“Are you still water-shy?” I asked.
Julien’s eyes slitted open.
I shrugged. “We can’t stay here. If they’re hunting…”
“I’ll need another day.”
Annora murmured, “Go into the pool. It’s healing water.”
Julien flashed his fangs. “I’m not boiling myself like a lobster.”
“Can I have your clothes?” she asked sweetly. “After you die. I need them for my collection.”
“I’m a bleeding vampire,” he said. “Undead. Been that way for centuries.”
“Undead with a hole in your side,” the nymph said. “Big enough to put a fist inside.”
“It’s growing?” I gagged at the thought.
“Silver.” Julien’s tight smile worried me. “Poison spreads.”
“What if I drip the healing water into the wound?” I was throwing out ideas, hoping one would stick. “Could the little vampire baby stand that?”
“Probably,” the nymph said while Julien’s grimace meant he was gritting his teeth against denying it. His fingers had curled.
“You stood being pinned to a wall,” I told him. “What’s a little water? Think of it like rain.”
“I rarely go out in the rain.”
“Really, Julien, whining does nothing for your scary vampire image.”
He huffed. “The wolf wouldn’t let you do it.”
I laughed. “The wolf isn’t here, and he damn well would let me do it if it meant saving your long, undead life.”
“My lady, I really must protest—”
“Too late.” The nymph handed me a filled cup, and I trickled healing water over Julien’s side, watching as the raw edge of the wound turned white.
“Are you awake?” The nymph had her cool hand on my shoulder. Her hair was wet. The scent of the Claw was on her skin.
I pushed upward, shuffling aside the blankets that made my nest of a bed. “How long did I sleep?”
“A few hours. It’s morning.” I wouldn’t have known inside the cave unless she told me. “I’ve been to Westvale.”
My hair hung in loose, messy strands, but at least it was dry. With unsteady fingers, I combed it back, weaving the braid. The nymph handed me a rubber band dug from her collections.
“They know you’re missing,” she said. “Hunters everywhere. The wards were humming.”
“Ago?”
“He wasn’t along the river.”
He’d be hiding. Still hunting, though. I glanced at Julien. The vampire was sleeping. Easier, according to Annora, and his color was better. Or else that judgement came from my imagination because I wanted no other outcome.
Julien was here.
I bent my head, checking the cracked buttons holding the flannel shirt together. “I need to get him somewhere else.” Somewhere safe. Until I got him to Grayson.
