Princess and Queen stared at her, the wheels of their intellects almost visibly churning.

“The machine knows where I have gone, knows whose realm I ran to, knows who is ultimately responsible for wounding its human progenitor. How long till the boy heals? How healed does a powerful witch have to be to open a portal? How long till a fleet of those things comes through and reduces this tree to ash? Personally, I think, my lord, that it would be best for us to be gone from this… place,” Lilith said.

A slow, evil smile spread across Belphagor’s craggy face. The mother-daughter team was still staring, but a sickly expression had found its way onto Zinnia’s face and Eirwen looked almost panicky.

The demon prince stepped across the burnt and broken floor, reaching down to grab Lilith under one giant arm, hauling the broken demoness up and against his side. “We will show ourselves out,” he said, dark clouds beginning to rush in around them as he stepped toward the portion of the room that housed the Gate.

“Call my generals, my minister, and the Captain of my Guard. We have work to do,” Zinnia said as a loud thunderclap heralded the exit of the demons. “And have somebody close that thing off, permanently.”

Outside the chamber, the sunlight was dimming as the Summer Court day aged into night.

Chapter 39

“What’s the prognosis?” Chris asked, nodding to the familiar Indian doctor in the corner but directing the question toward the hospital’s chief of staff and another doctor standing at the foot of the bed.

The chief of staff looked at her associate uncertainly, then glanced at Dr. Singh before answering. “He has two broken clavicles, serious punctures that resulted in a significant loss of blood, and just missed having several major blood vessels lacerated, in which case, I don’t know if he would still be with us. That said, he’s a bit of a puzzle. His vitals have all swung back to excellent and he’s resting comfortably, almost without pain, which is a bit odd. But then he’s part of your group so…” she wound down, brown eyebrows raised.

“The thing is,” the other doctor, a tall ginger male, interjected, “we’re wondering if he’s… infected?”

“I would say no, but you do realize you have one of the world’s greatest authorities on LV and V-squared standing behind you, don’t you?” Chris said.

Both doctors turned, mouths open, to gape at Dr. Singh, who just smiled and made a tiny bow in their directions.

“You didn’t even tell them you’re a doctor, did you?” Chris asked the vampire physician.

“You’re… a doctor? We thought you were just security,” the ginger said.