“I think you’re probably right,” I said, my voice small.
She smiled sympathetically. “Let me know if you need anything.”
I nodded my thanks and ran up the stairs behind them.
They placed him in the icy-cold bath, naked now. He didn’t wake. After about twenty minutes, when there was no change to his temperature, they took him out and laid him on the bed.
Monique placed a thin sheet over his bottom half and an icy cloth across his forehead. I sat beside him on a chair, holding hishand and talking to him as he groaned and writhed. Every flicker of pain across his features struck my heart like a knife.
He can’t die, he’s a firstborn and immortal, I told myself over and over.
He looks like he’s dying.
Monique paced the room.
“Reinforcements are on the way,” Leon said, his voice hoarse as he stepped inside the room. He scrubbed a hand over his face, his concerned gaze on Karson. “I’m going to see what I can find out. Call me if you need me.” A fresh burst of wind whipped through the room as he opened the balcony door and leapt off into the night.
Monique stopped pacing and chewed on her bottom lip, emotions flickering against her normally masked veneer. “I’ll make some calls to a few people I trust and see if they know anything as well.” She pulled her phone from her pocket and left the room.
“You’re going to be alright. Michael has gone to get medicine. Karson, can you hear me?” My voice cracked. “You stay with me.”
Nothing but a rattled breath fell from his half-open mouth. Tears filled my eyes, and I scrubbed them away with my sleeve.
The poison had reached the raven’s wing. I pressed a finger over the top of one, pinning it under his skin. Burning shot through my finger like I’d touched a hot plate. I gasped and snapped my finger away; the tip was red and stinging.
The black veins slithered in an angry frenzy. Karson’s body stiffened, his fingers clenching as he groaned weakly.
“Sorry, I’m sorry,” I whispered, more tears sliding. “I didn’t mean to make it worse.”
“Yeah, don’t do that,” Josh said, holding up a finger. There wasn’t a mark on his; he’d healed already. He hovered near the door, leaning against the wall.
If it felt like that to me, it must be a thousand times worse under his skin. “You could have told me before I touched it.” I knuckled the tears off my cheeks.
“Sorry. I thought maybe because you were a witch it might not affect you.”
“What’s taking Michael so long?”
Josh ran his hand through his thick hair and it fell back messy again. “The witch he’s gone to see lives out of town. But I heard Monique say she’d never seen anything like it, and the same thing had killed another vampire when she found him.”
My heart thundered in my chest. “They died?” I rasped.
He straightened off the wall and grimaced like he regretted giving me that information, but too late now. “Yeah, he was a normal vampire … so uh … Karson should be alright.”
Shouldwasn’t reassuring. I couldn’t sit here. I had to call someone. I had to get him help.
I pulled my phone out of my jacket pocket and dialled Dahlia. It was gone, ripped out of my hand, and my fingers were left open and empty. Monique stabbed the “end call” button and loomed over me, her cherry-red lips pulled into a snarl, flashing needle-sharp fangs. “I told you not to call Caron.”
“I wasn’t …” I could protect myself and I knew Monique wouldn’t hurt me, and yet, having her so wild and so near, fear rushed through my body. But I kept my tone flat. “I was calling Dahlia.”
“And who does she report to?”
I blinked. “I trust Dahlia.” At least as much as I knew her better than any witch, aside from BJ, and I definitely trusted him.BJ? He might know something, or his mom might?
“We can’t just sit here. We have to do something.” I watched as a feather moved on Karson’s chest, as if the raven was fluffing its wings. It would have been beautiful if it wasn’t so devastating.“Give it back.” I lurched to my feet and held out my hand. My phone began to vibrate; Dahlia was trying to call me.
Monique glowered at me. “No.”
I was scared, and when I got scared, I got angry. “Give me my phone!”
