Almost Human (14 page)

I came too huddled next to Alaric in the
backseat of the car. My memory was a little fuzzy.

“What happened?”

Misha sighed. “Thank God you’re awake. What
the hell did you do? Alaric tried to drain you dry and then when we
separated you, both your hearts stopped. You’ve had to stay
touching. What witchy mojo went down?”

I frowned. What was he talking about? I
could barely comprehend his words, like he was speaking another
language.

Jairdan met my gaze in the rearview mirror.
“Well, witch? What the F is going on here?”

“J, Misha, lay off. I think she’s confused
right now. Give her a second.” Alaric’s voice was a hoarse croak
close to my ear.

I gasped and sat up. I immediately regretted
it as dizziness blurred my vision and bile climbed up my throat.
The rapid movement combined with a feeling, a certainty that I
shouldn’t pull away from Alaric. The space between us was tangible
and his pull was hard to resist, like pulling apart taffy.

Alaric took a deep, shaky breath and grabbed
my hand. I laced my fingers with his and the uncomfortable
tightness in my chest eased.

“Okay, now I have the same question they
did. What the hell did you do to us?”

I scratched my head. “I’m not sure. I was
trying to heal you, but I’m not a healer, and I’m not entirely sure
what happened. Something witchy and bad, more than likely.”

Very bad. Even the thought of releasing his
hand was painful. “I think for now it’s best to stay close to each
other and hope this feeling goes away.”

But there had been blood involved. Life for
vampires, and my power to sustain him. Would we ever be normal
again?

But I would rather not dwell on that
horrible thought. “So where are we going?”

Jairdan’s hands tightened on the steering
wheel. “No place you’re going to like. But that’s too damn bad,
because he’s got bagged blood and donors, and we’ll need both.”

I frowned. “That was a nice non-answer. You
want to actually say something this time?”

Misha shifted uncomfortably before the
answer popped out of his mouth. “We’re going to see Nyx. There’s a
first aid kit under the passenger’s seat, if you could check on
Fallon.”

I clenched my jaw and reached for the first
aid kit. They were right. I didn’t like this plan. Nyx was ancient.
Much older than the vampires sharing the car with me. Age meant
power. He was also reported to have a nasty temper. And all
vampires hated vampire hunters. He wouldn’t appreciate me showing
up, and he probably wouldn’t like that the boys brought me. He ran
a bar that would be full of vampires by the time we got there.

I moved away from Alaric, feeling that
uncomfortable tug through the distance. “I think this is a bad
idea. Won’t he be mad that you’re bringing a vampire hunter to his
bar? Putting all his patrons at risk?”

“Well considering he recently turned and is
sleeping with a vampire hunter, I doubt he’ll mind. Besides, you’re
a vampire now. And he turned Fallon, so he’ll probably be glad to
see him.”

Fallon snorted and I jumped. I thought he’d
been out of it.

“Nyx isn’t my biggest fan. Last time I
visited the ensuing fight destroyed his bar. Though, that happens
weekly. I will always be that pain in the ass he had the misfortune
of turning. Don’t count on me to save us from his wrath.”

Jairdan shook his head. “Either way, it
doesn’t matter, we raised Pagan. I’m sure he’ll put us up.”

Great. I was going to get killed because
these guys thought it would be fine to take me into a vampire bar.
Nyx would probably be the least of our problems.

I pushed Fallon’s hands away from his belly
to examine the wound. It was deep, but his intestines weren’t
bulging through it. Though I had no doubt that if he moved too
much, he could tear the wound farther. Another thing that bothered
me was the fact that it didn’t seem to be healing. Vampire’s healed
quickly, but I still wasn’t sure what was normal and what
wasn’t.

“How is it, doc? Am I gonna make it?” he
asked with a crooked smile.

I replaced the soaked blanket he’d been
holding to his middle and placed his palms back on it. “I think
you’ll live, unless you know something I don’t. But should this
wound still be this far open and bleeding so heavily?”

He glanced down at his stomach and shrugged.
“It hasn’t been that long since the fight. You haven’t been passed
out that long. Don’t worry too much. I’m sure it will right itself,
though the bleeding should have slowed. I think I might pass out
from blood loss soon.”

I nodded. “I’m surprised you haven’t
already.”

