Immortals And Melodies (Blood And Guitars #2) (11 page)

“You with the police or something?” he asked.

“No,” I said, grinning. “But they should pay me commission. I’m doing their job for them.”

Chapter 14

Aurora

WHEN TREY OPENED HIS eyes the next morning, I was sitting at his bedside. After leaving the Club last night I’d swung by my place and got my car before going back to the hospital. I’d let myself back into his room quietly, regretting for a moment that I’d left him alone like that. If it were that easy to get into his room, anyone could have done it. My worries quickly subsided when I caught sight of his peaceful face as he slept. The green line on the monitor at his bedside was still dancing up and down, and I closed the door behind me and made my way over to the hospital bed. When he woke up, I told him everything that had happened. He didn’t seem that surprised to learn that I’d snuck out of the hospital and ventured to Club Sanguin, and he was glad to hear that I’d at least made some progress in identifying our attackers, though we still had a long way to go.

The rest of the day at the hospital consisted mostly of nurses coming in and out to either check on Trey or to deliver the assortment of gifts that were flooding in from local media outlets and concerned fans. By early afternoon, his hospital room was quickly filling up with flowers, stuffed animals, and the usual get-well gifts, but it was the unconventional ones that Trey loved. For example, more than one fan attached songwriting notebooks with their flower arrangements, with hand written letters in the front of the notebooks expressing their concern for Trey and encouraging him to write songs about his near-death experience. Others sent chocolates and candies, some even including treats for Cowboy who was, no doubt, traumatized by Trey’s sudden absence for the night. Trey even received two inflatable guitars, which he kept referring to as his ‘air guitars.’ One fan sent a Paper
Jamz
guitar and amplifier along with a vase of flowers. Trey laid the toy guitar across his lap and strummed it with his good hand. When he caught me smiling at him from my chair, he raised his eyebrows innocently.

“What?” he asked. “My fans obviously figured out that this is the only way I’m going to be playing a guitar for a while. Look, one-handed.”

The nurses were having way too much fun delivering the gifts and giving Trey a hard time about all the attention he was getting. One even warned him about the sugar coma that would surely follow if he ate all the sweets he was collecting. What she didn’t know was that Trey already had a plan for that. When we got the good news that the heart monitor could come off and the IV could come out, he sweet-talked a nurse into bringing him a pair of blue scrubs so he could lose the hospital gown he’d been wearing and the plan was set into motion. While he changed, I called O’Shea, Jonas and Chase and filled them in.

“The guys are on their way,” I told Trey as he adjusted the sling on his arm.

“Great. Thanks.” Then he grinned up at me. “What do you think about my new look?” he asked, referring to his scrubs.

“The color really brings out your eyes.”

He waggled his eyebrows, making me laugh. The nurses who had supplied the scrubs and freed him from the restraints of the monitors and the tubes, were about to leave the room, but Trey stopped them.

“I’m going to be getting out of here in a few hours,” he said to them. “I know there are some kids in this hospital that could use this stuff more than I can.” He gestured with a sweep of his hand to all the gifts in the room. “What do you say? Can you help us out?” The irresistible smile he threw their way after the speech was completely unnecessary.

“I’m game,” the one conceded immediately.

“Yeah, on one condition,” the other said. “You’ll be going from room to room in a wheelchair.” Trey must have looked like he was about to argue, so she continued without giving him the chance. “You’re on some pretty heavy pain medication for your shoulder, and you’re still a patient here until Dr. Hyatt signs off on your release. If you want our help, those are the rules. Deal?”

Trey smiled in defeat. “Deal.”

When the guys arrived, Trey gave them the details of his plan, and the nurses left the room for a moment to get something they said would help us execute it. I made myself useful and separated the cards and notes fans had written to Trey from the flowers and gifts and set them aside for him to keep. When the nurses returned, they were equipped with a wheelchair and an empty cleaning cart.

Trey frowned at the wheelchair but did as he was told and sat down in it while the rest of us loaded the cleaning cart with flowers and gifts. O’Shea insisted on pushing Trey around and Jonas and Chase were in charge of pushing the cleaning cart. I walked alongside Trey and O’Shea, and the nurses led the way in front of us as we made our way down the long hallway toward the pediatric ward.

We drew some confused and curious looks from doctors and other hospital personnel as we passed, but Chase and Jonas nodded casually and tossed out friendly greetings that somehow silenced any questions. When we reached the right part of the hospital, Trey started knocking on doors and handing out flowers and treats to the kids who were regular inhabitants. The nurses were introducing Trey and the guys as the band Catalyst, but most of the kids who were older than ten recognized them all anyway.

Much to the nurses surprise, O’Shea was informing all of the kids and their parents that the band was taking over the hospital cafeteria at five o’clock for an impromptu performance.

In response to one nurse’s questioning look, Trey just said, “You have no part in the takeover. You can claim total ignorance.” He winked, and the nurse just rolled her eyes at him and smiled.

