Jay led her to a door that he unlocked and relocked once she’d followed him inside. He strode away, and she scurried to catch up, but by the time they’d climbed a flight of stairs, she recognized where she was. The door lay open at the end of the hallway, past the suite she’d used last night.
Jay nodded to a man who stood by the bed in sight of the door, dismissing him. The man’s powerful frame and the black weapon tucked into a shoulder holster suggested he was a bodyguard. That more than anything else that had happened in the previous half hour brought home to Lucille what had occurred. Someone had deliberately attacked her brother, knowing what he was.
A bed dominated the room—an old-fashioned four-poster with silk drapes in a pale green. The color did nothing to enhance the appearance of the man lying so still beneath the white sheets. His hairless chest rose and fell lightly, the movement barely there. Heavy bandages were wrapped, none too tidily, around his chest and most of the upper body.
“We bound it to stop the bleeding,” Jay said.
Smears of blood, dark and threatening, marked the sheets under him and by his head. The scent of freshly spilled blood hung heavily in the air, and to her shame, Lucille’s automatic reaction was the hunger. Even by day the lust to take the nourishment the vampire needed seized her at a visceral level. She’d taken from Jay last night, but she needed mortal blood before she could feel comfortable and sated. Before she had her full strength back. She’d meant to do it tonight, but now she wouldn’t have a chance. She’d manage.
“You’ve saved us both in the last two days.” She hated to be beholden to anyone, but she had to acknowledge what he’d done.
“I was there, that’s all. Someone is targeting you and your brother. Two attacks in as many days, both using silver?” He stared at Drew grimly, his face taut with anger. “Not a coincidence. I thought the attack on you was intended for me, but now I’m not so sure. Though how the fuck they knew I’d use my neckcloth that way I’m not certain.” He shot her a perceptive glance. “Don’t make me a hero. I was just there. Anyone would have helped you.”
“Me, for instance.” A deep voice came from the doorway as the man from last night came in, followed closely by an older man. They carried plastic coolers. Blue dumped his two by the side of the bed. “How is he?”
“No better.”
“You said he was asking for me?” she said, her mouth dry. Drew certainly wasn’t asking for anyone now. He was out cold, lying on his back, unnaturally still.
“When we lifted him to carry him here, he regained consciousness. Said your name,” Jay said.
The older man, the doctor, she assumed, wasted no time. He hurried to the bed and leaned over Drew, listening to his breathing, feeling his forehead. “I need these bandages off him, but as soon as the compression is released, he’ll start bleeding again. Tell me where the bullets went in.”
Jay moved closer to Lucille. “Two at least. One in his chest, right upper side, one in his left arm. That could have been a through and through, but we didn’t stop to search for the evidence.”
The doctor nodded. “I need to irrigate the wounds and get out any trace of silver that remains. I don’t want relatives in here while I do it.”
“No.” Lucille widened her stance and folded her arms across her chest. “He wants me. I stay.”
“You don’t,” Jay said. “I’ll take you next door and bring you back the minute they say it’s okay.”
“I can’t concentrate properly if I’m dealing with distress,” the doctor said. “My strongest psi sense is my empathy. Even next door you’ll interfere with my reason if you don’t control them.”
She had to calm herself down, for Drew’s sake. That the doctor had that Talent made sense, considering his profession. He didn’t want her out of the way so he could do something unpleasant, maybe painful, to her brother.
Nathan nodded to her. “I’ve got this. Get me a coffee, and I’ll be eternally grateful to you.”
“That’s a long time to be grateful,” Jay said. Hand at the small of her back, he was already ushering Lucille out of the room.
They entered the suite they’d last been in so short a while ago with such different expectations. Uncertainty, worry, and a dozen other things crowded in on Lucille, forcing a sense of numb shock over the whole.
Gently, he drew her into his arms, less imprisoning than comforting. “I’m sorry about all this.”
She considered resisting but deciding against it. What was the point? “I don’t know how this could happen.”
“I do.” His touch might be tender, but his voice was grim. “Come sit down. I’ll put on the coffee.”
After guiding her to a chair set next to a table by one of the two windows, he crossed the room and opened a door. Inside she caught a glimpse of a small kitchen arrangement. He took down a couple of French presses and filled a large silver kettle. She found that watching him eased her a little, made her tension decrease. His movements, even in something as mundane as making coffee, were sure and deft.
He soon had four coffees poured in wide white cups. Black for her, cream for him. After taking two cups through to the other room, he placed hers gently on the table. She nodded her thanks but didn’t pick it up immediately. She’d let it cool. “How did it happen?”
He frowned. “I went out this morning to make certain everything was in order after last night’s operation, and Nathan called me.”
As he related how he’d discovered Drew, her mind settled, recovering from the initial shock. He gave her the time. Although she checked mentally with her brother, he was out cold, and she got nothing. A Talent’s mind shut down when they weren’t able to consciously project. Probably a defensive measure. Probably why she couldn’t contact him before.
