“When I sensed something was wrong, I left early,” he added. He turned back, his gaze hardening. “Whatdidhappen?”
“Dr. Price wasn’t in his office,” I replied, not that he deserved to know. But if it was less Bells had to explain, good. “The doctor standing in for him smelled like a dead thing. Not rancid, but old, like if you left beef jerky in an attic for a few years. He was traumatizing Bells somehow. I kicked his ass.”
He blinked, like my description of events left something to be desired, but I was still fucked up from the shift, and the drugs.
“I’ve never heard of that,” he finally mused.
“Never heard of what? The walking dead? Aren’t you among them?”
He rolled his eyes. “We’re just a different kind of alive. In case you haven’t noticed, I have a pulse.”
“I noticed when I had my hand wrapped around your throat. It’s slow as fuck.” I glanced warily at him. “Why didn’t you even care? You could’ve at least tried to fight me off. I could’ve killed you. I don’t think even you bloodsuckers can take decapitation.”
He turned around and kept walking as the hospital ward came into view. “Does it matter?”
“Yeah, it matters. I don’t know if you have a death wish because you’re all brooding losers or if it’s because your face is fucked up, but in case you haven’t noticed--and itkillsme to say this--Bells seems like she would rather have you alive. Or whatever version of alive you are,” I grunted. “If nothing else, she likes your pasta.”
He stopped just short of the door to the hospital wing, his head bent slightly. I was sure he was going to get pissy over what I’d just said, but instead, he snorted. It was the closest thing to a laugh he seemed capable of. “Fair enough.”
Before he could reach the door, I grabbed it and pulled it open, standing aside. “Ladies first.”
He breezed past without reacting, like heknewthat would piss me off more. And it fucking did.
Dick.
I followed him into the ward, my nose wrinkling at the scent of antiseptic. It was so overpowering, I could barely keep track of her soft, floral scent, but there was only one door that was open.
When I saw her laying in the hospital bed, hooked up to an IV and a heart monitor keeping steady track of the rhythm of her pulse, I froze. My heart ached in a way it never had before. Like someone was gripping and squeezing it from inside my chest.
I glanced over and saw something on the vampire’s face I hadn’t expected to be there, either. He slipped into the room, walking noiselessly, like he was afraid to wake her.
She looked peaceful, despite the distress she’d been in earlier. That probably had something to do with the IV bag hanging by her bed. I approached carefully, brushing my hand over the back of hers.
Her eyelids fluttered restlessly, but she didn’t wake up right away. The fact that she might easily have never woken up at all settled on me like a heavy, crushing weight. I didn’t know who’d sent the doctor, or why he was after her, but I knew one thing.
I was never going to get this close to losing her again.
Chapter 13
Bells
Usually,when I slept, I dreamed. It was rare for me to remember what I’d dreamed about, but when I woke up, the impressions of those nocturnal movies were still left in my mind. This time, when I woke up, it felt like I’d been pulled from absolute nothingness. The emptiness left a hole in my chest that felt cold and hollow, and the unnatural feeling of it forced me upright with a gasp as soon as I could will my body to move.
The steady beeping that had punctuated the silence picked up, and I realized I was attached to enough cords to be a marionette. Instinctively, I ripped the one out of the crook of my arm and a firm, cool hand seized my wrist an instant later.
Dread washed over me, but when I looked up and saw Alistair staring down at me, his usually stern features softened with concern, I remembered how to breathe. “Be careful,” he murmured, looking down at the blood pooling in the crook of my elbow.
I didn’t know how he’d gotten here, or how long I’d been asleep, but it occurred to me just then that I probably should have been afraid. Blood and vampires didn’t mix well under most circumstances, but I couldn’t bring myself to be afraid of him. Even when I saw the look of hunger in his gaze, I knew he wouldn’t hurt me.
“May I?” he asked softly.
I nodded, even though I wasn’t quite sure what he meant. He lowered his head and his tongue flicked along the inside of my arm, lapping up the droplets of blood. I gasped faintly, but the minor pain from ripping the tubing out dissolved on contact, and when I looked down, I wasn’t bleeding anymore.
His eyes met mine, his tongue darting out to clean the last droplet of blood clinging to his lips. “You’re alright,” he said gently, touching my face. His skin was so cool compared to mine, but I brushed it off as a fever. I leaned into his touch, still too out of it to care about propriety.
The blissful feeling of security only lasted as long as it took for the memories to come rushing back. I looked around the hospital room. “Where is he?” I asked, my voice still hoarse from screaming.
“He’s gone,” Alistair answered, his expression turning confused when he saw the horror in mine. “They don’t know how, but he self-destructed somehow.”