The looks on the children’s faces as the guys posed for pictures and handed out gifts was priceless. As I watched, I couldn’t help but recognize just how easy it was for Trey to steal away some time to be so selfless, even in the midst of all the chaos going on in our lives. I briefly wondered if he was so good at it because his life is often chaotic, vampires or not, but I knew better. This was just Trey. Leave it to him and the guys to turn a bad situation around like this and really make a difference. I’d never known anyone else who could do that the way they were at this moment. It was almost enough to make me forget that I had to meet with the Emissary tonight.
Almost
. I was going to have to ask Trey to stay behind with Antonio while I went to be judged by his Royal Highness Damir and his minions. Trey wasn’t going to like that one bit, but I couldn’t risk taking him along with me. It wasn’t worth it.

Chapter 15

Aurora

JUST AS THE GUYS were finishing up with all the kids, I got a call on my phone from Mark. I promised to meet the guys back in Trey’s room and let myself out the nearest exit to have some privacy.

“Hey,” I said into the phone.

“You’ve had a busy day,” Mark said, which just confused me.

“I had a crazy night,” I responded.

“Does that crazy night have anything to do with the reason you’re running around my hospital with your band of humans and handing out gifts to all the sick kids?” I could hear the smile in his voice as he spoke.

“It might,” I said. “How did you know?”

“A resident sent some footage to my phone. You’ve got the whole hospital talking.”

“That explains it,” I said.

“Is everything okay?” he asked. He started to say ‘your human’ but caught himself and instead said, “
Trey
was in a wheelchair with his arm in a sling. What happened?”

“Apparently you haven’t been watching the news,” I observed. “Vampires happened.” I didn’t have to say more than that. Mark knew exactly who I was talking about. “I’m not going to lie. I really wish you had been here at the hospital when we pulled up to the ambulance bay last night. I don’t remember the last time I was that freaked out. You should see Trey’s Mazda. I’m not sure how he survived the crash, let alone ...”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there,” Mark said, and I could hear the genuine sympathy in his voice. “Is Trey okay? Do you need me to come back to town tonight?”

“He dislocated his shoulder and bumped his head, but he’ll be fine.”

“Did you identify any of the vamps that attacked you?” he asked.

“Kind of,” I said. “I killed one of them. Does that count?”

Mark was stunned into silence for a moment before he said, “I don’t know. Does it?”

“The new bartender at Club Sanguin recognized the sketches I made of the two that got away. He claims they’re from the Miami area.”

“And the dead guy? I imagine Damir isn’t too happy about that.”

“I’m tired of worrying about what everyone else thinks,” I said, feeling tired all of a sudden. “I have to meet with the Emissary tonight to defend my actions.”

“Damir’s in love with you,” Mark said. “I’m sure he’ll send you home with a slap on the wrist.”

“I wish I could be so sure about that. I haven’t exactly been nice to him lately.”

“Just lately?” he teased, which made me smile despite the situation. “Call me after your meeting tonight, and let me know how it goes.”

“I will,” I promised. “And Mark ... thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” he said before hanging up.

It was almost five-o’clock when I met up with everyone back at Trey’s room. O’Shea and Jonas had retrieved their acoustic guitars from their cars, which Trey had asked me to tell them to bring. Chase also had some weird looking percussion instrument with strings of metal beads on it. I guess it made more sense than bringing a full drum kit into the hospital. We made our way down to the cafeteria, and the guys got comfortable in a corner in some chairs and started tuning their instruments. Trey sat there empty-handed, and I realized he was itching to have a guitar in his hands. It was probably really weird to perform without one.

It wasn’t long before kids starting filing into the room, parents and siblings in tow. By five o’clock, there wasn’t much in the way of empty seats or tables for eating. People were forced to take their food out into the rest of the hospital, or outside to eat, if they didn’t want to take part in the concert. The first song they performed was “Filtered Ache” from their last album. Most of the kids sang. The younger ones who weren’t confined to wheelchairs danced around in their hospital gowns. Even some of the nurses and orderlies were dancing before the song was over. The next song they did was a little slower, and Trey moved a little closer to the crowd to sing that one. Before it was over, they’d done another older song and one from the new record. At the end of the last song a nurse snuck up and whispered something into Trey’s ear. A grin spread across his face, and he turned to face the kids again.

“Where’s Gracie?” he asked. Some of the younger girls started giggling. “Come on, Gracie. Don’t be shy.” Apparently even the young ones couldn’t resist that million-dollar smile. A girl in blonde pigtails stood up and Trey held his hand out to her, motioning for her to come forward. I noticed a woman standing in the back who looked like an older version of Gracie. She was holding her hand over her mouth and seemed to be fighting back tears. “Gracie,” Trey said to the girl as she stood next to him. “A little birdie told me that today is your birthday.” The young girl nodded enthusiastically. “How old are you then?”

“Seven,” she answered proudly.

“Seven?” Trey asked. “Well, it’s not every day that a young lady turns seven. Would it be okay if we did one more song for your birthday?” Gracie’s smile stretched across her whole face as she nodded again. “You ready, guys?” Trey said to Jonas, O’Shea and Chase. Chase counted off a beat, and O’Shea and Jonas played happy birthday on their guitars while Trey sang for Gracie, asking the crowd to join in. Gracie was beaming with pride by the time the song ended. She gave Trey and all the other guys a fist bump and ran back to her mother while everyone clapped.