With a shuddering breath, she returned to the safe house. Beckham had piled the bodies into a corner. Somehow, they looked even more gruesome that way. As if she and Beckham were moving furniture to clean the carpets. The blood was never coming out.
Brian was unconscious and tied to a chair. His head lolled forward against his chest. His emaciated figure shocked her. He’d always been a broad guy. Both he and Drew were made of packed muscle on wide frames. Even when they’d gone hungry, they’d never really been skinny. And she could see under his baggy clothes that he was wasting away to nothing.
“How is this possible?” she whispered. “It’s been, what, three weeks? Just three weeks since he was captured?”
Beckham nodded. “It’s the virus. Vampirism wreaks havoc on the body and completely re-forms it to be able to give us the strength, speed, and hearing. The first week is most important. You have to be fed, and fed regularly, while the body grows and mutates. You are burning energy at such a high rate that if not fed properly, the body eats away at itself.”
She clutched at her chest. His body was eating away at him. Dear God, the pain he must’ve felt.
“How long do you think he’s been like this?”
“More than a week at least. He was on his last leg. I’ve seen it before.”
The way he said it made it sound personal.
“You’ve done this before?” she whispered.
He clenched his jaw. The only sign that he didn’t like how easily she could read him. “It’s a form of torture. We did it to our enemies or in interrogations. It’s a power play.” He paused and then continued, “It’s what was done to Sydney.”
Reyna sucked in a harsh breath. “She came out stronger for it.”
“That’s why I respected her.”
“She was uncommon?” Reyna guessed.
Beckham’s curt nod was enough to confirm everything she feared. Sydney was the exception. Her strength was rare. It was more likely that Brian was broken and may never recover from this.
“What do we do?” she demanded, shucking off all the fear and moving into action.
“Blood. He needs a lot of blood.”
“Where do we go? A blood bank? The hospital?”
“It’d be better to bring him back to Washington’s, where we can monitor him.”
“We have enough blood there?”
“Genevieve keeps us well stocked. You know his blood type?”
“Of course. He’ll be okay on the drive back?”
“He’ll be unconscious for a while,” Beckham said with a hint of regret.
“You did what you had to. Now we have to do what we can to save him. Harrington won’t win this.”
Beckham didn’t say anything for a moment as they both observed Brian. “Do you want to tell Drew and Laura?”
Reyna inhaled sharply. “No. No, I don’t want anyone else to know what he’s going through if I can help it.”
“Okay.”
Reyna loved that he didn’t argue with her. He didn’t try to comfort her. He didn’t try to soften the blow. They both knew it was dire. There was no use lying.
Reyna called Gabe while they waited for Gerard to return with the van. He answered on the third ring. “What?”
“We have an emergency here. We found Brian.”
“That’s great, Reyna. Why is that an emergency?”
