by M. J. Scott
“Si. Look at me.” The croon sounded a little strained but Marco didn’t move from his stance. “See me. Good. Come to me.”
There was a sudden sensation of electricity in the air—a snap like lightning striking in the distance—and then just as suddenly, it disappeared and Rhianna went limp in Dan’s arms.
“I have her now,” Marco said. “Put her back on the bed.”
Dan obeyed with a look of relief, laying Rhi down carefully. Her eyes were open but peaceful, the rage and fury gone.
“What did you do to her?” I said quietly to Marco.
“I established a bond. I think.”
“You think?” I looked from him back to Rhianna. “What if you’re wrong?”
“She is quiet for now, yes? So I am probably right.”
He sounded confident but I noticed he was watching Rhianna not me.
“Can all Old Ones do that?”
“It is something that comes with age, but it does not always work.”
“Now you tell us.”
“It had to be tried. She would have hurt herself. And perhaps us.”
“How long can you keep her like that?” Dan said from the other side of the bed where he stood, one hand rubbing at his neck and shoulders. He looked wrecked.
“She needs to feed, then she will come back to herself over the next day or so,” Marco said. “I think I can keep her calm until then.”
“So she belongs to you now?” I didn’t understand exactly what he’d done. Something like a thrall or something that meant the bond a vampire had with their sire—and through them—the head of their lineage had been transferred to Marco?
“I am not entirely sure,” Marco said. “She feels...different. Whatever they have done to the virus made it difficult. I’m not sure what would happen if someone of her lineage tried to take her from me.”
Oh, wonderful. But then again, given the government wanted to lock Rhianna up, it was unlikely anyone would be challenging Marco’s control any time soon.
“Should we feed her?” My eyes strayed to the fridge in the corner of the room where the doctor had put the blood packs hours ago.
“Si.” Marco went to the fridge and opened it, looking at the contents. “This is manufactured,” he said, holding up a pack to the light with a frown.
“It’s what a lot of vamps drink,” Dan said. “Given her circumstances, I don’t think it’s wise to let her get a taste for real human blood.”
“Real blood is best for the young ones.”
“She’ll just have to make do,” Dan said. He crossed to Marco and took the pack out of his hands, laying it on top of the fridge as he opened the long cardboard box the doctor had also left. He withdrew a fleshy color tube that looked like it was made of rubber or foam.
“What’s that?”
“Feeding tube,” Dan said.
“Can’t she just drink it from a glass or something?”
“It is easiest for the young ones to bite,” Marco said. “It calms them.”
“Just like a wolf’s first hunt,” Dan said as he slid the blood pack into the tube with an ease that spoke of experience. “This warms the blood and gives them something to bite into.”
It looked ridiculous. Like someone had chopped the arm off a flesh-colored store dummy and rubberized it. Surely biting rubber couldn’t be satisfying? But what did I know?
Dan passed the pack to Marco. “You can do the honors.”
“How do you know about feeding new vampires?” I said as I watched Marco approach Rhianna and coax her to sit up.
Dan came over to sit beside me. “They teach us in the Taskforce. We come across new vamps every so often. Easier to use one of these than have someone get bitten.”
“I guess.” The conversation was making me feel vaguely nauseated. Which was dumb, given that I’d eaten fresh raw deer my first night as a werewolf and bitten the throats out of two vampires since then.
Rhianna’s hands closed around the feeding tube. I turned away as she sank her fangs into it, sucking greedily.
“I’ll go get Dr. Samuels,” Dan said. “See if he can clear her for transport.”
“What about her parents? Can we tell them Rhi will be okay?”
He shook his head. “Not yet.”
“When?”
“I can’t promise anything.”
He was halfway to the door when Rhianna suddenly gagged and dropped the feeding tube, clawing at her throat.
I turned to glare at Marco. “What the hell?”
“Get the doctor. She is not reacting well to the blood,” Marco snapped.
Understatement of the year. Rhianna gasped frantically, sounding half-choked. Raw red blisters bloomed around her mouth. If the outside looked like that, what the hell was happening inside her throat?
I heard Dan calling down the hallway for help as if he was speaking through a fog. Everything sounded wobbly and far away as I stared at the sores breaking out and marring the whiteness of Rhi’s skin.
“Help her,” I said to Marco.
“There’s nothing I can do,” he said. “Her body needs to process this. It will heal.”
“How do you know?” Rhianna wasn’t a normal vampire...that much was clear. Marco couldn’t predict what was going to happen with any certainty, even if he liked to think he was in control of the situation.
“Can’t you tell her to go to sleep or something?” I added desperately as Rhi’s sounds of pains redoubled. She retched violently and started vomiting blood. The thick sticky redness splashed over the pale blue hospital covers. Some of it splashed on my hands. It looked like someone had been slaughtered on the bed. Too much blood.
More than she’d drunk.
Marco lunged toward her, grabbing her shoulders. I froze, not knowing whether to help him or go find the doctor. Before I could decide, footsteps pounded down the hallway and the door flew open.
“Keep her under control we don’t need anyone else getting bitten.” I said to Marco before someone hustled me out of the room and slammed the door behind me.
