Crowbones

CHAPTER 60

Julian

Earthday, Novembros 4

Julian stood inside the main house’s screened porch, drinking coffee while he waited for Ilya Sanguinati.

Michael Stern had called a few minutes ago to check in. Nothing around the cabins last night to cause alarm. They had food, but could he come up and fill a thermos with coffee to share with Ian and Jenna?

Julian felt a little guilty about saying no since he was on his second mug of caffeine, but he wanted Ilya to see everything before anyone else came up to the house. And it bothered him that whatever happened last night had occurred while he’d been sleeping in the next room. It bothered him that something had left Kira groggy and Aggie so disoriented and weakened that she couldn’t shift to her human form to tell them what, if anything, she knew.

The quick thump on the bedroom window that woke him up, followed by that warning rattle, bothered him most of all. Would something or someone have tried to harm Vicki if he hadn’t been there? Had she been the target all along?

He spotted Ilya hurrying toward the house from the direction of the lake. Not unexpected. The access road was still blocked by cars, so Boris couldn’t have driven the sedan up to the house to drop off the Sanguinati’s leader.

Then he noticed the black bundle Ilya carried. Setting his mug on the nearest table, he rushed out to meet the vampire.

“What . . . ?” Julian pivoted to open the porch door.

“It’s Jozi,” Ilya said.

Still alive, Julian thought, feeling a moment’s relief. But if this is Jozi, then who . . . ?

“I found her at the dock, tied upside down.” Ilya laid her on one of the porch chairs. “I think she was there for a while, and she’s very upset.” He glanced around the porch, as if making sure she couldn’t get out.

There was a local veterinary practice that took care of the animals on the nearby farms as well as people’s pets, but Julian didn’t know the office’s phone number offhand and didn’t know how much the vet might know about terra indigene forms.

“Should I call Michael Stern and ask him to deliver a message to Eddie?” he asked. “Do the Crowgard have their own healer?”

“All the gards have healers for their own kind of terra indigene,” Ilya replied. “But there is no physical injury that I can detect.”

“What about anemia?” The words were out as soon as the thought formed.

Ilya gave him a cold stare. “Is that an accusation, Mr. Farrow?”

“That’s a question, Mr. Sanguinati. Jozi was taken and didn’t struggle or sound an alarm. Kira was groggy when we woke her. Aggie is still disoriented to the point she can’t shift to human form. Something entered Vicki’s apartment through an open window on the second floor without anyone waking up and realizing we had an intruder.” He paused. They needed to work together, so arguing with Ilya was pointless. “You should see the body before we discuss this further.”

Ilya glanced at Jozi, who didn’t seem to be paying attention to them. “If Victoria has some available, perhaps she could offer a small amount of orange juice to Jozi and Aggie—and a little food.”

“I’ll ask her. The body is around the side of the house.” He waited until Ilya headed in that direction before he went inside to find Vicki and tell her about giving the Crows some juice. It’s what humans were given when they donated blood at a hospital.

He wished Ilya hadn’t suggested the juice, since it confirmed his suspicion about blood loss causing disorientation.