“Fuck.Is she going to be okay?What happened?”
“She was attacked.Stabbed four times in the abdomen about an hour ago outside Four Paws Animal Hospital.”
“During daylight hours?”
“Yeah.That’s not even the weirdest part.”
“What’s the weird part?”
“The stab marks… The flesh around the entry points is singed as if they stabbed her with a hot poker.”
Silas swallowed hard.“In the parking lot?I thought we had the place warded against supernatural threats?”
“We did.We do.I had Rick check, and both my wards and Gerty’s are still up.Whoever did this walked right through them.”
“Fuck.So a human did this?”
“That was my first assumption too, but there was a substance in the wounds.I’m not sure what it is yet, but I took a sample and let’s just say it made Nightshade light up like a laser beam.The person who stabbed her might be human, but the poison on the blade definitely had a supernatural source.”Nightshade was Grateful’s sword, a magical blade that served as a supernatural lie detector, sniffing out evil intent in both supernatural creatures and enchanted objects.The thing could destroy curses too, as it had for the cursed ring his brother had been using that spring.It was never wrong.
He rubbed the back of his neck and shoulders where the muscles had tightened to the point of pain.“You used the wordpoison.Is there an antidote?”
“Honestly, I was using the term loosely.I’m not sure exactly what it is yet.Not even a guess unfortunately.But I’ll find out, and as soon as I know, I’ll do whatever it takes to heal Laina.But Silas, the stab wounds… You need to know they weren’t random.”She pulled out her phone and slid her finger across the screen to bring up a picture.
“The letterA.Alex did this.”Silas’s stomach pitched.He’d promised to keep his sister safe and he’d failed again.“I got too close last night.This is his warning to me.He wants me to back off.”
“You saw Alex last night?”
“Yeah.Almost shot his ass.He was collecting bones at a crime scene I was investigating.”
“Bones?”
Silas shrugged.“I have no idea what he plans to do with them.”
Grateful shook her head.“Alexcouldn’thave done this himself, Silas.Those protective wards are impenetrable.They’re the same ones we laid around Rivergate.Nothing supernatural can get in there without our knowledge.It’s sealed so tight that Laina has to call me if a witch or fae wants to bring their dog in for an exam.And before you ask, she hasn’t added any new clients recently.”
Silas closed his eyes tightly.“So Alex has a human doing his dirty work.”
“That’s what I’m thinking.Someone who knows enough about magic to activate a spell or magical substance once they were inside the wards.”
“Fuck.Does Kyle know?”
She nods.“We called him first.He’s waiting outside of surgery.”
“Tell me the truth, Grateful.What’s the expected outcome here?Don’t sugarcoat it.What’s going to happen to my sister?”
Grateful’s entire body seemed to sag, and she slipped her hands into the pockets of her scrubs.“Honestly, if she were human, she’d already be dead.But she’s not human.Her heart is still beating, and Gerty is asking permission of the fae council to bring fire lily juice here.I’m going to make a healing potion based on what I determine was on the blade.She’s not out of the woods, but she’s got some powerful people pulling for her.”
Silas swallowed around a fist-sized lump that had formed in his throat.“Thank you.Just do your best.”
Smoothing a loose strand of blond hair back into her ponytail, Grateful frowned.“There’s one more thing I need to tell you.”
“Go ahead and say it.”Silas scratched his jaw.“Nothing can make this situation worse.”
“They ran her blood work before surgery.”
“Yeah?And?”
Grateful ran a hand over the mound of her abdomen.“Laina’s pregnant.”
