“Language,” I muttered and she laughed again, a broken, damaged, gurgling sound. Koun was my number one vamp with more royal titles than almost any other in my retinue. And he had a lot of women to warm his bed and feed his blood-only diet. He liked Quint, but he was smart enough to spot potential troubles when they came his way. Quint—my freaking lady-in-waiting—was nothing but potential problems.
“Boss man,” Hernando said to Bruiser as he held up a medic box with my crest on it. “Key.”
Bruiser opened the box with a key he removed from his travel wallet, and Hernando took out a prescription bottle. He slipped Quint two pills. I didn’t ask what they were, but I knew they were good enough for medics. The injured woman held them under her tongue to dissolve, which made no sense to me, but my EMT training was long out of date, and I wasn’t getting in the middle of things. Bruiser and Hernando worked to stabilize Quint. Hernando started an IV with a small bag of fluid and more supplies from the box, while Bruiser cut away clothing, exposing the extent of broken bones and the road rash that scored large parts of her body.
Without looking up from the IV, Hernando said, “Let’s try to get the splints on without rolling her or taking off her helmet until we have a real cervical collar and backup. I don’t want to try to use an inflatable neck brace, and paramedics will be on site soon.”
“Agreed.” Bruiser said. He went to work, inflating the splints and providing support for the broken bones they could get to easily. I watched from the corner of my eye as he alsoopened and unfolded a metallic-looking space blanket. “See if you can get the Mylar blanket around her without making things worse,” Bruiser said.
Hernando grunted. I scanned. Seeing nothing and no one who looked like a threat.
Without looking, I removed some healing and pain dampening amulets made for me by my BFF Molly and held them out to the guys. The Everhart-Trueblood coven made the most effective healing amulets. Bruiser took them all without comment which said a lot about Quint’s condition.Bad.
I crawled up to Grizz and asked, “Nothing?”
“Something. Flash of red.” She glanced at me and back into the binoculars. “Could a been a cardinal.” After a minute she said, “We did a real good job of not telling anyone but our most trusted people about this ride. “I’m a find who popped off his mouth and rip his wanker off.”
“Good,” I said. “But that shot was either really lucky or really excellent. What if it was just made to look like a hit? And what if the real assailants are elsewhere trying to get a bead on us right now.”
“Yeah. But not on us. Onyou, My Lady.” Grizz rolled over and looked down the hill, past the tarp camouflage cover, and out at the expanse of mountains. “If they’re out there,” she gestured across the gorge, “it’s a sharpshooter shot only a few in the entire world could make. Wind. Air pressure changes, movement. Hit a moving person? Maybe. But hit a tire? Crazy good shot. I’m thinking it was never a shot. I’m thinking it’s a small charge inside the wheel. Countdown. Fire rifle and detonator together. Rifle shot could go anywhere and it wouldn’t matter except to get us down and out in the open, on the street with no cover. Luckily, Quint went off the road, and we followed, into protection and cover. I’ll check her bike when we get a minute.”
We fell silent and I crawled back to Quint. I was covered in mud and plant material. Didn’t much care. Bruiser glanced up, meeting my eyes. He gave me the slightest of nods to let me know he thought she’d make it. His gaze shifted from me to the dirt road across the way, his expression questioning.
I hadn’t tracked my guards through our blood bond and, despite my earlier decisions, I reached for Eli. He was frustrated. Eli became aware of me and I got some impressions. We didn’t converse like ESP, and I didn’t see through his eyes or anything weird like that, but I got enough to know he’d found tracks to a spot where a bike had been parked. One bike. Gone. No sound. No disturbance. Electric? Several companies made full E-bikes, even dirt E-bikes. Fast and silent. Mentally, I pulled away from Eli and closed my shields.
“Gone,” I said to Bruiser. “Maybe an E-bike.”
Bruiser touched his comms near his helmet, taking him to a different channel, and said, “Medic is delayed. Quint needs a fast trip to the nearest trauma center.” His face broke into that beautiful smile. “You did? ETA for helo to our twenty?” He listened. “Copy: landing in five. We’ll close off the road.” He looked at me. “Our boys lifted off the minute they heard we had a little problem.”
“Lil p’o’lem?” Quint mumbled, the drugs kicking in. “I’m b’oke all to hell and back. I’m FUBARed. Jus’ bury me here.”
I filled my voice with all the power my crown gave me and said, “You willnotdie. That’s an order.”
Quint laughed and the sound was weaker and wet. I was afraid it was blood in her lungs. Hemothorax. Her breathing was too fast. Hemo-pneumothorax, maybe, terms remembered from those EMT classes, way back when. I knew what to do to fix it temporarily, if I had the tools. But not with a potential spinal injury. Before I could open my mouth to say the words, Hen’do pulled a stethoscope and a small sterile kit from his bag andlistened to her breathing. “Lung’s collapsing,” he said. “Soon as we get her on board, I’ll have to put in a tube. All I got’s a fourteen-gauge, little girl. It’s gonna hurt.”
“I fuckin’ hate you,” Quint said.
Hen’do chuckled.
I turned my comms to the general channel. There was a lot of chatter. I turned it back off. “I’ll get out flares,” I said. “Once the cops get here and we have the ‘all clear’ from Eli, I’ll start positioning them up the road.”
“Belay that,” Eli said. “They may still be planning to get off a shot, and the queen being in the open is a danger to us all.”
I wanted to scream at being forced to be safe while my people were in danger, but Eli was right and I knew it.
Beast thought,Do not like hiding in den, but must care for kits.
They’d be insulted at you thinking they’re kittens.
Beast sniffed, a sound that meant amusement and disdain all at once.
Bruiser said, “Interesting pre-wedding incident.”
I said, “Yeah. Too interesting. Grizz is going to rip the wanker off whoever told about this ride.”
“Bleed and read.” He said grimly, sounding far more British-formal than usual. “Every single person. Koun will be awake at HQ before dusk. When he’s done and has found our culprit, Grizz may rip off anything she wishes.”
“Shiii. I wanna see that,” Quint slurred.
