Sin Undone

Eidolon repositioned himself to insert the tympanic thermometer into Kar’s ear. “Sin, you’re sure the virus is present only in the fetus?” “I’ll check again.” Sin concentrated, her dermoire glowing fiercely. Her glyphs might be faded replicas of her purebred brothers’, but they lit up just as brightly. “Yeah. Those little strands are running through the baby and floating around in the baby water.”


“Amniotic fluid,” Eidolon said. “How is the virus not moving through the placenta and umbilical cord?” She shook her head, bit her lip, and the glyphs on her arm began to writhe. “What’s the placenta? A pancake-shaped thing?” At Eidolon’s nod, she frowned. “They’re… getting attacked. By… I’m not sure what the things are. They’re all in Kar’s bloodstream but not the baby’s.”

“Antibodies,” Eidolon breathed. “Holy shit, Kar is producing antibodies!”

Kar scowled. “I don’t understand. What’s happening?”

Eidolon’s voice went deep, but with an undercurrent of excitement that gave Luc hope. “Up until now, no one who has contracted the virus has produced antibodies to it. But you… you’re the exact opposite of a regular warg. It might be different if you had the virus, but since your baby does, your body is fighting it off. Is the father a warg?”

“It’s mine,” Luc said. Con’s surprise was tangible, a burst of static in the air, but wisely, the dhampire kept any smart-ass comments to himself. “Since you both turn at different times of the month, I’m going to guess that conception didn’t take place during a breeding heat?” Eidolon asked. Kar blushed, turning her already fevered skin even redder, and she nodded. “Okay, then, this is starting to make sense. I know nothing about Feast wargs, but obviously, they can give birth to babies who are born wargs, even if the father is turned, and even out of heat. The virus must have entered your blood and passed to the baby, but in the meantime, your body produced antibodies, which killed the virus in you—”

“But not the baby,” she finished. “Can you cure it? Can you save the baby?”

Luc didn’t like the dismal expression on Eidolon’s face. “Doc?”

“I don’t know. Sin, how advanced does the disease seem?”

She shook her head. “Not very. It’s weird. The virus is reproducing, but it’s being killed, too.” She swallowed. “But it’s reproducing faster than it’s dying. Eventually, the baby is going to, ah… be in trouble.”

It was going to die. Luc might as well have been stabbed in the gut. He’d only just learned about the baby, but although doubt sang through him about his abilities to be a good father, he had no doubts that he didn’t want it to die.

“Please,” Kar whispered. “Can you do something?”

Sin and Eidolon exchanged glances, and Luc’s stomach clenched. “What? What’s going on?” “Sin has successfully cured one warg whose disease wasn’t advanced.”

“There’s a ‘but’ at the end of that sentence,” Luc growled, his worry adding a rough edge to his voice. “But,” Sin said, “I’ve killed others I tried to cure. I could kill the baby, and maybe even Kar.” Luc shook his head. “Then no. You’re not doing it.”

Kar shoved to her feet and moved away from Sin and Eidolon as though needing distance from the bad news. But when she spoke, her voice was steady as she faced off with Eidolon. “What other options are there?”

“We can wait for a cure.” Eidolon tucked the stethoscope and thermometer back inside the bag. “But it could come too late. We aren’t even close. We have a better shot at a vaccine, but that won’t help the baby. Sin really is your only hope.”

Luc tugged the IV catheter out of his hand and stood. “And if we don’t agree to this?” “The baby will die. But Kar will probably be safe.”

Luc cursed. He looked over at Kar, whose expression was remote, not giving anything away, but she was rubbing her belly, probably not consciously, and he knew exactly what she was thinking. She wanted to go for it.