“Vampires can handle more than humans.” His
gaze slid to Alaric and back to me. “How are you guys?”

Alaric touched the claw marks at the base of
my spine and I hissed. “These wounds look fairly shallow, but
they’re still bleeding.”

Misha’s curse caused me to glance at him. He
shook his head. “Those wounds should be mostly healed. They weren’t
that deep when I tended them.”

Jairdan glanced at me in the rearview
mirror. “Maybe it’s because she’s new.”

I sighed. “No, it’s not. It’s the demon that
protects Sherra. It must have some kind of poison that slows down
healing. Could be worse, though. It could have had a poison that
kills vampires.”

We were a sorry lot. Not only that, but we
needed a new plan to beat Sherra. Our one shot hadn’t worked. I
massaged my temples and wished I could lean back comfortably. I
couldn’t wait to see what awful plan we came up with next.

The car rolled to a stop and I moved one of
my hands from Fallon’s belly to check his pulse again. Against the
laws of nature, his heart was still beating. But he was cold and
still. His breathing was so shallow, it was almost impossible to
detect. The bleeding had slowed, but I was pretty sure that was
only because he was running out of blood to lose.

Alaric’s hand fell against mine and I
jumped. “Stop checking his pulse. He’ll be okay. He can’t die of
blood loss.”

“How do you know for sure? Have either of
you ever lost this much blood?”

“No, but every vampire we know says you
can’t die of blood loss. You only crave more when you wake.
Sometimes enough to make you crazed. That’s what I’m more worried
about.”

I shook my head. I was worried when he got
more blood he’d continue to bleed it out. I wasn’t concerned about
him having the strength to attack anyone. Not for quite a
while.

“What about you, Alaric?”

He shrugged. “Still wondering what you did
to us.”

Yeah, he wasn’t the only one. There was
still this uncomfortable psychic connection stretched between us in
the car. It was enough to make us tense and our breathing
strained.

The door next to Fallon swung open and the
scariest vampire I’d ever come across stuck his head in and I
jumped. On the outside he didn’t seem that frightening. In fact, he
was gorgeous. It was his aura that made my flight or fight instinct
scream “
Flight
.” Dark was too mild a word to describe it.
His already cruel lips twisted into a snarl when he spotted me, and
I wanted to disappear against the interior of the car.

His gaze darted to Fallon. “How long has he
been unconscious?”

“An hour, at least.”

“Fuck.” He reached out and shook him gently.
“Fallon? Come on, you pain in my ass. Wake up.”

I rolled my eyes when he didn’t answer.
“He’s out. I don’t think he’s going to come to no matter what you
call him.”

He shrugged. “You never know. Sometimes
we’ll wake up with the right stimuli. Though right now I’m guessing
blood is the only thing that will bring him around.”

He jerked his head to the side. “Get out of
the car and we’ll get him out and fed, and see if sewing up that
wound helps at all. It’s either that or cauterize it, which I
imagine would definitely wake him up.”

I braced my hands on the door and the roof
of the car and pushed myself to standing. Black spots danced in
front of my vision. Hands clamped onto my arms and lowered me
gently to the pavement while I tried to hang onto
consciousness.

“Looks like he won’t be the only one we’re
patching up.”

I blinked several times, but my vision was
still fuzzy. “I hadn’t realized I’d lost this much blood.”

“You think you can stand if you do it
slowly?”

I shook my head. I couldn’t seem to make my
vision go back to normal. I gave up, and lay back on the concrete,
and even the pain in my back didn’t stop me from closing my
eyes.

“Shit. Laden, can you get this vampire
hunter inside? Make sure you hurry, but try to keep a low profile.
Many know her face and would love to kill her.” The venom in his
voice told me he’d probably enjoy killing me, too.

“Wow, boss, I get the feeling you’d like to
off her, too.”

“It’s a thought, but my wife would castrate
me.”

“Damn right I would.” The commanding female
voice cut through the tense air.

I stuck a hand up and waved, even though I
wasn’t sure where she was. “Hi, Pagan.”

I opened my eyes to see her leaning over me.
“Hi there. Don’t die, okay?”

“Pretty sure I’m not going to.”

She glanced up. “Alaric? Are you going to
live?”

