Warrior

Chapter 11-3

“What are you, Sara Grey?” I asked her softly. “Is that another of your secrets, or do you even know?”

The bond between us left no doubt that she was Mohiri, but her healing ability had to come from somewhere. The only race I could think of with that kind of power was the Fae, but the demon inside us made it physically impossible for a faerie to couple with one of my people. And Sara’s uncle was human, which meant her father had been human as well. Maybe I should have Dax look into her father’s background some more and see what he could dig up.

I started to pull my hand away, but her smaller one suddenly gripped mine. Her brow furrowed, and she murmured words I couldn’t make out.

I leaned in to kiss her forehead. “Sleep easy, Sara. I’m not going anywhere.”

* * *Late the next morning, I sat in the room studying one of the pictures Chris had sent me while I waited for Sara to wake up. The dead vampire could be Eli, but I couldn’t say for sure until I saw the body in person. Chris had it on ice until I could get to Portland. Vampire bodies decomposed quickly once the demon was dead, and the older the vampire the faster the decay. But I was not leaving here until Sara awoke and I knew she had recovered from last night.

The bedclothes rustled, and I looked up to find Sara staring at me in confusion.

“How are you feeling?” I asked her.

She groaned and rubbed her eyes. “I’ve been better. Where am I?”

“At the farm. You weren’t in any shape to go anywhere last night.”

She appeared disoriented for a moment, and then her eyes filled with anguish. “Roland!”

“He’s fine. He’s down the hall.”

I moved my chair back to the side of the bed, where it had sat most of the night, and studied her face. Despite the many hours she’d slept, she still looked tired, and that worried me.

“Is this normal after you do that? Passing out?” I asked.

“After a healing? It doesn’t usually knock me out like that, but I’ve never healed a werewolf before. Usually I’m okay if I rest for an hour or so.”

She made it sound like saving a life was a normal occurrence for her, and I had a feeling that wasn’t far from the truth. “You do this a lot?”

She smiled. “More times than I can remember. I’ve been doing it since I was six.”

So young. I was about to ask her where the power came from when I remembered something she’d asked me when I told her what she was. “That day on the wharf, you asked me if Mohiri had other powers. You wanted to know if we could heal others.”

“Yes.”

I wished I could give her answers, but I only had more questions after last night. One thing was clear; her ability wasn’t limited to healing.

“I don’t know of any Mohiri who can do what you did last night. Is that what you did with those two monsters in that cellar?”

She nodded. “I’ve used it before to calm animals, but I had no idea it would actually work on hellhounds. What happened to them? You didn’t –?”

“They tried to follow you, so Chris and Erik had them restrained. They’ll be transported to one of our facilities until we figure out what to do with them.” At her look of relief, I knew I’d made the right decision last night. “We couldn’t have a pair of hellhounds running amok around Portland.”

She frowned. “What kind of facility? I don’t want them hurt.”

“No one will harm them.” I chuckled. After everything that had happened yesterday, she was worried about the welfare of two hellhounds. Wanting to reassure her, I said, “They are yours now. Once a fell beast imprints on a new master, they are incredibly loyal. They will only answer to you.”

Her eyes brightened. “That’s what the witch said.”

Witch? I gave her a questioning look.

“The Hale witch. He was there last night in the cellar.”

My body tensed. “Did he hurt you?”

“No,” she blurted. “He didn’t even try to stop me. He was curious about Remy and the hellhounds, and he said a bunch of stuff that didn’t make sense. Then he left.”

I rubbed my jaw. Why would the Hale witch attack her earlier in the day, only to let her go a few hours later? Maybe she’d frightened him when she was able to fight him off. Hale witches were defenseless without their magic.

Talking about the witch didn’t appear to bother her. In fact, aside from looking tired, she seemed well recovered, considering all that had gone down yesterday.

“A lot happened in that cellar last night.” I watched her closely. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No.” She looked away, swallowing hard. I didn’t need to see her face to know some of what she was feeling. I could sense her pain through the bond.

“Every Mohiri struggles with their Mori at some point in their lives,” I said, remembering my own battles. “For most, it happens when they are younger and lack the training to manage the demon impulses. You have such control over your Mori that it must have been very frightening to let your guard down the way you did. But don’t let your fear make you forget why you did it. You saved those trolls.”

