He had a point.
"His pulse is weak but steady," the woman said. "Should we risk trying an IV or ... "
"I don't know," her partner answered. "He shouldn't be alive at all. Let's just move him. We'll keep him alive and get him to the hospital."
The distant whoop of more ambulances sounded. Reinforcements were on the way. The medics put the naga on a long spine-board and fit it in a Stokes basket, attached to the ropes the other paramedics had set up at top of the hill.
"You got any other information that'll help us treat him?" the paramedic asked. His eyes were very direct.
"I don't think so."
"Then get your butt up to an ambulance, now."
I didn't argue. I was cold, and my clothes were beginning to freeze to my body even under the blanket.
I ended up in a warm ambulance wearing nothing but a blanket while more paramedics and EMTs forced heated oxygen on me. Dolph and Zerbrowski ended up in the ambulance with me. Better them than Aikensen and Titus.
While we waited for the medics to tell us we would all live, Dolph got back to business.
"Tell me about nagas," Dolph said.
"Like I said, they're creatures from Hindu legend. They're mostly pictured as snakes, particularly cobras. They can take human form. Or appear as snakes with human heads. They're the guardians of raindrops and pearls."
"Say the last again?" Zerbrowski asked. His neatly combed hair had dried in messy curls. He'd jumped in the river to save little ol' me, even though he couldn't swim.
I repeated it. "There's a pearl embedded in the head of the skin. I think the skin was the naga's. Someone skinned him, but he didn't die. I don't know how the skin ended up in the river, or how he did."
Dolph said, "You mean he was a snake and they skinned him, but it didn't kill him."
"Apparently not."
"How is he in man form now?"
"I don't know."
"Why isn't he dead?" Dolph asked.
"Nagas are immortal."
"Shouldn't you tell the paramedics that?" Zerbrowski said.
"He's been completely skinned and is still alive. I think they're going to figure it out on their own," I said.
"Good point."
"Which of you fired the shot at Aikensen?"
"Titus did it," Dolph said.
"He cussed him out, and took his gun away," Zerbrowski said.
"Hope he doesn't give it back. If anyone shouldn't be armed, it's Aikensen."
"You got an extra change of clothes with you, Blake?" Zerbrowski asked.
"Nope."
"I've got two pairs of sweats in the trunk of my car. I want to get back to what's left of my anniversary."
The thought of wearing a used pair of sweats that had been sitting in Zerbrowski's car was too much for me. "I don't think so, Zerbrowski."
He grinned at me. "They're clean. Katie and I were going to exercise today but never got around to it."
"Never made it to the gym, huh," I said.
"No." Color crept up his neck. It must have been something really good, or really embarrassing to get to Zerbrowski that quickly.
"What kind of exercise were you two doing?" I asked.
"A man needs exercise," Dolph said solemnly.
Zerbrowski looked at me, eyebrows going up. "And how much of a workout is your sweetie giving you?" He turned to Dolph. "Did I tell you that Blake's got herself a boyfriend? He's sleeping over."
"Mr. Zeeman answered the phone," Dolph said.
"Isn't your phone right beside your bed, Blake?" Zerbrowski asked. He was giving me his best wide innocent brown eyes.
"Get the sweats and get me out of here," I said.
Zerbrowski laughed, and Dolph joined him.
"These are Katie's sweats so don't get anything on them. If you really want to work out, do it nude."
I flashed him a one-fingered salute.
"Oh, do that again," Zerbrowski said, "your blanket gaped."
I was just amusing the hell out of everyone.
Chapter 30
I was standing in my hallway at four o'clock. I was dressed in a very pink sweatsuit. My wet clothes were held sort of gingerly in a bundle under my left arm. Even with the new pink sweats, I was cold. The paramedics had only let me go because I promised to drink hot fluids and take a hot bath. I'd run up the stairs in a pair of gym socks. I could wear Katie's sweats, but not her shoes.
I was cold, tired, and my face hurt. The headache was gone, though. Maybe it was being dunked in ice-cold water. Maybe it was the touch of a naga. I couldn't recall any stories associating them with spontaneous healing, but it had been a long time since I read up on nagas. They'd been on the final in preternatural bio class. The big clue had been the pearl and the cobra skin. I was going to have to dig up my textbook and reread the section. Though the doc on call at whatever hospital they went to was going to have to read up faster than I was. Would nagas be in their computers? By law, they'd better be. Would the naga have anyone to sue for him if they didn't? Would he rise from his deathbed and sue himself?