I stood there, shell-shocked at the sudden silence. There was no sound from Rhi’s room. Good soundproofing I guess but the sudden transition made it feel as though I’d gone deaf.
I leaned against the wall, trying to breathe, trying not to think about all that blood spilling over Rhi and the bed. Trying not to smell the blood splashed on me. I ached to help but what could I do? I wasn’t needed inside, that much was plain. And I could hardly go back upstairs to Rhianna’s parents looking like I did.
My stomach clenched as I thought about them sitting upstairs, waiting for news, not knowing whether Rhi was dead or alive.
Even worse, not having any idea she was now a vampire; a monster out of their worst nightmares. The same kind of creature who’d killed their other daughter.
I wondered if they’d been told anything at all. Or maybe the government had gone ahead and told them Rhi was dead.
Dan had said he’d try to stop that from happening, but he hadn’t been able to promise anything.
How would the Anders cope if they thought Rhi was dead?
How would they cope if they found out the truth?
I eyed the doors to the waiting room. Would anyone notice if I snuck out and told them?
They deserved the truth.
No one who hadn’t been through what we’d been through with Tate had the right to take that away from them.
I took two steps then stopped as the doors swung inward and Dan walked through. He had a take-out coffee cup in one hand and the other held his cell to his ear.
When he saw me, he said something I couldn’t quite make out then put the phone away.
When he reached me, he held out the coffee. “Thought you might need this.”
The warm rich smell made my stomach growl then lurch queasily. As much as my brain ached for some caffeine to burn away some of the foggy confusion that came with too much stress and too little sleep, I knew I’d just make myself sick.
>
I shook my head. Dan shrugged and took a mouthful himself. He’d always had a cast iron stomach—a useful trait for a cop.
One I envied right now.
He reached into his pocket again and pulled out a candy bar. “How about this?”
Chocolate? It wasn’t exactly what I wanted but it was at least something to keep me upright.
I took the bar from him, opened it, and took a cautious nibble. My stomach didn’t feel any worse so I took a bigger bite, letting the chocolate melt on my tongue, the sweetness masking some of the stale taste of fear and fatigue.
“What’s happening in there?” Dan nodded towardRhi’s room.
I shook my head. “Your guess is as good as mine. Who were you talking to?”
“Esme. She’s coordinating with the army.”
“So you’re going ahead with it?” Locking Rhi away. The taste of chocolate turned sour as my throat tightened. Rhi loved people. Loved connections. She wanted to be a doctor for God’s sake. And they wanted to lock her away somewhere where she’d hardly have any contact with anyone.
Dan took another gulp of coffee, pulling a face. “We don’t have a choice, Ash. She can’t be let loose until the doctors figure out exactly what we’re dealing with. Right now, she’ll get better care at the base than she will here.”
“She’d get better care somewhere like Seattle Northern,” I said. Northern was the main hospital used by Seattle’s supernatural population. Not that we suffered from many illnesses but some injuries still required assistance.
“We take her there and news about the mutated virus takes about three seconds to hit the street. The base is secure.”
He was right, I knew he was right. That didn’t mean I had to like it. I finished the candy bar with several vicious bites.
“I want to go with her,” I said, holding up a hand as he opened his mouth to argue. “No, scrap that. I am going with her. I’m not letting you lock her away surrounded by strangers.”
“Okay,” Dan said.
I eyed him with suspicion. That was way too easy. I’d expected an argument. “Marco needs to go with her too. He’s the only one who has some influence over her.”
“If Lord Marco wishes to assist us, then the government will be grateful,” Dan said carefully.
I took that to mean he thought it was a terrible idea but someone higher up had had the same thought as me.
“And her parents.”
Dan shook his head, crumpling the empty coffee cup in his hand. “No. They’re not going to be allowed to see her.”
“But they know she’s alive?”
“They’ve been told she’s in isolation.”
“What for?”
He shrugged. “I’m sure they’ve come up with something good.”
“When are they going to move her?” If I was going too, it would be nice to at least have time to go back to Bug’s and get my things.
Then I realized that was actually a terrible idea. Because I’d have to see Bug. Who always knew when I was lying. I wouldn’t be able to fool her if she asked about Rhianna.
“As soon as the doctors say it’s okay.”
We both looked at the door. There was still no sound from inside, which explained why we’d been left alone when Rhianna had been screaming the place down. It took pretty good soundproofing to fool werewolf ears. Whoever had designed the room had known what they were doing.
Right now, I wanted to kill them for their competence. I wanted to know what was going on, if Rhianna was okay.
Instead there was only the door. And it wasn’t talking.
“What time is it?” I asked.
“A little after seven.”
Meaning I’d been awake more than twenty-four hours. The most sensible thing to do right now would be to lie right down on the floor and try to sleep for as long as I could until the doctors finished.
“Maybe we should wait in the lounge.”
Good idea. There’d been chairs in the lounge. It seemed like several lifetimes ago that I’d arrived at the hospital.
I nodded my agreement and pushed away from the wall. But we’d barely walked ten feet when the door opened behind us. Dr. Samuels came out peeling surgical gloves from his hands as he came. Blood stained his scrubs. Several nurses and another doctor trailed after him, but they continued down the hall past us.
