Sky jabbed a finger a finger at my chest, her expression stern and furious. “You go to the house and see after Chris.” She glared at Demetrius, then turned her wrath on the were-animals and vamps around us. “And the rest of you go home. It’s over.”
I stormed away from Demetrius without looking back. My anger was wound so tightly I wasn’t sure I could keep from throttling his pale throat if I looked once more into those lifeless black eyes. I hurried across the neighboring field to where I’d left my SUV.
Speeding, I reached the retreat in record time. Dr. Jimenez was conducting triage in the entryway, though the number of injured were surprisingly few. The genums had shown a particular commitment to the kill, unwilling to settle for incapacitating their enemies. He was discussing the injured with Sebastian when I arrived.
“Ethan,” Sebastian called to me, but I ignored him, striding directly to the clinic, where I found Josh anxiously waiting outside the double doors. Seeing my approach, he positioned himself against the seam of the doors, as if he could stop me.
“Out of my way,” I commanded, but Josh held his ground.
“He needs the room to work, Ethan,” Josh pleaded.
“Work?” I snapped. Was there even a chance he could save her? I stared at Josh, hoping and disbelieving.
“Ethan!” Sebastian called from the end of the hallway behind me.
I spun around, growling.
He gestured toward the front of the house. “We’ve got company,” he said, then disappeared.
I turned to give the clinic doors a frustrated glare, then followed. Josh trailed behind me. Passing the windows in the entertainment room, I saw a number of vehicles parked haphazardly on the lawn at the front of the house, with more arriving. Demetrius had invited himself and had brought most of his Seethe with him.
Striding into the entryway, I found a cluster of furious were-animals agitating for a fight. At their head, Sebastian’s large frame blocked the doorway.
“This is not acceptable,” he said. “Take your people and go.”
“Then I’ll take her with me,” Demetrius snapped.
I pushed through the crowd, finding Steven beside the door, next to Sebastian.
“I’m not leaving without her,” the vampire insisted hotly.
“Then I’ll make you!” I shouted, pushing past Steven. I’d nearly pushed past Sebastian before he held me back. The vamps behind Demetrius taunted me, hissing and snarling as I struggled to reach their Master.
“She is not yours to keep!” he spat.
Sebastian wrangled me around and pushed me back inside, where Steven and Josh got between me and door. Behind them I noticed a crouched Sky slip inside, angling herself past Sebastian. She gave me an irritated look, then squeezed past Josh and disappeared behind me.
“Ethan,” Josh hissed at me, “We just fought a battle. We don’t need another one. Look at them.” He gestured to the were-animals behind me. Many of them had slight wounds. All of them appeared exhausted, but they were on their feet, shouting out the door and through the nearby windows at the vampires outside. My rage fueled them. I snarled, yanking myself free from Josh’s and Steven’s grips. For the sake of the pack, I did my best to contain my rage.
“Send them away and I will welcome you inside,” Sebastian agreed at the door. “I will give you all the access to her that you require, if you agree to restrain yourself.”
“And your dog?” Demetrius snapped, defiant.
Sebastian glanced over his shoulder to me. I growled, but nodded. Demetrius accepted the terms, dismissing his Seethe with an almost casual gesture before Sebastian stepped aside and invited him into the house. Demetrius entered, his expression a confused mixture of anger and sorrow.
“This way,” I said tightly, leading Demetrius to the clinic.
We quietly eased inside, careful not to disturb Dr. Baker and Kelly as they worked intently on Chris. Their expressions were drawn, defeated, but they were doing everything possible for her. Sebastian and Sky filed in behind us.
After two hours, Dr. Baker had done everything he could to address Chris’s wounds. While he stepped back, taking a moment to breathe, the rest of us remained silent. There were just the noises of the monitors and other equipment connected to her. Her breathing had eased, and Dr. Baker had pumped her full of pain medication. I could see the strain of failure in his eyes. Even if Chris had had the healing abilities of a were-animal, her injuries were likely too severe to survive.
