She shot me a quick smile through the tears, and we sat there in silence for a few minutes while she composed herself. I watched Cliff’s chest rise and fall, waiting and feeling generally miserable. I had made a nice lady cry.
When Sashi finally did speak, it was in a whisper. “I never took a mate, either. I . . . I came close, once, but . . .” She didn’t finish.
And my heart broke for her. “It’s not too late,” I said urgently. “You could go to LA, or—”
But she was already shaking her head. “I don’t . . . react well to werewolves,” she said, looking ashamed. And for about the fifteenth time in the last three minutes, I felt like a moron.
The three species within the Old World do not inter-date. In fact, something about their various magics causes them to be repulsed by each other, like trying to connect magnets at the wrong ends. When Sashi said she didn’t react well to werewolves, she meant physically.
Then a new thought struck me, an important one. “Wait—if you could become fully human and go be with him, would you?”
She blinked, surprised. “What did you just say?”
I had accidentally dragged her massive secret into the light, so it seemed only fair that I give her one of my own. “I can make someone human again. I mean, I’ve only done it with vampires and werewolves, but I think it would work for a witch, too,” I rushed out. “I would offer to turn Will into a human, but honestly, that would be terrible for so many people. He’s a really great leader. He takes good care of his pack. And it would be effectively asking him to choose between you and them.”
“I wouldn’t want to do that,” she said, looking dazed. “You . . . you’re saying you can, what, cure magic?”
“Yes. I can’t do it very often because it takes a lot out of me, but . . . yes.”
“I’ve never heard of that.” For just the briefest moment, her face glowed with hope. I could practically see her imagining a happily-ever-after with Will. But then the light abruptly died and she shook her head. “He’s a werewolf,” she said. “He’s violent, dangerous.”
Before I could protest, she added, “And even if he wasn’t . . . I’m rather needed here.” She glanced down at Cliff. His color was a little better, though still much paler than it should be. “You have no idea how many idiots hurt each other or themselves at the big hotels. Many of them would die without intervention, and the casinos don’t like hospitals, not when it could tarnish their reputation with tourists.”
“So let them get a shady hotel doctor like everyone else!” I said indignantly.
She smiled a little. “You are very young.” Her eyes were suddenly so sad. “It’s just not that simple.”
She was, what, maybe fifteen years older than me? At the most? Then again, I couldn’t imagine what it must have been like to raise a daughter as a single parent, especially in Las Vegas. And she’d done it without her own mother. It must have been so hard.
No wonder Will and Dr. Noring had their contentious connection. Will had told me once that Noring used to be his doctor, meaning his oncologist. If Sashi and Will had been in love, and then Will had been changed in order to survive cancer . . . what a mess.
Some of these thoughts must have played out on my face, because Sashi’s eyes narrowed a little. “Are you going to tell him about Gracie?”
I shook my head. “It’s not my place. But will you at least think about contacting him and telling him yourself? I promise, he’s got control of his wolf side. He’s the best werewolf I’ve ever known.”
“Bernard?” Cliff’s eyes fluttered open, his gaze fastening onto my face. He took in the room, and the beautiful woman on the other side of him, and his brow furrowed. “The hell is going on?”
“Cliff, meet Sashi,” I said. “She’s a thaumaturge witch.”
His hand strayed up to his midsection, encountering the bandage. “It barely even hurts,” he said in awe. “What did you do?”
“Everything I could,” Sashi said briskly. “And your friend here donated blood.”
Cliff’s eyes returned to me, and I gave a weak wave. “Thank you,” he said.
Sashi’s violet eyes were boring into me. “We should talk again, before you leave town.” She pushed a strand of hair behind her ears and stood up. “If you can walk, Cliff, you can go.”
“You’ll think about it?” I pressed.
She gave me a short, tight nod. Cliff looked back and forth between us, bleary-eyed, and I could practically see him make the decision not to ask. Instead, he pushed himself up onto his elbows, wincing a little, then sat all the way up. “Where to, boss?” he said to me.
I glanced at his blood-soaked clothes. “Do you have a change of clothes in the SUV?”
He looked mildly insulted. “Of course.”
“Excellent.” I checked my watch. Midafternoon, and I realized I was starving. “First, food. Then—and I can’t believe I’m saying this—we better get back to the bachelorette party.”
If Cliff had been at full strength, I would have liked to push on for more answers for Wyatt. But Cliff needed food and rest, and anyway, I couldn’t think of anything I could do at the moment, short of waking up some vampires and knocking their heads together. Doing that without permission was expressly taboo, and even if it wasn’t, I didn’t know where any of them spent their daytime hours. I would have to wait until sunset, when I could ask Wyatt for Ellen’s phone records. Meanwhile, my top choice would have been to go back to the room for a nap, but we’d been away from the bachelorette party for too long—Cliff had told the other women he was driving me to my “meeting.”
We stopped at the Las Vegas In-N-Out for lunch. I know—all the great restaurants in Vegas, and I go to an LA chain. What can I say, I like what I like, and I was in no mood to eat fancy, especially in workout clothes. No matter how expensive they were.
Cliff moved a little stiffly as we walked into the restaurant, but otherwise he seemed pretty okay. He kept touching the bandage, as if to assure himself that it was really there.
When we were finally seated with our burgers, I caught Cliff giving me a speculative look. “What?” I asked, suddenly self-conscious.
“You just dipped french fries in your soda.”
I looked down and swore. “I forgot I didn’t get a milkshake this time.”
He watched me. “You’re worried about your friend, aren’t you? The big black guy?”
I raised my eyebrows at him. “Just how long were you following me? And were you . . . eavesdropping?”
He shrugged. “I couldn’t hear your conversation, no. But it looked intense. You guys have a history?”
“Something like that.”
I ate a few more fries, then blurted, “I don’t have a way to find him, is all, at least not until the show tonight. And that guy who came after me today, the skinner you shot at . . . two more of them went after Jameson.”
“He moved like he could handle himself,” Cliff offered. “I’m sure he’s fine. We can go look for him at the theater later, if you want.”
“Thanks.” Embarrassed, I tried to focus on my food, but I could feel Cliff still watching me. I looked down, but my fries were in ketchup this time and I hadn’t managed to drip special sauce all over Sashi’s clothes . . . yet. “Now what?” I asked.
“You donated blood,” he said simply.
I shrugged. “We have the same blood type. Yay, us.” But he was still looking at me. “Stop staring at me,” I said, getting irritated. “You would have done the same for me.”
“Yeah, but I’m a . . .” He stopped himself.
I pointed a finger at him, angry now. “Finish that sentence.”
“A human,” he said reluctantly.
“So am I.”
“That’s—” But he cut himself off again, shaking his head a little. “Sorry,” he mumbled.
I put down the burger, which was a big deal because they’re very hard to pick up again. “Is that why you’ve been so weird to me? Because I’m Old World and you’re not?”