“It’s just water. How’s your head?”
“Peachy,” I lied. Then, because I wasn’t that much of an ass: “I need a doctor, or so the druid says.”
Lu nodded. “You do. We’ll find his friend’s clinic. I need to throw an illusion on the storage unit.”
“We. We need to throw an illusion. I’m coming with you.”
Emotions duked it out across her face, and I saw the winners. She was going to refuse my help.
“You’re strong,” I said. “Incredibly strong. Physically, mentally. Your heart.” I had to smile. “So strong. But magic? Lu, you know magic is always better when we use it together. It always has been.”
That set off another war, and I wasn’t sure which emotion would win this time.
“Ghosts,” I said, making my case. “Stella from back in McLean. You couldn’t see her, talk to her, but I could. But you were the one who could let her step into your body so she could talk to her sister, Dot. And I was the one who could de-possess her out of you. Magic, any of it, works better when we both have our hands on it.”
“I could have—”
“Handled Stella? Yes, you could have. You would have figured something out. But together, we are stronger. After all these years, I know that. We know that. We make a hell of a team. Especially with magic. Let’s make this as fast and easy as possible before my headache makes me black out.”
That did it. Battle won.
“You’re slurring your words.” She moved so I could get out of the vehicle.
“That’s the concussion speaking.” I was careful not to move my head too quickly, and as long as I didn’t breathe too deeply, or put much weight on my left foot, well, I was just aces.
Lu had already catalogued my injuries, but this gave me a chance to see hers. Her stride was shortened, her shoulders slightly hunched, and she kept one arm across her stomach. She was hurting, too.
As soon as we were out of ear-shot of the van, I caught her hand with my own. “Are you okay?”
She changed her stride to match my hobble as we approached the stinking, smoldering mess of a storage unit.
“Yes.”
I stopped and when she took that extra step, I pulled her back to me so we were facing each other. “How badly are you hurt, love?”
Her mouth drew straight and her teeth pressed small indents into the soft flesh of her lips. I squeezed her hand gently. “We’re a team,” I coaxed. “You know I have a concussion, twisted ankle, and my lungs are shit for air. Tell me where you’re hurting.”
She touched the top of her head. “A cut, I think, from the accident. Not bad. My ribs are bruised. I don’t think they’re broken.”
She was telling the truth, but there was something more she wasn’t saying. Something Lawrence had hinted at when he’d said she needed care.
“And the rest? What aren’t you telling me?”
“We need to choose a find out of the unit for Headwaters. We need to cast the illusion before the local fire department shows up.”
I stepped into her, close enough her pupils grew wide and dark. She swayed toward me, then shivered as if I were a fire, and she was snow-blind and lost. “What else, love?” I asked softer, lower, though the smoke had wrecked my vocal chords.
“I’m not….” She swallowed, her gaze focused on the side of my neck, her breathing gone choppy.
“Lula.”
She licked her lips and leaned back, her chin up, gaze very obviously not on my neck. “I’m hungry.” It was an admission of failure. An apology. “Not for food,” she added stiffly.
I blamed my rattled brains for not picking up on it earlier. “You need blood?”
Lula had been attacked by a vampire, or a monster close enough to one that it had left her in a half-state. She wasn’t quite human, nor was she a vampire. She didn’t need to eat much food on a regular basis, nor sleep as much as a human.
Blood alone wasn’t enough for her survival either, but every so often, she needed blood. When that happened, she’d usually do something like steal a chicken from someone’s farm. More rarely, she’d need more blood than a bird could offer.
