"Your body is healing. You need more blood. You are right though, more now would be wasted. In a couple of minutes.” I didn't have the energy to fight with him, so I leaned into his chest and closed my eyes. “Do not sleep yet, Kitten. We must still talk with the judge."

I fought against my heavy eyelids. It was a close battle. We were on the sidewalk before I was sure my eyes were really open.

Nathanial lowered me to my feet, but my knees gave out. He kept an arm around me, supporting my weight. As Bobby and the judge made their way to us, Nathanial ripped off his coat, tore it in two, and wrapped my hands in it.

What was he doing? He didn't have enough clothing to bind my whole body. Wait, my hands ... he was trying to sheath my claws. Right, claws created crazy rogue shifters, which was a very bad thing. I tried to retract my claws, but the effort made me dizzy without affecting my hands.

Bobby ran ahead of the judge. “Kita, what happened?” He reached out a hand but dropped it without making contact. He looked concerned, but once he stopped gawking, he stared a couple inches to my left and not directly at me. Guess I was a hard thing to behold. His eyes glanced for a brief moment at where Nathanial was tying my hands, and then slid away again. He whispered, “Your claws extended?"

I gurgled a little, nodding, and Bobby frowned. He didn't say anything more.

"You went over your time limit,” the judge said.

"She disposed of the rogue shifter,” Bobby retorted. “Isn't that what you wanted her to do?"

"Yes, she did, but in a most excessive way. Look at this mess. Do you understand the work it will take to cover this up?"

My eyes tried to snap to the judge, but they were following my commands sluggishly. Finally I found him standing several paces away from the rest of us. He didn't look as suave as normal. I stared, and he glanced away. Sweat clung to his brow, tension between his eyes. Revulsion? No, pain.

A smile touched what was left of my lips. Gil had said the mark he'd left on me had costs, and that if I died while I had it, the judge would suffer with me. I guess I had taken more damage than most, and still hadn't died. He was getting the backlash.

Nathanial confirmed my thoughts in a whisper. “He was in the process of telling us time had run out when he turned pale and looked up at the building."

I reached for my throat to mimic how Nathanial had plugged the hole and let me speak, but my hands were wrapped and of no use. Nathanial's hand closed around my throat and I whimpered again.

"We had a deal.” I gasped out.

"Yes.” The judge gestured into the air and pulled a book out of nowhere. “I did not realize you were a vampire and a shifter when I made that deal. You are an abomination, and it has already been proven you are unreliable. We can't have you wandering around the human world, and you are no longer suited to be returned to Firth."

I gaped at him. So he had planned to banish me to Firth even if I found the rogue? Not terribly unexpected, but claiming I shouldn't exist? Okay, so I might have had similar thoughts over the last couple nights, but I'd made it through too much to give up now.

"You have no right,” I whispered, anger lending me strength.

"A child's argument. I sentence you to death for being an abomination to nature. I sentence the hermit Nathanial to death as well, for creating such a creature."

Bobby stepped in front of me. “You can't do that. You made the agreement with her after she became a vampire. She earned her freedom."

I cringed. Bobby had ended up with his skull cracked last time he yelled at the judge. This time the judge merely stretched his thin lips into a frown.

"You don't seem to understand,” the judge said without looking up from the book into which he was jotting his judgment. “She should not exist. We have no idea what will happen when she feeds her blood lust. What if she tags every person she drinks from? The city will be crawling with shifters in a few short months."

Nathanial held me closer. “But you do not know that will happen.” His voice was strained, unsure.

The judge snapped his book closed. “It is not worth the chance."

Of course, no one knew. It could very well be true. I closed my eyes. I was so heavy, so tired.

Someone cleared her throat, and my eyes fluttered open again. Gil shuffled from foot to foot, and wrung her hands together. The movement crinkled the scroll in her trembling fingers. Biting her lip, she wiped the length of the scroll, trying to repair the damage.

"I'm s-sorry to interrupt,” she stammered.

"What is it scholar? Gildamina, is it?” The judge asked, idly beckoning her forward with a manicured hand.

Gildamina? No wonder she had us call her Gil.

"Yes, Sir. I...” She tripped over her feet, and straightened quickly with a blush staining her cheeks. “I have a document for you, signed by four of the High Assembly members.” She held out the scroll. It shook visibly.

The judge grabbed the scroll and snapped the seal. As his eyes scanned it, outrage touched his expression. His jaw clenched, but he rerolled the scroll in a slow, meticulous movement. “I cannot accept this."