Dr. Samuels came over to Dan and me. He looked as tired as I felt and I wondered how long he’d been on duty.
“Is she okay?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yes. We’ve controlled the allergic reaction. Your friend is trying to get her to feed again. Real blood this time.”
I didn’t know whether to be relieved or worried. I had to be glad that Rhianna was okay. Surely I was? But Dan hadn’t wanted to give her human blood.
Now it seemed she had to drink it.
And she was a vampire who could never be allowed to feed directly from a human if she was one of Smith’s plague vamps.
“Is it safe to move her?” Dan asked.
I shot him a glare. Was that all he cared about? Getting Rhi to her dungeon so she could be studied and controlled?
“Yes, as long as she doesn’t react to the blood this time. Give it an hour or so.”
“Great,” Dan said. He pulled out his phone and punched in a number. “Esme, it’s me.”
I couldn’t believe he was being so calm.
“I’ll be in helping Marco.” I snapped and left the pair of them to it.
Chapter Eleven
“So how are we going to move her?” I asked an hour later. Rhi had drunk the fresh blood with no adverse reactions and Dr. Samuels had cleared her for transfer.
She still seemed kind of dazed and she hadn’t spoken to me at all while I’d helped her shower and put on a set of scrubs the nurse provided. Hadn’t spoken when Marco had explained what had happened to her again.
“I think I can keep her calm,” Marco said.
Dan rolled his neck, stretching up from the chair beside me. “We’ll use restraints all the same.”
I frowned. “Is that really necessary?”
“You want to try fighting a crazed vampire in a helo?”
I didn’t want to fight another vampire anywhere. And as much as I wanted to treat Rhianna like nothing had changed, the fact was, she had changed.
I had to stop pretending she hadn’t.
I didn’t know who Rhianna was as a vampire. Whether she’d stay the same, like Jase or embrace the darkness like Esteban and Niko.
The mutated virus burning in her blood made her even more of an unknown quantity.
So I shrugged my assent at Dan and tried to stay out of the way until we were ready to leave.
* * *
Esme arrived eventually, escorting two army doctors and several burly enlisted guys. I didn’t know enough about army ranks to read the insignia on any of the uniforms but if I had to guess, one of the doctors was definitely at least a major. He had the same air of used-to-giving orders that Dan and Marco projected.
All too soon, we were loaded into the chopper and headed toward Fort Lyman.
The chopper—big enough for all of us and then some—had been modified to transport vamps. Its rear passenger compartment was completely sealed off so no hint of sunlight would get through once inside. They’d erected a tunnel-like canopy that stretched from the exit door on the hospital roof to the helicopter that let us walk Rhi and Marco safely through the early morning light.
“This better be completely safe,” I muttered to Dan as we climbed aboard, taking our places opposite Marco and Rhi in the compartment. Esme slid into place on my left. Three weres, an Old One and the restraints around Rhi’s wrists and ankles should be enough to keep Rhi under control if she panicked.
I didn’t want to think about what would happen if it wasn’t.
“It’s safe,” Dan said. “Stop worrying.”
“I just don’t want to have to explain to the vampire community how we fried the head of the ci
ty.”
“Nor would you appreciate the power struggle that would follow,” Marco quipped from the darkness as Dan slid the door shut.
Right. I suppressed a shiver as I snapped my harness shut. I hadn’t even thought about that. A major vampire turf war was definitely not something we needed. Now or ever.
The line of lights on the roof only gave off a low light. Guess they figured vamps and werewolves could see well enough in the dark. With no windows, no line of sight to orientate myself, the lurch of the chopper lifting off made my stomach roll. I swallowed hard. There would be no throwing up.
Rhianna huddled in the seat next to Marco. She still hadn’t spoken. The restraints looked too heavy for her wrists, the black metal—I had no idea what they were made of—making her bones look fragile. She stared blankly at the wall, not looking at any of us.
“Is this normal?” I asked Marco, to distract myself from the queasiness in my stomach. The last time I’d been in a helicopter, I’d been flying to confront Tate. The memory didn’t help my motion sickness.
Hopefully this time there would be an ending that didn’t involve multiple deaths.
Marco looked at Rhianna for a long moment. “Everyone is different. She will talk when she’s ready.” His voice sounded tinny over the headsets we all wore—all of us except the silent Rhianna.
We hadn’t figured she’d need one.
I hadn’t been exactly Little Miss Sunshine myself when I’d found out I was going to be a werewolf. But Rhianna was different. It wasn’t despair written on her face. It wasn’t really anything. Instead there was a strange kind of absence, as if everything that made her Rhianna had packed up and fled.
I had no idea how to fix that.
Silence descended over the headsets, everyone engrossed in their own thoughts as the roar of the engines and rotors surrounded us.
The flight took about thirty minutes. We landed with a gentle bump and the engine noise cut off. I started to unbuckle my seat belt but the pilot’s voice came over the radio, asking us to stay where we were.
There was another series of bumps and thuds and metal grating against metal as the chopper lurched around alarmingly.
