He found Katie in the TV room, watching something with Natalie.
“JD and Jonathon are training. I’m sure they won’t mind you joining them.”
Gabriel declined the offer. While Luke usually took part whenever he visited, and was getting quite good with a sword, Gabriel always refused. He had no interest in learning how to use weapons. As far as he was concerned, he was deadly enough unarmed.
He did, however, enjoy watching. Jonathon was very good. Gabriel couldn’t spot the tiny mistakes he made, but JD did. They both heard someone enter the room, but neither looked up at the balcony. They didn’t let Gabriel’s presence break their concentration. Only when JD said to take a break did they take any notice of who was watching them.
“I wasn’t expecting to see you tonight,” JD said.
“Luke and Anna decided to bring the timetable forward. I had to get out of there.” He neglected to mention his visit to Doc. It was nobody else’s business.
“I’ll be here for another half an hour or so,” Jonathon said. “Find something to do then we can start shooting some zombies.”
JD knew of Gabriel’s feelings for Anna so was aware that he was suffering more than he was letting on. He was there for a distraction more than anything else, something to take his mind off what Anna was going through. “Go,” he said to Jonathon. “I’ll let you off the rest of the session.”
Jonathon didn’t ask why in case he changed his mind. Soon Jonathon and Gabriel were in the games room, tapping frantically at their controllers. Scott and Craig joined them and for a few hours nobody else in the household saw or heard from them.
It was late by the time they finally went to bed, but Gabriel doubted he would sleep. He could still remember how it felt to be turned and couldn’t help wondering how Luke was coping with watching Anna in so much pain.
He phoned Gavin before he got into bed. He answered the phone on the first ring.
“I’ve been expecting your call,” he said. “There is no change. Helen and Paul have gone to Paul’s house, taking Martin with them. Cassy and Brian have booked into a hotel. There’s no way we can get any sleep here. We’re going to take it in shifts monitoring what is happening in the basement. Juliette and I are staying here tonight then Cassy and Brian will relieve us. Helen has agreed to keep Paul away until it’s over.”
“Thank you,” Gabriel said. “I’ll be back in the morning to help out. How’s Luke holding up?”
“I have no idea. He hasn’t left the room. He’s hardly moved. I went down to ask him if he needed anything but he just shook his head. He never even looked up at me. I’m a little worried about him.”
“Don’t be. If there’s anything you can do for him, he will let you know. Right now he just needs to be with Anna.”
‘And so do I,’ Gabriel thought to himself, but didn’t say the words. He was where he had to be. Luke wasn’t going to get any sleep so he would have to. One of them had to be functioning in the morning in case Anna needed them.
It took him a while to drop off, but eventually sleep claimed him and he had a peaceful night. He awoke at first light and left as soon as he had drunk a cup of coffee. He took a detour on the way home to feed off a jogger in one of the parks, then headed home.
The house was quiet when he entered. He went to the security room, where he found Gavin drinking coffee while Juliette dozed in a chair.
He glanced at a monitor and saw Anna on the bed. Luke was still sitting in the chair beside her. He was slumped over, with his head resting on the bed. Only the slight movement of his hand as he caressed Anna’s showed that he was awake.
“It’s been a tough night,” Gavin said. “Exhaustion has finally taken her. It won’t be long before she wakes up again though.”
Gabriel left the room and went down to the basement. He drew back the bolts and opened the door. Luke didn’t look up until Gabriel called his name.
When Gabriel saw Luke’s face it took all of his will power not to react. He had never seen his cousin looking so distraught. His eyes were bloodshot and tear streaks stained his cheeks.
His voice was croaky when he spoke. “This is worse than I could possibly have imagined. She keeps begging me to kill her.”
Gabriel walked up to him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Luke looked back to the prone figure on the bed.
His attention was on Anna as Gabriel took the syringe out of his back pocket, squirted a little of the liquid out to remove any air, then stuck it into his cousin’s neck, directly into the carotid artery. He had put his fangs in enough necks to know exactly where to aim.
He injected the entire contents of the syringe into Luke then stepped back.
Luke jumped to his feet, one hand going to his neck. “What the hell did you just do?” he yelled.
“What I needed to,” Gabriel said. “It’s for your own good.”
In the security room, Gavin saw what was happening and raced down the stairs to the basement. He arrived in time to see Luke collapse into Gabriel’s arms.
“What have you done?” Gavin asked.
“Doc gave me something to knock him out. He needs to sleep and this was the only way to do it.” He passed Luke’s unconscious body to Gavin. “Put him to bed. Doc has no idea what effect the drug will have on a greater vampire, but hopefully he won’t wake for quite a few hours. I’ll stay here with Anna. We can wake him if anything happens.”
Gavin wanted to shout at Gabriel for being reckless, but he knew he had done the right thing. He also knew how Luke was going to react when he woke up. He would accuse Gabriel of betraying him. If anything happened to Anna while he slept, he would never forgive his cousin.
You can’t make me do this
It was dark outside when Luke woke up. He looked around the room, wondering for a moment where he was. Then he remembered Gabriel injecting him with something. His hand went to his neck, but he felt no pain.
