Worlds Apart (15 page)

Tina nodded. “How do you know
that? How can you tell that I'm pregnant just by looking?” A
thought made her lean forward in surprise. “Is Mr. Ruth one of your
people? He could tell I was pregnant, too, the last time I saw
him.”

“It's your aura.” Windblood waved
a hand. “You carry the child's aura as well, and it's quite
visible, even this early. It is very much the aura of a werewolf.
And yes, Mr. Ruth was one of us. I will explain all of that, I
promise. Now tell me the name of the man you were with. When did
you last see him? Where did he go?”

“I haven't seen him since that
night.” Tina sighed. “I don't know where he went... wait. I just
remembered. When Mr. Ruth realized I was pregnant, he asked about
the father. He seemed very worried too, until I told him who it
was. It turns out he knew him. And he said he was a good man.” Her
chin came up as she said that, relieved to have the old man's
vindication of her judgment.

She watched, fascinated, as
Captain Windblood's face went through several remarkable
expressions—astonishment, suspicion, wonder—until she settled into
an expression of amazed disbelief.

“He knew him?” the captain’s voice
squeaked, and she cleared her throat. “Are you saying… no, it's not
possible. Clive? Clive Winslow is the father of your
baby?”

Tina nodded, a tiny jerk of her
head. Windblood seemed to stare inward, and when she spoke, Tina
knew it wasn't to her. “I'll have his balls.” Her voice was low and
hard.

Tina shivered as a thrill of
horror went through her. She raised a hand to her mouth. “Oh my
God. You’re… you’re not his wife or something, are you?”

Windblood stared at her for a
moment, then gave a shout of laughter. “No.” Her amusement changed
her from a terrifying other-worldly creature to something far more
approachable, and Tina felt a constriction in her chest ease. “No,
Dr. Cassidy, I'm not his wife. Rest assured Clive is not cheating
on anyone.” She snorted. “That's the least of your
problems.”

Tina rubbed her face and decided
she was tired of innuendos. “What
are
my problems, Captain?
You don't seem to think Clive Winslow is your murderer, and
frankly, I don't quite believe this werewolf business. So what else
do I have to worry about?”

“Oh, Clive's not a murderer.”
Windblood's jaw rippled as she clinched her teeth. “But he is a
werewolf, Doctor, and you need to listen very carefully.” She
placed a hand on Tina's arm, all of her threatening persona
replaced with concern. Tina tamped down on a shot of
alarm—
there's no such thing as werewolves
—and nodded at the
captain to continue.

“You know nothing about the land
of Kaarmanesh, do you? But you've heard stories all your life,
right? About werewolves and elves and other creatures? These
stories are part of your heritage.”

“Yes,” Tina said. “
Stories.
That's all they are.”

Windblood shrugged. “Stories based
on fact, on ancient times when the barriers between our worlds were
thinner, when magic flowed among humans as well as Kaarmaneshians.
Our world is part of yours. We live on the same planet, but on a
different plane, tangential to your human one. At one time, humans
and Kaarmaneshians shared both planes, traversing between them. But
humans turned away from magic, regarding it as evil. Magic began to
fade from your plane, and humans often became victims of our
harsher creatures. In return, humans hunted us, killing without
mercy. So our leaders began to thicken the barriers between the
planes. Travel between the worlds was stopped. In your world,
knowledge of Kaarmanesh faded to myths, kept alive only as stories
to frighten children.”

Windblood stood to pace, and Tina
watched her, unable to respond in any way. “The worlds could not be
completely blocked from each other,” Windblood said in counterpoint
to her steps. “There are portals—thin areas in the barriers that
allow passage if one understands how it works. Some humans still
practiced magic, and the most powerful of these occasionally found
their way into Kaarmanesh. Usually, they would stay, but we never
forced them. And some of our people could make their way into your
world, which we call the Flatlands. I believe most of your stories
come from these excursions—vampires in Romania, werewolves in
Europe. Your witches are mostly your own, although some of ours
have joined yours occasionally.”

