18. Bailey was a force of nature. #2
I opened my mouth to remind Bailey she had no proof he was a rapist, but the gorgon erupted into a column of flame. In the time it took me to blink, Bailey reduced him to ash.
“Worse than asshole angels,” she announced. Bailey’s body turned translucent, and I tensed as the fires surrounding her intensified. She glanced at the bodies of the dead gorgons, and they, too, erupted into flame.
Within moments, nothing remained of the gorgon females beyond a few blackened smears on the concrete and some ash.
Then, like the smoke wafting upwards, Bailey disappeared.
I had two realistic choices. I could do what I typically did when Bailey got herself in trouble and panic, or I could grab the bag of neutralizer, reverse Janet’s petrification, get her out of the building, and then panic.
Either way, panicking would be on my agenda. I was just delaying the inevitable. Despite having been warned something would happen, it’d happened in a way I hadn’t been able to prevent.
I could petrify just about anyone, but even if I had started petrifying Winfield immediately, I wouldn’t have been able to prevent him from shooting the dart, nor would I have been able to stop my wife from plowing into him. Knowing her, she would’ve gotten herself dosed with ambrosia anyway.
Even understanding she was the daughter of two divines and the granddaughter of more divines, and the great-granddaughter of even more divines, I worried.
Janet first, then I could panic properly.
I grabbed the bag of neutralizer, hoped the powder without water would be sufficient to reverse petrification, and stepped to the officer’s side.
According to her attire, she must have left work right before being kidnapped, as she was in her standard uniform.
As typical with petrification victims, her clothing hadn’t turned to stone, which made it easy to disarm her.
I discovered a half-filled water bottle hooked to her belt, which would make my life a lot easier. Cracking it open, I tore into the bag, dumped in the pink, sparkling powder, and shook it.
I started with her head, and once I’d coated her head and hair with the fluid, I narrowed my eyes and began unraveling the magic binding her flesh to stone.
To my disgust, the gorgon barely had the strength needed to petrify a human, and the gray eased from Janet’s flesh. I tensed while observing the reversal of petrification, giving her water bottle another shake.
When she began to breathe again, I tipped the neutralizer-infused water into her mouth. “Drink,” I ordered.
I couldn’t tell if she obeyed because of instinct or recognized I was helping her. It didn’t matter. She drank, which helped speed the reversal process. I supported her back as her body softened and she slumped. She blinked, and her stunned gaze fell on me.
Then her eyes widened, and she looked me over.
Right.
Janet had never seen me in my true form before.
Groaning, I bowed my head and sighed. “If I told you to pretend you hadn’t seen this, would you listen?
“While I want to know what the hell happened, I thought you should know I now totally understand why Bailey has the hots for you.”
I considered going outside and burying my head in the sand. “Thanks, Janet.”
“Anytime. What the hell happened?”
“You got kidnapped by a gorgon.” I pointed at the smear that used to be the gorgon. “That’s what’s left of him after Bailey got a hold of him.”
Janet leaned forward enough to look at the pile. “What did she do to him?”
“Mrs. Police Chief Quinn of the NYPD took serious offense that he stole one of her cops.”
Janet’s eyes widened. “Mrs. Police Chief Quinn? As in she’s a chief now?”
“Yes.”
“But she’s been working the bomb squad circuit.”
I sucked in a breath. How many people knew about Bailey’s bomb squad activities? “Seriously?”
We stared at each other with wide eyes, and Janet covered her mouth with her hands. “Shit. You didn’t know?”
“I found out recently,” I replied, my tone wry. “Nevermind. She’s my partner now, so I don’t care if she was playing with bombs. Since she loves C4, I’m not going to even complain. Are you all right?”
“My eyeballs itch.”
“That happens with petrification sometimes,” I replied, rising to my feet and offering her a hand.
She hesitated before accepting my help. Once certain she could stay on her feet, I retrieved her firearm, returned it to her holster, and spent a few minutes checking over her gear and making sure she hadn’t had anything taken from her during her kidnapping.