His first thought was to go to Anna, but then he decided he should shower and get changed first. If she was lucid enough to even notice that he was there, he wanted to look his best for her.
Cassy was in the kitchen, making coffee, when he entered. She poured him a cup then said there had been no change. Anna had spent the day drifting in and out of consciousness. Whenever she woke up, she screamed until she could take no more, then blacked out again.
Luke had no idea if he had done the same. He had no memory of his turning, other than the pain.
When he entered the basement, Gabriel was lying on the bed beside Anna, stroking her hair. He was pale and looked like he wanted to be sick.
“Rough day?” Luke asked.
Gabriel nodded his head. “One down, one to go. This will be over before we know it.”
Luke grunted. He would be facing a very long night.
“I’m not sorry for what I did to you,” Gabriel said. “It was the right thing to do.”
“I know.” At first, Luke had been angry with Gabriel for taking him from Anna’s side, but the coffee and some time to think had made him realise that Gabriel had made sure he was in a condition to cope with the night ahead. “Go and get some sleep. I can take over here.”
“You should go and feed first.”
“No. I’m alright. You may have forced me from Anna’s side for a while, but I am not leaving the house. I have to be here when she needs to feed.”
Gabriel didn’t argue with him. There would be no point.
Gabriel showered and changed clothes before heading to Sanctuary 14 once more. He looked a mess and didn’t want to be seen in public until he had fixed that.
He had been hoping the hot water would make him feel better, but he was disappointed. Nothing could take the sound of Anna’s screaming from his mind. Even when she went quiet he could still hear it.
The hunters from 14 had been expecting him and all were in their hunting suits when he arrived.
“Been called out on a hunt?” he asked.
“No,” Jonathon said. “We have
informed Sanctuary 7 that we are not available tonight.”
“What’s going on?” He had a bad feeling and the smile Jonathon gave him only made it worse.
“You are going into the arena, where you will face all six of us. We will be armed with Bo, you will be unarmed. All you have to do is stop us hitting you.”
“You can’t make me do this.”
“Probably not, but you’re going to agree to anyway. You need sleep and the only way that is going to happen is if you’re so exhausted that you can’t keep your eyes open.”
“Enough talk,” JD said. “Get in the arena. Now.”
Gabriel obeyed. Sarah took his bag to his room, then went to the balcony to watch.
The hunters didn’t hold back. They looked like they seriously wanted to hurt Gabriel. Their attacks were coordinated. They didn’t give him time to relax or even think. All he could do was keep moving out of the way of their Bo.
He could easily have put a stop to it. If he had attacked, he could have disarmed them quickly or injured them enough to prevent them fighting, but he didn’t. He appreciated what they were doing for him.
By the end of an hour, everyone except JD and Gabriel were too tired to continue. They wearily headed for their beds.
“How’s Luke?” Sarah asked when she, JD and Gabriel headed to the lounge.
“Suffering. Doc gave me something to make him sleep. He’s refusing to go out and feed though.”
“How long can he survive without blood?”
“He’ll be alright if this only lasts two days. Any longer and the craving will become too much for him.”
The three friends talked for a while, then headed to bed. The moment Gabriel’s head hit the pillow, he fell asleep.
When he woke up, he ached all over. It had been a long time since he had done that much exercise. It had made him sleep well though.
When he returned home, he found Luke in the same condition as he had the previous morning. Before he could speak to him, Anna began screaming once more. She gripped Luke’s hand so tightly he winced in pain.
When she finally managed to stop crying out, she curled up in a ball and started sobbing. She didn’t release her grip on Luke’s hand as she gasped, “Make it stop. Please make it stop.”
Despair was in Luke’s eyes when he looked up at Gabriel, making him wonder how much more either of them could take.
“Only a few more hours,” Gabriel managed to say before his voice was drowned out by Anna screaming once more. He wanted to leave the room, leave the house, go anywhere where he could no longer hear that noise, but he had to stay. He had to take over from Luke.
‘I’ll be back soon,’ he mouthed to Luke then headed for the kitchen, where he made two cups of coffee before returning to the basement.
Gabriel told Luke about his evening at Sanctuary 14, doing his best to take his mind off what was happening in the room. Over an hour later, Anna finally passed out once more.
“You need sleep,” Gabriel said. He had brought another syringe with him and held it out.
“How many of those do you have?” Luke asked.
“Enough. May I?”
Luke nodded. “Please let me stay here this time though. Just in case the conversion finishes while I sleep.”
“You intend to be her first meal then.”
“Of course. And you intend to be her second.”
Gabriel saw no point in denying it. “If you let me.”
Luke didn’t respond. He would allow Gabriel to do this for Anna.
He stood up and reluctantly let go of Anna’s hand. His back was aching from sitting in the chair for so long so he stretched before walking around the bed and climbing onto it. Anna was still curled up in the foetal position. He wrapped himself around her then signalled to Gabriel that he was ready.
Luke felt the needle entering his flesh, then the liquid flowed into his blood stream. He slowly counted to ten, but darkness took him before he got there.
Gabriel spent half the day cradling Anna in his arms as she alternated between screaming and crying. Despite the pain she was in, she didn’t want him to wake Luke.
