Mercy Thompson 01-05 - THE MERCY THOMPSON COLLECTION
Benton City, Daniel?â
Daniel didnât answer for a moment. Finally he said, âI donât know. All I remember is blood.â
âHow much gas was in your car when you got to the hotel in Pasco?â Stefan asked.
âIt was on empty,â Daniel said slowly. âI remember because I was going to fill itâ¦afterwards.â
Stefan turned to his silent audience. âBernard. How much gas was in the car Daniel was driving when you found him?â
He didnât want to answer. âHalf full.â
Stefan looked at Marsilia and waited.
Suddenly she smiled, a sweet smile that made her look like an innocent girl. âAll right. I believe that there was someone with Daniel that night. You, I would believe, could drive twenty miles and fill up the car while under the burden of the bloodlust, but a new vampire like Daniel never could.â
Daniel jerked his head toward Stefan. âThat doesnât mean that I didnât kill those people. I remember it, Stefan.â
âI know you do,â he agreed. âYou can leave the seatâif Wulfe is satisfied of your truth?â He glanced up.
The teenager next to Marsilia, whoâd been cleaning something out from under his nail with his teeth, nodded his head.
âMaster?â whispered Daniel.
Andre had been staring at the floor, but at Danielâs words he said. âYou can leave the seat, Daniel.â
âThis doesnât prove anything except that there was another with Daniel that night. Someone who drove the car and filled it with gas,â Bernard said.
âThatâs right,â agreed Stefan mildly.
When Daniel tried to stand up, his legs wouldnât hold him. His hands also seemed to be stuck. Stefan helped him pry his hands free and then picked him up off the chair when it became apparent that despite the feeding, Daniel was still too weak to stand.
Stefan took a step toward Andre, but then he hesitated and brought him back to where the wolves and I were standing.
He set him down on the floor a few feet from Warren. âStay there, Daniel,â he said. âCan you do that?â
The young man nodded his head. âYes.â He held onto Stefanâs arm though, and Stefan was forced to unwrap the other vampireâs fingers before he could return to the chair. He took a handkerchief out of a back pocket and cleaned the arms of the chair until the brass tacks gleamed. No one complained about the time it took.
âMercy,â Stefan said, putting the handkerchief back in his pocket. âWould you please come and bear your truth before my mistress?â
He wanted me to go stick my hands on those sharp thorns. Not only did it seem somewhat sacrilegious, thorns and pierced palms, but it was going to hurt. Not that it came as a terrible surprise, not after Stefan and Daniel.
âCome,â he said. âIâve cleaned them so that you will suffer no taint.â
The wood was cool and the seat a little too big, like my foster fatherâs favorite chair had been. After heâd died, Iâd spent hours in that chair, smelling his scent, ingrained into the polished wood by years of use. The thought of him steadied me, and I needed all the nerve I could get.
The thorns were longer and sharper than theyâd looked when I wasnât about to push them into my flesh. Better to do it quickly than to stew about it. I closed my hands over the ends of the arms and pulled them tight.
It didnât hurt at first. Then hot tendrils of magic snaked in through the break in my skin, streaking up the veins in my arms and closing around my heart like a fiery fist.
âAre you all right, Mercy?â Warren asked, his voice rumbling with the first hint of challenge.
âWolves have no tongues in our court,â snapped Bernard. âIf you cannot be silent you will leave.â
I was glad that Bernard said something. He bought me time to understand that the magic wasnât hurting me. It was uncomfortable, but not painful. Not worth causing the fight Warren was ready to begin. Adam had sent him to guard me, not to start a war over a little discomfort.
âIâm fine,â I said.
The teenager stirred. âNot true,â he said.
Truth, huh? Fine. âMy face hurts, my shoulder hurts, my neck hurts where the freaking demon-riding vampire bit me, and the magic of this chair is about as gentle as a lightning strike, but Iâm not suffering from
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