Blue-Blooded Vamp (17 page)

“We showed up at the address a few minutes after sundown. Persephone and Chiara were directing their people to load up their cars. When we approached, Persephone became combative. Said we needed to leave.”

While she talked, I started counting gunshot wounds.

“I tried to talk to her calmly, but she wasn’t listening. A few minutes later, a gang of vampires showed up on scooters. It was the weirdest thing.”

By that point, I’d counted six wounds. “That was Damiano and his gang. They work for Chiara.”

“We didn’t get a chance for introductions because they attacked us,” Alexis continued. “Luckily they were using mundane guns or I’d be toast. Unfortunately, Erron got the worst of it. He didn’t even get a chance to use defensive magic when the first bullet hit him.”

When I got to ten, I looked up at Adam. “Can you fix this?”

He shook his head, his face pale. Because Erron was a Recreant mage, his ability to heal himself had been stripped by the Hekate Council. Not that he was capable of any magic in his unconscious state.

“How’d you get out?” Giguhl asked.

“I shielded him. With me distracted, the vampires rounded up Persephone and Chiara and drove off.”

“That’s strange,” Adam said. “Why would they attack
you guys? Persephone knows you. Surely she wouldn’t think you were there to harm her?”

“Chiara’s goons didn’t know us, though. Maybe they saw us as a threat and decided Persephone needed defending.”

I frowned up at him. “Wait. Are you saying Persephone didn’t give the order to attack? Or Chiara?”

Alexis shook her head. “No. We were talking to both of the females when the other vampires arrived. They didn’t speak to the Domina or the Donna. They just started shooting.”

“We can puzzle that part out later,” Adam said. “In the meantime, Sabina and I need to do a healing spell on Erron STAT or we’ll lose him.”

I looked up quickly. On some level, I knew the healing ritual was our only chance to save Erron. But on another other level, I was worried that I couldn’t do it. Despite being grateful for the distraction from my own worries, my head still felt all out of whack. “Adam, I don’t think—”

He put a hand on my arm and squeezed. “There’s no time, Red. We’ve got to do this or we’ll lose him.”

I took a deep breath and nodded. “Let’s hurry, then.”

Alexis looked out of her depth. Not a surprise since, as a vampire, her own wounds had healed on their own. “What can I do?” she asked.

“Stay out of our way,” I said. “And pray.”

Giguhl carried Erron to the bedroom with the mancy and I following. “What do you need?” the demon asked once he set the Recreant on the bed.

I wracked my brain, trying to remember all the tools I’d need to re-create the healing spell I’d done with Rhea months earlier on Brooks after he’d been attacked by a
secret cult. “See if you can find candles, preferably blue and purple. Then go to the roof and see if you can get me some sprigs of lavender and sage.”

“Got it!” Giguhl ran off, his hooves pounding against the floors.

“I’ve got salt in my backpack,” Adam said. He rushed over to grab the container of the special salt he always carried for drawing circles. It came from the Dead Sea and had been blessed by his aunt Rhea in a special invocation. Powerful stuff, which was good because we’d need all the help we could get.

He rushed over and set the container next to the bed. “Red?”

“Yeah?” I was busy stripping Erron’s shirt off his bloodied chest.

“When was the last time you fed?”

I shook my head distractedly. “Back in New Orleans.”

“You need to feed now or you won’t have the strength to carry out the ritual.”

I looked up at him then. “But if I feed from you, you’ll be weak, too.”

He held my eyes, but when he spoke, it was to call out to the living room. “Alexis?”

My stomach dropped. “No.”

Alexis appeared at the door. “What’s up?”

“You got any of that blood left over from this morning?”

“No, why?”

I shook my head urgently at Adam. I didn’t exactly have time for an attack of conscience, yet it reared up like a beast. Adam was the only living being I’d fed from for months. While Alexis and I were in no danger of being attracted to each other, the act of taking blood from another vampire—male or female—was just too… intimate.

Besides, Alexis Vega was not someone I wanted to owe a debt.

“Sabina needs blood,” Adam said.

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I’ll be fine.”

Just then, Giguhl ran through the door, brushing past a shocked Alexis. The demon juggled several candles, sprigs of herbs, and matches. He set everything down on the side of the bed before he clued into the tension in the room.

