Bound in Blood 1 Clandestine (21 page)

“Ah hell,” stammered Tyler. “Is she…” The end of Tyler’s
question hung in the air between them like ice beneath their feet,
threatening to crack. Tyler’s vision was transfixed on the girl
lying in front of him. His eyes looked petrified. His facial
features hid it well behind a stoic expression.
“No,” said Sebastian. “She’s hardly breathing and I can
barely make out a heartbeat,but she’s not dead. We’ve got to get
her to Alexander.” As he spoke he carefully picked up Beth
cradling her like he had Emily before. She looked like a limp rag
doll in his arms. Her head was flopped back over Sebastian’s
arm, looking as though it were about to fall off. “Tyler, carry
Emily so we can move quicker.”
“Check,” responded Tyler obediently. He didn’t snatch her
up like Sebastian had. Instead, he held out his arms as if silently
asking her for permission.
Emily didn’t give him a response out loud. She just moved
closer to him, allowing him to sweep her off her feet in a smooth
graceful motion. Dang, she finally got swept off her feet and she
didn’t even get to wear the Cinderella dress. Also, it wasn’t
exactly a honeymoon threshold she was being carried over. Even
in the midst extreme crisis moment,she couldn’t help but notice
her heart rate increase as he held her close. It was ridiculous she
knew, but he was adorable even if she didn’t like him like that.
Did she?
Before she had time to ponder the idea, they were off and
moving again. Like before, everything became a blur as they
sped down the deserted streets. If people in their houses looked
out and saw them, they probably wouldn’t even notice. They
were moving too fast. If they did see anything,they wouldn’t
know what. By the time they came up with a guess, the four of
them would be long gone.
As they ran, Emily wondered if the vampires that had found
Beth were looking for them now too. Surely Andre had told them
about the encounter and that’s why they were coming in the first
place. Would they look for their friend, or just assume Tyler had
finished the job? Emily cringed at the thought of them
discovering it was her and not Tyler. They would probably laugh
and take pride in the lack of effort required to kill her. She
couldn’t think about that. The right thing had been done and in
the long run, that was all that mattered. At least that’s what she
kept telling herself anyway. Plus, what about the blood tie
Sebastian spoke of earlier between Beth and the vamp?
Wouldn’t that just lead the bad guy’s right to them?
The changes in Emily that had developed during the
struggle, kept creeping to the front of her mind. It felt selfish and
wrong to think about herself. Beth was dying not more than a
foot from her. Although, if she continued to think about that, she
might go into melt down mode, which wouldn’t help anyone.
Her increased night vision was cool, but not really that big
of a deal. The instinct to behead that vampire was what plagued
her. It came out of nowhere. Maybe living with Sam taught her a
few things. Except, it wasn’t like she just punched him, or threw
him against a wall. Sam’s temper seemed mild compared with
what she did.What Emily had done, she hadn’t even seen in a
movie. Something so morbidly grotesque had never been so up
close and personal before. Did it mean she was a vampire hunter
too? She couldn’t be, could she? Sebastian should have some
kind of insider information about her. He could get into her head
after all.
She and Tyler seem to have some kind of mind mojo going
on with each other too. She spoke to him in her mind, without
even realizing she could. He didn’t answer her in the same way.
Nevertheless, his verbal answer was clue enough that he heard
her. What did that mean?
They kept telling her that she played some role in all of it. If
that were true, it would sure be nice for someone to figure out
what that meant. Nothing seemed to make sense anymore. Emily
put her hand to her forehead. Man she was getting a killer
headache.

Back at the compound, Sebastian laid Beth across a cot in a
room that was labeled as the infirmary. The large room hadn’t
been part of the mini tour Emily had been on before. The
lighting was much more extreme than the rest of the
underground hidey hole safe haven thing. She supposed it would
have to be, considering what it was used for.

As Sebastian slid his arm out from under Beth’s head, she
let out a tiny groan. It was the first sound that the listless girl had
made since they found her. That must be a good sign. At least
Emily hoped it was a good sign. Beth really didn’t look so good.
Her skin was completely void of any color. It was as stark white
as the vampires that had tried to make a meal out of her. Luckily
for Beth, they had just succeeded in making her a snack instead
of the feast they had probably hoped for. Even so, there wasn’t
much of her that wasn’t covered in blood. Beth’s face held no
expression. Her lids were closed making her appear as though
she were merely sleeping. This made her look younger
somehow, more innocent. Then Emily’s eyes drifted back down
to the gory display that engulfed the rest of her. Maybe not.

