Page 74 of The Doctor and the Devil
“What do you feel?” I asked, my voice a breath above a whisper.
Mina stared at the lump of silver in her palm, warped where it had met her vital human organs. She narrowed her eyes and glared at it, and we all watched in astonishment as the ball began to melt into a puddle of liquid metal in her bare hand.
“I feel—kinship,” she replied in a strange voice. The silver liquid pulsed and flexed, moving around her hand as she willed it with some secret power. She closed her eyes, and then the silver was absorbed into her skin. When she opened her eyes, they were that same silver with moonstone-colored pupils. She smiled—but of all the ways I’d seen Mina smile, I’d never seen her look like this.
“I’m ready,” she said, her voice sounding distant and ethereal.
Daphne raised her brows and cleared her throat. I would have sworn I heard a tremor of fear in her voice, but I might have imagined it. “Well, we have a few things left to do,” she hedged. “Charlotte, let’s send our messages to the remaining agents ofles DD.Étienne, you send word to our staff and Charlotte’s that they’re not to return to our homes over the next few days—we don’t know what will come, and I don’t want any of them getting caught up in the Order’s brand of collateral damage if something goes wrong.”
“Send your messages,” Mina said in that strange, otherworldly voice. “But the Order convenes tonight, does it not?”
“Yes, but we weren’t planning on going in until they meet next week,” Charlotte said, staring at Mina with a mixture of admiration and horror.
“I will go tonight,” Mina said.
Daphne and Charlotte exchanged a look.
“If you’re certain…” Daphne began.
“Yes,” Mina replied. “Come on horseback, or in a carriage, if you wish. I’m going to fly.”
She turned to me, her strange silver eyes glittering in the low light of the laboratory. She smiled again, but this time it was closer to a true Mina smile. She closed her eyes for a moment, and then when she opened them, her eyes were back to their normal sapphire blue.
“Care to join me?” she asked, as if nothing bizarre had happened.
“You must be joking,” I replied—too unsteadily. “What the hell was that?”
“I’m not entirely sure,” she said. “But I don’t feel any ill effects from the silver.”
“Mina…” I began, but she held up a hand to stay me.
“Rafael, yes. You and I will run a barrage of experiments on my abilities when this is over. However, we face a more pressing threat. I’m going to deal with that first. Are you coming?”
The silence that fell over our companions was tense, as if everything hinged upon my ability to allow Mina to lead us into battle.Mina, my Mina.The one person I’d fought so desperately to protect, and yet the one person who needed my protection the least, even before she’d been turned into some kind of supernatural creature with god-like powers.Goddess.I sighed, swallowing the shredded remains of my pride, and inclined my head.
“Lead the way, Persephone.”
* * *
We stood at the crumbling edge of the high tower, facing southeast toward Paris. Charlotte and Antoine prepared to shift, tying their clothes in a bundle around their shoulders. Daphne, Marguerite, and Étienne would be on horseback, which was less conspicuous than a carriage, but would also save their energy from having to run the distance. Laszlo, Mina, and I would fly.
The sun had set, turning the night sky the same soft midnight blue as Mina’s gown. As Laszlo and I began to disrobe prior to shifting, she eyed us anxiously.
“I’d hate for you to ruin that gown when you look so fetching in it,” I purred, hoping to ease some of her nerves. “Laszlo will turn around, so you needn’t worry about him.”
For once, my brother’s raspy chuckle split the silence.
“As lovely as you are, Doctor, trust that I only have eyes for my beloved Marguerite.” He bundled his clothes and tied them to his waist, then turned to face the opposite direction.
Satisfied, Mina undressed in haste. When she was down to her stays, I stepped over to help her unlace them.
“Everything is going to be okay,” I said in her ear. “We’ll all be there together. Trust your instincts. They’ve served you well thus far.”
She nodded, then twisted back to give me a perfunctory kiss on the lips.
Fear and anxiety fought to take hold, but I refused to let Mina sense them from me. As much as I hated to stand aside and let her take on the Order alone, I knew she could do it.
“Ready?” I asked when she’d finished undressing.
