Emily bolted, knowing it would only be a matter of moments before he returned. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who he was calling either. She planned on being long gone before Starr and her crew showed up to finish what they started.
Emily burst out the back door and ran toward the car. She nearly killed the motor in her haste to get away. Marcus slumped further in the seat. Even though she talked to him, he did not respond.
“We’re at Scott's.” She pulled around to the alley at the back of the funeral home. She'd driven across town in record time. “He’ll know what to do.” At this point, she was unsure who she was trying to convince. Still, she felt better for saying it.
Scott opened the door on the fifth knock. He was sleepy eyed and confused. He wore pajamas pants with no shirt and mismatched socks. His hair stood up in odd little tufts all over his head. “Emily? What are you doing here?”
“Oh thank heavens you’re here!” Emily bullied her way into the building.
“Where else would I be at two in the morning?” He rubbed at bloodshot eyes with the heel of his hands. “What are you doing?”
“Quick, we have to get something to carry Marcus in on. He needs help.”
A dark frown twisted his features. Apparently he was unhappy to see her at such an early hour. Or maybe the idea of helping her vampire was what he opposed. “What’s going on? What happened to you?”
Emily’s adrenaline was waning. Aches and pains from the beating became much more noticeable. “Don’t just stand there, Scott. Help me!”
“Slow down. Let’s just calm down.” Scott’s expression darkened. Maybe he finally grasped that something dreadful had happened. He grabbed Emily by the shoulders and turned her to face him. He touched the knot on her forehead. “Did he hurt you?”
She slapped his hand away. She didn’t have time for this. Marcus needed his help much worse than she did. “Marcus was shot.”
Her steam finally fizzled, and she slumped heavily against him. Scott seemed hesitant at first, but eventually he wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders. “You aren’t making any sense, Emily. He’s a vampire, remember? Give him time, he’ll heal on his own.”
“No, you don’t understand. I think they shot him with silver or something. He’s not healing and he’s—he’s just dying.” Her voice broke and tears flowed freely now. “Could you take a look at him, please? Can’t you just do this one thing for me?”
He drew back enough to stare into her face. A grim expression clouded his features. “There’s nothing I can do for him.”
“Please help him.” She quickly summed up how he had gotten into the condition he was in. Desperate tears trailed down her cheeks and she wiped them away with dirty hands.
Two bright spots of color appeared on Scott's cheeks. “What kind of business do you have at a place like Red Door?”
Emily waved his obtrusive words away. “He’s saved me too many times to count. Can’t you see that I owe him big time?” She couldn't admit it to Scott, but she'd come to care about the vampire. It had all happened so fast, she didn't fully understand the why's or how's of it herself.
Scott’s expression flitted between shocked and annoyed. “And you just assumed I’d be okay with treating him? Damn it, Emily, why did you involve me? You could have taken him back to the other enforcers.”
She shook her head. “We're running out of time. I didn’t know what else to do.”
Scott ran fingers through his short, thick hair and groaned.
“I took him to Claude first. He’s been running an all-night medical clinic over there, but you already knew that didn’t you? I found out he’s killing them off as they come in. He’s the one who switched Marcus’s paperwork.”
Emily pushed past her hardheaded friend and went into the workroom. Marcus needed help. If nothing else, she could at least bring him inside until she could figure out what to do next. She seized a stretcher and pushed it toward the back door. She shot Scott the evil eye as she passed.
Scott’s socked feet slapped the floor behind her. “They’re going to figure out where you took him. Mark my words, Emily. They’ll come looking for him here.”
Emily maneuvered the stretcher down the hall. “Man up and help or get out of the damned way!”
Scott opened the door for her. “How do you know Claude was the one running the disposal?”
“He killed his cat, cat-man or whatever. I read the shifter laying on his worktable.” She manhandled the stretcher outside without his help. “He witnessed the meeting between them.”
Emily froze in her tracks. A large man had opened the passenger’s side door and was bent over Marcus’s inert body. Starr’s people had acted faster than she’d believed possible.