Alexander was ready and waiting when Sebastian retreated
back to give him room. There was a roll cart next to the cot at
Alexander’s side. It had lots of shiny instruments that Emily
didn’t recognize. Alexander opened a drawer and pulled out a
syringe. Next, he pulled out several long tubes. Emily was
completely bewildered. What was he going to do to her?

Her expression must have matched her thoughts, because
Sebastian said, “he’s going to give her a transfusion. She’s had
way too much blood drained out of her tonight.” Emily nodded
weakly but said nothing.

“It’s her only chance of survival at this point. There is
nothing else we can do but wait for this to take effect. It’s a good
thing you found her when you did.” Alexander’s words were
meant for all of them. He didn’t look up from his work as he
spoke. He expertly injected Beth with the needle and then
immediately sent a steady stream of blood to her through the
tubes.

Within minutes, he pulled off his gloves with a snap that
made Emily jump. “Sorry,” Alexander apologized softly. The
senior hunter had never even looked up. Apparently his position
gave him stronger senses of motion. Or, he had eyes on the back
of his head like moms and teachers. He slid over two machines.
They looked like a heart monitor and she thought the other one
might be oxygen.

In no time at all, Beth was hooked up to the machines.
Emily had been right on what they were. Alexander informed
them all that a ventilator wouldn’t be necessary since she was
breathing on her own. Her breath was shallow and sporadic
enough though, that he thought putting an oxygen mask on her
was important to keep her stable. The heart monitor bleeped in
time with her heart. It was slow. Too slow in Emily’s opinion,
not that her opinion meant anything of course. She wasn’t a
doctor after all. To be perfectly honest, she barely knew how to
check her own heart rate. It was either fast, or it was slow. She
just knew that Beth’s heart rhythm was going much slower than
her own and hers seemed to be normal.

“What now?” Ty
ler asked breaking the silence.
“We wait,” replied Alexander. “I will stay with her for now
so the three of you can get some sleep. We will need to take
shifts in the morning.” As if the conversation was over, he
moved to a table on the other side of the room and grabbed a
book. He brought it back to the chair that he had placed beside
Beth’s bed.
“Sounds good Alex,” Sebastian agreed. His hero worship of
Alexander was obvious.
They walked back to their rooms in silence. The sight of
Beth lying on the ground back in the alley traveled slowly
through Emily’s mind. The memory of her blood stained body
was inescapable. They seemed to imbed themselves into every
nook and cranny of Emily’s brain. She counted how many steps
it would take to get to her room to keep her brain occupied. It
didn’t work, she kept losing count.
Pictures of her mom lying in a too bright hospital room
stained the forefront of her awareness. The situation with Beth
brought all the memories out of the locked vault that she had
buried deep in the back of her head. She felt tears prick her eyes,
and didn’t allow them to spill over. Beth wasn’t Melissa. The
two were in no way connected and in no way alike. Even still,
the blinding light of the infirmary and the tubes attached to
Beth’s arms begged to differ. Her mind could distinguish
between the two but her heart ached in protest.
This day was just too exhausting and not just physically.
Emily yearned for a switch that could be flipped that would
transfer her passed this portion of her life. Truth be told, she
wanted a time machine that could take her back to five years
ago. There are so many things that she would have done
differently. There were so many things left unsaid that left
gaping holes of regret deep within her soul. Maybe things could
have been different with Sam too, everything could have been
different. The past had come back to torment Emily and she
wanted desperately to have the power to push it all back into the
vault where it belonged. Once it was tucked safely away she
would be sure to wrap impenetrable chains and a cement barrier
around it. She couldn’t afford to fall apart now.
“Here we are,” said Sebastian breaking into her thoughts.
They were standing in front of Emily’s room. Tyler nodded
and went off next door to his room without a word. He looked
exhausted. She watched as the door closed behind him with a
light click.
When Emily turned back Sebastian was still standing there
watching her. He looked as though he were waiting for her to say
something. Emily wasn’t really sure what that was. Man, he sure
looked hot standing there under the sconce lighting in the
hallway. The light reflected in his eyes making them sparkle.
Emily wished he didn’t have to be such a jerk sometimes. It
made her angry that she had to like him. She just couldn’t help it.
He was completely gorgeous. They had been through a lot
together, and that day spent in the book store was awesome.
They talked about anything and everything. He was witty and
charming. Ever since then though he had been flipping a switch
and turning into a guy that thought she were an inconvenience. It
was so confusing and it sure didn’t help her headache that
seemed to have a pulse all of its own.
How ridiculous, she finally was attracted to a guy and he
had to be the wrong one. He was a bad boy by nature, who is
completely arrogant and self-assured. Emily imagined that if
Sebastian walked passed a mirror, he would probably gaze at
himself lovingly, blowing himself kisses as he admired his
reflection.
“What?” Emily asked him accusingly. “Why are you staring
at me?”
Sebastian’s cocky grin was back. “Paranoid?” He leaned
casually against the wallnext to her door. “Someone can’t just
look at you for the sake of doing so? So touchy aren’t you?”
Emily took a deep breath and fought back the fury that
threatened to explode all over him. It was somewhat irrational
but she couldn’t help it. Enough was enough. “Um yeah, let’s
see, pretty sure I have the right to be touchy. Don’t you? I have
been ripped out of a world that already wasn’t all that normal
and thrown into freaking Masterpiece Theatre. All things
considered I’m doing pretty well I think.” It was true too. She
had survived horrifying attacks multiple times, all of which she
later found out were by vampires. She had been brought down to
some underground mystery location. She beheaded someone.
Granted, that someone just happened to be one of the undead
monsters that would have killed her, as well as Tyler and
Sebastian if given the chance. Oh, and some poor girl she went
to school with was fighting for her life. She couldn’t fight in a
hospital because a vampire
drain and run,
was pretty hard to
explain to Emergency Room staff. Well yeah, just another day in
the life of Emily Jameson.
“Okay okay, you’re right. I’m sorry. You didn’t exactly
have time to get used to all this like me. You are doing quite well
all things considered.” His eyes pleaded down at her.
Dramatically, Emily put her hands on her hips like all those
girls she hated. “Damn right I’m right. And another thing,” she
paused waiting for him to jump in and cut her off. Surprisingly,
though, he didn’t. “Why do you act like we’re friends one
second and I have leprosy the next? Do you have split
personalities or something? While we’re at it, I’m not a baby or a
little girl. So,you don’t need to treat me like one is that clear? I
can run by myself and apparently I can take care of myself too.
I’ve survived three attacks, not to mention during one of them I
killed one of those monsters. If this is some kind of sexist
thing…”
“You’re right.” His eyes looked her up and down
appraisingly. “Definitely not a little girl.” His words might have
been a compliment but his look was something else. In one
motion he moved off the wall and was inches away from her.
They were so close Emily could feel the heat from his body.
His lips came crushing down on hers before she had a
chance to put up any sort of fight. In reality, she didn’t want to.
Her body tingled all the way down to her toes. Sebastian’s lips
were strong, aggressive and soft all at the same time. He moved
both of his hands up to cup both sides of her face. It was Emily’s
first real kiss and she felt like she could do it forever. A small
moan escaped his lips against hers. Her body responded sending
white hot desire flooding all over her to places that had never
before been awakened. Just as she felt herself melting into his
chest where she so longed to be he pulled away from her
abruptly.
He shook his head as if trying to erase the last few minutes.
“This is wrong.” Sebastian turned and walked down the hall to
his door. Before he stepped in he glanced back at her for just a
second. His expression was carefully blank. The door closed
leaving her in the hall alone.
Emily took a deep breath and let it out loudly, totally
exasperated. “Well, goodnight to you too.” She grumbled the
words to the empty air where Sebastian had been standing. “It’s
been fun.” Then Emily too turned and went into her own room.
She was suddenly void of any fatigue. She was completely
amped in fact thanks to that little episode in the hall, she didn’t
think she would be able to close her eyes even if she wanted to.
When she flipped on the light and flung off her shoes she
was stopped in her tracks by an over dramatic sigh. She wasn’t
alone in the room. That couldn’t be, they said all were safe down
here,hadn’t they? Vampires supposedly had no way of getting in
here. She was so tired of these surprises.
For a single heart stopping second she just stood with her
back toward whoever was in her room. Her annoyance was
immediately followed by an even bigger feeling of being
petrified. What if it was Andre coming for revenge? Quickly she
recovered herself and jammed her hand into her pocket.
Crap!
There wasn’t enough powder in her pocket to even pinch out.
Looking slightly too either side of her for anything she could use
brought her up short. Of course there was nothing that would
stand up to the strength of an undead super killer. She eyed the
door wondering if she would be able to get out of it and to
Tyler’s room before the intruder caught up to her. There was no
use. Vampires had the ability of super speed. That was why the
slayers had been gifted accordingly. She unwillingly gave up and
slowly turned to meet her fate.