“I’m better off than they are, which wasn’t
the case a few hours ago. Get her inside and sew up her back.”

She snorted. “Don’t be so damned bossy.”

“Pagan!”

“All right, all right. I’m gettin’, I’m
goin’.”

I pushed myself up to sitting slowly. Oh
yay, less dizziness. I’d have to go slowly.

Pagan eyed Fallon, whom Nyx had gotten out
of the car and laid out on the sidewalk. He was now examining his
wound while Misha hovered next to them.

“Who’s this guy?” she asked, poking her
husband’s shoulder.

Nyx didn’t answer. His brows were pulled
together, and his mouth was set in a grave line.

Misha straightened. “He’s our brother.”

Her jaw dropped. “What? No way. I’ve never
met him. Not in all the years I lived with you guys.”

Misha nodded. “He’s kind of the black sheep
of the family. We don’t talk about him or let him around.
He’s…”

“A pain in the ass,” Nyx muttered, his voice
hollow with distraction.

Misha shrugged. “A dangerous pain in the
ass.

Pagan glanced around before clearing her
throat. “Yo, leech, we’re attracting some unwanted human
attention,” she mumbled.

Nyx jerked his head up and glanced around
before fixating at a spot across the street. I looked in the same
direction and saw a group of seven people eyeing us. Nyx seemed to
meet the gaze of each one. All at once, they turned and went calmly
in different directions.

Whoa, that took serious power to control
multiple humans.

“Nyx, I wish you wouldn’t do that. It’s
creepy, and something I would have killed you for when I still
hunted.”

He frowned at Pagan. “And if they call the
cops I’ll have more, possibly stubborn humans to be-spell. Best to
deal with them now and get the wounded inside.”

“It’s still creepy.”

He shook his head. “Laden, get Alaric. I
think Pagan can help Kori.”

A little shiver went down my spine. “How do
you know my name?”

“You come from one of the most prominent
vampire-hunting families in the country. Everyone knows of you, but
I can identify you because I’ve been keeping track of you for some
time. Ever since Pagan came into my radar and I found out who
trained her. Hell, I’ve been in your house.”

That would freak me out for years to come. A
vampire had been spying on me for years. Had been in my house.

Pagan snorted at the expression on my face
and reached down to help me up. “Don’t dwell. It will make you
crazy. Be glad he didn’t kill you.”

The world spun as I stood, and it took all
my willpower not to fall back down.

Pagan grabbed my arm and put it over her
shoulder as she hugged me to her hip. “Those are some nasty slices
on your back.”

“Oh, yeah. They won’t stop bleeding. Which
worries everyone.”

“Uh, I can understand why. That’s a big
problem. But we’ll sew it up, and hopefully it will start healing.
If not, I’m not sure what we’ll do. I’ve never heard of something
like this, and judging from Nyx’s face, I don’t think he’s seen
anything like it. Either that or it’s a real problem.”

She opened the door of the club. The smell
of cigarettes and pot smoke hit me first, along with the grating
sound of heavy metal. It was something I usually enjoyed, but my
new super hearing was not happy. A dull throb started at my
temples. The stench of fresh sweat and booze permeated the air. As
we stepped in, I detected the tangy undertone of bleach water.
“Wow, that’s a powerfully awful smell.”

She shrugged. “I’d say that you get used to
it, but with our highly developed senses you don’t. I’m actually
trying to convince Nyx that we need a different place. The smell
kind of drifts up the stairs, and it’s gross. But Nyx is adamant
that he live here. He says if he leaves, anyone who takes refuge
here is vulnerable, which is probably true, so I haven’t pressed
him.”

I was so fatigued. I wanted to sit and maybe
pass out. My feet didn’t seem to want to keep moving. Pagan was
almost dragging me. I glanced around the room as she tried to
hustle my uncooperative body through it.

All around me vampires stopped whatever they
were doing to glare in my direction. Had they all seen me at some
point? Could they sense my powers?

A few of them stood and headed toward us,
but Pagan glared at them and they paused. I guess it was a bad idea
to piss off Nyx’s wife. She might not be much of a threat to them,
but he sure was.

We made it through a door next to the bar.
As it closed behind us, the noise of the place immediately
vanished. The tension in my shoulders eased as the pain in my head
decreased slightly.