Jay touched her hand, then moved his fingers away. “I won’t say he’ll be fine, because I don’t want to lie to you. But I’ve seen worse.”
“You have?” She’d clutch at any straw.
“Yes. Honestly, I have. I’ve been in several conflicts. When I couldn’t duck.” His self-deprecatory smile didn’t fool her. He wouldn’t walk away from something he could help with. Although she’d told him several times to leave that morning, he’d stayed until she let him into her mind far enough for him to tell her.
Without thinking, she reached for him, and immediately he was there.
He covered her hand with his, warm and comforting, then with a strangled sound of exasperation, he got to his feet and pulled her into his arms. “I’ll do anything I can.”
“Who would do it?” she wailed, fighting tears. Crying would do nobody any good, least of all her. She had to be strong for her brother.
“Nathan came here looking for a cell. You know about the PHR?”
“Our parents warned us there would be people who wanted us dead, and to keep hidden. We’ve done that, as much as we can. We even go into Houston to feed.”
His mouth tightened, the lines at the corners deepening. “He’s been missing three days, you said. For most of that time, he must have been in captivity. We know there’s a cell around here, and my guess is they got him. The cell drove the family out, the ones I helped get away last night. The cell members are effective and clever. Been here a long time too. So it’s time we rooted them out and destroyed them like the vermin they are.”
“A cell?”
“You know about the Thorndykes. We get threatened Talents to safety. The PHR knows our weaknesses, and the members are aware we exist, but they’re paranoid. With good reason. They have a kind of daisy chain of cells. Only one member contacts a member in another cell. It makes them hard to root out since the bastards don’t have a single leader who controls everything.”
Fear clutched her heart. “You think there’s a cell in Taken?”
“Or nearby. I imagine at least one group is in Houston. They could come from there. You said your brother goes into Houston a lot?”
She nodded and leaned against his shoulder. “He’s young, and h
e likes to party. As a vampire, he can really kick over the traces better than most.”
“Yeah.” He grunted. “I remember doing it myself. But he should always take care.”
“I know. I tell him.”
He stroked her, his fingers catching strands of her unruly hair. His silence made her lift her chin and stare up at him. “What is it?”
“You were attacked last night. Silver.” His stillness told her all she needed to know. “Whoever tainted my neckcloth probably went for me, but if they saw your reaction, they’d know you were a vampire.”
“Silver binding can’t kill me, surely.”
“You’re violently allergic. I didn’t tell you at the time, but yes, you could have died. Maybe the people who attacked Drew knew that. Is he as bad?”
“Yes, he is.” She pressed her forehead against his shoulder, not wanting to see his face. She breathed in his essence. Despite her distaste of the way he’d treated her that morning and what had happened since, desire tugged at her like Pavlov’s dog anticipating the treat.
When she pulled away, he didn’t stop her. “Have you told anyone you’re allergic to silver?”
She shook her head. “No. People have seen the rash, but it’s never been too bad because I take care. Still, sometimes I come into contact with it. I tell them it’s something else. Peanuts, because that’s more common. Less suspicious.”
He let go a breath. “Good.” He paused. “I want to keep you here, at least until we know what’s going on.”
Everything in her rebelled against that. She crossed her arms under her breasts. “No. I won’t let anyone drive me out of town. I’m not giving up. I’ll take precautions. I’ll work the night shift. That way I’ll be full vampire.”
His mouth flattened into a straight line. “That’s a start, but these people won’t give up if they think you’re a Talent. They call us freaks, perverts, impure. Nothing will stop them coming for you.”
Tears of frustration, anger, and fear sprang to her eyes, but she dashed them away impatiently. “I can’t give up the bar. It’s our birthright, all we have. We’ve worked hard to make that place what it is. Why should I give in?” But if Drew needed her, she’d abandon it in an instant.
“That’s all you have?” he echoed. “Didn’t your parents leave you well off?”
“Not particularly. We have a bit of money in the bank, but not enough to live off, and we put most of that into the bar. We’re doing okay.”
“Your parents didn’t wait until you could care for yourselves? They didn’t leave you with money?” He sounded incredulous.
She shrugged and turned away, old hurts rising to pierce the frantic concern for her brother. “Parents often move on. But I expected them to keep in touch.”
“They didn’t?” He touched her shoulders, his hands gentle. “They should have thought of you first. Children are precious to Talents. They had no right, and I won’t apologize for saying that.”
“No.” She paused. “I’ve thought that myself sometimes. One day my dad just wasn’t there. What could I do except carry on? I was the oldest and adult, barely legal enough to keep Drew at first. But I was, and we worked on that. Drew got casual jobs, and I carried on with the bar.”
Remembering those times helped to quell the confusion she still felt. Their parents had loved them. “Mom went first, then Dad. I looked for them, but I never found them.”
“Vampires are good at disappearing. But I’ll ask in the Thorndyke group, see if we were involved in moving them.”
“Thanks.” She swallowed. “It doesn’t matter much now.”
“Were your parents young too?”
She nodded. “My dad was. My mom was older.” She lowered her voice so he wouldn’t hear the betraying tremble. “Drew’s all I have. He can’t die.”