“Uh-oh. What happened?” he demanded.

“Adam just asked me to share my blood with Sabina.” Alexis looked shell-shocked.

“Oh shit,” Giguhl said, his goat eyes wide. “Can I watch?”

I crossed my arms. “No, because it’s not going to happen.”

“Sabina—” Adam started, but I slashed a hand through the air.

Giguhl scooted close. I looked up at him, an idea forming in my head. It was crazy but far preferable to the alternative.

I looked right into his goat-slit eyes. “Will you help me?”

He stood up straighter. I didn’t have to explain what I was asking. He knew immediately. The room was silent as everyone waited to hear whether my minion would willingly give me his blood.

A broad smile stretched across his black lips. “Abso-fucking-lutely.”

Alexis’s breath whooshed out in a relieved rush. “Thank, Christ!” She disappeared through the door like a death-row inmate given a last-minute pardon.

“Okay, let’s do this quickly.”

Giguhl shifted excitedly from hoof to hoof. “Where do you want to bite me? Neck? Ooh, thigh?”

Maybe this wasn’t such a hot idea after all. “Gross, G. How about your wrist?”

He held his arm out immediately. “Be gentle with me.”

I licked my lips and nodded. Now that I was staring at his green-scaled wrist, it hit me how enormous this sacrifice was. Even though Giguhl wasn’t a vampire, offering someone your blood freely demands an enormous amount of trust. I looked up. “Thanks, Giguhl.”

He blushed. “Anytime, trampire.”

Erron moaned from the bed. Time to get serious. In a fast movement, I slammed my fangs into Giguhl’s wrist.

His blood hit my tongue like liquid fire. It seared a path down my throat and then sizzled through my veins. I moaned over his wrist, struggling against the onslaught of pain. I tried to pull away, but Giguhl’s claw held my head to his arm. Then, as quickly as the pain began, it morphed into pure energy. I tasted brimstone on the back of my tongue and something spicy and dark, like turmeric. I swallowed once, twice more before Giguhl released me.

I pulled away with a gasp. My muscles bunched and strained for action. I felt like I could leap a tall building or fly right out the window and never hit the ground. “Holy hell!”

“Aww, yeah.” The demon smiled a cocky smile. “My shit is delicious, right?”

I stretched my arms out and jumped up and down a few times to burn off some of the adrenaline. “I wouldn’t say delicious exactly, but it’s pretty fucking strong. I feel like I could swim across the ocean and still have energy left to build a house by hand.”

Adam cleared his throat. “Or perhaps save your friend’s life?”

I sobered then. “Right. Sorry. It’s just… wow.”

“Yes, yes. We all get it. Giguhl’s blood is great. Can we get started, please?”

I shot Adam an annoyed look. If it had been up to him, I would have been sucking Alexis’s bitter vein right then, so
he had no reason to be jealous that Giguhl’s blood was so powerful. I patted him on the arm. “Don’t worry. I still prefer your blood.”

He pursed his lips. “I’m so relieved.”

Giguhl punched Adam in the arm. “Mancy, please, green is so not your color.”

Adam grimaced and rubbed his bicep. “Shut it, demon boy.”

Giguhl clicked his tongue. “Touchy, touchy.”

I clapped my hands together, feeling better than I had in weeks. “All righty, then. Let’s save us a life.”

The candles were the only light in the room. Our breaths the only sounds. Adam clasped my hands over Erron’s body. His warm hands slicked over my clammy palms. I winked at him with a confidence I didn’t feel and started chanting.

“Goddess Hekate, Mother of Magic and Night Queen, raise your torch, that your light may illuminate the path toward healing. Open our vision and protect your humble servant so he may live to carry out your will.”

We closed our eyes and focused our breathing.

With my third eye, I looked deep inside myself. Below the angry black power that coalesced in my diaphragm. Down to the deeper pool of more powerful energy. The powers of the moon. Hekate’s power. I called up additional Chthonic forces through the floorboards. It pierced the soles of my bare feet and climbed my legs. Curled up my torso and into my chest. Melded with my inherent magic. Grew, swirled, danced up my throat.

