Jason, who had helped Selene into a chair, looked up in alarm.“Dragon?Did you say dragon?”
Silas nodded.
“She’s free.”Selene fisted Jason’s shirt.“Ryker must have returned Nickelova’s heart.”
Jason shook his head.“He would never have given up that heart.”
“Then how did the toxin get inside me?”Selene pointed to the black dust swirling inside Grateful’s containment spell.
Silas rested his hands on his hips.“You two have been out of the country.It seems unlikely that the same person who infected Laina infected you.”
“Unless she was already infected,” Meredith said.“Who knows how long that was inside her?”
Grateful slid on a pair of rubber gloves and scooped the juju into a toxic-waste bag.“Meredith is right.Laina was stabbed.It’s possible that a different mode of infection would have a different reaction in the host.When you were Nickelova’s prisoner, did she give you anything to eat or drink?”
“Yes,” Selene answered.“Not much.Water and an awful-tasting cake.”
“My guess is she infected you then,” Grateful said.“It’s possible Nickelova simply didn’t have a chance to use the power the sulfralite had over you.”
Jason stroked the hair back from Selene’s face, whispering to her, comforting her.
“What power is that?What does sulfralite do?”Meredith asked.
Silas frowned and gave her a quick rundown of the theory that Alex was using the stuff for mind control.“Sulfralite is a rare mineral only found in the underworld, which means?—”
“It was brought here by a demon.”Meredith turned her face toward Silas.“Do you think that’s what was used to make that vampire stake himself?”
Silas nodded.“Yes.”
“Can I speak to you alone?”Meredith gestured with her head toward the door.
“I’ll be right back,” Silas announced.
Every eye stared at him in various levels of shock as he followed Meredith from the room.Down the hall, she ducked inside a small visitors’ room with couches and vending machines.Thankfully, there was no one else in it.
Meredith whirled on him as soon as the door closed.“Do you think the demon Soleil was with last night had something to do with Laina’s injuries?How else would Alex get sulfralite?”
“Anything is possible.”
“You have to talk to Soleil.You have to find out who that demon is.What if he had a hand in this?”
Silas nodded.“You’re right.I’ll confront her and find out the truth.”
She nodded.“Can you tell if she’s lying?What if she’s in on it?”
“Soleil is a lot of things, but she’s not a killer.Plus I’ll know if she’s hiding something from me.It’ll be awkward to interrogate her, but it has to be done.”
“It’s the only way.”Meredith nodded a few times, then licked her lips and rubbed her palms together.For a moment he took her in: warm brown eyes, fox-red hair, the way the shape of her face reminded him of Wonder Woman, how she was strong and kind.
“Thank you for taking care of me last night,” he said.
“I didn’t mind.”
“I should have kept it together.”
“It was a traumatic night.I don’t blame you for going a little crazy.”
He stepped in closer, close enough that he brushed the front of her blouse.She didn’t back away.“Thanks for coming today.I needed someone, and you were there for me.”