“He’s getting the best attention. We’ll do everything we can to stop that happening. If we can keep him alive until nightfall, then we have a great chance.” He stroked his hands down her arms, wrapped them loosely around her waist. “If we can’t do it any other way, we’ll have to wake him and keep him conscious. That will hurt him. A lot.”
“But he’ll live?”
“If he lets us enter his mind, then we can support him. Yes. Though at times he might want to die.”
She turned around and rested against him once more, unable to resist his warm strength. “You sound as if you’ve been through something similar.”
He leaned his chin against her hair. “Once or twice. Most of us have, if we’ve lived more than one lifetime.”
When she lifted her head this time, he kissed her, once on her forehead and then on her mouth, but tenderly, giving comfort rather than desire. She accepted it, allowed him to share her burden as much as he could, by letting him in.
“What happened this morning after I left?”
“A woman brought me a huge breakfast and some clothes. She told me you always preferred your women gone by the time you got home. Made it sound as if you did this a lot.”
His arms stiffened around her, and a shadow of his anger crossed her mind. “It was none of my doing. I ordered the breakfast and the clothes, but nothing else. Whoever it was will not be in my employ much longer. I’m so sorry that happened to you, especially after last night.” He paused, swallowed, and that little sign of nervousness persuaded her as much as his words that he was telling the truth. “I tried to contact you when we found Drew, but you’d closed to me. The only way you could do that was to close all mental barriers, and while I knew I could penetrate them, I had other things to do. You were amazing last night. I want to see more of you, to spend time with you. Do you believe me? I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t.”
“Yes, I believe you.” Although she wasn’t sure it was because she desperately wanted to. She needed to know her connection with him wasn’t all one-sided.
His relief was evident by the way he swept his hands over her back, one high, one low. His gentleness overwhelmed her as well as the waves of comfort he sent into her mind. No false promises and no overprotective bullshit. He’d told her the truth as well as giving her a shoulder to lean on when she wanted it.
She appreciated that.
A soft tap on the door informed them their ordeal, at least this part of it, was over. Jay took her hand and led her out of the suite and into the next one.
At first glance, nothing had changed. The sheets were fresh, and so were the bandages that covered the top half of Drew’s body. He still lay on his back, that barely there rise and fall indicating he was breathing.
Lucille choked back her instinctive response to rush to his side. The doctor faced her, and she needed to know everything first. “Will he live?”
“He has a good chance. I won’t lie to you; he was badly hurt. One bullet had been in him for a minimum of twenty-four hours. The other was fresh, and that’s what caused the bleeding. He’d fought before that one. Someone had tied him up so tightly he must have lost the use of his hands, but if he recovers from the wound, then that will heal itself too.” The doctor glanced at his watch. “The sun should set around seven thirty. It’s barely noon, so we have seven and a half hours to get through before sunset. Once he comes into his powers, he’ll mend much faster. If he survives until then, he’ll need another full night of healing and then maybe a week to get his strength back. He’s going to need to feed.”
“No problem,” Jay said. “I’ll ask the staff to help out. Some know about me.”
The doctor nodded. “I don’t have to add that he’s particularly vulnerable. Silver bullets means someone is after him. Otherwise, why use them?”
“I got that.”
“I’m a dragon,” Nathan said. “I have round-the-clock powers. Isn’t there anything I can do?”
The doctor shook his head. “He needs the resolve to bear the pain. If he weakens, force yourself into his head and stay there. Find his consciousness, wake him up, and keep him awake so you can share his thoughts. Understand?”
Both men murmured their thanks. “I’ve done this before,” Jay said. “But aren’t you staying?”
“I can’t. I have surgeries to do. We have to perform one before nightfall, and it’s a doozy. The other I’ve scheduled for later, but both are critical. And no, neither of them involve silver in any way.” His sympathetic gaze encompassed Lucille where she stood in the circle of Jay’s arms. “He’s in the best place. Safe and secure. I got the bullets out and gave him what drugs I could, but I can’t give him narcotics because that would send him under. Take care of him. Call the hospital if he gets worse, and we’ll get someone else out here. We’re very shorthanded. Houston has a bigger population of Talents than ever before, and there are so few medical staff stationed there. I really have to get back.”
Lucille wanted to tie him up and keep him, but she couldn’t. Talents needed their doctors. Their physical differences couldn’t be trusted to regular medics. Regular doctors knew nothing about the extra organ in vampires’ bodies or the cells that might at any moment morph into scales or feathers on a shape-shifter.
All she could do was wait.
Chapter Seven
“I can’t believe you didn’t rush back to open the bar.” With the irritating but strangely comforting recuperation powers of a young vampire, Drew was sitting up in bed, consuming a huge plateful of food. He had bacon and scrambled eggs, toasted English muffins, and cheese.
It was the morning after the night Lucille thought would never end. She’d sat by him, waiting, pushing her strength into him, able to do nothing else but watch and pray. Although weariness made her bones ache, Drew had gone through worse.
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