Magic surged from me. Everything was tinted a bloody red, but my vision was sharper with black halos around the
edges. Probably a result of the demon blood zinging through my veins. My skin tingled where it touched Adam’s. His lids fluttered open. The pupils had overtaken his irises until his eyes looked like onyx marbles.

The instant our hands touched, a second wave of power slammed through my palms. I allowed the powers to equalize before I continued chanting.

“We unite to pour healing into this broken vessel. We unite to absorb his pain. We…” I nodded to Adam to pick up the chant. Soon his deep voice added a powerful bass.

“To pour healing into this broken vessel. We…”

The cone of power rising above our joined hands condensed and began to stream into Erron’s body. His shoulders lifted from the bed as his body rose to receive the healing energy. At the same time, a second ribbon of energy—darker, thicker, and tinged smoky black—escaped Erron’s ravaged body and split into two streams.

My stomach lurched against the pain we absorbed from the Recreant. Breathing deeply through my nose, I struggled to control the two opposing flows of energy. Cold sweat covered my skin.

I clenched my teeth against the strain of wielding such massive power. The bullets had forged a destructive trail, slashing intestines and embedding in bone and tissue. Healing those wounds took an enormous amount of energy that left me trembling.

Eventually, the bullets popped one by one from Erron’s skin and rolled to the bedspread. The blood poured out thickly at first but soon slowed to trickles.

Adam’s hands tightened on mine. Dark and light energy flowed through us, around us, between us. Until finally, a single clean stream of energy ran through us into Erron and back again, creating a circuit of healing.

I blew out a long, slow breath from deep in my belly. With it, I released the powers I’d called up from the goddess. As I did so, I said a silent prayer of thanks for her aid. I blinked and found my vision had returned to normal. Adam’s gaze was green again and relieved. A ghost of a smile hovered on his lips.

“You did it.”

“We did it.” He squeezed my fingers one final time before releasing them. Then we both looked down at Erron.

It was hard to tell how many of his more superficial wounds had healed through the dried blood. However, his breathing had deepened and slowed, like a man enjoying a good night’s sleep, instead of the shallow, rapid gasps of earlier.

Tears stung my eyes. Relief, not sadness. “I think he’ll live,” I whispered.

“Thank the gods,” Giguhl said from the corner of the room.

I tilted my head and looked at my friend. “It’s you who needs to be thanked. I couldn’t have done it without you.” I glanced at Adam, too. “Both of you.”

Giguhl shot me a get-real look. “Bullshit. You’re stronger than you admit to yourself. By the way, thank you for asking me to help. It means a lot.”

“Of course. Erron’s your friend, too.”

“No, I meant”—the demon shook his head—“I meant it means a lot that you asked. You could have just commanded me to give you my blood.”

The mood in the room shifted, creating a vacuum that sucked away all the easy banter and replaced it with something more sincere and, frankly, awkward.

“I’ll just go tell Alexis how it went.” Adam shot me a wink before he exited.

I was too busy avoiding Giguhl’s eyes to smile back. “Oh… um… sure.” I self-consciously wiped my hands on my jeans.

The demon cleared his throat and busied himself covering Erron with a blanket. Part of me was relieved he didn’t pursue that conversational path any further. I’d never felt entirely comfortable with the idea that Giguhl was mine to command. I mean, sure, I didn’t hesitate to boss him around when I needed him or when his infamous knack for causing trouble landed one or the both of us in hot water. But I tried not to abuse that power. However, despite my own misgivings, Giguhl rarely complained about being ordered around.

I hesitated. Was that true, though? I thought about all the times he’d bitched when I forced him to change into his cat form because I needed him in a convenient carrying size or when I needed someone tiny to do reconnaissance. I’d always blown that off as Giguhl just being snarky. But maybe I’d been ignoring his distress because it wasn’t convenient to admit that it was unfair.

“Um, G?” I said. I cleared my throat.

He looked up. “Yeah?”

“I’m sorry if I ever made you feel like I don’t take you seriously. You’re… you’re really important to me.”

Giguhl stood up straighter, as if I’d finally managed to shock him. “Thanks.” He nodded and moved toward the door, but just before he walked through it, he paused. “Sabina?”

I looked up. “Yeah?”

He paused. “You, um, have some blood on your chin.”

With that, my red-faced best friend ducked through the door before either of us could embarrass ourselves further.