"Gabriel?"
"Hmm?"
"Look at her out of the corner of your eye." When he hesitated, I said, "She's wearing a bra. Please look."
He turned, just enough to do as I asked. Then he blinked, and that small reaction told me I wasn't imagining things.
"She's been attacked," I said, dropping to my knees beside the girl. "She's using a glamour to hide it." I took the girl's shoulder and shook harder, trying to rouse her, and then said, "I'll get a cold cloth."
When I came back, the girl's eyelids were quivering, as she looked up at Gabriel, his hand on her forehead. She whispered, "Gwynn," and he pulled back quickly, but I hurried up beside him, took his hand, and put it back on her forehead, saying, "Please," and he tensed but nodded and crouched there awkwardly, his hand on her again.
"Gwynn," she said.
"Y...yes," he managed.
"And your name?" I asked, moving beside her and hunkering down. I reached for her hand, and she didn't hesitate to take mine, her skin cool.
"Not--not important," she managed. "But you're--you're Matilda. You glow. So pretty." Tears glistened in her eyes. "So lucky. So blessed."
Not sure about that, but I said, "You've been stabbed. Tell us what we can do."
"N-nothing. Dying."
"No," I said. "Let me get--"
"A first aid kit?" Her lips twitched. "An ambulance? Not for me. Just...just listen."
"Anything," I said.
Her eyes flickered open and shut, as if she'd used all her energy, and then she whispered, "Attacked. Not...not...wasn't..."
"It wasn't like the others? Not the same person?"
Her eyes glistened again. "Don't understand."
"Okay, sorry. Explain again."
"Not you. Me." Each word came slow, labored. "She...she wanted to help. Always wanted to help. Don't understand."
"She? Help?" I thought fast. "Aunika? Did Aunika do this to you?"
The lamia mumbled something unintelligible.
Gabriel leaned down over her, his face as close to her as he could get, though he seemed to grit his teeth to do it. "Did Aunika attack you?" he asked.
She opened her eyes, looked at him, smiled, and said, "Gwynn." Then her eyelids fluttered and she whispered, "Tell Toby..." Her eyes closed, and I gripped her hand tighter, leaning in--
Darkness. Light, darkness, light. Then darkness again. A hiss, not of anger, but of contented sleep. A warm body pressed to mine. Wrapping my arms around it and trying to get closer. A chuckle. A hand on my thigh, wonderfully warm hands. A voice, a young man's, saying, "Love you, too, Dami," and another hissing sigh, rippling through me. One eye open. Moonlight through a window. Cheap curtains. A mattress on the floor. A boy curled against me, and I was sighing and thinking, This is the best. I don't deserve it. But I'll take it. And I caught a glimpse in a broken mirror, and I saw the lamia, curled up with a young man in his late teens.
This is the best.
The best moment.
The best memory.
The scene flickered, and I was in an alley. I heard a noise and I stiffened and stifled a hiss. My eyes adjusted to the dark. I let them slit to snake form, but as soon as I did, I felt the cold of night. I opened my mouth, tongue darting out, sampling the air, catching a familiar scent before I shifted back to human, warming again.
"Stop hiding in shadow," I said. "Let's get this over with. Toby will be home soon."