“Dammit, Shade.” Eidolon grabbed a wicked-looking instrument and thread off the metal tray he’d pulled next to him. “Stop her pain.”
“We shouldn’t be treating her at all. You changed the refusal-of-treatment clause in the charter to include Aegi scum.”
“It’s something I shouldn’t have done.”
“Shouldn’t have done? Are you forgetting what happened to Nancy? To Luc? She could have been in on it.”
“Who’s Luc?” she managed, through gritted teeth.
Eidolon answered, but kept his angry gaze on Shade. “Paramedic. Werewolf. The Aegis surprised him in his house, where he’d locked himself up for the full moon. They killed his mate, tried to take him alive.”
“Animals,” Shade growled. “He even said they smelled like animals. Apes. But he took two of you scumbags out.”
Trey and Michelle. She drew a sharp, and painful, breath. Kynan said that the Guardians were ambushed. “Your were is lying. Guardians chased them—”
“Were you there?” It was more than a question; it was an accusation.
“No.”
“Yeah. Right.” Shadows flitted in Shade’s eyes . . . actual shadows from within that turned his brownish-black eyes completely black as he looked at Eidolon from across the table. “What if she was? Would that make a difference to you? Or would you still be panting after her like a—”
“This conversation ends now.” Eidolon’s tone was a portent for trouble. “Numb her.”
Cursing, Shade grasped her wrist again, hard enough to cause pain on its own, but immediately, warm relaxation washed over her.
Something else washed over her, too. Gratitude. Eidolon couldn’t hurt her inside the hospital; she knew that. But he also didn’t have to relieve her pain. If he wanted her to suffer, she’d suffer. She couldn’t help but wonder, if the situation were reversed, would she have done the same?
“No,” she whispered, and Eidolon frowned.
“Are you still in pain?” One hand flew to her other wrist to check her pulse. “What is it?”
“Sorry,” she choked out. “Talking to myself.”
He looked at her as if she was daft, and Shade shook his head, but then they went back to what they’d been doing, and she went back to wondering when she’d started feeling something other than blind hatred for the demon.
What terrific timing, given that she was supposed to help destroy the hospital, and him with it.
While Hellboy stitched her up, she got intimate with the lay of the land. Not that she could see much except crimson-splashed gray walls and a ceiling from which huge pulleys and chains hung, but hey, no creepy detail would go wasted. She’d always hated hospitals, but the smell of disinfectant and the sound of equipment beeping actually comforted her now, bits of normalcy in what could otherwise be a terrifying place.
The gentle tugging on her skin stopped. Eidolon snipped the thread he’d been working with.
“Done?” she asked.
“Yep.”
Shade yanked his hand away. “Good. I’m going to go help a patient who actually deserves it.” He stalked out. Pain immediately began to throb in her abdomen.
“Damn him,” Eidolon muttered, so softly she barely heard.
“It’s okay. I don’t blame him. Not after what happened to Nancy.”
Eidolon’s startled gaze flickered to hers. “I can give you painkillers,” he offered roughly, ignoring what she’d said.
She shook her head. “I need to stay alert.” Going fuzzy in enemy territory could be disastrous. Besides, after her mom died, she’d sworn never to touch drugs again. Her mother’s battle with addiction had caused too much misery, had led her down a dark road where demons were real and not a metaphor.
Drawing the tray closer with his foot, he selected a syringe from the lineup of instruments. “I’ll give you a local to keep the discomfort at a minimum.”
He injected the medicine, and after the initial burn wore off, the wound went numb.
“Thank you.”
Once again he glanced at her in surprise, but didn’t comment, because suddenly the room swarmed with tiny, round little demon . . . things. A dozen of them, furry and about the size of rabbits, scurried beneath the curtains, rolling and pouncing on each other. One paused to look up, its big eyes blinking at her. It was sort of cute. For a demon. Then again, Eidolon was burning hot for a demon. Or a human, for that matter.
They climbed up her IV pole, onto tables and stools, and she smiled as one dived down the sleeve of her jacket that Shade had draped over a chair. They chattered and squeaked and then one dipped into her pocket—and came out with her cell phone. The creature flipped the phone open. Tayla tore out her IV line and leaped off the table.
“Gimme that,” she said sweetly. The critter scampered away, but Eidolon managed to snare the phone.