Gilbert dropped to the floor, legs and arms bent at awkward angles, like a marionette with slackened strings.
The corridor was probably silent, but Gabby’s heart rampaged; her blood cascaded through her ears. Nolan grabbed her arm and swung her around to face him, his expression a cross between fury and admiration.
“Who taught you to do that?”
She was saved from having to answer when Luc appeared at the base of the steps. He was in his human form, but barely. His cheekbones had shifted into sharply cut ridges beneath his skin, which was itself on the verge of becoming closely knit scales.
“I’m not hurt, Luc,” she said, desperate to turn off whatever alarm was ringing inside him. “Really, I’m all right.”
Luc took an indifferent glance at the dead body lying in a twisted heap. He didn’t say anything, and Gabby wondered if it was because his voice would have been gargled.
“A carcass demon,” Nolan explained, his chest heaving. “The boy was a Duster.”
“And you took a sample of his blood,” Gabby said. “You never answered me—why does your father want it?”
Nolan raked his fingers through his hair. “The Alliance isn’t all about demon hunting. There’s a scientific element, and no, I can’t discuss it.” He sent a pointed look at Gabby. “Let’s just say this Duster’s blood is meant for research.”
Voices traveled from down the hall, far past the morgue doors, which were still wide open. Nolan ushered Gabby toward Luc and the steps, stopping to retrieve Gabby’s dagger from Gilbert’s torso. They eased around his grotesquely used body and took the stairs two at a time.
“Two Dusters within the last week have murdered their families,” Nolan said once they’d reached the main hallway. He bent to one knee and pretended to tie his bootlaces while slipping the dagger back into Gabby’s boot.
She turned away from a passing doctor, who slowed and sent them a suspicious look. Her scars were all too noticeable, as would be the stain of color on her cheeks from having Nolan’s hands roving about her ankles.
“One of them is running around the Paris sewers, and the other is at the bottom of those stairs,” Nolan continued.
“Ingrid was in the sewers this morning,” Luc said, his voice hoarse.
Nolan nodded. “She was worried you’d have to come after her.”
“She wasn’t frightened,” Luc replied. “Just nervous for a moment.”
Gabby frowned. Her sister and Nolan had gone into the sewers to search for a Duster, Grayson had discovered dead bodies, and Gabby had just taken down a carcass demon. They were all keeping rather busy.
“She’s too trusting,” Nolan said. “First with Constantine, who turns out to be ex-Daicrypta—”
Luc snapped to attention. “He’s Daicrypta?”
“Ex,” Nolan stressed. Gabby watched the exchange with growing confusion. What was the Daicrypta? “He says an active Daicrypta, Robert Dupuis, wants Ingrid’s angel blood.”
“Who is Robert Dupuis?” Gabby nearly screeched.
Luc cocked his head and breathed in sharply. “Your father is leaving the meeting.”
Without another word, he moved like the wind down the corridor, out onto the portico, and to the arcaded entrance.
Nolan walked Gabby toward the exit onto the portico, his hand once more on the small of her back. Her skin responded with a pleasant throb. Glancing through the arched windows and across the courtyard, she saw her father in the opposite wing, passing by one of the windows there.
Nolan brought his hand around the side of her cloak and patted the spot where her sword was sheathed inside. “Where did you learn how to use this?”
Her father pushed open the door to the portico. He looked toward the arcaded entrance and then swept his eyes over the rest of the courtyard, searching for her. The muscles in her legs tensed, prepared to break into an unladylike trot. And yet the gentle touch of Nolan’s hand was powerful enough to hold her back.
“I can see him turning purple from here,” she said. “I really must go.”
Nolan pressed his lips together and dropped his hand. Gabby rushed forward to meet her father. She could feel Nolan’s eyes on her as she stormed outside and met her father’s irritated glare.
“I became restless,” she explained lamely. He merely grunted before taking the stone steps down toward the entrance and their waiting landau.
After they had climbed in and Luc had nudged the horses forward, her father told her all about the illustrious Dr. Hauss and the procedures they had discussed. Gabby blocked out her father’s voice easily. Her hands were still trembling from the fight with the carcass demon—and from being so close to cornered by Nolan’s question.
The next time she saw him, she would need a ready answer. Preferably one that didn’t incriminate Chelle. At least Gabby had shown him what she could do. Perhaps he would take the account back to his father.
It wasn’t meant for him, but the smile Gabby directed toward her father as he finished speaking wasn’t entirely false.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN