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I had nothing left to fight with. The pain was eating me alive. Suddenly my body felt weightless, as if I were floating in the air. I saw images flash in front of me. It was impossible to tell what was real and what was caused by the pain of death. The last image I saw before everything went dark was Delilah over Eli’s shoulder. She looked scared and his expression reminded me of a man who was heading out for revenge. I wondered what it meant as the darkness took me.
Bright lights brought me out of the inky blackness of my accepted fate. I blinked a few times to orient myself, but I didn’t recognize the room I was in. How did I get here? I tried to lift my head to get a better look, but I couldn’t move. The ceiling was white and the walls were a pale shade of blue. It was familiar and alien at the same time.
I tried to speak but there was no sound. Since I couldn’t lift my head, I tried to turn it to the side. Still nothing. I closed my eyes in defeat. It was no use. Even if I was still alive, I was paralyzed somehow. I would never get out of here.
The quiet clop of shoes on the tiled floor caught my attention. As much as I wanted to see who was here, I kept my eyes closed. I wasn’t sure who had me or why I couldn’t move. I needed to assess the situation further before I revealed that I was awake.
“Hmm, I could have sworn from the readings that he was awake. Oh, well. It can’t hurt to let you sit with him. Just don’t mess with any of the machines this time.” I didn’t recognize the voice, but she was stern.
“I won’t let Eli touch anything, Nurse Jacobs. I promise.” There was a lightness in Delilah’s tone. How could they both be here? And a nurse? Was I in a hospital?
I heard the door close before anyone spoke again.
“Are you sure this is the best place for him? Aren’t they going to wonder what’s going on when he’s magically healed in a few days?” Delilah spoke quietly.
“It’s fine. They don’t need to know. You just have to keep the nurse occupied later so I can give him more blood. It would be easier if they’d listened to me and given him a transfusion, but nobody wants to cooperate.” Eli sounded concerned, not at all like someone who’d just tried to have me killed.
“I still don’t understand why I can’t give him my blood,” Delilah sounded jealous. Maybe I misjudged the two of them. But if Eli didn’t blow up Midnight, then who did?
“Love, I’ve explained this. He nearly died. I wasn’t even sure that we could revive him after I dug him out. Didn’t you see his reaction to your blood on the way to the hospital?”
“We want him to fight for his life, right? Let’s give him something to fight for.” I heard a scuffle, then the warm sensation of something flowing into my mouth. It was sweet but familiar, like the nectar of the gods. I wanted to drink it forever, to let myself drown in its flavor.
Eli’s voice rang in my ear. “You’re killing her. Stop. Now!”
I released Delilah’s arm and sat up. Eli had moved her away from me and bit himself to feed her. She was disoriented enough to go along with it, even if she didn’t fully understand what was happening. Vampire blood would heal the wound and replenish the nutrients she lost in sharing with me.
“What happened?” My voice was raspy to my ears. Although Delilah’s blood was helping to heal me, it still felt as if a building had fallen on me.
Chapter 41
Delilah
“Viktor! You’re awake!” She turned and slapped Eli before running to my side. “I told you it would work.”
“I don’t—” his voice gave out.
“It’s okay, brother, just rest. I’ll explain it the best I can.” Eli’s words stopped Viktor from trying to argue. I’d never heard them speak so gently to each other before. Something about it felt familiar, though.
“Someone framed me for the explosions at your properties. After you spoke with us, we turned around and came back to Midnight. I wanted to help you figure out who was responsible. Our men are following leads as we speak. It took a couple of days to get yours to listen to me, but I think I made a decent case.” Eli paused, looking at me.
“He didn’t hurt anyone. We convinced Jones to help talk the rest into helping. I didn’t think you’d get mad,” I interjected. It was nice to see that my blood worked better than the bags we’d been sneaking in for him. Viktor looked as if he was starting to feel better, even if half of his face was charred so badly that it may never heal.
Eli nodded and continued. “We pulled up just before the bar exploded. I took Delilah back to the car, then I ran back to find you. By the time I got to you, you were severely burned and barely alive. You were mumbling at the gods to take you already. I can only imagine the pain you were in. I carried you to my car and Delilah insisted on giving you her blood. You went a little crazy at the first drop, and I had to knock you out. I won’t apologize. I was keeping our girl safe. You’d have done the same.” He lifted his prosthetic hand and raised an eyebrow.
Viktor nodded and wiped a tear from his eye. His movements were slow and his grimace gripped my heart. I hated seeing him in pain. I would let him drain me if it meant he didn’t have to hurt anymore.
“Why would someone have planted bombs at three of your properties? And what would make you think that Eli had done it?” I was terrified to ask, but felt like I needed the answer.
“Someone framed me, because I’ve done this before,” Eli responded, “but you have to believe me. This time it wasn’t me. I had no desire to hurt you, Vik. Yes, I wanted to compete, but that was all in good fun. Who wouldn’t want to look good in front of our girl?”
Viktor looked as if he was considering Eli’s words. It was so hard to tell what he was thinking. I hated that he couldn’t speak.
“Maybe I should give him more blood. It’s healing him, just not fast enough.”
Eli grabbed me before I could cut myself again. I looked at Viktor. He was staring off into space as if he couldn’t even hear us. I struggled against Eli to no avail. I knew I couldn’t defeat him physically, but thought that maybe I could outsmart him. He seemed to anticipate my thoughts and countered every move I made. There was no way I was going to be able to give Viktor more blood without getting Eli to agree to it.
I mean, yeah, it might have been a little impulsive to slit my wrist over Viktor’s mouth. Why couldn’t Eli see that it worked? Wasn’t that the important thing?
