'Hey, Georgina. This is Vincent.'
'Hey,' I said, surprised to be hearing from him.
'Look, I really need to talk to you in person. Is there any way I can see you?'
'Right now?'
'Yeah…it's kind of important.'
I glanced over at Seth, who was finishing the last of his bread pudding. He was so easygoing, I doubted he'd mind if Vincent stopped by.
'I'm out with Seth…'
'It'll just take a few minutes,' Vincent promised.
'Okay.' I told him where we were, and he told me he'd be there shortly.
He wasn't kidding. I'd barely explained the situation to Seth when Vincent walked into the restaurant.
'What'd you do, fly over here?' I asked as he slid into a chair beside us.
'Nah, I was just close.' He gestured to the remnants of our desserts. 'Looks good.'
'It was great,' I said. 'Now, what's up?'
He hesitated and glanced in Seth's direction.
'It's fine. Seth knows everything,' I assured him. The waitress came by and dropped off our receipt and change.
Vincent studied Seth a moment more, then turned back to me. 'Okay. I just have a quick question for you. We can talk about it on our way out.'
The three of us set out into the cold again, heading toward Seth's car.
'So,' Vincent began. 'Remember that story you told me a little while ago? About the cop shooting his partner?'
'Yup.'
'Where'd you hear it?'
We walked in silence for a few moments as I tried to remember. 'I don't know. Probably on TV. Maybe I saw the headline at the store. Can't recall.'
'Are you sure?'
I frowned. 'Positive.'
Vincent sighed. 'Well, here's the thing. I looked into that story and had a hard time finding out anything. It was never made public. I actually had to go investigate with some police sources.'
'It had to have been made public. How else would I have known?'
'That's what I'm trying to figure out.'
I racked my brain. Where had I heard it? No clue. I'd just known it when I talked to Vincent that day. But, obviously, it hadn't sprung up in my head out of the blue.
'Do you know anybody in the police department?' he suggested.
'No one I would have talked to. Maybe I overheard someone. Seriously, I just…I just can't remember.'
'What's the story?' Seth asked me.
Puzzle pieces suddenly fell together. The cop was just like the guy who'd swam Puget Sound. Both had had a vision of something that wasn't true, but their subsequent actions had brought it about. And I had known about both stories before I should have.
'Georgina?' asked Seth.
'This cop went crazy in a store and started—'
'Okay, just stop. Just fucking stop.'
The three of us jerked to a halt as the voice came out of the darkness. In heading toward our remote parking spot, we'd strayed quite a ways away from the hustle and bustle of Pioneer Square. And from around a corner, a man in need of a shave and clean clothes had emerged. He made Carter look genteel. Muggings were rare in Seattle, but statistics meant little when actually being mugged. The man had a gun aimed at us.
'Give me everything you've got,' he growled. He had kind of a wide-eyed, paranoid look, and I wondered if he was on something. Again, it meant little. He had a gun. We didn't. 'Every fucking thing. Wallet. Jewelry. Whatever. I'll shoot. I swear to God, I will.'
I took a step in front of Seth and Vincent, small enough not to raise the guy's alarms but enough to put me in the line of fire. I'd been shot before. It hurt, but it couldn't kill me. My humans were the ones in danger.
'Sure,' I said, reaching into my purse. I kept my voice low and soothing. 'Whatever you want.'
'Hurry up,' he snapped. His gun was aimed squarely at me now, which was fine.
Behind me, I heard Seth and Vincent rustling around for their wallets as well. With a pang, I realized I'd have to give up Seth's ring, which I'd worn on a chain around my neck tonight, but that was a small price to pay if we all walked away from this unscathed.
Suddenly, I saw movement in my peripheral vision. Before I could stop him, Seth lunged forward toward the man and slammed him into the side of the brick building near us. I had never taken Seth for the fighting type, but it was actually pretty impressive. Unfortunately, it was not needed at the moment.
Vincent and I sprang into the fray, moving at exactly the same time. The guy had been forced to lower his gun while Seth pinned him against the wall, but the attacker was struggling with the ferocity of a bear. Vincent and I tried to add our own strength, mainly hoping to wrest the gun away. It was one of those moments in time that seemed both really long and really short.
Then, the gun went off.
My two companions and I stopped moving. The guy used the brief lull to wiggle away from us and ran off into the night. I exhaled a breath of relief, grateful it was all over.
'Georgina—' said Vincent.
Seth sank to his knees, and that's when I saw the blood. It was all over his left thigh, dark and slick in the watery light of a flickering streetlight. His face was pale and wide-eyed with shock.
'Oh, God.' I fell down beside him, trying to get a look at the leg. 'Call 911!' I screamed at Vincent. Having anticipated me, he already had his cell out.
Some part of my brain listened to him speaking frantically into the phone, but the rest of my attention was on Seth.
'Oh God, oh God,' I said, ripping off my coat. Blood was pouring steadily out of the wound. I pressed my coat into it, trying to slow the bleeding. 'Hang with me. Oh, please, please, hang with me.'
Seth's eyes looked at me with both tenderness and pain. His lips parted slightly, but no words came out. I lifted the coat and looked at the wound. Vincent knelt beside me.
'It won't stop, it won't stop,' I moaned.
Vincent peered over my shoulder. 'Femoral artery.'
After over a millennium, I knew the human body and what could kill it. I would have realized what kind of a shot this was if I hadn't been so hysterical.
'It'll drain him,' I whispered, pressing the coat into his leg again. I had seen it happen before, watched people bleed to death right in front of me. 'It'll kill him before they get here. That bullet hit perfectly.'
Beside me, I heard Vincent take a deep, shaking breath. Then, his hands covered mine. 'Take it away,' he said softly.
'I have to slow the bleeding.'
But he gently lifted my hands away, taking the coat up as well. There was blood everywhere. I imagined I could see it steaming in the cold air.
Vincent rested his hands on Seth's thigh, oblivious to the mess. Words formed on the tip of my tongue but never came out. The air around us began burning, and a prickling feeling raced across my skin. For a moment, Seth seemed to be bathed in white light. From Vincent, I suddenly had the sensation of dried lavender and humidity. It was tinged in something else…something I'd never hoped to sense again.
Then, it all faded away. Vincent removed his hands, and when I looked down, blood no longer oozed from Seth's thigh.
'I'm sorry,' gasped Vincent. 'I'm not so good at healing, and if I do any more, the others will sense me. This will keep him alive until the ambulance gets here.'
In the distance, I heard the faint sounds of sirens. In my chest, my heart thudded. The world slowed its pace. How long had Vincent said he'd known Yasmine? Fifteen years. Too, too long. He didn't look any older than thirty.
