Page 67 of No Man's Land

After another moment of studying Josef, she turned back to Alex. “Show me the bite,” she said, rising.

With obvious awkwardness at undressing in front of a lady—he was such a toff—Alex slipped off his jacket and unbuttoned his collar to reveal the wound at the juncture of his neck and shoulder.

“Usually,” Lottie said, “living victims of ghoul bites are close to death, either wounded or ill. It’s rare that they attack a healthy person. I assume you had it cornered?”

“We did. We had to stop it leaving London for Brookwood Cemetery.”

Lottie’s delicate fingers carefully peeled away the dressing Josef had placed over the wound. “Brookwood seems like a natural place for a ghoul.”

“You know what The Society thinks.”

Clearly, she did, because she didn’t bother to respond. “The infection spreads more slowly in a healthy body,” she said, probing the wound. Alex winced, jaw clenching. “That gives you more time.”

“More time for what?” Josef said.

Lottie’s grey eyes met his, sharp as steel. “To live,” she said simply. “And to find a cure.”

“Finda cure? Don’t you have one?”

“Do we look like a pharmacy?” said Violet, her gaze still fixed on Alex. Ready to pounce, Josef supposed, if he showed any signs of ghoulishness.

Lottie was still inspecting the wound, tracing her fingers across Alex’s skin. Josef realised that down his left arm and up his neck towards his jaw, radiating from the bite, ran faint tendrils of grey, like veins beneath his pale skin. His stomach turned.

“I have the formula,” Lottie said, “but you’ll need to provide the key ingredient.”

Teeth gritted against the pain, Alex said, “Which is what?”

“Blood from the ghoul that bit you.”

He visibly paled, nothing but red spots of colour left on his cheekbones. “I killed it,” he said airlessly. “The body travels to Brookwood this morning…”

“I'll go back,” Josef said immediately. “The train doesn’t leave until gone eleven…”

But Alex looked grim, his eyes dark as midnight. “I don’t think—”

“If the ghoul is dead, its blood is dead too,” said Lottie. “No good.”

With a vehement curse, Alex dropped his head into his hands, elbows on the table.

Josef stared at him, heart thudding so loud he thought the whole room must be able to hear it. Mouth dry, he said, “Is that the only way?”

Lottie lifted her eyes to his. “Not the only way. The ghoul Lord Beaumont killed had been bitten by another, and that one by yet another, and so on. There are... connections between them all.”

“A spiderweb,” Josef said, remembering Alex’s description.

She nodded, mostly to herself. “Yes, Icoulduse the blood of another. Less potent, the more distant the connection, but probably potent enough.”

Alex jerked his head up from his hands. “How the devil are we supposed to find one in time?” he snapped. “Christ, they could be anywhere in London.”

“You have one thing in your favour,” Lottie said, leaving Alex and moving to one of her bookshelves, studying the spines and then pulling out a book. Opening it, she began flicking through the pages.

“What?” Josef said, impatiently. “What do we have in our favour?”

Lottie looked up. “Hmm? Oh. Well.” She glanced over at Alex again with those too-bright, too-clever eyes. “You'll know it when one’s close. You’ll feel it. Feel drawn to it.”

“Drawn to it?” Alex sounded sickened.

Nodding, still leafing through pages, she said, “Blood to blood, as the infection takes hold. Ah, here it is.” Then, to Violet, “I’ll need lunar caustic, yarrow, comfrey root, sage, and honey.”

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