“You need to understand this,
Doctor.” Windblood stopped pacing, holding her hands out to Tina as
if pleading. “I will do all I can to help, but you must realize
this has happened before. Always with the same results. That's why
I'm telling you the background, so you'll believe me about your
pregnancy.”

Tina took a careful breath. “What
about my pregnancy, Captain?”

Windblood sat, once again placing
a hand on Tina's arm.

“Do you understand that werewolves
are made, Doctor? A human becomes a werewolf when bitten by one.
They aren't born.”

“Okay.” Tina thought about it. “So
if a werewolf has a child—or fathers a child—that child is
normal?”

“No, Doctor.” Windblood spoke with
blunt finality. “The child dies. Always. You see, the contagion
that causes the werewolf syndrome is passed to the fetus. It starts
out as human, but at the next full moon, the fetus undergoes the
transformation. Because of the massive growth occurring at that
stage of development, the fetus cannot change with any cohesion. It
becomes a mass of disparate cells, neither human nor werewolf. But
that's not all.” The hand on Tina's arm tightened. “If the mother
is a werewolf, she simply miscarries and is all right. But if the
mother is not a werewolf... she dies.
Always.
”

Chapter 17

Tina jerked her arm away from
Windblood's grip. Unsatisfied to just glare at the other woman, she
retreated to the wall, seeking distance.

“Why? Why does the mother die,
too?” A thought occurred to her, and she jabbed a stiff finger at
the captain. “Wait. I'm almost three months pregnant. There've been
two full moons since I got pregnant. The baby is fine. I've had an
ultrasound and seen the heart beating. And I am obviously not dead.
How does that fit into your story?”

“I want to know that, too,”
Windblood said. She lifted a hand to indicate Tina's body. “I've
never heard of a human woman surviving the first full moon of her
pregnancy, but I'm not a healer. No doubt there is much I don't
know or understand. But the thing is, this is common knowledge
among us. All the people who have become werewolves... it's one of
the most heartbreaking results of the condition. If there was ever
a case of a survival, I suspect I would have heard about
it.”

Tina crossed her arms, frowning in
puzzled anger. “Perhaps you're wrong. About my baby.” Her anger
intensified, driving the puzzlement away. “Perhaps this is all just
an elaborate scam of some kind. Perhaps
there is no such thing
as werewolves
, and that's why my baby and I are both
fine.”

She straightened, letting her arms
hang at her sides as she fixed a firm stare on Captain Windblood.
“I want to go home. Whatever you've got going on here, it doesn't
involve me. Take me back.”

She saw the tension that rippled
through Windblood's jaw.

“All right,” Windblood said, but
she continued to sit, tapping the table with one finger. “But it's
not entirely true that you're not involved. My people are at the
Keeper's house, searching for clues. I intend for them to bring his
body back here, to Kaarmanesh. I need to know what you plan to do
about that.”

Tina flushed, confused and
uncertain. She shook her head. “Mr. Ruth was my patient. I have my
own procedures to follow. That includes notifying the authorities
and performing an autopsy. You can't take his body.”

“There is no possible way for you
to prevent me from taking it, Doctor Cassidy.” Windblood sounded
apologetic, but Tina got the idea she was amused. “By the time you
return, we'll already have it.” She leaned back in her chair, still
tapping the table. “No, your best course will be to say he wasn't
home when you got there, and that you never saw him. It can be a
mystery for your authorities, perhaps, where the old man went
to.”

“You can't be serious.” Tina
stepped to the table, leaning over it to glare down—not very far
down—into Windblood's eyes. “He was
murdered
. I can't just
pretend that didn't happen. I must report it. The killer is still
out there somewhere.”

“He certainly is, Doctor. I
believe that's where we started this conversation. But this is not
a murderer that your people are equipped to deal with. He's a
werewolf, which is bad enough, but he's also a witch, which means
he can use magic to accomplish his goals. Your people will not
stand a chance against him.”

Tina sighed. “Have I not made it
clear enough? I don't believe you. Is this some kind of
role-playing game that got out of hand? Because I can tell you,
it's time to knock it off and deal with reality. A man has been
murdered. You can't keep playing at this.”

