To the side, I saw my Consort checking out the bodies of the dead. I heaved a relieved sigh that started at my toes.
Koun knelt at my feet, offering his sword. “I failed you. I allowed you to face danger.”
“Nobody failed me,” I said. I wasn’t sure what he wanted, but I had a feeling he felt he had been insufficient in some way about the battle we had just fought. I pulled on all the vamp lore I could think of, and nothing fit. I settled on, “Koun. Put that thing away. I suck at staying safe, and I... I order you to stop trying. You did good, dude. Get up.”
He stood and sheathed his sword, but he still looked unhappy. Tex joined us and set a dog on a leash free to scout the bushes in the dark. It made snuffling sounds and moved fast, excited at the hunt.
“Okay,” I said, tapping my mic. “Is the Firestarter gone?”
Over the headgear, I heard Voodoo say, “I have cam recording from outside the grounds of a human-temperature form climbing over the back fence. And we haven’t had more fireballs.”
Meaning yes, she was probably gone. The Onorios, vamps, and their humans had brought war on the Dark Queen, just as I had expected after seeing Monique’s bloody-hull soul home.
It wasn’t the first time we had more than one group after us, but the makeup of this group was different. I pulled on everything Leo had ever taught me by example and said into the headgear, “Our vampire enemies are coordinating with the Firestarter. We are on lockdown until further notice.” The dog barked, a sharp vicious sound. Tex reached to pull his weapon. Koun whirled, sword shushing out of the scabbard. A vamp rose out of the foliage. Aimed a weapon at me. Fired a three burst.
I felt the rounds hit me so fast it was like one massive punch. The vamp fell. I looked down. “Well, that sucks donkey toes.”
Bruiser raced toward me.
To Koun I said, “Why can’t this ever be easy?”
And I fell. Lying facedown on the mulch, I thought,Why am I not shifting? I should shift. I should change shape and live.Instead I was dying.Weird,I thought,I’ve died before. And I’ve never seen heaven like Sabina did. Why vamps and not me?
***
I woke, eyes closed, my face buried in pillows, sheets over me, topped by an electric blanket. It was Leo’s bed. I knew it was his because it still smelled of pepper and papyrus and blood and sex. I also smelled Bruiser and Eli and Koun and Tex. Especially those last two, because they were cradling me, spooning me, one on each side. I was no longer in my clothes, so... what the actual...?
“Here. Bleed on her here. It looks as if the round fragmented. She may need surgery to get them all out.”
No,I said. Except nothing came out.
I felt Bruiser’s hands on my head, gripping me. A weird power was shoved into me. It was green and smelled ofroses and catnip. It was prickly and yet soft, like coarse wool and angora. It was a malleable yet demanding buzz of electric-hot-and-cold at once. Heavy and lethargic.
I took a breath. My lungs felt weird.
“She’s breathing,” Koun said. “Cut me again. Jane, drink.”
I tried again to say no, but tepid blood was filling my mouth. It was easier to swallow than to argue. Koun’s blood tasted different from any other vamp blood I had drunk, though I couldn’t say why, maybe... meatier? As if his blood had more red cells in it than other vamps?
Beast rose in me, eyes glowing. Good vampire blood. Beast likes Koun-blood.
“I need to feed,” Koun said.
“Give her mine,” Tex said.
They rolled me over, and Tex’s blood filled my mouth.
Beast likes good vampire blood. More. Beast hungers.
I had changed shape in the foyer. Right. I needed more calories than the PowerBars and electrolyte drink to replace the energy use, and Beast took every opportunity to drink vamp blood. Bruiser clasped my head tighter. There was a desperation in his grasp. More power pushed through me. It was uncomfortable, too hot, too rosy. Too something. And then I remembered. I was still in half-form. I hadn’t shifted to Beast or back to human. I hadn’t healed. I should have shifted. And didn’t. I died. Or near enough to not count. Bruiser’s worst nightmare. And they had brought me back. My shifting was out of control. I had hoped this worst-case scenario wouldn’t be true, but it was. I had been mortally wounded, and I hadn’t shifted. I was truly a danger to everyone around me because keeping me safe just got a lot harder. If I was stupid and ran into battle again, I’d get my own people killed while they tried to protect me. And I had ordered Koun to stand down.Crap.
“This is why we need an Infermieri,” Koun said, his tone icy and furious. “With Jane, we need a dozen.”
My body felt strange. Cold.
But I remembered the attackers. I got a hand up and pushed at Tex’s wrist. Swallowed the last of the blood in my mouth. Gasping, I told Bruiser who they were.
“I know,” he said, his voice suffused with fear and rage. I had died. Bruiser was ticked. Really,reallyticked.