"The High Assembly anticipates your appeal, sir.” Gil's eyes darted over the judge. She leaned away from him, putting as much distance between his anger and her as possible without actually stepping backward.

"Fine.” The judge flashed teeth, but not in anything resembling a smile.

I exchanged a questioning look with Nathanial, but he shrugged, shaking his head. He didn't know anything more than I did. Even Bobby chanced a look back at me with the same question in his eyes. The judge lifted the scroll, and it disappeared in a green flash. He turned to me. If he was still feeling my pain, he was hiding it well, or perhaps his anger had made him forget.

"You have gotten off lightly for now,” he said, and I blinked at him. “Until I can get this matter taken care of, I will be watching you very closely, and watching the victims you feed from. One mistake, even the smallest hint I can take to the Assembly, and you will be mine.” He turned, and with a wave of his hand, banished the demons. He walked toward the dark mess on the concrete that had formerly been Tyler. Halfway there he turned back. “And seeing as I am not yet free to dispose of you, expect me to call on you again. You have proven yourself to be a useful, if chaotic, tool."

"But—” Bobby started.

The judge's eyes flared. “That was our agreement. When first we met, the vampire claimed she would be more useful than my demons in finding the rogue. That, at least, has proven to be true. Now be silent. I have to clean up her mess."

"There is another shifter upstairs.” I croaked out, my throat fighting me. “A woman too. Hurt, but alive."

An irritated expression etched itself into the judge's face. He glanced over his shoulder. “Gildamina, make yourself useful as more than a messenger."

She cringed. “Yes sir.” Her gaze remained passively on the ground as she marched toward the back door of the building. Nathanial called out to her, and she jumped.

"What was on that paper?” Nathanial asked.

"Oh, Kita is being protected as a rare species to be studied unless proven too dangerous.” She shrugged. Her glance fell over me. It must have been the first time she'd looked at me fully since arriving on the scene, because she grimaced and covered her mouth with trembling fingers. Her eyes snapped back to Nathanial, and she lowered her voice to a whisper. “It occurred to me that we might be able to sidestep the judge. There have been only three other documented attempts to turn a shifter into a vampire, and all of them failed. The Assembly is reluctant to destroy such a rare specimen.” She smiled, forgetting for a moment and glancing at me before snapping her eyes away again. Her voice lifted to her normal chirpy level. “So, I will be doing my grand thesis on her. My name will be in all kinds of history books!"

Some distance behind us, the judge grunted.

"Congratulations,” I mumbled, oddly sincere, but she ignored me and made her way into the building.

"Kitten, is there anything I can do for you?” Bobby asked.

I could tell he was trying to look at me without showing horror on his face. He failed. Miserably.

"My coat...” I glanced at the building, and Bobby nodded. He all but ran to catch up with Gil.

Nathanial chuckled lightly. “You know, that coat is better at surviving than you are. Perhaps the next time you feel the need to remove it in a dangerous situation, you should take it as a hint to leave."

I started to laugh but it turned into more of a convulsion.

Nathanial cradled me to his chest. “It is okay, Kitten. It is over now. You can sleep. I will get you home.” He lifted me off my feet.

The movement sent fresh pain rushing through me, and I choked back a scream. The last of my energy was vanishing; my world becoming one large, blaring, red sensation of pain. Sleep sounded like a good plan. Even Nathanial's home sounded good. I closed my eyes and let the blackness of blessed unconsciousness take me.

Chapter 24

I sat on Nathanial's front porch in the dark and watched the snow fall. I'd slept fitfully for the first two nights after my encounter with the rogue shifters. Tonight, the third night, was the first time I'd ventured from bed for any amount of time. Nathanial didn't want me up yet. He'd bought half a dozen paperbacks to keep me busy, but I was sick of his dark room.

Like some freakish tattoo, my skin still showed the traces of carnage where my flesh had been ripped apart from the inside out. My throat finally had a thin membrane over it so I could speak, but my shoulder still had scabbed wounds in the shape of Tyler's teeth, and my right arm was nearly useless where Bryant's claws had ripped through it. I guess I had pushed the extent of what my new vampiric healing abilities could handle. Nathanial assured me there wouldn't be a single scar left eventually. I wasn't as sure, but I hoped he was right.

Every time I'd woken on those first two terrible nights, Nathanial had been there in the room waiting; sometimes reading, but many times staring into space. He'd fed me from his own vein to help me heal, and now I had even more fragments of his memories swirling around my mind. It gave me a lot to think about as I sat alone, watching the snow.