Lupi 06 - Blood Magic

that."
    "You've been busy. I've been waiting. It gave me time to think. I'm going to set a ward on the door, too - a visual one. That way, if I get drowsy, Jason will be able to tell that someone with magic is trying to come in. He can stop them."
    "Can you hold a ward when you aren't here? I'll be relieving you, so - "
    "No, you'll be going home to get some sleep once you've talked to Cullen. I'm not going anywhere tonight, and there's no point in both of us standing guard. And you're the investigator. I want you focused and rested so you can catch the rat bastard."
    Lily's eyebrows went up. After a moment she nodded. Tonight was probably the safest period, anyway. "Okay. I will relieve you in the morning, though, at least until we can figure out how to properly guard Cullen."
    "I've a suggestion about that," Rule said, moving ahead of Lily so he could hug Cynna lightly.
    He did that sort of thing easily, naturally. Lily wished it had occurred to her to hug Cynna. "Go ahead."
    "Max."
    Relief bloomed. "Of course. He claims he's immune to mind-magic, so... you'll call him?" Max was surly, lecherous, and train-wreck ugly, though the last was probably because his standard of beauty was wildly different from hers, since he was a gnome. A rather oversize one who for some reason didn't live underground like his fellows - gnomes were said to be very clever with stone - but a gnome nonetheless.
    "He'll come. He'll bitch about it endlessly, but he'll come." Rule smiled at Cynna, his arm around her vanished waist. "You're doing okay."
    "Sure." She glanced at the bed and its sleeping occupant. "Sleeping Beauty doesn't look so hot right now, but Nettie says he's hanging in there."
    Nettie was on the other side of the hospital bed. She'd barely glanced up when they came in. "He'll wake in less than ten minutes. When he does, you can talk to him briefly, then I'll put him under again."
    Lily nodded and moved to the foot of the bed.
    The man occupying that bed was hooked up to an IV and a heart rate monitor, which beeped quietly. He was deeply asleep or unconscious. And much too pale.
    Cullen Seabourne was the opposite of Max - as breathtakingly gorgeous as the gnome was ugly. Rule was sexier, in Lily's opinion, and possessed more sheer presence. But Cullen was the kind of gorgeous that makes strangers on the street stop and stare. At the moment, the perfect architecture of Cullen's bone structure was all too clear. He was pallid, the skin drawn and tight, and naked at least to the waist. A lightweight blanket covered him from there down.
    His chest was a ghastly orange-yellow where they'd splashed it with Betadine. The incision to the left of his sternum had been left unbandaged. It was long and punctuated by staples. It looked fresh. She glanced at Nettie. "He hasn't healed the incision."
    "The intrusion is localized around his heart, but it's like wolfsbane in one way. It keeps his healing magic tied up fighting it. I can help some with the incision after I've rested." Nettie's voice was lower and hoarser than normal. She needed sleep almost as much as her patient did.
    Lily nodded and made a decision. "Cynna, I should talk to the Rhej about this, but you're here, so... Rule and I were wondering if the one we don't name could be involved." The Old One who was the lupi's most ancient enemy had a name, or maybe several... but lupi folklore said she could hear it when her name was spoken.
    "Oh. Oh!" Cynna frowned, then shook her head. "I see why you're wondering. We've got an assassin with weird-ass abilities. But whoever he is, he's not her agent. It's possible she gave him some help in a roundabout way. We don't know how much she's able to do along those lines, but it's safe to assume she does have some agents here on Earth again. But the rat bastard assassin wasn't one of them. An agent of hers couldn't get into Clanhome secretly. The Rhej would know if one tried." She considered a moment, then added, "The Rho would, too, but he might not recognize what was wrong."
    Rule's eyebrows lifted. "I wasn't aware of that."
    "Sure," Cynna said. "Clanhome is claimed by the mantle holder, so the mantle knows it. The mantle is from the Lady, and the Lady recognizes her enemy. So the mantle would be aware if one of her agents was in Clanhome. I don't know how that would feel to Isen, but he would feel something. You might, too."
    This time Lily's eyebrows lifted. "You know a lot about mantles all of a sudden."
    She shrugged. "It's stuff from