After a moment I noticed Kelly glancing between Chris and the rest of us. With the backdrop of beeps and whirs from the machinery that monitored Chris and barely kept her alive, Kelly observed our silent grief with bewilderment. Slowly, steadily, her expression hardened into naked disgust.
“Whose genius idea was it to have her out there?”
Her accusation stung. Even Demetrius seemed taken aback. Before I could answer, the monitor sounded an alarm. Dr. Baker and Kelly reacted coolly, going straight to work.
“Cardiac arrest,” he said to her as they worked to restart Chris’s heart.
“Five minutes,” Sky muttered beneath her breath, glancing at the clock on the wall.
After that, her brain will be damaged from lack of oxygen. I tensed, unblinking as I watched them work to get her heart beating. After what seemed an eternity, I realized I’d been holding my breath. The sudden beeping of her heart monitor brought a palpable relief to the room. Sky sighed aloud, expressing relief for both of us. I looked to her, admiring her strength. Nothing required her to be there, but she remained, resolute and strong and hopeful despite all odds.
Demetrius walked out of the room. A moment later his face appeared in the window, his expression hard and mournful as he watched. However twisted their relationship, he did care. But that didn’t make him any less dangerous to Chris. He’d used his blood to lure her close. Without him, Chris wouldn’t be lying on the hospital table, broken and dying.
While they tried to stabilize her, she went into another cardiac arrest. They revived her once more, only to have her heart fail again. By the time they finally got her stable, I had reached the limit of my endurance.
Once again, Kelly turned her wrath on us. “So guys, what’s the endgame?” Her hard gaze passed over the others, then settled on me.
“I’ll change her,” I said. It was more likely to kill her than help her heal, but she was doomed anyway. There was no longer a reason to deny her what she wanted most from me.
Dr. Baker shook his head. “She will never survive it. Even a lesser species will be too hard for her body to endure. I don’t think you realize how bad she is.”
I know how bad she is. She’s dying.
Josh appeared at my side, waiting in the silence as I battled my urge to run to Chris’s crumpled form and change her anyway. If I didn’t, she would die, but was I truly offering her mercy? Would I just be adding to her already unimaginable suffering?
“You have another option,” Josh offered softly.
I gave him a questioning look, then followed his gaze until it stopped at Demetrius.
“No,” I snapped, stiffening.
“Ethan.” Josh’s eyes were full of empathy as he held my gaze. “You’ll regret it if you don’t.” Despite his dislike for Chris, it was impossible not to have compassion for the creature that lay in our clinic, broken into something barely human, suffering, but there was no chance I would condemn her to an eternity of evil depravity as a vampire.
I swallowed, turning away from his gaze. “I’ve learned to live with far worse.” I wouldn’t just hand her over to Demetrius to do what he would with her, forever.
“Ethan,” Josh pleaded softly, but I ignored him.
Sebastian turned to Dr. Baker. “Don’t let her suffer.”
Kelly gaped, horrified and repulsed. “You’re going to let her die?”
Sebastian ignored the accusation, frowning at Chris. I couldn’t read his thoughts. Was he considering overriding my decision? He’d only deferred to
me out of respect, but I knew his judgment wasn’t clouded by my emotional involvement. To him, Chris was more liability than asset. Ultimately, that was all his decision came down to. As a human Hunter, she’d tried to kill Josh and conspired against our interests to capture Sky for the vamps. She had shown no compunction working against our interests when it had suited her. As a vampire, she could be highly dangerous.
Tears welled in Kelly’s wide eyes. She gently laid a palm over her heart as she said, “Sebastian,” as if he’d crushed her belief in him. If he knew, he didn’t show it. Beneath his cold, steady gaze, she withered and sagged against the wall. Her eyes followed him as he turned and walked to the doors. He was halfway out of the clinic when he turned back to her, letting the doors swish shut behind him.
“Sometimes,” he gently explained, “what seems like the cruelest thing is the best option.”
Kelly’s eyes passed over the rest of us once more, expecting one of us to take her side. When none did, her expression hardened into abhorrence. For the first time, she seemed to recognize that she was standing alone among monsters.