They’d even left her phone in her pocket, which no longer had a charge.
“What are you?” she whispered.
“Part gorgon, part incubus, part angel, part devil, part demon, part human, and a part of a lot of other things all mixed together. There’s a lot of gorgon in my heritage, as my shapeshifting is rather unique.”
“You’re dressed in fire.”
“That would be the devil or demon in me, I suppose.” It could also have been from swimming in lava and brimstone in hell for a while, too. “It’s better than being naked. Transforming is hard on clothes.”
Janet looked me over again, her brows rising. “You must spend a fortune on clothes, especially if Bailey talks you into tearing out of your clothes. Can’t say I blame her. And here I just thought you were shy, Chief.”
Shy was one way to put it. I sighed. Determined to change the subject, I said, “You’ve been transferred to my station, which is why I’m here.”
“Damn, really?”
“Really.”
“This day just turned around, because Chief Morriston? He’s a dick.”
Considering Chief Morriston liked men like Winfield, I had no grounds to argue with her. “Well, he’s not your problem anymore. If you think you can handle a walk, we need to get out of here before this whole place catches on fire.”
“How? Spontaneously?”
I gestured to my flaming attire. “More like I’ll brush up against a wall and torch the place.”
“Right. Where you go, Bailey’s rarely far. Where is she? Is she all right?”
I gave it less than five minutes before the unsettled feeling in my chest grew teeth and made a mess of my day. “Winfield hit her with an ambrosia dart.”
Janet sucked in a breath. “Oh no. She’s…?”
“No. She’s like me. She’s the descendant of divines. But it was an entire ampoule and I don’t know what that’s going to do to her.”
I hated lying, but unlike my grandfather, I could lie when the need was great enough.
Like everything else in my mortal life, I somehow found myself having to make difficult choices for the greater good.
I knew exactly what the ambrosia was going to do to her—had done to her.
It had taken her somewhere I couldn’t follow.
I really wanted to indulge in that panic attack, find a nice hole, hide in it, and chew my nails until Bailey returned.
“She’ll be all right?”
All right was a stretch, but I nodded, once again bending to the greater good. “She should be.”
There. That was the truth. Should was a powerful and terrifying word.
Janet relaxed and smiled. “Don’t worry about it, Chief.
We’re talking about Bailey here. This is the woman who reduced a skyscraper to rubble because she wanted to make sure you were safe.
She’ll be just fine, but she might be a little pissy when she’s done doing whatever it is crazy unicorns do after being shot with ambrosia. ”
“Running amok,” I muttered.
“Precisely.” Janet scratched her head. “Hey, Chief?”
“Yes?”
“Where are we?”
“Somewhere in Nevada.”
“Nevada? You mean like Vegas?”
I nodded.
“Well, damn. Why would anyone bring me here?”
I regarded John Winfield’s body with a wrinkled nose. “I have no idea, and I have no idea how to find out. And that pisses me off.”
“In your shoes, I’d ask Chief Morriston.”
“I would? Why?”
Janet arched a brow. “You didn’t know? Winfield is his ex-son-in-law, and they’re birds of a feather. That little asshole couldn’t take a piss without the chief knowing about it.”
And just like that, things had gone from bad to worse. “You’re just as bad as Bailey at creating problems, Janet. I just thought you should know this.”
The woman snorted but shrugged. “Can’t say you’re wrong. What’s next? A sweep? Blow this joint?” She hesitated, staring at my flame-sheathed body. “Not literally blowing the joint.”
“Yet.” I had the feeling when Bailey found her way home, she’d want something to blow up. “Let’s get out of here, get to a phone, and place some calls. I can’t guarantee there’s no gorgon dust in here, so blowing this joint is for the best.”
And, for a rare change, I knew exactly how to get what I wanted, and I’d enjoy getting my chance to level a building with the help of some napalm. If all went well, I’d invite Bailey along for the ride. I’d call it an early Christmas present and follow up with a monster margarita at the Venetian.
We could call it a date.
I just needed to figure out how to get her home first.