The sun had yet to set when one of her screams jerked Luke awake. He rolled over to see Gabriel sitting in the chair. Anna was on his lap and he was stroking her hair.
Luke felt no jealousy. Anna was his and she was only currently with Gabriel as she didn’t want to disturb him. Despite what she was going through, she was still putting his needs before her own.
“I’ll take over,” he said, but Gabriel shook his head.
“Go and freshen up first. You look a mess.”
He didn’t want to do as Gabriel suggested, especially as Anna was awake and would know he was leaving her, but when she turned her tear-streaked face to him and nodded her head, he didn’t have the strength to say no.
“Don’t be long,” she gasped then started to scream as another wave of agony claimed her.
He looked almost human again when he made his way back to the basement bedroom. He bumped into Cassy on the stairs.
“It must be nearly over,” she said.
Luke didn’t respond. He prayed that she was right, but didn’t let himself become too hopeful. Two days was only the average time for a conversion.
After Gabriel had handed Anna over to Luke and left them alone, he went to his room and lay on his bed. He stared up at the ceiling, wondering if he would be able to sleep. He couldn’t bring himself to go to Sanctuary 14 again, despite the fact that they would help him. It might only be a matter of hours before Anna’s ordeal was over and he wanted to be there when it was.
He had no idea what time he fell asleep, but he woke to the sound of screaming again. It was dark outside, so he assumed it was still the middle of the night, but when he looked at his clock, it said it was nearly morning.
This wasn’t right. Anna should not still be in pain. He went directly to the security room, where Gavin and Juliette were keeping close tabs on what was happening.
“Nothing has changed,” Gavin said. He sounded tired.
“Have you slept at all since this started?” Gabriel asked.
“A little. Juliette and I have been spending some time at Paul’s place. It’s a lot quieter there than here.”
Gabriel peered closer at the screen. Luke was no longer holding Anna’s hand, but was instead clenching and unclenching his fists. Gabriel realised what it meant.
“We have a problem. Luke needs to feed, but he won’t leave Anna.”
“That’s not as big a problem as you think,” Gavin said and took out his phone. Gabriel had no idea who he was calling until he heard the voice on the other end.
“Luke needs you,” Gavin said.
“We’re on our way,” Paul replied.
Gabriel raised a questioning eyebrow. “You’ll find out when they get here,” Gavin said.
As soon as they arrived, Helen and Paul went straight down to see Luke and Anna. Gabriel went with them.
Anna was awake and gasping in pain. Luke had his arms wrapped around her.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Luke said as soon as Paul walked into the room. Anna wouldn’t want her brother to see her like this.
“And you need blood,” Paul said.
“I won’t leave her.”
“I know. That’s why I’m here.”
“I can’t take your blood. Helen’s claim will prevent me from even touching you.”
“We let it wear off,” Helen said.
Luke had been so distracted by Anna that he hadn’t even noticed.
Anna pulled away from him. Taking this as a sign that she wanted Luke to feed, Paul tilted his head to one side.
Luke looked at Anna, then back at Paul. Then he took what was being offered.
“Thank you,” he said when he had finished.
“It was the least I could do.”
“What do we do now?” Gabriel asked when Paul and Helen had gone. The blood had revived Luke, but he still looked ready to collaps
e. “You need sleep, but I bet you won’t let me inject you again.”
“Can you give me enough of whatever drug Doc gave you to knock me out for just a few hours?” The amount of pain Anna was still in told Luke that it wouldn’t be over any time soon.
“I can try,” Gabriel said and went to his room to collect the last syringe Doc had given him, along with the bottle containing the drug.
Luke was lying on the bed, waiting for him, when he returned. “I’m trusting you,” Luke said to him.
Gabriel only half filled the syringe then, silently hoping that reducing the amount of the drug would reduce how long it lasted, injected his cousin.
It was early afternoon when Luke awoke once more. Anna was unconscious.
“How is she?” he asked Gabriel.
“Let me put it this way. At one point she asked me to phone JD. She wanted him to bring a sword over and decapitate her.”
“If you’re joking, it isn’t funny.”
“I wish I was.” Gabriel ran his hand through his hair. “This should not be taking this long.”
“It’s been known to happen,” Luke said.
Further conversation was interrupted by Gabriel’s phone ringing. It was Jonathon, so he answered it. Everyone at Sanctuary 14 wanted to know how Anna was.
“No change yet,” Gabriel told him. “I’ll let you know when it’s over.”
“If I don’t hear from you before the morning, I’m coming over.”
Gabriel was too tired to ask why.
He injected Luke once more, using the last of the drug, then spent the rest of the day alternating between comforting Anna, while trying to block out the sound of her screams, and watching her as she slept.
There was no change by the time Luke woke up and sent Gabriel to bed.
By the morning there was still no change and everyone was beginning to worry. If this went on for much longer, Anna wouldn’t survive. She had not eaten or drunk anything in far too long and, while vampires didn’t need that sort of sustenance, she was not yet a vampire.
As he had promised, Jonathon arrived a little after seven. He had Katie with him.
“Why are you here?” Gabriel asked.
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