“Yes!” She took a breath. “I want very much to go to him. In my opinion, he’s not operating at full capacity because he’s worried about me and he doesn’t have enough help.”

Natalie’s eyes narrowed. “Then why are you still here?”

“I was finishing the work to send to Dr. McTierney.”

“But you’re done now.”

“And… I thought my presence could be distracting. I didn’t know if I was safe around humans. Lucien needs to travel and interact with humans for his work and I was worried…” Makeda took a deep breath and realized she hadn’t thought about Natalie’s scent for over five minutes.

Natalie’s smile grew. “I don’t think you need to worry about that, Mak. I’m pretty sure you’re going to be okay.”

“I should go to Lucien?”

“You should go to Lucien.”

Alitea

Lucien lifted his hands from the wind vampire’s neck. “Thank you. I have a good idea of your level of infection. I can run the blood test for you, but it will likely confirm what we already know.”

“And?”

“It’s as you thought. Infection occurred two years ago?”

“Before the tests. I didn’t realize…” The vampire shook her head. “It doesn’t matter now.”

Though the immortal’s amnis was erratic, it had not yet reached the critical state where she was losing time or wandering in a fugue, which meant she could wait on the island until some of the more critical Elixir cases were seen to. Lucien had sent four immortals to McTierney the week before. He’d need to wait at least a month before he sent more.

Which, for this vampire, might be a good thing.

“You have time to decide.”

“But this is the only option, isn’t it?” the Algerian woman said. Her skin was light brown, and intricate tattoos marked her flawless skin. Long wavy hair fell around her face, and her eyes were a stunning blue that reminded Lucien of the sky. In fact, everything about the woman, from her wind-blown hair to her soft, airy voice, reminded Lucien of the sky.

She owed her fealty to Inaya, but her blood beat with the desert wind.

“We have time,” Lucien said. “Ziri is your grandsire. You could petition him, and we could try treatment with his blood, but there are no guarantees that it would work. And if it doesn’t…”

“I might not have enough strength to accept Saba’s cure.”

Saba’s cure was what immortals around the world had come to call the procedure that Brenden McTierney had perfected in Ireland that killed off the living bone marrow of the infected immortal and replaced it with stem cells harvested from Saba’s blood. Saba’s cure worked on anyone. There had not been a single failure, even in the most advanced cases.

But it also changed them.

“Tied to the earth…,” the wind vampire whispered. Her hand reached down, and her fingertips dragged in the dust. “Never to walk the sky again.” There was a wild panic in her blue eyes.

“You have time.”

She rose. “Thank you, healer. You have given me much to think about. I will consider all this if you will allow me the time.”

“Of course. You’ve introduced yourself to Ziri?”

“I have.”

“If you stay on the island, we will guarantee your safety while you are here.”

She bowed to Lucien and left his office.

Built from recovered marble he’d broken and shaped into bricks, his office backed into the hills of Alitea. He’d dug a comfortable series of tunnels, one of which led to the harbor, thinking of the time when Makeda might be able to join him.

He ached with missing her.

When he was working alone, he talked to himself, half-expecting her to answer. She didn’t. She was at home in the US, working on the human stem cell trial protocols and acclimating to human interaction with her sire watching over her. It was good that she was with Baojia. He steadied her and was a fierce protector. Lucien knew Makeda was safe, learning valuable lessons she would carry into eternity. It was good that she could visit with her family. Soon she’d be able to see them in person, and he knew from introducing himself to Makeda’s parents that it would be an eagerly anticipated reunion on both sides. They adored her.

And he missed her horribly.

He heard someone coming down his path. He reached out and felt a familiar energy. Saba entered and sat on the narrow bed where he examined his immortal patients.

“I saw Inaya’s woman flying back to the shelter,” she said.

“Infected.”

“And?”

He took a deep breath. “I don’t know. She is very much a creature of her element.”

Wind vampires had, so far, been the most reluctant to accept Saba’s cure.

“A bird who has tasted the sky will fight to keep her wings,” Saba said. “This does not surprise me.”

“I know. I just wish…”

“Did you and your brilliant mate find anything else that could cure these children?”

“No.”

“Then allow yourself to rest. There is a cost to everything. I offer healing to creatures who have already lived unnaturally long lives. They will take it or they will not. Their decision is not your responsibility.”

“I know.”

“I would have you smile again,” Saba said.

He lifted an eyebrow. “Then summon my mate to me, Emaye.”