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Nick considered arguing with her.

Then he considered denying it.

Finally, he realized there was no point in doing either.

She would definitely feel it if he lied to her.

I had to go through I.S.F. interrogation,he admitted.They did a number on me for hours, pumping me full of all kinds of shit, doing aggression tests on me and whatnot. They also took a lot of blood. And venom. And those assholes who picked me up used cattle prods on me, so I as already pretty damned sore.

Anger flared in Wynter’s light, but she didn’t speak.

Clearly, she knew he wasn’t finished.

Hesitating, Nick added,Then the killer vampire we’re dealing with got me in the neck with a syringe filled with something. It knocked me out for a few hours. Mostly, I’m still recovering from that. I’ve only been awake for maybe a half-hour.

Her anger shifted to full-blown alarm.

That alarm washed through him, heating his skin.

Again, it was so physical it was difficult for Nick not to react.

Something?Her mental voice suddenly sounded a lot louder.He injected you with SOMETHING? What the FUCK, Nick? What the fuck did he inject you with? And please don’t tell me you didn’t get it checked out––

Hey, it’s okay.He sent a pulse of warmth, reassurance. It was a seer’s trick, something she’d taught him how to do, something seers did to one another.Morley took care of that before I even woke up. The tech on the scene took a blood sample and ran it while I was unconscious. She said it appeared to be a modified version of the tranquilizer serum the military and the H.R.A. use on vampires to knock them out. She confirmed nothing in the modified ingredients would do any damage to me long-term. I’ve got a shitty headache from it. It made my joints achy and kind of sore. But otherwise I feel alright. The food is helping, believe me. It’s helping a ton.

Nick felt her reluctantly pull back from her panic.

Okay,she sent.So where are you two going now?

Nick exhaled, running a hand through his hair.

Well, we thought we were going to you. But that’s no longer on the table.

He hesitated, then glanced at Morley.

“Where are we going now? Wynter wants to know.”

Morley frowned, glancing at him. “You’re talking to her now?”

Nick nodded, motioning towards the back seat. “Turns out some of that was her blood. And St. Maarten left a note, telling me we can’t go there. To where they’ve got everyone locked down right now. Apparently she knows that doppelganger thing can read my mind.”

Morley frowned, thinking.

“Ask her if they’ve got anything,” he said then. “See if any of those hybrids working for Ms. St. Maarten have anything prescient or intel-wise they can tell us.” He glanced at Nick. “And you should look at that painting… and have your wife look at it, too. Maybe one of you can get some ideas off that.”

Nick nodded.

He glanced back in the direction of the windshield, giving the painting a cursory glance.

Until Morley spoke, he’d forgotten all about Mal’s painting.

His wife’s blood and then her presence had been extremely distracting.

Now he looked at it where it floated in the dark space. It still hung in the general vicinity of the windshield from where he’d called it up before.

Did you hear all that?he asked Wynter.

Yes. Tell James I say hi.