She was silent for a moment then very softly said, “Sure, Phoebe. Not a problem.”
I rested my head back against the cabinet and closed my eyes while her lovely magic stitched the wounds in my hands, my neck, and my face back together. When she was done, she patted me on the arm.
“I think you’ll live now,” she said.
“Good. What about Pandora?”
Worry swam in her eyes as she said, “I think she’s fine. She’s awake and alert, but she’s also nauseated and anxious.”
“That’s to be expected, right?” I said. “She was abducted and hit with a nasty curse.”
“Yeah, I guess so. It’s just that my magic usually solves all those minor side effects. I’m worried that if it didn’t, I might not have gotten all of the curse.”
I pushed myself up and held a hand out to her. “Let’s go find out.”
Once we were back at Pandora’s side, I realized why Imogen was so worried. Pandora’s normally flawless features look haggard. There were bags under her eyes and the wounds on her arms and legs were still prominent. She was a vampire. Her wounds should have healed almost instantly.
“Pandora,” I said, sitting down next to her. “How are you feeling?”
“Better, exhausted. Still out of sorts,” she said.
I touched her forehead and let out a soft curse. She was burning up, making her the only vampire in New Orleans who wasn’t room temperature. I looked up and met Imogen’s eyes. “She’s still spelled by whatever that sorceress hit her with.”
“But I… I could’ve sworn I got it all.” She pressed her hand to her throat and closed her eyes. “I should try again.”
“I don’t think it will help,” I said. “I think her body just needs to burn it off. She is a vampire after all. Immortal, remember?”
“Yes, but—”
Before she could get the words out, Pandora sat straight up then hopped out of bed. She opened her closet, revealing her vast supply of clothes, and said, “Get cleaned up. All of you. It’s time to go get Willow and Talisen.”
22
“Truss him up,” Allcot ordered.
We were in a windowless room on the first floor of Allcot’s home. The group of us stood in a circle, surrounding Bandu while two of Allcot’s security team shackled the shifter and hung the chains from hooks in the ceiling, much like the pack leader had done to Pandora over the past thirty-six hours.
“Poetic justice,” I said softly to Dax.
Pandora, who still wasn’t one hundred percent healed but was looking noticeably better than she had back at the Gothic house where she’d been held, stood next to me and scoffed. “He deserves to have his dick cut off.”
“After we interrogate him, love,” Allcot said, brushing a long lock of her blond hair over her shoulder.
Dax and I shared a glance, and I took a small step away from Pandora, slightly unnerved by her vicious appetite for revenge. Not that the shifter didn’t deserve what she had planned for him. It was just so… violent.
Leo stood across from us, his arms crossed over his chest, gaze fixated on the pack leader. Hatred and disappointment radiated from him in volumes. Healer Imogen, Link, and David filled out the circle, waiting for the interrogation to begin.
“All done, boss,” one of Allcot’s men said. “Need us to stick around for backup?”
“You can wait outside the door. Thank you, Harrison.”
The giant dark-skinned man nodded once and slipped out of the room.
No one said a word as Pandora walked right up to the shifter and stared him in the eye. The low hum of the fluorescent lights illuminating the room filled the uncomfortable silence until Pandora unexpectedly spat on the shifter.
Bandu jerked his head back, startled, but didn’t make a sound as the pink-tinged saliva trickled down his face.
“You will suffer for what you did. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”
Bandu’s dark tortured eyes met hers and he said, “I already am.”
She let out a humorless laugh then slapped him hard across the face. “You don’t know what suffering is quite yet, but you will.”
He was quiet this time and she took a step back. “Now,” she said, her demeanor all business. “Where are Willow and Talisen?”
Bandu shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“He’s lying,” Leo said from the other side of the room. “He told Dali he’d be unavailable until late tomorrow night. Said he had something important to attend.”
“Of course he is,” Pandora agreed. “I overheard him talking about going to the ritual.”
Allcot stepped into the circle and took his place beside Pandora. He eyed the shifter. “Would you like to start talking or move straight to the torture portion of this production?”
“What difference does it make?” Bandu asked. “It ends the same way, doesn’t it?”
Allcot shot his hand out and grabbed Bandu by the throat. He didn’t squeeze hard, just held Bandu’s neck in his hand and moved the shifter’s face back and forth as he studied him. “Do you think you’re going to die tonight, shifter?”
“I don’t think I will, I know I will,” he said, meeting Allcot’s gaze. “It’s inevitable.”
The two continued to stare each other down. Then Allcot let him go and said, “He’s not going to tell us anything. This is a man prepared to die.”
I had to agree. The shifter wasn’t upset. He wasn’t fighting or bargaining for his life. He was resigned. The question remained though—if Allcot tortured him, would he give up Carter Voelkel and the location of Willow and Tal? Maybe. But I had a better way.
I turned to Imogen. “You up for some more magic tonight?”
The healer blinked. “What’s wrong? Is the curse still bothering you?”
“No, no. Nothing like that.” I waved a hand at Bandu. “I can do a memory spell if I can siphon some of your power.”
Her eyes widened, and she took a small step back. “I don’t—”
“Yes, a memory spell,” Pandora said. “Do it.”
“I don’t— That’s not something I think I can do,” she said.
“Sure you can, Imogen,” Pandora said impatiently. “You owe us that much.”
The healer frowned, clearly uneasy, but stepped up beside me anyway.
“What was that about?” I whispered to her.
She shook her head. “Let’s just get this over with.”
“If you’re sure…” I pulled out a small vial of herbs that Willow had spelled for me not long ago. She had the ability to magically infuse plants and turn them into useful edibles. She made things like Mocha in Motion, a drink that refueled a person’s energy, and Orange Influence, a substance that had the ability to control a person’s will, though that one was highly controlled by the Arcane. But the herbs, they were a special concoction she made just for me for when it was absolutely necessary to interrogate someone—someone whom the Void would never get to talk. Someone like Bandu where the information meant life or death.
“She’s sure,” Pandora said. “What do you need?”
“Anyone have a mortar and pestle lying around?”
Imogen sighed. “I do.” She turned and started walking toward the door.
“Wait,” Pandora said as she pulled Allcot’s phone out of his pocket. She texted in a message and a second later handed it back to him. “Someone will bring us one.” Turning to Imogen, she added, “Work out the plan with Kilsen.”
I frowned as I watched a silent exchange pass between them. Again, I wondered what was going on. What did Imogen owe them, and how had they managed to get her under their thumb? Resentment for the vampire couple, despite their help, curled up in a ball in my gut and sat there like a rock. Their contradictory actions never failed to piss me off. One minute they were helpful and the next they were forcing people to do shit against their will.
Vampires sucked.
“I assume you’re going to use blood magic?” Imogen asked me, her arms crossed over her chest.
“Yes. But only his. What I need from you is a power boost. So that thing you did earlier when you helped to heal me?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll need something like that. The herbs Willow infused for me are great, but they require a larger power boost than I can summon.”