“Actually, Dani, yes we can,” Marguerite countered quietly and the doctor looked almost shocked at the admission, and then understanding crossed her face.
“When we’re dehydrated and need blo—”
“Yes, then,” Marguerite agreed, cutting Dani off with a glance toward Nicole. “But there are more reasons for headaches than just physical ailments or such.”
“It is rare, but can happen,” Julius agreed. “Emotional stress, frustration, annoying sounds, certain strong smells . . . all of this can cause them.”
Marguerite smiled at her husband and then paused to take a bite of cake. It was Dani who then asked Nicole, “So, it started with a headache?”
Nicole nodded.
“And then he got in the hot tub and started vomiting blood?” she asked. When Nicole nodded again, she considered this news with a frown and then heaved a sigh and said unhappily, “Marguerite, I know you’re counting on me to help Jake, but I’m not sure I can. This isn’t like treating a mortal and—” Pausing, she shifted and then said with frustration, “And I thought immortals couldn’t get sick. Have you ever seen anything like this?”
Marguerite frowned and shook her head. “No. I’ve never heard of an immortal vomiting up blood.”
“I have,” Julius said quietly, and when everyone turned to him curiously, he explained, “During the Renaissance one of my sisters received a dress as a gift from a mortal whom she thought was a friend. It was coated inside with a type of poison that can be absorbed through the skin. Had she been mortal, my sister would have died. Instead, she began vomiting up blood.”
“That makes sense,” Dani said slowly. “The nanos must try to surround or somehow bond with the poison and then purge it from the system. Blood is their vehicle, so the more poison absorbed, the more blood is purged.”
“And nanos with it,” Decker said.
Nicole found the whole conversation confusing. Nanos? A poison dress? The Renaissance? That word stuck in her foggy mind and she turned to Marguerite and asked in a whisper, “Did Julius say during the Renaissance?”
Marguerite smiled reassuringly and patted her hand. “Yes, dear. I’ll explain in a bit, I promise. But for now, everything is fine.”
“Right. Everything is fine,” Nicole murmured, relaxing.
“Did your sister suffer a headache first too?” Dani asked.
“No.” Julius shook his head. “But I believe I’m developing one.”
“So am I,” Tomasso announced.
“And me,” Dante acknowledged.
“Me too,” Dani said, and glanced to her husband, who nodded solemnly.
“Just the beginnings of one,” Marguerite said when the group then turned her way in question.
Realizing their attention had turned to her, Nicole shook her head quickly. She was finding a lot of this confusing, but every time she started to feel panic growing in her at something that was said, Marguerite would murmur, “Everything’s fine,” and her panic would recede. That being the case, the best thing to do seemed to be to simply sit and wait for the explanations Marguerite promised her. She was sure everything would be fine until then.
“And there’s a buzzing in my ear,” Julius said suddenly. “Very faint, but there, like an annoying insect, constantly buzz buzz buzzing.”
Nicole peered at the man curiously. He sounded extremely annoyed about the buzzing.
“I don’t hear anything,” the twins said together.
“I do . . . now that you mention it,” Decker announced, head tilted and frowning. “I didn’t notice it until now, but it is rather annoying, isn’t it?”
Marguerite stood and moved around the kitchen slowly, her head tilted as if listening for something. “Yes. I hear it now. It—”
Nicole watched curiously when the woman paused suddenly and moved toward the wall socket beside the water cooler. Her eyebrows rose though when Marguerite bent and unplugged the little white unit Nicole had plugged in there earlier that night.
“It’s gone,” Julius announced.
Decker nodded. “That was it.”
“That can’t be it,” Nicole protested with a frown. “It’s an ultrasonic rodent repellent. It’s for mice. They’re the only ones who can hear it.”
“Mice and other rodents . . . like bats,” Dani said dryly.
“Dani, love, I’ve told you, we are in no way connected to bats. That’s all just myth,” Decker said in pained tones.
“Yes,” Dani agreed. “But apparently when it comes to sounds you’re on the same wavelength.”
“
“Sort of,” Dani said quietly. “Besides, I couldn’t hear it.”
“Yes, you could. You were getting a headache,” Julius pointed out. “But you’re young like the twins, so while it was affecting you, you couldn’t register the sound.”
“Hmm.” Dani grimaced, but didn’t argue the point and simply said, “Well the headache is easing now.”
“Yes,” Marguerite murmured. “Mine’s receding quickly too.”
Everyone but Nicole nodded or murmured in agreement.
“Then that’s probably what caused the headache,” Dani concluded.
Everyone nodded again but Nicole. She just thought they were all a bit crazy . . . but everything was all right. The words drifted through her head and she relaxed.
“What did you do about your sister’s poisoning?” Dani asked Julius.
“We didn’t realize it was poisoning until afterward, and we only realized it then because she had a natural aversion to the dress after that. She gave it to one of her servants . . . who was mortal. The poor girl died in terrible agony and distress,” Julius said quietly, and then sighed and added, “Before that we had no idea what was wrong with Adriana. We just kept giving her blood until it passed.”
“Right. Then I guess that’s what we’ll do here,” Dani said solemnly. “Nina brought a cooler of it, and we brought two. Hopefully that will be enough.” She glanced to Julius. “I don’t suppose you remember how much blood your sister went through?”
Julius shook his head apologetically. “We did not have blood banks back then. It was donors, and we needed a lot of them. We had to take her from village to village in a wagon until it ended and she began to recover.”
“I’ll call Bastien and tell him to have more delivered here,” Decker said, standing and withdrawing a phone from his pocket as he moved out of the room.
“Nicole,” Dani said, drawing her gaze. “How are you feeling? Did you eat the same things Jake did? Or did he—?”
“She isn’t poisoned,” Julius interrupted. “Something that affects Jake like this would have killed her in a heartbeat. Besides, this isn’t from ingested poison. That usually doesn’t cause vomiting in an immortal, and if it does, it would just be a one-round deal. But not anything like this. This is full-body exposure, the poison has to be all through Jake’s system for the nanos to react like this.”
“The robe he’s wearing?” Decker suggested.
“It started in the hot tub,” Marguerite reminded them quietly.
“True, but he probably wore the robe to go down and get in the tub,” Decker pointed out.
“But Nicole wouldn’t wear Jake’s robe and no one wants him dead,” Marguerite countered.
“What?” Nicole asked with surprise.
“Everything’s fine, dear,” Marguerite murmured, and then glanced to Dani to ask, “Do you think the hot tub being poisoned with a drug that can be absorbed through the skin would have the same affect as a poisoned dress?”
“Yes, I imagine it would,” Dani said slowly, her expression thoughtful. She was silent for a minute and then said, “I’ll have to take a sample and have it analyzed to be sure, but I don’t suggest anyone even stick a finger in
