I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I opened my eyes to find Aurora staring at me questioningly.
“Is something wrong?” she asked. I turned to look over my shoulder, finding Malena sitting in a table not too far away. She caught me looking and got to her feet, making her way toward us casually. I turned back around, a low growl escaping my teeth. Aurora turned a surprised eye on me. “Trey?”
“It’s her,” I breathed, knowing Aurora would hear me. “She made the flyers. She wants to hurt you.” Aurora glared at Malena who had just paused near our table.
“Yes. It was a nice little twist in our game,” Malena said.
“Game?” I countered.
Another flash of thought erupted in my mind, as if Malena couldn’t contain her blinding rage. “Someone hurt you,” I said to her, mostly for Aurora’s benefit. Whatever I was getting from Malena’s thoughts, Aurora couldn’t hear. The visage of a vampire’s face formed in Malena’s thoughts, and I recognized him before Malena could push the image from her mind. “Damir Vidic,” I said slowly, trying to gauge her reaction as I got to my feet. “You’re in love with him.”
“Shut up,” Malena demanded, but I wasn’t paying her any attention. I’d already turned my head to look at Aurora instead. “She’s jealous, because Damir wants you,” I said. “That’s what all of this is about.”
Malena’s eyes flashed dangerously, but she didn’t deny it. She took a step toward Aurora who reacted by standing, as well. “You think you’re so perfect. And why wouldn’t you? Antonio dotes on you like you’re the child he never got to raise. It makes me sick.”
“If you’re comparing me to a child, then you severely underestimate me,” Aurora said.
“You are a child. I just heard that Damir called off your little Emissary detail. You’re getting everything you ever wanted, and you don’t deserve any of it. You’re so busy holding on to your human family that you don’t see what’s right in front of you. Any vampire with half a brain would see what an honor it is to have the head of the Emissary want her for a companion. Not only do you reject Damir, but you have a sick hold on him that blinds him to the truth.”
“And what’s that?” Aurora asked, with a convincing hint of boredom in her voice.
“You’re not worthy of the power that comes with Damir’s position. He needs a real woman who can appreciate him for what he is.”
“Well, that’s easy,” Aurora said, straightening. “You can have Damir. In fact you two deserve each other.”
“You don’t belong here,” she said slowly, stepping toward me. “I tried. I really did. It’s not my fault you can’t find good help these days.”
She probably wasn’t planning on owning up to it, but the flash I got from her thoughts just then was evidence enough. It was of three vampires. Two of them matched the drawings Aurora had done of the vampires that attacked us earlier this week, and the other I recognized as the vampire Aurora had killed that night.
“You did more than make our relationship public,” I said to her without backing down. “You hired those vampires to take me out. An innocent man died because of what you did!” I shouted, the truth making me reckless.
“One measly little human,” Malena said indifferently. She didn’t deny it, hardly surprised by my outburst. “It’s a shame the vampires responsible were so incompetent.” She looked me in the eye and said, “Luckily, I am not so incompetent.”
“No wonder Damir doesn’t want you,” I added with a satisfying sneer. “Even he’s better than this.” It was the only way I could think of to hurt her, the vampire who was ultimately responsible for Wes’s death. My words definitely struck a chord, because Malena was on top of me like lightning. She pinned me to the ground, sinking her teeth into my throat. It was all the pain you would expect from a vampire’s bite, with none of the pleasure.
Chapter 36
Trey
AURORA’S REFLEXES WERE SEVERELY compromised from our blood exchange the night before, but she managed to pull Malena off of me, though it was almost too easy, as if I was never her intended target. In the split second that it took for both of us to realize this, Malena kicked at her. Aurora managed to block the kick and grab Malena’s leg, but she lost her footing and had to take a few steps back to catch herself. I reached for my throat, feeling the torn flesh and the warm wetness of blood. Then Aurora’s thoughts sounded like a warning in my head.
She’s chosen strength.
It was obvious now that Malena had been planning this attack for some time. Of course she would have chosen strength as her ability on the last full moon. Inexperienced as I was, I wasn’t completely useless. I got to my feet, seeing that other vampires were watching the scene with mild interest. I wondered if this kind of thing happened often at Club Sanguin. Aurora managed to shove Malena backward by the leg, and I rushed forward, stepping between them before Malena recovered and stood again. The blood I’d just ingested didn’t give me the same empowering feeling that Aurora’s did, but it was still a rush of energy I didn’t even know I needed tonight.
