Page 54 of The Doctor and the Devil
Just as Charlotte had said. Just as Rafael had said. But I couldn’t escape the truth—tonight, I was a liability. I wasn’t the master healer in her clinic, the bold woman breaking the rules of a top university to acquire the best education I could, the preeminent supernatural physician sought out by kings and foreign courts and vampires worldwide. I was simply the human who needed protecting. I wanted to scream.
I frowned and jumped down from the carriage. It had rained lightly throughout the day, leaving mud puddles glinting with moonlight in the carriage ruts. Étienne had driven past the cemetery to an overgrown, tree-lined lane to park the carriage as we waited for word from Charlotte and Antoine’s patrol.
Étienne jumped down to help Daphne emerge from the carriage, and I grimaced at the sounds of their tender kisses behind me.
“I may not have vampire hearing, but that is loud enough for human ears,” I complained.
Étienne chuckled and came to stand beside me. Daphne was occupied taking various weapons out of the box at the back of the carriage, and Rafael, it seemed, was still off surveying us from some aerial perch. While we waited, Étienne nudged me with his shoulder, as affectionately as a brother.
“She’s right, you know,” he said softly, casting his eyes to his mate. Daphne was oblivious to us, checking the powder and shot in the twin flintlock pistols she wore in a harness around her waist.
“I swear upon all that is holy and unholy, Étienne, if you say anything else to me about the conversations that were meant to be privateormy…situation…with Rafael, I will fill your veins with quicksilver and leave you writhing on the floor,” I warned. A headache of annoyance had begun to build between my eyebrows.
He laughed again and held up his hands in defeat. We waited another few minutes in companionable silence.
“Do you know how he learned his other abilities?” Étienne asked quietly. “I have learned only the simplest illusions. Yet he seems to ooze power.”
“I don’t even know what all his abilities are,” I admitted. “Suffice it to say that the ones I do know of are truly horrifying.”
“One wonders why he needsles DDto help him retrieve his brother,” Daphne said casually as she came to stand beside us.
“Perhaps it is because of your dazzling company,” came that rich voice from the disembodied night around us.
Rafael materialized from the shadows.
“No, that is a very good question,” I said. “Why can’t you simply go in and take him?”
“I suspect the cell where Laszlo is being kept is warded with some holy power, or spell,” Rafael said.
“How could you know that?” Étienne asked. “Have you been inside?”
Rafael shook his head. “No, but it would take something very powerful indeed to contain my brother. Very powerful and very, very bad.”
Anxiety swept through me like winds across a field, caressing my nerves and tightening my muscles.
“How powerful is he if he managed to be captured?” Étienne wondered.
“That’s what truly worries me. Either he is wounded and unwell, or whatever means they have for subduing supernatural beings is straight from the depths of Hell. Either way, it’s unlikely that I would be able to save him alone—even with mygifts.”
The wind began to whip up, colder than I’d expected. I tugged the thick wool cloak tighter around me, wishing for the fire in my study or a hot bath. The air smelled of damp earth and fresh rain, and I smiled despite myself.
“What’s so amusing?” Rafael all but whispered, coming to stand on my other side.
I tensed, trying to forget everything Daphne had said on the ride over here. That familiar millstone of expectation pulling me down. The self-doubt and comforting cold. The fear of being a liability—useless.Less than.
“That scent,” I replied after a moment. “I think I like it more than flowers. The wet mud after the rain—it means the promise of spring. It is the scent of hope to me.”
He inhaled deeply. The moonlight on his face was a soft blue caress, highlighting parts and throwing others in shadow. His ancient vampire eyes glowed faintly, giving him an ethereal appearance. With his stunning, cold beauty, he might have been a haughty angel.
He remained in profile, standing next to me a few feet away. Whether it was because he wanted to respect my space after my tirade or because he dwelt in his own melancholy, I didn’t know.
“You will be fine tonight,” he said. “In there.” He nodded toward the mausoleum.
My temper flared. “I know,” I snapped. “Everyone here is on the lookout for me. Everyone will protect me. Weak, human Mina will be watched over and cared for.”
“No,” he said firmly, turning to me. “Not because of us. Because of you. You were right, Mina. You are strong, and smart, and capable. You are all you need. You will be fine because…you will be fine.”
Daphne and Étienne had wandered away from the carriage, drawn toward a stand of trees a short distance away.
