Page 71 of The Doctor and the Devil
What are you?she asked.
I don’t know,I replied. I saw the grass below me and drifted low to the ground. As I neared it, the grass began to wilt away, recoiling into the soil. All that was left behind was a faint silver sheen. Charlotte noticed and whined.
I can see you—faintly. Like a soft, silver cloud,she said.But I don’t know what you are. It’s wreaking havoc on my lupine senses.
I stared at the fallow ground that I’d touched.
Charlotte, I think—I think I am Death.
* * *
Hours later, we returned to our rooms just as the sun was rising. I’d told my companions about my strange new abilities, anxiously waiting for fear and disgust. Instead, they comforted me and offered me blood and raw meat to restore my depleted strength.
“It must be from the Judas silver,” Rafael said. “It would explain the eyes, the tears… Brother, have you ever seen anything like this? Or heard of it happening?”
Laszlo shook his head. “Rafael and I can turn into mist, but it’s just that—mist. Closer to weather than anything else.”
Étienne chuckled. “Simply marvelous. The only one of us that has a real problem killing anything has become the embodiment of Death. I suppose that’s one way Fate will stop you from taking advantage of thesegifts, Mina.”
“You know,” Daphne hedged. “This does present us with an opportunity. Of course, it’s probably too dangerous to even consider given how little we know about this ability.”
I knew exactly what she was about to say—I’d considered it myself.
“I’ll do it,” I said.
“Do what?” Rafael asked, concern in his tone. “What are you talking about?”
“I’ll go into the mausoleum alone,” I said. “If the Order are all assembled, I can eliminate them with one fell swoop. None of you need to risk putting yourselves in jeopardy again, given how we know the Judas silver affects you.”
“Absolutely not!” Rafael insisted, rising from his chair. “We have no idea what will happen if you try this on humans, and we know even less about how you will react to the Judas silver door when you’re down there. If the worst happens in either instance, you will be down therealoneand at their mercy. And I think we all know just howmercifulthe Order can be. I’m sorry, Mina, but you’ve already died once at their hands—I will not let that happen again.”
“Rafael’s right,” Charlotte added, placing her hand on my arm. “It’s too dangerous.”
“I appreciate your concern,” I said. “But it’s my decision to make.”
“Mina, please,” Rafael beseeched. The pleading in his tone shook the foundations of my resolve, but I knew what I had to do to keep my friends safe. What I had the power to do.
“If it makes you feel better, you can come with me and wait outside in the cemetery,” I offered. “If something goes awry, you can swoop in and rip out as many throats as you like. As it stands, I am the only one who can go in alone and do what needs to be done.”
“You don’t know that,” Rafael argued.
“The bullet,” Antoine said suddenly. “Laszlo, what happened to the bullet from Mina’s chest?”
“I ripped it from her and threw it on the ground in the woods,” he said. “I wasn’t sure if she would be able to turn with it lodged in her heart.”
“What if we retrieved it?” Antoine asked. “And used it to see if the Judas silver affected her as it does the rest of us?”
“It’s not a bad idea,” Daphne agreed. “Mina, Rafael, what say you? If we manage to find the bullet and it doesn’t affect Mina’s abilities to shift, then she goes in alone. We will be there, of course, right outside in case something goes wrong.”
“No,” Rafael said firmly.
“Yes,” I agreed. “Rafael, you must give me a chance. Just once, let me be the one to protect you. Almost all my life I’ve been surrounded by powerful, supernatural beings and I’ve always been the weak one—the one to watch out for, to keep an eye on. Now that things are different, let me try to be the strong one for a change.”
“You havealwaysbeen the strong one,” Rafael insisted, but I heard an undertone of defeat in his voice. “But I know you, Mina, and I know how fruitless it is to try and stand in your way when your mind is made up. I will stand by your decision, even if I do not like it—or agree with it.”
I squeezed his hand. “Thank you.”
“It’s daylight now, but as soon as the sun goes down, we’ll send someone to retrieve the bullet,” Daphne said.
