ReVamped

by Lucienne Diver

  “Here,” he said, holding his welling wrist to my mouth, “drink this, you’ll heal faster. An ambulance has been called for people bitten by the bleeders … er, other vampires … and those run over in the stampede.”

  “But everyone will be okay, right?” I asked, my eyes riveted on that blood. Raspy and I had been the only ones in the way of the rushing kids. Hopefully we’d gotten the worst of it.

  “Blood loss, maybe some concussions and broken ribs, legs … mostly from my team fighting back when the kids were ordered to attack us. But we were as careful as we could be. They’ll heal.”

  I’d almost forgotten what my question was as I watched his blood, dripping, some of it already lost. Like the mind, a terrible thing to waste. I licked my lips, and he helped me raise my head enough to drink.

  Bobby looked away.

  The blood—warm and wonderful—flowed into my mouth, and I sucked greedily. I could almost feel my insides knitting themselves together. Strength was returning, and I was beginning to feel almost normal again when Blade pulled away.

  He checked his watch, black like the rest of his outfit. “We’re out of time. Estimated EMT response to this site is ten minutes. We’ve already burned five. We’ve got to get the gang out of here before the police arrive, or before the EMTs show up to look for a pulse.”

  “Do you need help?” Bobby asked.

  “You just take care of the girl. Get her on her feet. You two are going to have to stay here to spin the tale. New drug on the market … hallucinations … kids thinking they’re vampires … mass hysteria.” He shrugged, “It’s worked before.”

  Bobby gave him a nod and turned back to me. Already I felt like even if I couldn’t leap buildings in a single bound, at least I could enter them under my own steam. I tried to sit up, but Bobby wouldn’t let me.

  “Not yet. Give it time.”

  I gave him a sour face, but did as he said.

  “Sid and Maya?” I asked.

  “Vamps drained them, but not to death. Some nice bloody steak and a few days’ rest, and they’ll be good as new. They managed to round up the kids as they stormed out.”

  “So we won?” I asked.

  “We did.”

  I smiled, and Bobby smiled back. For a really awesome moment, the room, the strike team and their walking wounded, ceased to exist. Bobby’s gaze held a promise of what was to come later … much later, when my back was all healed and I’d bathed, showered, spritzed, and moisturized. It was a shame I had to ruin the moment … for now, anyway.

  “You think you can handle spinning the tale on your own?”

  He blinked, and his smile faded away. “Yeah, but why?”

  “I have a promise to keep.”

  “Can’t it wait?”

  “I’m not sure it can.” Who was I to say how much time Bram had? Or how much time I had before Maya and Sid whisked us away to another mission. I might even have to sneak out all stealthy-like.

  “You need back-up?” he asked.

  “Nope, I’m good. Besides, we’ve got everyone.”

  “Except Alistaire.”

  “Assuming Raspy left him alive.”

  “Just be careful. I’ll be listening for you.”

  I creaked as I stood up, like an old lady, but at least everything was working. Bobby didn’t look at me like I was an old lady, though, and I stepped into his arms before I left, tilted his head to just the right angle and pressed my lips to his. I had to stand on tiptoes to do it, but he was worth it. Bobby’s lips were firm and wonderful. They opened under mine, and his tongue slipped out to tease me. My heart wanted to start just so it could pound, but I broke away before the police and paramedics could arrive and mess with my plans.

  “That’s only a taste,” I teased.

  “Good.”

  I took the stairs two at a time and left the house the way I’d come in. The lawn was a confusion of kids, still under the influence of the gas but now following Sid and Maya’s lead. Both of them looked shaky and as drained as I knew them to be, but they were tough. They were holding their own.

  I stayed as far away from them as possible and kept to the shadows. They’d hear my car starting up, but there was nothing I could do about that. I doubted they were up for a high-speed chase, even if they wanted that kind of attention.

  I’d paid attention coming in, and once I hit a main road, I knew my way to the hospital. Once there, I knew the way to Bram’s room. I just had to wait for the reception lady to be distracted and take the elevators up.

  It was after visiting hours, but I was lucky. At this time of night there was only a skeleton crew on, with the expectation that most of the patients would be sleeping or, in Bram’s case, even further indisposed.

  The nurse’s station was deserted as I came off the elevator, and I slipped into Bram’s room without incident.

  There he was—machines beeping and booping. He looked smaller than when I’d last seen him, like he’d sunk into the bed. His perfect head seemed sound, and I wanted to stroke it, to see those dark chocolate eyes with those ridiculously long lashes open. And there was only one way short of a miracle to manage that.