Behind her, Dr. Baker slowly turned off the monitors, then detached the multitude of lines that had connected them to Chris. My heart sank as I watched the slow, faint rise of her chest, expecting each to be her last. I listened to the faint, erratic beat of her heart as she stubbornly refused to die, but it was only a matter of moments.
“Ethan,” Josh whispered beside me, adding urgency to his soft desperate plea.
I rounded on him with a harsh glower, daring him to press me further. I wanted her to live, but how could I damn her just to assuage my guilt? She’d taken Demetrius’s blood because she’d wanted the abilities it granted her, but she’d never wanted to become a vampire. Whatever had happened between them in the end, I’d probably never know, but she’d walked away from Demetrius rather than let him own her. No. I would never surrender her to him. Stealing myself, I strode through the double doors and stood in front of Demetrius, glaring into his dark, heartless eyes. I didn’t care about his pain. Her death was his fault. He’d used Chris’s desperation for his own pleasure, and now she was paying the ultimate price. I didn’t give a damn about his pain.
“Go home,” I commanded.
Oblivious, he peered over my shoulder at Chris. When he tried to step around me into the clinic, I shoved him back. His lips twisted into a vitriolic snarl. He bared his fangs in warning. Before I could tell him to go to hell, he pushed me hard enough that I stumbled across the hall and slammed into a wall, leaving a dent in the Sheetrock. If that’s how you want it. I strode toward him, fists clenched, when Kelly suddenly appeared between us with her arms outstretched to keep us apart.
I glared over her head at him, letting him know I was ready to kill him at his convenience. He merely frowned, casually acknowledging Kelly, then turned back toward the doors with a forlorn look.
“Why can’t he at least say good-bye?” she demanded of me. “Doesn’t he at least deserve that much?”
He deserves nothing, I snarled, but she held her ground.
She was entranced by Demetrius’s apparent grief, which did nothing to assuage his guilt. I was about to tell him so when I caught a look from Sebastian over the vamp’s shoulder. My lips pressed together as I clamped my jaw shut. Reminding myself that this wasn’t the time to fight a war, I did my best to suppress my anger. Though Sebastian wouldn’t demand it of me, he wanted this crisis to end diplomatically. There was more at stake than my feelings. Our relations with the Seethe going forward depended a great deal on the moment at hand. If I were to deny Demetrius his chance to say good-bye, the consequences could affect our relations for decades. A little civility was all that was required. I ground my teeth, agonizing over my decision. He couldn’t change her, I told myself. The battle had taken too much out of him, and I knew by the orange glow in his right eye that he’d not fed since before Ethos’s defeat. Most likely he couldn’t turn her, even if he wanted to. Allowing him to say good-bye to Chris was probably harmless, albeit offensive.
“Say your good-byes and leave,” I grumbled, making a show of glancing at my watch.
Demetrius disappeared. By the time I reached the doors, he was already at her side. At Sebastian’s urging, Josh and Sky emerged from the room, followed by Kelly and Dr. Baker, to give Demetrius some privacy. Kelly remained at the doors, peering inside through the windows.
“What will happen to her when he is done?” she asked Dr. Baker next to her, her eyes glistening.
He sighed, choosing his words carefully. “She will be relieved,” he promised.
His words were meant to be comforting. Instead, Kelly scoffed, horrified. “Relieved? You mean you will kill her.”
Dr. Baker frowned, visibly wounded by her rebuke. “Yes.”
Scowling, she shook her head in disgust as she peered back through the window. When he tried to touch her shoulder—meant to be a comforting gesture—she recoiled. He backed away, accepting her rebuke with a sad resignation.
After a few minutes of watching the disgusting image of a solemn Demetrius grieving next to Chris’s broken body, I’d had enough. Sky stared at me, perplexed, as I stormed into the next room. I had one end of a couch off the floor before I stopped myself from throwing it. Why I didn’t, I couldn’t say. I could break every couch in the house and have them all replaced tomorrow.
Josh followed me into the room, wearing a pleading look. He just didn’t know when to let up. “Ethan,” he started.
I dropped the couch to the floor with a thud and growled a warning.
“You know it’s what she wanted.”