I dove for Malena, catching her by surprise. I managed to knock her down, but as we rolled, she came out on top. Instead of going for my throat again like I expected, she was gone from me in an instant and speeding toward Aurora again. Aurora was ready for her, though. Thankfully, my interference had given her a second to gather herself and prepare for Malena’s next attack. We continued on in that way for several moments as I went after Malena, trying to pull her focus away from the woman I loved. Malena responded as if I were a distracting fly, albeit a surprisingly strong one, keeping her from her real target. I was persistent in my attempts but Malena was just so powerful. I was bleeding from several wounds, but I wasn’t going to back down, even knowing that fledgling vampires don’t heal as quickly or effectively as older ones. That was the problem. No matter what I did, it was barely enough to level the playing field for Aurora. Aurora’s strength wasn’t what it should be and I wasn’t sure how long she could keep it up.
I came at Malena from behind as she moved toward Aurora again but she rounded on me at the last instant and slammed her knee into my side. I felt a sickening crack, but I blocked out the pain, staggering only for a heartbeat while Aurora called out my name in horror. I snarled at Malena and moved to step toward her, baring my fangs, but I found myself being yanked backward instead. My arms were wrenched behind me so hard I lost my balance. I struggled against my captor, wondering who it was that could hold me so easily. For a second, I believed someone was finally stepping in to break up the fight. It didn’t take long for me to realize that wasn’t the case. I was the only one being restrained. Adrenalin ran hot through my veins, but I couldn’t escape.
“Tytus, let him go,” Aurora demanded. “Trey is innocent.”
Tytus ... That explained why I couldn’t get away. I couldn’t see the giant vampire’s reaction, but Malena grinned viciously.
“The fledgling’s innocence is not in question,” Malena said calmly as she moved toward Aurora again.
Aurora crouched again and the fight ensued, this time without me. I struggled to focus, feeling like my arms were going separate from the rest of my body, if I pulled back against Tytus’s iron grip. I reached out mentally, but found a protective wall around his mind. Probably that thick giant skull of his.
I watched in horrified silence as Malena landed blow after devastating blow on Aurora. Somehow, Aurora managed to pick herself up each time and keep trying. She can’t win, I realized. With one last surge of determination, I reached out to Malena’s mind again. If only I could figure out what she wanted from Aurora, maybe Aurora could give it to her and end the fight. I would have done anything at that point, but I was too late. With a deafening crack, Malena’s foot smashed into the center of Aurora’s chest. Aurora flew backward, crashing down onto the wooden railing that ran along the edge of the balcony level, walling it off from the dance floor below.
I cried out as Aurora went over the edge, pieces of bro
ken railing falling with her out of sight. Any hope I had of someone down below catching Aurora or breaking her fall was shattered when I heard the sound of her landing with a thud on the dance floor. I screamed her name, but there was no response. I yanked again with every ounce of strength in me and was surprised when my arms came free. I spun quickly to see why Tytus had let me go, only to find that the vampire wasn’t even looking at me. He only stared at the place where Aurora had broken through the wooden railing. Malena smiled smugly at me, wiping blood from her face.
I didn’t hesitate, rushing down the stairs in a blur. The crowd of vampires that had gathered at the scene below didn’t move for me, but I shoved them aside easily. No one so much as tried to resist. The overwhelming, but familiar, scent of Aurora’s blood was the first thing I noticed. I braced myself, but nothing could have prepared me for the state I found Aurora in, lying broken amid the pieces of the banister. Her eyes were closed, her body contorted repulsively. My human self would have been sick at the sight, but I rushed to her side, feeling a wave of relief when I heard her heart beating. It was hollow and weak, but it was a heartbeat nonetheless.
