Inside, I was already breaking apart.
Lena shoved me aside with her hip. “Get out of my light, Dracula. And speak faster.”
I stepped back but hovered close. Too close. I could not force myself farther away.
Lena pulled supplies from the bag. I recognized them from one of the shows Nadia liked to watch. Alcohol swabs, catheter, saline, tubing. An IV. She had an IV in her bedroom. I did not know whether to be impressed or horrified.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“What does itlooklike?” she snapped. “She’s dehydrated, and her pulse is weak. I’m giving her fluids and stabilizing her vitals before I decide if she needs to go to the ER—unless you want to explain to a doctor why your roommate looks like she’s been drained by a vampire.”
I swallowed hard enough to hurt.
If only it were that simple. If only it had anything to do with dehydration.
Lena slid the needle into Nadia’s arm with clinical efficiency, then fiddled with the tube as she checked her watch.
“She has been fatigued for days,” I said. “It has gotten worse.”
Lena shot me a sharp look. “She should have told me she was feeling bad.”
Lena was right. Nadia should have told her. But Lena couldn’t have helped.
Only I could fix it.
Lena narrowed her eyes. “What aren’t you telling me?”
I shook my head. Everything. The bond. Its cost. Its hunger. If worse came to worse… I would turn Nadia. I didn’t need Lena in my way.
If only I had known, from the moment she woke me, that it would do this to her. That the imbalance between us would slowly drain her vitality and transfer it into me, that eachmoment I touched her, used her energy, steadied her nervous system with my presence… I was stealing time from her body.
Unintentionally. But undeniably.
If only I had known that the tether was a blessing for me and a death sentence for her.
If I had only known, maybe I could have done something sooner. I had been trying to find a way to break the bond, but I hadn’t known it was killing her. I hadn’t known that my life was draining hers.
There were only two solutions: Break the bond as soon as possible. Or turn her into a vampire.
Otherwise, she would die.
Turning her—damning her to my fate—was unfathomable.
But I was watching her fade in front of me.
Lena adjusted the IV bag and checked Nadia’s temperature with the back of her hand. “She’s freezing,” she muttered. “Has she eaten today? Slept?”
“She slept,” I said. “But… no. She has not eaten enough.”
“Christ.” Lena shook her head. “She pushes herself too hard. Always has.”
If only it were that. I moved closer. There was a faint, bluish tint under Nadia’s eyes, and her lips had lost their color. Her breath shuddered on every exhale.
My fault. All of this was my damn fault.
Lena glanced up at me. “You’re hovering.”
“I am aware of that.”