“What the hell did you do to him, Miss Cross?” A familiar crew cut in a dark suit turned to survey her. “I called Corey. He’s already on his way.”
“Me?” Emily was shocked that Chad would even think her capable of such an atrocity. “Starr’s people did this.”
Scott cleared his throat, reminding her that he was still annoyed. “So if his friends are coming to get him, why am I even out here? Good night to both of you.”
He turned to leave, but Chad grasped his arm. “Not so fast. We’re taking him inside.”
Chad bent into the car again, scooped up Marcus, and gently deposited him onto the stretcher. He leveled a hard gaze on Scott and used his elbow to brush aside the suit jacket. His weapon was in clear view. “Lead the way, mortuary man.”
Headlights at the end of the alley illuminated the night. Unsure whether it was Starr or Isabella’s enforcers, Emily hurried toward the building.
Corey, Jai Li and two vampires she’d never seen before exited the parked car. Corey was the first to reach them. “He looks terrible.”
Scott seemed irritated that more people had crowded into his workroom. His mouth was set on permanent grimace. “Give me some room, people. You there…” He pointed at Corey. “Lay him on the table.”
Emily shrank back against one of the cabinets lining the wall, eager to be out of the way.
Jai Li stood at the foot of the worktable, a sour expression on her face. Her dark gaze slid toward Emily. “Starr’s people did this?”
Emily’s mind whirled. Should she tell them about Brenda or keep that information to herself? Screw her. Brenda had lied. Her betrayal cut deeper than any knife ever could. If anything were to happen to her ex-best friend… Well, she’d deal with the guilt later. Emily gathered her wits and told them what she remembered.
Jai Li snapped her stern gaze around to Chad and the two vampires who had arrived with her. “The three of you divide up and watch this place. If any of the witch’s people come snooping around, take care of them. If you see Starr, send Chad inside to get us.”
The somber men shuffled out of the room.
Scott prepped Marcus by cutting the ragged shirt open. Only his arms were covered now. He motioned for Emily to join him. “He’s your pet, so get over here and help me. Get the rest of this shirt off him.”
Jai Li’s irritated gaze narrowed at the derogative term, but she said nothing. Corey looked like a little boy who had lost his best friend. He pushed away from the wall and took a couple steps toward them. He wrung his hands. “Is there anything I can do?”
Scott didn’t look up from the tools he was laying on the cart. “That depends on whether I’m able to save him or not. He’ll be hungry when he wakes.”
Corey frowned, not following where Scott was leading him. He glanced at Jai Li who lifted a shoulder.
“He'll need blood.” Scott stood poised over his patient, a large pair of tweezers held loosely in his hand.
“He can have some of mine.” Emily turned to rummage through the cabinets for a needle and some tubing.
The tweezers clanked against the cart. Scott gripped her arm and spun her around to face him. He leaned close and growled in her ear. “No way in hell.”
Emily shoved him a
side. “I won't let him die!”
Cursing, Scott returned to the worktable. He took a calming breath and set his mind on the task at hand. If anyone could save Marcus, Scott could. Without protest, she finished stripping away the mutilated shirt and slipped on a pair of latex gloves.
Corey’s gaze slid in Jai Li’s direction again. He looked positively ill with worry.
Jai Li was obviously not the warm and fuzzy type. She crossed her arms over her chest and watched as Scott selected a scalpel. She averted her gaze when Scott made the first cut. “Don't you have any blood here? He'll need more than Emily can provide.”
Scott didn’t look up from the first gunshot wound. “No. After it was compromised, I asked Beau to get rid of it.”
“What are we gonna do?” Corey’s forehead creased with worry. He sought comfort from Jai Li by sidling closer to her.
She did not touch him or offer any words of comfort. Instead, she seemed to study each and every move Emily and Scott made as if she were looking for them to make a mistake.
Scott lifted his head, a bit of compassion bleeding into his gaze. “What about the human outside? Would he be willing to donate blood?”