I tossed aside the broken pieces of railing that lay on top of her. What I found below the pieces was much worse. A spindle from the railing Aurora had crashed into above had impaled her. It was only about two inches in diameter, but it had gone clean through her middle, just below her heart. My mind reeled as I recalled the cryptic words Aurora had spoken to me the night I’d asked how a vampire could be killed. The wooden stake part of the legends hadn’t been a myth, and Malena had managed to stake Aurora without so much as touching a piece of wood.
I wouldn’t have dared to pick up a human in this condition. Moving someone with injuries this severe wasn’t usually a good idea, but the best thing I could think to do for Aurora just then was to get her out of Club Sanguin. I gathered her in my arms, cradling her gently and trying not to touch the wood that protruded from her chest. Her weight seemed completely insubstantial to the new strength in my muscles. It was the first time since meeting Aurora that I thought of her as fragile. I turned, facing the crowd of watching vampires, and saw that Tytus now stood among them. I stared at them all, not caring that doing so might be seen as a challenge. Then, without a sound, the crowd parted for me, and I could see the exit. I walked toward it, determined to jar Aurora as little as possible. Tytus stepped in front of me, and I glared at him fiercely. Then the giant vampire’s face softened as he studied Aurora’s broken body with something like regret.
“Go,” he whispered urgently, ignoring the surprise on my face. “Call Mark.”
And just like that the enormous vampire turned and was gone.
I gently carried Aurora from the building and out to her car. I positioned her on her side in the backseat, propping her up with a jacket. I pulled my T-shirt over my head and wrapped it around the wooden spindle where it stuck out of Aurora’s chest, pressing it to the wound to slow the bleeding. Then I fished her phone from her pocket and hurried around to the driver’s side. I started the engine and backed out of the parking space, scrolling through the contacts in her phone as I pulled out onto the road. Then I saw the name I needed. Mark Conry. Pressing the send button, I prayed that the vampire doctor would answer. Surely he wouldn’t ignore a call from Aurora’s phone, would he? What if he was at work? My fears were mercifully interrupted by Mark’s answering voice on the phone.
“Aurora?”
“Mark, its Trey. I need your help. Aurora’s been hurt.”
There was only a heartbeat’s pause on the other line and then Mark said, “Where are you?”
“Driving. I’m taking her to a beach house no one knows. Can you meet us?”
“Send me the address. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
The call ended, and I hurried to text the beach house address to his number, finding that it was no harder to drive while I did so with my new reflexes. The drive to the beach house normally would have taken about twenty minutes, but I pulled into the drive in half that time. I rushed to the door and unlocked it in a blur before returning to the car. I gathered Aurora’s bent and broken body and gently carried her inside. I kicked the door closed with my foot after crossing the threshold and made my way over to the couch where I slowly sat down, cradling her in my arms. Her heart was sputtering out an irregular rhythm but it hadn’t failed yet. For that, I was grateful.
I sat there holding Aurora, staring at the wood that jutted out of her chest and hoped desperately that Mark would arrive soon. It was weird that she wasn’t breathing, and that it didn’t matter was even stranger. I had no idea to what extent the wood had damaged her organs, but it was pretty safe to assume that breathing wouldn’t have been possible just then. How had the evening gone from great to horrific in such a short time? I took a breath that sent a shudder through my entire body. For a brief second, I regretted that my mind was clear, immune to the blissful dream-like state that shock would have brought on in my human days.
Chapter 37
Trey
HOLD ON, AURORA. I hadn’t completely gotten the hang of pushing my thoughts into other people’s minds yet, but I willed her to hear me in her unconscious state. “Help is on the way.” Mercifully, I heard a car approaching moments later and then footsteps coming up the walk at a supernatural speed. “The door is open,” I said without raising my voice. The knob turned, and Mark burst in. In an instant, he was on his knees in front of me. His keen eyes scanned Aurora’s body, surveying the damage.
“What happened?” His voice was only just above a whisper.
“It was Malena.” I swallowed, forcing back the lump in my throat. Mark looked surprised to hear this, but he recovered quickly, a look of cool control returning to his face. “I … I didn’t know who else to call.”
“You were right to call me.” Mark met my eyes, and I was counting on the pain I saw there. It meant that he still cared enough for Aurora to do whatever it might take to save her. He looked at me and at the angle I was holding Aurora to avoid bumping the spindle that stuck out of her back six inches. “I sent for supplies, but I had no idea it was this bad.” He pulled his phone from his pocket and quickly typed a message to someone. “When did she last feed?” he asked as he pulled a penlight from his jacket and forced Aurora’s eyelids open one at a time to check the state of her pupils.
