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Darcy
It feels like it takes ages for Blaire to help Casey change her daughter’s diaper and get the toddler tucked into the bed in the guest bedroom that Casey assures her they’ll share. I catch a few more bits and pieces of their conversation from my place at the bottom of the stairs—something about the cave where I found them, and Amy’s eclectic new feeding needs—but my eavesdropping is interrupted before I can gauge Blaire’s reaction.
Annie hands me a cup of cold blood in a chipped coffee cup. “Sorry it’s cold. The house kraken’s busy in the kitchen, and I couldn’t get to the microwave.”
“Quite all right,” I say, gratefully sipping from the mug. “At this point, I’ll take what I can get.”
Annie’s brow furrows as she shakes her head. “You know I’m dying to pump you for information, but you’re very pale. And Blaire will kill me if I start pestering you before she gets down here.”
“I will,” Blaire says from the top of the stairs. Soft footsteps pad down the carpeted steps and she appears by the hand I’ve braced on the railing a moment later, an expression on her face that is best described as shell-shocked. “Okay, so here’s what I got from Casey. Manny is a fire demon who kidnapped Amy from daycare and tried to sell her as a slave to his demon overlord, so he’d be allowed back into the underworld. But Casey followed him down into some creepy caves outside Vegas, whacked him on the head with a tire iron, and escaped with the baby, only to end up trapped in the caves after a tunnel collapsed. Cue Darcy receiving psychic distress calls and rushing to Nevada to save the day.”
“That’s correct,” I say, draining the rest of the blood from the mug.
Blaire’s breath rushes out. “So why didn’t you say something before you left? I would have gone with you, asshole. I don’t care if we’re fighting. I hope you know me well enough by now to know my family always comes first.”
“I do know that,” I assure her, struggling to remain upright as the last of the adrenaline keeping me standing fades away. “I just…”
My knees buckle and Blaire is suddenly there, looping my arm around her shoulders as she guides me into the sitting room to collapse on the couch. Annie’s worried face appears briefly in front of me. She lifts the now empty mug and says, “I’ll get you some more. Warm this time.”
I mumble my thank you as Blaire sweeps my hair from my forehead and gingerly lifts the hunk of liver from my neck, hissing as she sees the places where little Amy has gnawed me raw as we travelled across country. “God, Darcy,” she whispers, touching gentle fingers to one side of the frequently reopened wounds.
“I’m fine. The liver will help with healing.” I tense up and try to pull away, but she grips my arm and holds me in place.
“Don’t move. I’ll work a healing spell. I’m not super good at them yet, but…”
She murmurs a few words beneath her breath as she continues to stroke the skin on either side of the torn flesh. After just a few moments, the pain begins to ease, and my shoulders relax away from my ears for the first time in days.
“There,” Blaire says, her cool fingers curling around the back of my neck in a way that feels insanely good. “All better. Or mostly better. Once we get a little blood in you, you’ll be as good as new.” She tips her head, meeting my gaze with a wry twist of her lips. “I guess you know how a nursing mother feels now, huh?”
I grunt. “I do. And so far, Amy won’t drink blood from a cup so…I may require your services again tomorrow.”
“Any time,” she says, searching my face with a longing I feel echoing through my bones as she adds, “Thank you for keeping my niece alive. From what Casey said, it sounds like vampires are discouraged from feeding demons, even if they are babies.”
I squeeze her thigh through her jeans. I don’t remember putting my hand on her leg, but I have no intention of moving it unless she demands it. This is by far the best I’ve felt in months. Since the day she walked away from me on the beach, in fact.
“They are,” I confirm. “But she’s only half demon. Colin and the others have already agreed to let her stay and allow me to continue feeding her until we can transition her to shifter blood from the packets we keep in storage.” I sigh. “And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Casey. I honestly wasn’t sure if I was hearing her or if it was another hallucination. I’ve been…unwell.”
Blaire’s eyes fill with fear I hurry to banish as I assure her, “Not physically. Well, not until I spent five days travelling cross country with a hungry baby demon, anyway.” I force a smile. “Just mentally off. I’ve been hearing things, seeing things. I didn’t want to worry you until I was sure Casey was really in trouble. And then, by the time I found her, she and Amy were so weak, I went into crisis mode. We did try to phone once from Illinois, but the call wouldn’t connect.”
She rolls her eyes. “I’m sorry. I need to get a landline installed. The stronger my magic gets, the more it interferes with cell reception. Celeste, my tutor, has been trying to work with me on it, but it’s hard over a video chat. Now that she’s back in town full time, things should be easier.”
My lips curve a little sadly. “That’s wonderful.”
“Is it? Because you sound like someone just died.”
“Of course, it is. I just wish I hadn’t…missed so much.” I’m saved from saying more by Annie’s return to the room with a larger, warm mug of blood.
“Do you want anything Blaire?” Annie asks as I drink. “I can bring your beer from the kitchen.”
“No, thanks,” Blaire says. “I’ll get it in a little while. After Darcy leaves.”
After Darcy leaves…
Well, that’s it then. She intends to kick me out. She’s grateful that I helped her sister and niece but clearly isn’t ready to forgive me for a being an idiot who had his head so far up his own arse, he couldn’t see the truth right in front of him.
Blaire cuts a sharp look my way, her brows pinching together. “What are you talking about? You didn’t ask me to forgive you, psycho.” Before I can suggest she might have accidentally read my thoughts, she barrels on, “You just showed up on my front porch with my sister, a hunk of liver pressed to your neck, and a miserable expression on your face.”
“I can’t help it,” I reply, my voice stronger now that the warm blood is working through my veins. “I’m miserable without you.”