Windblood stood. Tina yelped in
alarm to find a handcuff around her wrist, the other end attached
to Windblood, who smiled and placed a gentle hand on Tina's arm.
“Please don't be frightened. I am going to send you home soon. But
you need to understand. I can see I’m going to have to prove it to
you. You'll come with me.”

Tina backed up a step, aware of
her vulnerability. Wherever they were, she was alone with these
people. She should have played along until she was safe at home.
She shook her head, lifting her chin to hide her fear. “No,” she
said. “There are people who know I went to see Mr. Ruth. They'll be
looking for me. You can't keep me here.”

A brow twitched on Windblood's
forehead. Once again, she seemed amused. “Oh, I can keep you here,
Doctor. I won't, but I could. The thing is….” She hesitated,
studying Tina's face. Then she moved her arm up, and the handcuffs
vanished. Tina gasped and rubbed her arm in disbelief before
retreating to the wall, as far away as she could get.

“The thing is,” Windblood
continued, “I want you to trust me. To believe me. When we were in
the Keeper's cabin, you wanted to run didn't you? You wanted to hit
me. But you couldn't move. Do you remember that?”

Tina nodded.

“That's a simple spell that all
enforcement officers learn to do. A very rudimentary form of magic
available to even the least magical of us. I used it to keep you
with me, then again to make you come with me through the portal.
You wanted to escape, but you couldn't even try.” Windblood held
out her hands. “I could use it now. I could use the handcuffs. But
I'd rather you came willingly. I'd rather you trusted
me.”

“Why?” Tina's voice was a
squeak.

Windblood's smile was a mournful
twist. “I've known Clive Winslow a long time. Life isn't easy for
werewolves—they are held in contempt by most Kaarmaneshians,
distrusted and hated. Laws restrict their movements, limit their
freedoms. They tend to hold the lowest positions in our world. Many
find it impossible to hold onto a job or to their land. The
restrictions are necessary, but I've always hated the prejudice
against them and Clive is the reason for that. From the first time
I met him, when he was trying to enter the force, he proved over
and over that he is intelligent, capable, trustworthy….” She
sighed. “He should never have touched you that night.” She nodded
toward Tina's stomach. “Nevertheless, that is his child you carry.
And there is something very special about you, or about that child,
or both of you, that I am determined to protect.”

She stepped closer, but stopped
when Tina straightened in alarm. “You've survived this long, and
that means there is something different about you. I want to know
what it is, and I want to know if it's permanent. I want to help
you, Doctor. Please.” She gestured toward the door. “Come with me
to my office. We'll walk out of here together, to the domestic
portal. It's not the one to your world, it only ports to locations
within Kaarmanesh. I'll show you a little of our world, introduce
you to a few of our species. Try to prove that this is real. Will
you give me a chance? For Clive's sake. For your baby's sake. Or
your own.”

“Oh,
fuck
.” Tina hid her
face in her hands, unsure of what to do. Windblood sounded so
sincere.

But how much choice did she have?
Dropping her hands, Tina met Windblood's gaze. “All right. Just one
thing...”

“What is it?”

“I don't want to see Clive. I
don't want to talk to him at all. In fact, I don't want him to know
about the pregnancy.”

“What? Why?”

Tina waved a hand.
It's not
important.
“He... he didn't want to stay.” She heard the
childish tone in her voice, as if she were pushing Clive away in
punishment for hurting her. Well, she was hurt, and she had yet to
accept Windblood's story. “If what you say is true, I guess that's
why he left. Either way, there's no relationship between us. He
can't be a partner to me. He can't be a father. I don't want him to
suddenly come around just because I'm pregnant.”

Windblood was quiet for a minute,
staring at the floor. Then she nodded. “I'll make sure you don't
have to see him or talk to him. I'll give you my word on that.
But,” her nod changed to a no, “I can't promise to not tell him.
I'll wait until you've gone home. I'll make sure he understands
that he can't contact you at all. But he has to know.” A tear
shimmered in her eyes, she was actually begging. “I could never
face him, with a secret like that.”