The next half hour passed in a blur as I was pulled from the water and sat in the back of an ambulance with paramedics checking over my vitals.
Water caused the dress to cling to me even tighter, forcing me to loosen the zipper. Lucien placed his jacket around my shoulders, never straying more than a couple steps from my side. Isadora was sent to the twins to explain what happened.
“I bet you it was that hunter. I knew I shouldn’t have let you leave alone. I almost lost you when I only just found you,”Lucien spoke with growing intensity. I could only nod mutely. I avoided death today.
“Are you going to ride with her to the hospital?” the paramedic asked Lucien. “She needs to be checked by a doctor just to ensure that she didn’t sustain any internal injuries.”
Hospitals sounded like the last thing I wanted to endure. I looked at Lucien, I don’t want to go to the hospital. Any vampiric tricks to getting me out of this? Reading my thoughts, his lips twitched into an amused smirk before he quickly covered it with a cough.
“She’s not a fan of doctors. Perhaps she could sign some type of refusal document instead? Save both of us the headache of trying to coax her.”
The paramedic nodded before going into the front of the vehicle to retrieve such a form. As he went over the details of what it meant to sign the paper, I wanted to pull out my hair and scream. I had nearly died and all I wanted was to go home where I was safe and able to freak out properly over the ordeal I had endured. Once he was done explaining, I signed the paper and handed it back to him.
“Promise me that if you feel anything out of the ordinary that you will at least talk to your doctor,” the man pressed, worry etched in his face. He was truly concerned and it threw me off for a second as I expected him to hightail it from here once the paper was signed.
I blinked at the paramedic’s words before they registered. “Oh, um, yeah,” I muttered while Lucien’s hand was held out to me. I began to slip down from the ambulance, ready to leave. I took his hand and he waited until I was on my feet before sweeping them from under me, tucking his arms under my knees and back.
He walked away from prying eyes before zipping away. When we got to his house, Isadora tried to take me from Lucien,but he refused. There was a desperation in his grip on me. He reacted in a similar way when Hugo attacked me. For a big bad powerful vampire, Lucien still had a weakness and that was being abandoned by someone he loved. He had only just come into my life and already he almost lost me twice. Guilt ate at me for that, but in this case, I had no warning until it was too late.
Had I already mastered my powers, I could have defended myself against Hugo and probably could have stopped the truck before it ended up in the lake.
I was weak and I was tired of feeling weak.
Chapter Eighteen
Melinda
Blood sacrifices.
That was the headline for the paper the following morning. We had all huddled around the table earlier that morning to see not only the headline, but the images of each victim. There were four so far:
Agatha Oakland
Hannah Brantley
Jeremy Pickens
Camden Barnes
On the second page of the story displayed my face. I was now considered an almost victim. Bright side, it helped keep others from thinking I was the killer. However, with a target now on my back, the others refused to let me far from their line ofsight. If it wasn’t Lucien then it was Isadora and if it wasn’t those siblings then it was the twins.
My only reprieve was the bathroom, which I was currently sneaking out of as afternoon fell. That was until a voice behind me stopped me.
“Where are you going?” Lucien asked as I headed towards the living room exit.
“To pitch myself off the house,” I fired back sarcastically. Lucien’s eyes narrowed at the bad joke. Sighing, I motioned for him to follow. “You’ll follow me anyway so come on. I need a drink so I want to borrow dad’s truck. You’re driving because I don’t think I can get behind the wheel for a bit.”
His narrowed eyes softened at my words. Wrapping his arms around me, he let the coolness of his embrace help settle my growing nervousness.
What if it was someone I was close to? What would I do? Could I really put down someone like a rabid dog?I wouldn’t know until that time came, unfortunately.
“Let’s go,” he said. My grip on him tightened as the house suddenly blurred around me, morphing into only shades of earth. In a few blinks, we were coming to a stop at my house. I wasn’t used to this way of traveling and my stomach didn’t seem to like the position either as it twisted with a threat of relieving itself of its contents. “Mel?”
I nodded, showing that I heard him. “Sorry, I’m not used to traveling like that. Usually you're holding me differently.”
Placing a kiss on my temple, he rested his head against mine. “I should have thought of that, I apologize.”
“Mel, thank god you are alright,” My dad said from his truck. I looked over to see grocery bags in his truck bed. He forgot about them as soon as he saw me and ran to pull me into a hug. Something about it felt off, but I brushed it off and embraced him back. I hadn’t seen my dad since my near-deathexperience because Lucien had kept me less than an arms-length away. I felt his shoulders tremble as he held me, causing me to pull away and find him with tears in his eyes.
