Fields of Blood (The DeathSpeaker Codex Book 2) by Sonya Bateman Page B

explain, either. Once she got a look at Taeral, she’d know he shouldn’t have survived the shot. And I doubted they had surgical tweezers around here—so I’d have to cut him to get the bullet out. Which he definitely shouldn’t be able to survive, if he was human.
    “Need towels,” the sheriff said as she came back to drop the kit in front of the cell. “Should be some in that hall closet. Maybe I can staunch the bleeding. I don’t know what to do about poison, though—”
    “Sheriff, please listen to me.”
    She stopped and stared, like she’d just remembered I was there.
    “I have to get the bullet out,” I said. “If I don’t, it’s going to kill him.”
    “No. I can’t let you do that. We’ll have to wait for the ambulance.”
    “I’m a paramedic. Not currently practicing, but my license is still valid.” I glanced at the cell. Taeral hadn’t moved, but he was visibly shaking. That wasn’t a good sign. “Please,” I said. “Open the door, and let me help him. I’m the only one who can.”
    After a long pause, she shook her head and grabbed the keys from her belt. “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” she muttered, unlocking the cell door. “What, you can’t get this open yourself?”
    “I could have. But I’d rather you did,” I said as I walked to the entrance. “Thank you. Listen, do you have a set of tweezers? If you don’t, I’m going to need a knife.”
    “No…and no. I’m not giving you a weapon.”
    I pointed to the discarded gun Reese had left on the floor, right next to where I’d been. “If I wanted to hurt you, or anyone else, I’d have done it by now,” I said. “I can’t dig this out by hand.”
    She frowned at the gun. Finally, she went to one of the desks, opened a drawer and pulled out an evidence bag with my bloodied knife in it. “The smaller one’s locked up with your van,” she said, coming around to toss the bag to me. “I guess that’ll have to do. I’ll…go get some towels.”
    Mumbling to herself, she picked up Reese’s gun and left the room.
    I grabbed the first aid kit, went into the cell and knelt beside Taeral. “Hey. You still awake?” I said.
    “Unfortunately,” he whispered weakly.
    “Well, the good news is, I got the dagger back.” I opened the kit and grabbed a bottle of rubbing alcohol. Had to clean the werewolf blood off before I did this. “Bad news is, I have to use it to get the bullet out.”
    He opened his eyes. They were bright with pain. “Must you?”
    “Um. I don’t have anything else.”
    “It is…enchanted,” he rasped. “To cause greater damage.”
    Damn. I’d completely forgotten about that—and I couldn’t hurt him any more than I had to. Things were already bad enough. I didn’t even know what mandrake did, but it clearly wasn’t helping. “I’ll find something,” I said. “This is a police station. They’ve got to have a knife somewhere.”
    “Wait. Shut down.”
    “Huh?”
    “The spell…Reun used. On Grygg.”
    “Oh, right. Hang on.” I took the dagger out of the plastic bag and tried not to think about the words too much. “ Dhuunad sios’na. ”
    The runes carved into the blade glowed briefly, a muddy crimson light through the dried blood, and then winked out.
    “What the hell was that?”
    I winced. Didn’t hear the sheriff come in while I was focused on not thinking. “Er, magic?” I said as lightly as possible, hoping she’d take it as a joke.
    “I guess you’re really not one of them. You’re something else. Great.” She sighed and came into the cell, carrying three folded towels. “Is he…”
    “He’s going to make it.” Jaw set, I cleaned the dagger with the rubbing alcohol and set it aside. “Taeral, I have to move you,” I said. “I’m sorry.”
    He nodded faintly. “Do it.”
    I took his shoulder, alarmed at how much his trembling increased when I touched him. He hissed and stiffened as I rolled him slowly onto his back. The entire front of his shirt