my hands?”

“Damn your hands! Shut-up about your hands!” Cori threw down the kit and grabbed his hands. She slapped them against her face. “No, it doesn’t hurt. No, I don’t know why, but I’m starting to suspect that I’ve absorbed enough voltage in the last few hours to be immune. Just shut-up, Efrat, please! My brain is already fried and I don’t have time to coddle
your
sense of reality.” She shoved his hands away not wanting to be touched anymore. He winced from the pain of being manhandled, but didn’t say anything.

She took a few breaths and put on her gloves from the kit. “When did you manage to get that in here?” he asked nodding to the little metal box.

“I have no idea.” Cori reached to unbuckle his belt. He grabbed her wrists. He didn’t bother asking what she was doing. He just craned his neck to stare wide eyed at her. She laughed even though it made her sound manic. She liked the turn of tables. “What’s the matter pup? Don’t you like girls?” She winked at him and proceeded to unbuckle his belt with his hands still affixed to her wrists.

She was curious at what point, or any point would he actually stop her. He released her wrists as she tugged the belt from the loops. He lifted allowing the belt to release. She put the buckle in his hand, and closed his fingers around it. “I need a magnet.”

As he electrified the belt, she removed his shirt from his arm. It was bleeding a lot more than hers ever did. She wondered if this was too much for him to cover up when he returned to his floor. “Is this what I did for you?” He asked.

“Yes, but you’re bleeding a lot more than I was. I’m not sure if I can stop the hemorrhaging.”

“I can cauterize it. Just get the bullet out.”

“It’s going to hurt,” she said more singsong than was probably appropriate, given that she had been on the other side of this once today.

“It won’t be the first,” he said without a hint of the bravado that the statement suggested.

Even though it took the fun out of her reciprocated torture, she withheld that smartass retort that he had used on her. She pressed her knee against his shoulder and held the magnetic against the wound in his bicep. He reached over touching the buckle to amplify the energy until it made him grit his teeth.

She held his hand in place, surprised that she only felt tiny pinpricks from this concentration of energy. She wasn’t really serving any purpose other than making sure the buckle was over the wound. She caressed her thumb over his hand, mostly to feel useful, but also because she remembered how much this part hurt her.

Somewhere between Efrat’s muted groans, and the view of warm sticky blood flooding from the bullet hole, she closed her eyes. When she opened them Efrat looked white as a sheet, but the bullet was hanging from his buckle. “You okay?” he asked her.

She wasn’t sure if he was being sarcastic or not, but she grabbed his hand and directed it too the seeping bullet hole. “You need to burn it.” She gagged a little and tried to remember a time when vampires drinking blood sounded romantic. “You’re losing too much blood.” She held his hand in place while he burned the wound.

Cori smelled burnt skin as the tissue sizzled. She coughed and turned her head so she wouldn’t vomit on her patient. When she heard the sizzling stop, she looked back at Efrat. He was shaking from blood loss or shock. “It’s always easier when it’s your own blood,” he said giving her a weak smile.

She hadn’t thought of it, but he was right. She had no trouble dealing with her own injuries. Seeing herself bleeding all over the floor never bothered her. “It also didn’t help that you were bleeding like a stuck hog.” She gagged again over the mental image she had created. “I’m sorry.” She wiped away the moisture that formed in her eyes. “You were a much better nurse for me than I’m being for you.” She grabbed the first aid kit and pulled out the morphine that she wished she had remembered sooner.

“It’s alright.” He laid his head back and stared up at the ceiling. The lights were still on inside. He hadn’t zapped out the electrical system like he had when she was shot. “War tends to harden your heart and iron-line your stomach.”

Cori wanted to ask about that, but she wasn’t sure how far casual conversation should go. It was better to stick to pertinent questions. “Why did you save me?” She tapped the syringe, before injecting him.

He turned his head and looked her over with exhausted eyes. “I’m not sure. Maybe a piece of my heart hasn’t been devoured by my black soul,” he said it contemptuously seemingly responded to an accusation she didn’t remember making.

She wasn’t sure what would have prompted her to say it, but it was clear he was offended by it. “I just meant that I know why I was trying to save you, but it might have been just as well for me to get shot. You’re the one who has to save Belus. What difference did it make?” She pulled out a suture to close his wound further so it didn’t leave a gaping scar.

“No, I suppose it didn’t make a difference who was shot. You are the only one keeping me alive, though. Danato knows I’m out. He won’t keep that secret long.”

“He will as long as I explain why.”

“He won’t believe you.”

She shook her head. He didn’t understand the relationship she had with Danato. “He’s like a father to me. If I explain everything, he will listen.”

Efrat chuckled. “Still living in that fairytale world aren’t you.”

“Don’t condescend to me, Efrat.” She snapped feeling her peevishness come back. “I’m trying to save two lives here today. One of which, if you haven’t been keeping up, is yours. Trashing my friends is not going to raise my enthusiasm for the task.”

“Oh,” Efrat drew out the word like he was receiving a back massage from a talented masseuse. “I almost want to tell you. I would just love to blow the legs out from under the pedestal you’ve put him on.”

“Tell me what?” She said overlapping his monologue debate.

“In the end, the pleasure would be too short lived. As much as I want to see that horrified look on your face, I hate to see women cry.”