But then the flames just…died away. In an instant, the crackling of the fire stopped. Smoke drifted lightly in the air.
“I can…smell her,” Duncan said, sounding stunned.
Connor faced the charred remains of the cabin. “So can I.” He sounded just as stunned as Duncan. “She should be dead, just ash, but I can smell her.”
Oh, hell.
According to the FBI files that he’d accessed, the way to kill a djinn was supposed to be a deadly combination of fire and blood. But the way to wake up a djinn’s powers…the way to summon the darkness within…
Black smoke snaked toward them as they all stood there, frozen.
The smoke slowly dissipated.
And when the smoke vanished, Olivia was there. Her clothing had burned away, but her flesh appeared unmarred. She walked straight toward them with slow, certain steps.
“Olivia?” Shane ran toward her. His hand locked around her arm, and as soon as he touched her, a rush of black smoke swirled in the air again.
The djinn are creatures of smoke and magic. He’d read that notation in the files he’d accessed.
Olivia collapsed in Shane’s arms. He lifted her up, held her closely against his chest. His eyes were wild, his expression maddened as he whirled toward Eric. “A werewolf bit her,” Shane said, voice ragged. “Right before the fire…I saw him bite her! She needs help! Help!”
Holly scrambled to his side, but Eric didn’t move.
He knew Olivia Maddox was beyond help.
***
She hurt…a damn lot.
Olivia groaned and opened her eyes. She was in a strange bed. An unfamiliar room. And she was handcuffed.
Was this becoming the story of her life?
She tugged on the cuff. It was linked to the side of what looked like a hospital bed.
A door creaked open. Footsteps padded toward her. Olivia glanced over and saw Holly pause near the bed. “You tried to attack me the last time I was here,” Holly said softly. “The handcuffs were for my protection.” A brief pause. “If you’re back in control, I can take them off.”
“I’m in control.” Her voice sounded funny to her own ears. Too husky and raspy. Olivia cleared her throat.
Holly unhooked the cuffs.
Olivia thought about springing toward the woman, but she had promised not to hurt her. For the moment, anyway.
“Where am I?” Olivia asked and her voice still sounded funny. Like someone else was talking.
“We brought you in to one of the Para Unit’s containment areas. Pate thinks you will be safer here because it’s a place that isn’t…on the books. The only people who know about it are those of us here now.”
Olivia licked her lips and swore she tasted ash. “The fire—is Shane all right?” She remembered seeing him, right before that burning ceiling had come crashing down onto her.
“He’s fine. Relax.” Holly backed up a few steps. “You’re the one who was…injured.”
Olivia glanced down at her body. She didn’t see any wounds.
“A werewolf bit you.”
Olivia flinched. She didn’t remember that part. At all.
“So, according to all the information I know, a werewolf bite means that you should be dead or transforming.” Holly shook her head. “But that’s not happening. Not with you.”
Olivia’s breath whooshed out. Holly was wrong. Or she was lying. “I-I wasn’t bitten.”
“You may just be the cure for the werewolf infection. A person who isn’t susceptible, who has a natural immunity against the bite.”
No. There is no cure for a werewolf bite. Olivia swung her legs to the side of the bed. Stood up. Her knees didn’t even wobble, awesome. Where is Shane? She felt a hard urgency within her, a need to find him. Right then.
“I finished your blood work.”
There was a note of hesitation, almost fear, in Holly’s voice. Olivia crept toward her.
“I finished right before the werewolves attacked.” Holly tilted her head to the side. “You aren’t human, not fully.”
Olivia stiffened her spine.
“But I think you knew that, right? I think you have been holding out on us all, Dr. Maddox.”
Olivia glanced toward the door. “Is Shane outside?”
“Shane was willing to burn to protect you.”
That news rocked through Olivia.
“But you walked away from the fire without a scratch. You stand there right now, no expression on your face, when I’ve just told you that you aren’t human.”
She might not be showing her emotions but it sure felt as if Olivia were shattering on the inside.
“Which side are you on?” Holly asked her.
Olivia shook her head. “I don’t know what you mean.”
Anger tightened Holly’s delicate features. “Yes, you do.”
She marched toward the door, but Holly leapt in her path and bared her fangs at Olivia.
The woman was a vampire?
“It’s not as simple as a choice between good and evil,” Holly said. “Because maybe we’ve all got evil in us. All got some good too. It’s a choice about survival. Are you going to join the supernaturals out there when they attack the humans? When they stop hiding and come out full force? Or will you try to protect the innocents before they get slaughtered?”
She’d always wanted to help people. Always wanted to stop the monsters. “I wish I could stop them all,” Olivia said softly. If only. “But I can’t.”
Holly opened her mouth to speak, but smoke blew from her lips. Black smoke. Holly grabbed her throat as she fell to the floor.
“Holly!” Horror tore through Olivia as she grabbed for the other woman. Holly was convulsing on the floor. Smoke rising from her body. “She needs help!” Olivia cried even as her fingers flew over Holly’s body in an attempt to find out what was happening. “Help—”
The door flew open. Shane and Pate rushed inside. Pate immediately fell to his knees beside Holly. His gaze flew over her, assessing, then he grabbed Olivia in a grip that hurt. “What did you do?”
She shook her head. “Nothing—”
“Pate, get your f**king hands off her,” Shane warned.
Holly gasped, struggling to breathe.
“What did you do?”
“I-I said I wished I could stop them!” Those had been the last words she’d spoken before Holly collapsed on the floor.
Pate’s eyes widened. “Un-fucking-wish that.” He shook her. “Un—”