That couldn't be right. The wound had been deep, and even though it had stopped bleeding the day before and Mattie had said in the shower that it looked much better than it had any right to so soon after the bite, it couldn't have disappeared completely. It should have taken months for the scar to fade.
Dimitri pushed himself up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. The vertigo he'd experienced yesterday was gone, replaced by a vitality and clarity that made every sensation feel heightened. The scratch of the sheets against his skin. The scent of Mattie's hair. The dust motes floating in the shaft of light that crept through the window.
He crossed to the bathroom and leaned close to the mirror, tilting his head to expose his neck.
Nothing.
The skin was smooth, unmarked. There was just the faintest discoloration to show where Tarik's teeth had torn throughmuscle and vein, and it could be mistaken for a scratch. It was as if the attack had never happened.
"How is that possible?" Mattie stood behind him, her reflection joining his in the mirror. She'd wrapped the sheet around herself, but it was slipping, revealing the pale curve of her shoulder. "It looked great yesterday, but the difference today is just astonishing."
"It must be the venom." Dimitri touched his neck, half expecting to feel at least tenderness, a ridge of scar tissue, anything. But there was only smooth skin. "Its healing properties must be more extensive than what I was led to believe."
He stared at his reflection, seriously considering pinching himself again to prove that he wasn't dreaming. Even the pallor from his illness was gone. His skin had healthy color again, and the dark circles around his eyes that had been a permanent feature since his early twenties were gone. He looked better than he had before the attack. Better than he had in years.
Was that the effect of the venom or was it from feeling happy and in love?
He should know more about the venom since he was working on enhancing immortal soldiers. Later today, when the eight came for their enhancement shots, he would probe them about their venom.
He would have to be careful and make it sound as if he was asking all those questions for his research and not for himself, framing it as scientific inquiry rather than anything personal. The last thing he needed was Dave figuring out that he'd been bitten. That would lead to questions about how and why, andthose questions would lead to Tarik, and Dimitri needed to hide the details of the attack as much as Tarik did, probably more.
Tarik wouldn't suffer any consequences because he hadn't actually killed Dimitri, but Dimitri had attacked the immortal with a syringe, and that might spell lots of trouble for him.
If only the toxin had been more potent.
The evil barbarian didn't deserve to live, not after attacking Mattie. The memory of walking into that bar, seeing the immortal's hands on Mattie, his mouth smashed over hers, made Dimitri's blood heat with anger.
His grip on the sink tightened until his knuckles went white.
Mattie needed protection. Real protection, not just the hope that Tarik would be too afraid of consequences to try again. The immortal was a predator, and predators didn't give up on prey just because their first attempt failed.
"I'm going to prepare syringes filled with toxin for you." Dimitri turned from the mirror. "I'll adjust the dosage so it works faster. You need to carry them around wherever you go because the bastard could attack you anywhere."
Mattie shook her head. "I can't."
"Mattie—"
Her expression turned pained, and she pulled the sheet tighter around herself. "If I use a syringe on an immortal and kill him, I'll be put to death. It doesn't matter if it was self-defense. It doesn't matter what he was trying to do to me. A human killing one of her masters is punishable by beheading."
"So, you'd rather forgo defense altogether?"
"What would you have me do? Despite everything, I don't want to die, so if I have to suffer an assault, it's better to surrender and survive than fight back and die. This is our reality on this island."
Dimitri wanted to put his fist through the mirror, through the wall, through anything that would let him vent the fury raging inside of him.
"That's not acceptable to me," he said.
"It's reality." Mattie moved past him to retrieve her clothes from where she'd left them yesterday before getting into the shower. "Regrettably, you are nearly as powerless as I am in this place. Your only advantage is that Lord Navuh needs you, and you are not easy to replace."
"Then I'll come to the bar and sit there throughout your shift." He followed her out of the bathroom. "They won't dare try anything with me there."
Mattie opened the dresser drawer and pulled out a pair of his undershorts. "May I?"
"Of course." In fact, it excited him that she was going to wear his boxers under her uniform.
He would have offered her more items from his limited wardrobe to replace the crumpled black trousers and white blouse of her uniform, but regrettably, she couldn't parade around wearing his clothing.
"For how long do you think you can keep it up?" she asked as she buttoned the blouse. "You can't sit in the bar every day, Dimitri. You have work to do that keeps you valuable to these people, which is the only reason you're still alive."