Her breath hitched, and I saw she was trying not to cry. My first impulse was to reach out to her, but I sensed she needed reassurance more than comfort.

“You are stronger than the demon. I knew that when I met you. But hearing how you fought off the Hale witch, and then last night, watching you with the werewolf, I realized you have power I can’t comprehend. You saved more than one life last night. People here are calling you a hero.”

She stared at the ceiling. “Some hero. Roland wouldn’t have needed healing if I hadn’t almost gotten him killed in the first place.”

She’d made some bad decisions, but I wouldn’t let her blame herself for this. “What happened last night wasn’t your fault, Sara. We found out who was behind all this. His name is Yusri al-Hawwash, and he is a billionaire oil sheik who found out two years ago he has Alzheimer’s. He’s been searching everywhere for a cure, and he was looking for trolls long before you sold that bile. He’s a desperate man with unlimited resources.”

“But he would have looked somewhere else if I had been more careful,” she said miserably.

“That still does not make you responsible for his actions.” I leaned closer to the bed. “Look at me.”

She obeyed, and the torment in her eyes made my chest ache. “Yes, you have made mistakes, but you are not to blame for the greed and actions of another. Your fault lies in taking too much on yourself. You have to learn to trust people and stop trying to take on the world alone.”

I couldn’t tell if my words had gotten through to her or not. She let out a deep breath. “My life was a lot less complicated a month ago. Maybe now things will start to settle down again.”

I’d known this moment would come, but that didn’t make it any easier. “I wish that were true, but after what I saw last night, I think you might be in more danger than we first thought.”

She moved up until she was sitting with her back supported by pillows. “What do you mean? We haven’t seen any sign of vampires except those working for the sheik – which I totally don’t get by the way. And the sheik’s witch only tried to grab me to get to the trolls.”

“Think about it, Sara. The young trolls were taken around the same time you were attacked at the rest stop, which means the sheik didn’t need you to find the trolls. So why did they come after you when they had what they wanted?”

I watched her closely, waiting for my words to sink in and knowing what they would do to her. I’d had all night to think about this, to fit the pieces together.

“You want to know why vampires would risk helping humans kidnap trolls? What if the vampires wanted something and they made an agreement with the sheik – a trade of some kind? You for the trolls.”

She shook her head in denial. “No, the two vamps I ran into tried to kill me, not capture me.” I sucked in a sharp breath, and she rushed to add, “Remy and I took care of them.”

Had I heard her correctly? “You killed a vampire?”

“With Remy’s help. He’s scary good.”

I started to say that Remy could have killed the vampires without involving her, but I wouldn’t take that away from her. What was more important was making her understand the danger she was in. I didn’t want to think about the number of unscrupulous people who would do anything to get their hands on someone like her.

“Even if you are right about the vampires, there is one thing you’re overlooking. You have an incredible ability. If word of it gets out, the sheik will be coming after you, and he won’t be the only one.”

“It won’t do him any good. I can’t heal humans.”

I raised my eyebrows, and she scowled. “My uncle is in a wheelchair. If I could heal humans, don’t you think he’d be the first one I’d heal?”

I believed her, but that would not keep her safe. The fact was she was no longer safe in New Hastings, or in Maine for that matter.

“But no one else would know that. Last night was just a taste of what could happen. They will keep coming and people will get hurt. And don’t forget, we still have a Master to worry about. He could come after you just to use you against Madeline.”

A shiver went through her. “Don’t hold back. I’m not quite paralyzed with fear yet.”

“You need to hear these things, Sara,” I said firmly.

She glared at me. “You’re trying to scare me, to get me to go with you.”

“Yes, I am. But that doesn’t make them any less true.”

I watched the emotions play across her face as she processed what I’d told her, and I saw the resignation when she finally came to a decision.

“I-I need to tell Nate, to explain it to him,” she said hoarsely, looking away from me. “It’s going to be hard for him to understand all this.”

Relief flooded me. “We have some things to wrap up in Portland that will take a few days, and it should give you the time you need with your uncle. I know this is hard for you, but you’re doing the right thing.”

I carried the chair back to the corner and opened the door. “I swear to you that I will keep you safe,” I vowed before I left the room and closed the door behind me.