I called Zoe. The phone rang five times. When the machine answered, I hung up and hit redial. This time, she grabbed it on the second ring.

“Hello, there,” she said before I could say anything. “About time you called. I was beginning to feel-”

“I need Randall Tolliver’s number,” I said quickly.

A pause. “Are you okay?”

“It’s Clay. His arm. It’s-”

“We’ll be right there. Tell me where you are.”

When Tolliver arrived, he cleared Antonio and Nick out of the room, and only let Jeremy stay when it was clear he wasn’t leaving. I couldn’t blame Tolliver for not wanting an audience of supernatural strangers hovering over him, making sure he did his job right.

“It’s infected,” he said, after a quick examination.

“How badly?” I asked.

A nervous glance my way, as if I might pounce if I didn’t like his answer. “It’s…progressing.”

“Gangrene?” Clay said, pushing himself up.

A look crossed Jeremy’s face, and I knew he’d been wondering the same thing.

“Gangrene?” I said. “No, it can’t be, not from a scratch. That’s all it was. A scratch.”

“From a decomposing corpse raised by supernatural means,” Jeremy said.

“Which likely explains the acceleration and the refusal to respond to cleaning,” Tolliver said. “But it isn’t gangrenous. Not…” A glance my way, and he shut his mouth.

“Yet,” Clay finished for him.

A slow nod from Tolliver. “We should still be able to get it under control. Stronger antibiotics is one way to go. Or we can remove some of the infected tissue. The latter would be more likely to work, but would cause scarring-”

“I don’t care about looks,” Clay cut in. “Just function.”

Tolliver hesitated. “It’s…in a bad spot. If I needed to go deep, it might damage the muscle. It shouldn’t have any lasting effect on fine motor skills, like writing.”

“It’s larger motor skills I’m worried about.”

Tolliver nodded, as if this didn’t surprise him.

“If it would stop the spread of infection-” Jeremy began.

“Last resort,” Clay said.

He met Jeremy’s glance with a look that said he’d give in if pushed, but begged Jeremy not to push. I knew what Clay was thinking. If mutts found out Clay was no longer in peak fighting form, there’d be trouble.

Clay met my eyes. “Rather not take that risk.” His gaze dropped to my stomach. “Not now. Antibiotics will be fine.”

“Do you know what can happen if gangrene sets in?” Jeremy asked.

Clay nodded. “It’ll have to come off.”

“Off-?” I sputtered. “What will have to come off?”

I knew the answer, but my brain refused to process it. That couldn’t be what they meant, not with Clay so calm and decisive, as if they were discussing cutting off his hair.

“And even that might not work,” Jeremy said, his gaze locked with Clay’s.

“Are we talking about-?” My voice squeaked and I couldn’t finish the sentence. “From a scratch? It’s just a scratch!”

Clay reached for me, but I backed away.

“That is what we’re talking about, right?” I said. “Losing his arm? Losing his-his life?”

“No, no,” Jeremy said, coming toward me, face stricken. “I didn’t mean-”

I turned to face Tolliver. “That is what they mean, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Clay said, pushing himself up. “That’s what we mean, darling. Jeremy’s talking worst-case scenario, just so I know what could happen. It’s me he’s trying to spook, not you.”

Jeremy waved me over to sit down. “I didn’t mean to scare you. You don’t need that, not now. I’m sorry. I only wanted-”

“It’s okay,” I cut in, cheeks heating. “Of course, I know that could happen with a bad infection. Amputation, I mean. But I didn’t think-everything seemed fine-”

“It will be fine,” Clay said. “If antibiotics can still fix this, then I want to let it play out a bit longer. Keep an eye on it. If things get worse? I’ll take the surgery. I lose some function? I’ll compensate. But unless we’re at a critical stage already, I don’t want to jump into that.”

He glanced at Jeremy, waiting for his verdict, but Tolliver beat him to it.

“It’s not critical yet. I’ll dress it and give you some antibiotics. If that doesn’t clear it up in twenty-four hours, we’ll move to debridement-removing the damaged tissue.”

We looked over at Jeremy. He hesitated, then nodded.

“Good,” Clay said. “Let’s get me cleaned up, dosed up and ready to go.”

When Tolliver finished, he checked Clay’s temperature.

“The Tylenol seems to have knocked the fever,” he said. “At the very least, the antibiotics should slow the infection.” He glanced at Jeremy. “Is that normal? For your kind? Susceptibility to infection or swift progression once it sets in? I know accelerated healing is a hallmark-”

He cut himself off. Jeremy stayed stone-faced.

Tolliver started repacking his bag. Without looking up, he continued. “I should probably keep my mouth shut and pretend I haven’t figured out what you are. But as a doctor, it would help to know what I’m dealing with.” Before anyone could answer, he shook his head. “No, I do know what I’m dealing with, so I’m going to take the chance and admit it. After I saw you with Zoe the other day, I had my suspicions. I’ve…heard things. I made some inquiries, more to confirm the council connection than to confirm who-or what-you were.”

“Accelerated infection isn’t normal for us,” Jeremy said.

“It’s connected to the zombie then. I don’t have any experience with their kind, and my experience with werewolves isn’t much broader. I ran into one of you a few years back, in Europe, and helped him recover from an injury…though it wasn’t help freely given.”

“I hope you know it’s not like that this time,” Jeremy said. “If Zoe gave that impression-”

“She didn’t.”

“I fully intend to pay you for your time, as much as you’d charge for any emergency call, and whatever extra is appropriate for asking you to be available, on call, should the problem worsen.”

Tolliver shook his head and hefted his bag onto the bed. “That’s not necessary. I know you’re trying to fix this portal mess, so consider this my contribution to the cause.”

He fingered the straps on his bag. “I may be able to do more. I would have called later today. I have an idea where Patrick is hiding.”

“Where?”

“I’d prefer to check it out myself. Patrick and I may not be close these days, but I still consider him a friend. If he’s going to be brought in for questioning, I’d like to do it myself.”

We looked at each other.

“That may not be the best idea,” Jeremy said slowly. “We think he might have a larger role in all this than simply owning the letter.”

“If you knew Patrick-Well, it’s unlikely he has any involvement in this. But, as I’ve admitted, we’re no longer close, so I have to also admit that I may be mistaken. What I’m asking is that you allow me to bring him to a location I deem safe, with myself present at all times-including during questioning-to ensure that he has a representative there, and everything proceeds as it should.”

I bristled. “Proceeds as it should? If you’re suggesting we’re going to work this guy over-”

Jeremy cut me short. “If we saw clear evidence that Patrick Shanahan is responsible for this portal, and refused to help us close it, then we would indeed exercise methods of persuasion. No one’s arguing that. People have disappeared, one person has died and more are at risk. We’ll do what we need to, within reason, to close this portal.”

He stared hard at Tolliver, who finally dropped his eyes and nodded.

“Understood. If I can find Patrick, he’s yours-so long as I’m present for the questioning.”

Before Tolliver could leave, Jeremy said, “There’s one other thing I’d like you to do. A brief examination.” He nodded toward me.

“I’m fine. The baby’s kicking and-”