Page 62 of Aberrant Monsters
“Okay, in that case, we’re done here.” Devyn leaned forward to speak into the machine’s mic. “Interview terminated at 11:52.”
The doe-eyes officer blinked in surprise and looked to Peterson.
He nodded and she clicked off the recorder.
Devyn pushed back her chair and stood. “Come, Miss Vera, Mr. Winslow. I’ll escort you out.”
I stood slowly, careful not to make any sudden movements that might aggravate my injuries and give away that I was less than okay. The pain relief Quentin had given me had taken the edge off the worst of it for a while, but they’d kept us waiting here for almost an hour and the meds were beginning to wear off.
I kept my expression neutral, blocking out the fire cutting into my sides as I straightened.
I sensed Telarion’s awareness, his…concern?
Quentin held the door open for me, and I was almost out of the room when Peterson spoke.
“I’ll be keeping an eye on you, Miss Vera.”
Devyn made a sound of irritation. “Get the fuck over yourself, Peterson.”
I made it out of the building and around the corner before the pain was too much, and I faltered, sucking in a sharp breath.
Quentin put his arm around me to steady me.
“I’m not going to ask,” Devyn said. “There are too many cases like yours tainting our archives.” Her eyes glittered with suppressed rage. “I’m sure the fuckers got what was coming to them.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Thank you.”
She nodded curtly and looked up at Quentin. “Get her home.”
Quentin scooped me up into his arms, cradling me to his chest as he carried me the final few meters down the street to our car. I closed my eyes and breathed through gritted teeth. Fuck, I hurt.
Soon. The pain will be gone soon.
I couldn’t fucking wait.
* * *
“How is the pain now?”Quentin asked from the driver’s seat.
He’d given me some more pain relief, and a blessed warm numbness had seeped over me.
“Better, thanks.” I leaned back against the headrest and closed my eyes as the world crawled by my window.
“You would have died,” Quentin said. “The locations of the stab wounds were fatal.”
I rolled my head his way and opened my eyes. “You saw?”
His jaw flexed. “I examined you when Telarion brought you back. Cleaned up the blood.” He took a left, one hand on the wheel, the other loose on his thigh. “He saved your life.”
He sounded conflicted about that fact.
I turned my head to the window and squeezed my eyes shut to block the image of Telarion’s face when he’d found me dying. “He needs me, that’s why. I’m grateful to him, though.”
I sensed Telarion listening.
“Yes, of course,” Quentin said. “He needs his host to live.”
Silence fell for several minutes as we navigated the city traffic to get onto the main road that would lead us home.
