Page 77 of Almost Midnight

Detective,Nick’s mind corrected without thought.

“Detective Morley,” Tai acknowledged agreeably. “He went with Ms. James, too, and him and Mal will be there when she buys from one of the black market dealers.”

Nick blinked.

That time, he realized his eyes had filled with tears.

He wanted to wipe them away, but his arms felt really heavy.

“We tied you down,” the small voice explained. “You weren’t controlling yourself very well, Nick. I told you that. But you’re okay. You’re going to be fine. Ms. James said you’re out of danger now. She said the vampire doctor they brought in got most of the toxin out, and your body should be able to handle what’s left.”

Nick frowned.

Tai paused at his frown, then seemed to decide to go on.

“That doctor said it’s a miracle you got as far as you did like that,” she added, sounding impressed. “He said you must have been really pushing yourself. Most vamps wouldn’t have woken up at all when you fell over the wall like that. Not with what they’d done to you.”

Nick felt more tears well in his eyes.

Tai patted his arm reassuringly.

“It’s okay,” she said. “You didn’t hurt anyone. We could tell you were hallucinating. You kept speaking in French. It was really weird how good you were at it. You were yelling at us at one point to get our hands off your cousin…”

She paused, as if remembering.

Then Nick heard her smile.

“I think it weirded out Ms. James,” she confessed. “I didn’t know this, but she speaks French, too. Did you know that, Nick?”

He managed a nod, still watching those ice-blue eyes.

Tai smiled. “She said the French you were speaking was really old. That you sounded like you were in an old movie or something, as if you were saying ‘Thou’ this, and ‘m’lady’ that. Ms. James said some of the things you said were really strange, too. About horses and court and kings and tribute and gold, and how you just wanted to go surfing and be left in peace. There was stuff about ‘devils’ and disease, too… and you talking to someone about moving to America, and maybe living among the Native Americans out West?”

She posed a faint question at the end.

Nick could tell the idea was interesting to her.

He turned his head carefully. His neck hurt like hell, but he managed to turn enough to look at her directly.

He stared into that achingly familiar, elfin face.

Tai smiled back when her ice-blue eyes met his.

Her silvery-blue-tipped hair was pulled back in a high ponytail, making her look even younger than usual, and her otherworldly eyes look even larger. Absurdly, she wore a light pink T-shirt with a unicorn on it under a military-style, armored, black jacket, and a high-tech wristband that probably came from the labs at Archangel.

He fought to speak, to make noise, and eventually croaked out words.

“Where are we?” he asked. “Safe?”

His voice was unnervingly quiet.

It sounded like melodious breath.

His words came out insubstantial, barely making a ripple in the air.

“You hurt your throat,” Tai explained.

Again, she answered his thoughts before she answered his actual words. She held up her wrist, the one wearing the high-tech gadget.

---