A few minutes later, I was settled on the other side of Cliff’s prone body, watching the red fluid flow out of my arm and into his.
“Better,” Sashi said, looking at him with satisfaction. “Thank you.”
“Thank you,” I said earnestly. I was a little amazed. In LA we had a human doctor who catered to supernatural clients, but he didn’t have actual magic on his side. I wasn’t sure Cliff would have survived even in a regular hospital. “How soon can I get him out of here?”
She checked her watch. “Let’s give him at least another hour, just so I can make sure the stitches stay closed.”
“He has stitches?” I said without thinking.
She smiled. “Yes. I spent most of my time on the internal bleeding, and encouraging his body to regulate his blood pressure. His skin can heal from the puncture without any trouble, so there was no need to use magic for that. I try to give the body a chance to heal naturally when it’s not life-threatening.”
I nodded. She stood up, wobbling just a tiny bit but steadying herself on the counter. “If you want to stay with him for a moment, I’ll go get cleaned up.”
I was limited in how far I could move with the tube in my arm, but I did what I could to pile up the bloody towels and pick up the trash from the bandage packets while Sashi was in the shower. She’d only used the supplies in the suitcase, which suggested to me that Sashi usually treated her patients somewhere else. She had made a special exception for me.
I was grateful, but also . . . why? Why would she allow me into her home, much less into her bedroom and her clothes?
When Sashi came padding back into the living room, still rubbing her damp hair with a towel, I finally asked the question that had been bugging me. “You said we had a mutual acquaintance.”
Sashi grinned—not the well-bred, polite smile I’d seen earlier, but a full-on, amused grin with teeth that were just a little crooked. It made me like her more. “Allison Luther is a friend of mine,” she explained.
“Lex?” I said, stupidly. “How did you meet Lex?”
“Through mutual witch acquaintances, same as you. The witch clans dislike me, but they can’t deny my usefulness. I’ve picked up something of a reputation. I even—” She cut herself off, as though she’d changed her mind about adding to that. “Anyway. I’ve known Lex for years.”
“And she told you about me?”
Sashi’s face grew somber. “She mentioned you when she told me about her sister’s death. And again later, when Katia came to live with her. Lex says you’re a magnet for trouble.”
“Yeah, she doesn’t think much of me,” I admitted.
Sashi looked surprised. “That’s not the impression I received at all. I think you . . .” She paused, her eyes going out of focus for a moment as she looked for the right words. “You worry her. Because of Charlotte.”
“Lex’s niece?” I’d never actually met the little girl, who had to be four or five by now, but apparently she was a null, like me.
Sashi nodded. “When Lex looks at you, she sees Charlie’s future. And since every time you see her you’re destroying a body or in mortal danger . . .” She spread her hands. “Look, Lex and her niece are under the protection of probably the oldest vampire on the planet, and there have still been a couple of kidnapping attempts, from people who wanted to take Charlie and use her to do bad things. I think Lex worries that even as an adult, the threats won’t stop.”
Oh. I hadn’t really thought of it like that. I kind of wanted to think that over when I was alone, but for right now I was ready for a change in subject.
“I saw the pictures in your living room, and on the fridge.” I tilted my head toward the studio shot of Sashi posing with a young woman, around Corry’s age. “Is that your sister?”
“My daughter,” she corrected. “Grace.” A darker look spread over her face for a second, and then she said carefully, “I had her rather young. She’s away at college now.” Sashi glanced at the fridge photo, a little wistful. “She’s studying at the University of Colorado in Boulder, so now Lex sees her more than I do. But I visit.”
Sashi seemed to remember herself, and her face shut down, closing me out. And then I saw it.
The accent, the dark hair, the way her brow furrowed, the mask she used to hide her true self. “Holy shit,” I blurted. Sashi’s eyes flew to me. “You look just like her.” How had I not seen it earlier?
“Who? Grace?” Sashi asked, but her eyes told me she suspected exactly what I was going to say.
“Stephanie Noring, from Minnesota. You’re Dr. Noring’s daughter, aren’t you? Or at least her niece or something.” Noring was the physician who had come to LA to take care of me after I’d cured a werewolf and twisted my knee in the resulting seizure. Because I was a null, she had never used anything other than conventional human medicine on me, but still, I should have seen it.
Sashi’s face had gone glacial. “Her daughter.”
“Damn, I’m an idiot. Dashiell said there was a whole specialty in healing magic, but Dr. Noring acted like what she did was kind of different from that, and I only now put it together,” I babbled. “You’re much stronger than her, though.”
“Yes. I was bred to be,” Sashi said coolly. “My mother and I don’t speak. We haven’t for many years now.” She nodded to the transfusion equipment. “That’s enough, I should think. Let’s get you unhooked.”
Expertly, Sashi pulled out the tubes and attached Band-Aids to my arm and Cliff’s. His color had improved dramatically, and she looked pleased. “He could wake up anytime now,” she said, looking up at me. “How do you feel?”
“A little light-headed, but nothing major.” I should have picked up on her obviously intentional subject change, but I was too intrigued by my own discovery. Because I’m actually quite dense. “Hey, do you know why Noring has a feud going with our alpha werewolf?” I asked eagerly. “His name is Will, and they’ve got this weird frenemy vibe, but neither of them would tell me why, and I’ve never had anyone else to ask until now . . . Sashi?” The witch had gone pale, and I could see the muscles jumping in her cheek from her clenched jaw.
Then her eyes jumped back to the fridge, and I turned to see that she had glanced at the photo of Grace again. Without speaking, I stood up and walked over to it, examining the girl more carefully. “Oh, wow,” I said softly. Grace looked so much like Sashi—but her skin and hair were lighter, and there was something about her stance and the way she squared her shoulders. Something I had seen so many times before.
Will had a daughter.
Chapter 22
I turned around. “I am so, so sorry,” I blurted. Sashi just sat there, pale and frozen, as though I’d just pulled down her pants in a crowded church. “I wasn’t trying . . . I mean, I’m sorry to have brought it up . . .” I flailed my hands helplessly.
“It’s all right,” she said in a soft voice, but her eyes were filled with tears. “I know you didn’t do it on purpose.”
This explained so much, on one level, but I also had a thousand questions. Most of them were way too personal, and it wasn’t my business. But there was one that I had to ask her. I sat back down and said, “Does Will know?”
“No,” she whispered. Her eyes had filled with tears. “It was so long ago. When I found out about the pregnancy, he had just been changed, and he was so violent . . .” She shook her head, like she was banishing a bad memory. “I was young, and frightened, and I didn’t think I could trust him.”
I felt compelled to defend Will, who was truly a good guy, and the best alpha werewolf I’d ever heard of. “Did you know he’s alpha now?” I said anxiously. “He owns his own bar, where the wolves hang out. And he’s never taken a mate.” I wasn’t sure why I’d added that last part, but it sent the tears falling down her cheeks. “I’m sorry!” I said, horrified. “I’m really bad at knowing the right thing to say, ask anyone. Please don’t cry. I promise I’ll shut up now.”