“She had a drink at the club.”
“No, I said feed – as in fresh blood – straight from the source.”
“Before she changed me.” I sensed how bad this was only as I spoke the words aloud. “She’s been pretty focused on teaching me everything. We have blood in the fridge, but she hasn’t gone out to feed since she made me.” I heard something like a growl emitting low in Mark’s throat, but he was too busy assessing Aurora’s condition to respond otherwise. “What are we going to do?”
“I need to get this wood out of her. It’s poisoning her, draining her life as we speak. I didn’t come prepared for surgery, but my supplies should be here soon. I need towels.”
I nodded in the direction of the nearest bathroom, and Mark raced there and back, carrying several clean bath towels. He bent low and gently lifted my drenched T-shirt from around the wooden spindle. Dark blood slowly oozed from around the wound as he took a second to inspect it before rolling a towel to cover it again.
“You said Malena did this,” he stated. “What happened exactly?”
“There was a fight at Club Sanguin. In the middle of the fight Aurora fell from the second floor,” I said in an attempt to clarify. But fell wasn’t the right word. “I mean, Malena kicked her in the chest and sent her flying backward. She crashed into the banister that had already broken and that’s when the spindle … well, you know….”
Mark shook his head and then seemed to pull his focus back. “Do you think you can move her?”
I nodded and checked Aurora’s position in my arms before I slowly got to my feet. Mark followed me down the hall to the bedroom Aurora and I
had been sharing. The same room I had become a vampire in just the night before. With Mark’s help, I gently laid Aurora on her side on the bed. We propped her up with pillows to keep her from rolling onto the spindle. I stepped back, noticing for the first time how much blood now covered my entire chest and had soaked through the top half of my jeans.
“They’re here,” Mark stated. Now that he mentioned it, I could hear two more sets of footsteps approaching the front door. I went with him to help carry everything. Beck and a petite blonde vampire that Mark introduced as Hana were at the door, their arms full of medical supplies. I realized at once that Hana must be Mark’s new girlfriend. I was fairly certain Aurora had mentioned she was a nurse. That was reassuring. The more help we had, the better. I followed Mark to the trunk and retrieved the rest of the equipment, carrying it inside to the master suite. Hana was opening sterile packets of gauze, and Beck stood back, staring in horror at the scene before us.
“I’m going to have to surgically remove the piece of wood,” Mark said to me.
I nodded. “Just tell me what to do.”
“Leave us.” Mark’s words were a command, not a request, but that just made me angry.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I said stubbornly, stepping closer to the bed again. I heard a low growl and realized that it was coming from my throat this time. Pain and anger flashed in Mark’s eyes as I stared at him, but the anger wasn’t directed at me.
“Go on, honey” Hana said sweetly to me. “You’re hurt, too, you know. You could use a drink.”
“I’m fine,” I protested. Did they really expect me to leave her?
“Someone sank their teeth into you,” Mark said matter-of-factly. My fingers instinctively moved to the torn flesh of my throat. It was still bleeding, but I hadn’t felt the pain since Malena had bitten me. “You’ve also sustained an injury that resulted in some damage to one of your lungs. I can hear it when you breathe. It’s probably a broken rib or two.” I stopped breathing then, silently cursing my inability to break the habit that had given me away, although, talking was impossible without it. “You need blood, and since your maker cannot provide it, you’ll have to use what’s in the kitchen, but that won’t heal your wounds as quickly as Aurora’s blood would have. Listen to reason. One unconscious person is enough.” He seemed to know that wasn’t enough to persuade me as he talked, but I realized that he was right. I’d been blocking out the pain, because Aurora was more important, but I could definitely feel it now that he’d called my attention to it again. We stood there in silence for a moment, and when Mark spoke again his voice was filled with agony. “Aurora’s wounds are severe. I’m not confident I can heal them, but it’s going to take all of my concentration if I’m going to try.”
Immortals And Melodies (Blood And Guitars #2) Page 19