Jai Li seemed to relax a little. “Ah, what a smart man you are.”
Corey leaned close to Jai Li, though he didn’t try to hide what he said. “I suppose this means he isn’t the one running the disposal. I imagine Marcus will want to discontinue surveillance.”
Emily stiffened at Corey’s words. Scott's only reaction was a narrowing of the eyes. She frowned down at Marcus. He’d been running surveillance on her boss? Feeling it important to come clean with Scott, she said, “I didn't know.”
Scott shrugged. “I did.”
The white-hot sun blinded Marcus. He squinted up into the brightness and wondered just how he’d managed not to burn to a crisp. It wasn’t the sun, but an overhead lamp. The sterile scent of industrial cleansers and something much stronger burned at the back of his throat. One by one, his senses slowly began to reawaken. The taste of coppery blood—probably his own—left a bitter tang in his mouth.
The kiss of cold steel touched his body and his head was held immobile by whatever it rested on. Where the hell was he? He remembered falling against a car and Emily’s mournful cry. Suddenly everything that happened came flooding back in a rush.
Oh shit, where was Emily?
He allowed his gaze to slant to the right and spotted her. She wore latex gloves and a smear of blood just beneath her swollen left eye. On his other side, Scott Hall leaned near with a scalpel in hand.
Scott pursed his lips, a look of concentration on his face. He pressed the tweezers against Marcus’s skin, his expression unsure. “I suppose once he gets some blood in him, he can heal on his own?”
Someone murmured an affirmative.
“Good,” he said with just the hint of a smile. “Because I’ll have to cut this one out.”
He dropped something into the collection pan Emily held. Marcus wanted to speak—to ask if she was really okay—but couldn’t muster the strength. Starr must have really messed him up. His head didn’t feel right. Even his body seemed lethargic and unwilling to respond.
“Check this out.” Scott held a piece of gnarled metal in his gloved hand. A silvery liquid shimmered down the length of his thumb.
“Looks like there’s some liquid packed inside. It’s like a paintball only with shrapnel.”
“Silver,” Corey said on a shaky exhalation.
Scott looked up and frowned at the vampire. “I can't promise that I can save him. If this silver has gotten into the blood stream…well, we might not be able to reverse the damage.”
“If anyone can do it, you can.” Emily pressed a wad of gauze against Marcus's chest and assisted Scott in plucking another bullet from his flesh.
“I'm just flying by the seat of my pants. What choice do I have now that the goon squad is here?”
Marcus laid there, eyes half open. Though the pain was intense, he’d endured far greater in his lifetime.
“I read the guy on Claude's table.” Emily leaned closer to Scott, a look of accusation on her face. “He wondered if you accepted money to take out the garbage, if you know what I mean.”
She glanced over her shoulder at their company. Marcus followed her gaze with his eyes and found Corey and Jai Li huddled against the far wall. Both were somber, reminding him of someone awaiting bad news. Didn’t Emily realize the vampires could hear every word they uttered?
Though Marcus couldn’t remember closing his eyes, he opened them. The room snapped back into sharp focus. Had he lost consciousness again? The sting of blood and antiseptic tickled his nostrils.
“This one’s in there pretty deep.” Scott seemed to dig the scalpel in and twist.
Had Marcus been able to, he might have cried out.
Scott frowned at Emily. “Do you remember how to do an I.V.? There’s very little blood in his veins and I’m afraid we’ll lose him if we don’t do it now. Maybe he'll be able to fight any silver that's still in his system.”
“I’ll go see if Chad will donate a little.” Emily hurried to the door and called his name. When his bulky frame filled the doorway, she said, “Marcus needs blood.”
“Of course.” Chad moved forward, already rolling up the sleeve on his left arm.
“You don’t have to if you’re not okay with it.”
“I owe him my life, Miss Cross. It’s the least I can do.”
Emily gathered the things she needed. She prepped his arm and slid the needle into a vein. The blood ran through the tubing and into the bag. After a few minutes, she’d taken all she safely could.