  I thought about blood … Ulric’s, actually, since I could still remember the rush of it. No thin stream like Blade had offered me, but a raging river. My teeth descended, and I nicked myself in the wrist. I used my other hand to open Bram’s mouth. It was heartbreakingly easy—his muscles offered no resistance at all. I dripped my blood into his open mouth, enough to fill a small juice glass. I didn’t want him to drown in it, but I was afraid that was exactly what would happen. He wasn’t swallowing, and if he breathed it in … I tried something I’d seen once on some animal show with people fostering baby animals. I closed his mouth and stroked his throat to encourage him to swallow.

  “Come on, come on, come on,” I said under my breath.

  Beneath my hand, his Adam’s apple bobbed, and I let my breath out in a sigh of relief. He’d taken the blood. Now it was a waiting game to see how he’d respond.

  My wrist was already healing so I didn’t need to wrap it, which was good, because even though this was a hospital, they didn’t exactly have gauze lying around like tissues. I spotted a chair deep in the shadows of the room, lit only by a faint light in the headboard of the bed, and settled in to watch.

  I nearly jumped out of my skin when the door to the room opened and closed. I had to will myself to stay still, hoping the nurse coming to take his pulse or whatever didn’t notice me there.

  I wasn’t prepared for Ulric and the others.

  “I knew you couldn’t stay away,” Ulric said, but his smirk was tired; his heart wasn’t in it.

  “That’s right,” I answered. “It’s all about you.”

  “Oh sure,” Lily said. “Give him a swelled head and then leave us.” She looked away. “That’s what you’re going to do, isn’t it?”

  “How did you—? Why aren’t you with the others?” I asked.

  “Ulric snapped out of the trance or whatever before anyone else,” Gavin supplied.

  “Maybe because of your warning,” Ulric said, his dark eyes all intense in the low light.

  “Or maybe because of his hard head,” Gavin cut in. “Anyway, he got to us too, once we were out of that house, and explained on the way over … more or less. Now here we are.”

  “I knew you’d come,” Ulric said.

  “How is he?” Byron asked.

  We all looked at Bram, and I swore I saw his eyelids flutter. And then … no doubt about it, his hand twitched.

  Lily ran to his bed and I wanted to do the same, but if he was waking up, the machines would alert the staff pretty soon and we’d have company.

  “We’d all better get out of here,” I said, surprised to hear my voice crack just a bit. “It’s after hours, and someone’s going to come by to check on him in just a bit. You don’t want to get caught.”

  “We’re not leaving,” Lily said, steel in her voice. “We’re going to be right he
re when he wakes up.”

  “He won’t be—?” Gavin started and stopped, unwilling to finish.

  I looked back at Bram, and at Lily stroking his cheek. “I’ve never done this before. I don’t know if he’ll have a sensitivity to sunlight for a while, or any weird cravings, but no, he won’t be … like me.”

  “Thank you,” Ulric said. “For … everything.”

  Bram’s beautiful eyes opened slowly, and I so wanted to stay. I’d never gotten the chance to know him, and I already knew the others enough to miss them. They all were instantly at his bedside. As much as I wanted to be there too, my place was elsewhere. I slunk silently to the door, wary of good-byes, and had nearly closed it behind me before it was caught.

  I turned. Ulric held the door in his hand, staring at me with his heart shining in his eyes. “We ever going to see you again?” he asked, trying to sound casual.

  “You never know,” I answered.

  And I disappeared into the night. Another name, another mission. At least I’d always have Bobby … or else. Even the Feds weren’t ready for the diva-storm I would unleash if they ever tried to keep us apart.

  The End.

  Acknowledgments

  There are so many people I want to thank that I don’t even know where to start. I absolutely couldn’t do this without my fabulous agent, Kristin Nelson, and everyone else at the Nelson Literary Agency, including Sarah Megibow, Lindsay Mergens, and Anita Mumm. I also want to thank the incredible people at Flux: my editors Brian Farrey and Sandy Sullivan, my publicist Marissa Pederson, copywriter Courtney Huber, and amazing cover designer Lisa Novak.

  On the personal side, I want to thank my awesome family, who I love very much and who put up with my main character practically living among us; Lynn Flewelling, who looked over an early draft when I had no idea if I was recapping too much or not enough; my cheerleader Beth Dunne and her very cool family; the Girlfriends’ Cyber Circuit, because they’re an amazing group of girls, some of whom started and all of whom have gotten behind the YA Authors Against Bullying movement. Thanks to Guy DuQuesnay, for being one of the first people to listen to me go on and on with an overlong recitation of the plot of my very first, very terrible manuscript and for pimping me in his newsletter, and to Milo Kaciak, who listened as well and would, I’m sure, pimp my books if he had a newsletter. (Right, Milo? Just agree with me, it’s easier.)

  I also want to thank my unbelievable authors, who’ve been super and supportive, and every reviewer, blogger, or fan who’s ever had a kind word to say. I appreciate you more than you know.