The minute he injected the contents of the syringe into Rianne, she gasped, and her eyelids opened.
Sam got up close to her and morphed into vampire mode—fangs down and eyes bright silver. Then he stared at her, doing whatever it was he did to remove the spell.
In a matter of seconds, Rianne blinked several times.
I squeezed her hand. “Hey, sis.”
She screamed bloody murder as she went for Sam’s throat.
Sam darted away, but Rianne wasn’t letting him off the hook. She vaulted off the bed like a wild woman and flung herself at the massive vampire. He caught her, but Rianne wielded her fists at Sam’s jaw, punch after punch. “You son of a bitch!”
Sam allowed her to unleash her anger as bone hit bone. Dr. Vieira was about to stop her when Sam shook his head. “Let her.”
Rianne wasn’t hurting him, but she would break her hand if she kept up her assault, so I tried to pull her off just as she swung her arm back, and her fist connected with my nose. Stars dotted my vision. “For fuck’s sake, sis.”
She was so far gone with fury that she didn’t even notice what she’d done.
Wincing, I held my nose. “Stop her, Sam. She’s going to hurt herself.”
Then two things happened at once. Dr. Vieira produced a long needle from his lab coat, and Sam stomped his foot. It sounded as though a bomb went off as the building shook.
Dr. Vieira took that split second and plunged the needle in Rianne’s arm. Instantly, she switched her rage to Dr. Vieira until her body relaxed. Then Sam set her down on the bed.
I watched in horror as that vision I’d had outside the elevator played out before me. My mind scrambled to figure out why I would see something like that before it even happened.
Letting go of my nose, I blew out a breath and then another. My pulse pounded in my ears, and it was all I could do to stay on my feet. I was human. Humans didn’t see the future.
Sam’s husky voice was in my ear. “Layla, are you going to pass out again?”
I continued to fixate on my sister and Dr. Vieira. “I think so.”
Sam wiped the blood from my nose with his fingers and made a deep, throaty sound, causing me to switch my attention to him.
He quickly cleaned his fingers on his pants as pain seemed to wash over him. “Let’s get you in that chair.”
With Rianne settled in bed, Dr. Vieira came over with a tissue. “Use this.” He handed it to me. “Human blood in this place will be the death of you.”
After I sat, Sam ducked out of the room without so much as a word, as did Dr. Vieira.
Rianne and I stared at one another as her eyelids started to droop.
Well, that went well.“Are you okay?” I asked her.
She looked at her hand. Her knuckles were dotted with blood. “I will be. I’m sorry, sis. I didn’t mean to hit you.”
I brushed her off. “No apology necessary.” I couldn’t blame her for unleashing her fury on Sam. I would’ve done the same thing.
Dr. Vieira returned with bandages and made quick work of cleaning Rianne’s hand.
“Is she going to be okay?” I asked him.
“She’ll be fine. I gave her a very mild sedative.”
Sam ambled in, his bloody nose and lip healed. He examined me, no doubt making sure my blood was no longer tempting him.
Once Dr. Vieira finished tending to Rianne’s bruised hand, he left again without a word.
I had one burning question for Rianne. “Sis, did you take the compelling elixir before we left for the club last night?”