Chad took the offered bandage. He moved toward the door that led back to the alley and said, “Good luck.”
Emily looked like she might break down and cry at any moment. Marcus wanted nothing more than to take her into his embrace and kiss her fears away.
Scott’s sharp voice was anything but comforting. “Get it together, Emily. If we don’t save him, what do you think Isabella will do to us?”
Emily regarded the plasma with renewed determination. She worked on his right arm, only taking two tries to get the needle into place. The first one bent and broke.
She squeezed his hand and smoothed the hair from his face in a tender gesture. Her voice caught on a sob. “Marcus.”
He wanted desperately to look at her face, to let her know he was still there, but everything had gone black. Had he merely closed his eyes or gone blind? Warmth began to trickle through him and his body hungrily absorbed the plasma.
“He needs more.” Scott frowned. “I don’t want it to be yours.”
“Chad gave all he could. I’m the only one left.”
The room came back into bright focus. The afterimage of the light bulb burned into his retinas.
“I’ll give him some of mine,” Scott said, but didn’t look the least bit happy about it.
Emily leaned over him to grip Scott’s arm. “No. I’ll do it.”
Scott’s face heated with anger, but he didn’t tell her no.
“You never mentioned that Starr offered you money,” Emily whispered.
Scott lowered his voice. “I didn’t see any point in telling you. You’ve got your hands full as it is.”
Emily’s freckles stood out against her pale complexion. She looked rough with tangled, dirty hair and a black eye. Dirt and blood had smudged her cheek and chin.
Marcus found it quite interesting that Starr had asked Scott to join her. Would either of them be interested to know he’d already called off the constant surveillance? Instead, he’d asked Chad to drive by occasionally and keep an eye out for trouble. Frankly, he didn’t give a rip about what happened to Scott Hall. Emily was his responsibility, not her boss.
Scott jabbed giant tweezers into the wound he’d made with the scalpel. He pulled the hunk of silver free and dropped it into the collection pan. Marcus groaned.
“It looks like your friend is back from t
he land of the dead.” He laid the blade aside and tossed a used wad of gauze onto a nearby cart.
“What about the neck wound?”
Scott was unconcerned. “It’s a through and through. He’ll heal on his own. Same with the stab wound.” Finally, a bit of warmth crept into his expression. “Why don’t you let me run you over to the hospital to get checked out? You’re pretty banged up.”
Emily ducked her head. “I’ll live.”
“Let me take a look at you.” He reached for her, but she shied away. His expression hardened. “It’s almost dawn and you’ll need to get Marcus somewhere safe for the day.”
Jai Li jostled Marcus into a sitting position. His head fell forward, and he couldn’t muster the strength to hold it up. His limbs were heavy, no feeling left in them. Chad’s blood should have begun the healing process. This couldn’t be right.
Corey beckoned Emily closer. His voice cracked with emotion. “He’s not coming out of it. Why isn’t he coming out of it?”
Emily grabbed a new needle. “Scott, you want to give me a hand over here?”
She shoved the tube and baggie into Corey’s hands. “Hold these.”
Scott hadn’t moved from the sink. “Do not give him your blood, Emily. Please.”
Marcus reached for her with leaden arms. His body moved on its own accord, and he was unable to stop it. Fingers closed around her shoulders and hauled her up against him. He pitched forward, mouth at her neck. At the last second, he came to his senses enough to avoid tearing her throat out. Instead, his fangs sank into the space where her neck and shoulder met.
Emily cried out, but didn’t fight him. Somehow she ended up in his lap. Her arms twined around him, holding on for dear life. A little moan, he was unsure if it was pain or pleasure, escaped her.
He clung to her, drank deeply and savored the sweet flavor of her blood. His hunger began to recede, but a new need began to grow. Had he been stronger and not had an audience, he might have seen to it as well.
Jai Li was at his ear. Her voice was indifferent. “You have to stop now, Marcus. You’re going to kill her.”
Of A Darker Nature Page 25