“Not. Him!” I shouted. “He doesn’t get to have her like that!”
“Is that what this is about?” Josh shook his head, disappointed. “You’re going to deny her a chance to live just because you can’t stand seeing her with someone else?”
I reached under the couch and threw it one-handed across the room. My brother had seen my temper too many times for it to faze him. I paced in front of him, scowling at the hall that led to the clinic. “She was trying to kill him.”
“What? Demetrius?”
I continued pacing. “You didn’t notice the way she looked at him before the battle?” He was sorting through his memories when I continued. “I said all along that he was going to go too far.”
Josh frowned. “You think Demetrius did something to her?”
I stopped to jab a finger at his chest as I made my point. “If he turns Chris, he will have total control of her. Forever. She’ll never have a choice. So, yeah, I’d rather see her die than become his.”
I heard the bang of heavy metal doors slamming shut in the hall, followed by Sebastian’s shout.
“Kelly!”
Josh and I ran into the hall to find Sebastian and Dr. Baker trying to force open the Alamo doors while Sky stood aside, shocked and horrified. Demetrius had no idea about the doors, let alone how to activate them. Kelly had done it. She’d locked herself and Chris inside the clinic—with Demetrius.
I ran to the door, adding my strength to Sebastian’s, but it wouldn’t budge.
“Kelly!” he shouted, banging the door with the bottom of his fist. “Open the door!”
Together, we assaulted the door, attempting to smash it in through sheer brutal strength. The metal whined and creaked and dented beneath the onslaught, but the locks didn’t break—it had been designed to withstand just such an assault. I turned to Josh, expecting him to transport me inside.
“Iridium,” he said with a defeated expression, gesturing to the doors.
Furious, I turned and slammed my entire body into the door. Iridium had been built into the door on my instructions, specifically to prevent a witch or vampire from transporting through it. There was nothing Josh could do because I’d made sure of it.
Gavin and Steven arrived, immediately adding their fury to the assault on the doors. After several minutes of throwing our bodies against it, the doors finally bent in a
t the center—enough that we could push the opening wider until the door finally broke in half and we all stumbled into the clinic, with Josh and Sky close behind. Apart from our arrival, the room was quiet. Chris and Demetrius were gone. Only Kelly remained, calmly cleaning up the mess left from the trauma of trying to save Chris. Fresh bruising was visible on her neck, surrounding a fresh vampire bite. She frowned at us as she straightened containers on a counter.
A growl rumbled from my throat as I glared at her.
“Where are they?” Sebastian demanded through clenched teeth, amber sparks flashing in his eyes, but she seemed oblivious to the danger as she removed the sheets from the hospital bed and began cleaning the vinyl table with a sanitizer. “Answer me!”
Kelly flinched. As she met his gaze, I saw fear finally gather in her eyes. He stepped closer to her, glowering. “I need you to tell me where they are.”
She glanced at me, then the others, as if expecting help, shocked that we didn’t understand the choice she’d made. Slowly, she backed away from him, guiding herself along the counter. Sebastian took several slow breaths, trying to calm himself, but he was in a rare anger, the kind of anger that could get Kelly killed if she wasn’t careful. She’d betrayed the pack.
Unable to speak, he continued to glare down at her as he slowly advanced until she was forced to change direction to avoid being backed into a corner. She tried backing toward Dr. Baker, looking for help, but he offered her no protection; he was just as furious as the rest of us. The only detail that might save her was that she didn’t seem to fully understand the choice she’d made.
In her time working with Dr. Baker, Kelly had endeared herself to the pack. She was a skilled nurse and unfazed by our kind, which was rare among humans. Until then, she’d been fearless. But she wasn’t ignorant of pack rules. Though she wasn’t a member, the rules still applied to her. Did she think this was just a club house, and faced with her self-described moral choice we would all nod and agree to exempt her from punishment? Betrayal of the pack was the worst possible offense, and it was punishable by death. Sebastian was well within his rights to kill her. Judging from the depth of his anger, it was a very real possibility, one she was only now coming to grips with.
Darkness Unveiled Page 26
