Killing Nikovage Bloodhunter

Chapter 10

"You're intelligent, if not a little delusional. I have no doubt that you could work your way around the system."

"I'm disappointed in you, Doctor Reid," I said, straightening up. "But when you realize that I'm right, I gave Agent Hotchner my phone number. Call me. I'll fix your problem, I'll give you another explanation, I'll help you open your mind further."

"Goodbye, Miss LaBerge."

"Goodbye Doctor. Goodbye Agent Hotchner!" I added, turning toward the door.

I met Quill by the door and stepped outside. The sun was low in the sky, but I knew it was setting, not rising. Once the door was safely shut behind us, Kipps turned to me.

"Are you okay?" he demanded.

"I'll be fine. My ankle will take a while to heal up, but that's just par for the course, I'm afraid."

"I was referring to the interrogation," he corrected.

"Oh, that," I replied, sliding into the passenger seat of his SUV. "I think they think I have a few loose marbles up here--" I tapped my temple. "--but I gave them a lot to think about."

"Alban told me that you told the truth."

"I did. Not that it did any good. They're ignorant, the lot of them. And I had such high hopes for Doctor Reid. I thought for sure that I could open his mind, but I guess not."

Kipps turned the engine over and started down the main street back toward the lake.

"Have a breath mint," he suggested, reaching into the center console and produced a tin. I hadn't eaten anything in hours, and snarfed down several, not that it did much to stave off the hunger.

"Is everyone else okay?" I asked.

"We made it out just fine. I got in contact with Commander Chu as soon as possible and had to explain everything. By the time I talked to Alban, he'd already heard from you. There wasn't much else we could do but wait. Chu called me an hour ago and said that you were on your way out, so I came to pick you up," Kipps explained.

I nodded, relieved.

"Did, um, did the Stolls head back to Long Island?" I asked, glancing down at my hands.

"Are you kidding?" Kipps demanded, turning toward me. "As soon as we got back to the cabin, the Stolls and Winchesters had cooked up some halfcocked plan to pose as officials and break you out. It took three hours to talk them down!"

I grinned.

"I notice you didn't come rushing to my side."

Quill smiled in return.

"You said it yourself. The FBI is ignorant. It would have done more harm than good to try to work things out myself. I'm just a lowly apprentice. My words don't carry much weight."

"But you have the connections. Thank you, Quill. I appreciate it. I would most definitely still be in there without you. In fact, we wouldn't have found Nikovage without you and Alec wouldn't have stuck around so we wouldn't have found Magnus Bane. Truly, thank you, you made this possible."

"You're welcome, Elodie. Your certainly made my investigation more interesting, but it paid off. And I don't think I said it earlier, but great job. You were quite brilliant back there."

We lapsed into a friendly silence for the final few minutes of the ride. When Quill turned down the drive to the cabin, I saw the Impala, the Stoll's SUV, and my car, and breathed a sigh of relief. Back in the clearing, we had been so quick to head our separate ways, but I I'd completely missed the opportunity to thank everyone. We had brought justice to Watcher Ramsey Donnellen's death and we'd ended quite possibly the most prolific vampire cult in America, maybe even the world. That certainly was worth commendation.