Kiss Me When the Sun Goes Down (28 page)

The door opened, and the young vampire who’d taken over for Jenessa emerged, wiping his hands down with a wet towel.  “I think we’ve got her stabilized.”

“You
think
?  Aren’t you sure?” I demanded, not at all encouraged by his manner.  “Maybe we should get a real doctor in here?”  Bishop hadn’t been exaggerating when he called him a kid.  The guy looked like he couldn’t be more than sixteen years old.  This was who I’d trusted with my sister’s life?

“He is a real doctor, Anja,” Bishop said gently, and the guy nodded, his smile self deprecating, as though he’d heard it a thousand times before. 

“I know I look more like Doogie Howser, but I’ve put in more hours than any sawbones in the local hospital, I can guarantee it.  I’m Colt, by the way.”  He offered a hand and I took it, shaking it briefly.  “What I meant was, she’s stable for the moment, but it’s too soon to tell if she’ll continue to stabilize or if she’ll take a turn for the worse.”

“How bad is it?  Is she paralyzed?  What about her head?  Could she have brain damage?”

He held up a hand to cut off my questions.  “Her EEG is fine, and she doesn’t appear to have suffered any trauma to the spine, though her legs are badly fractured, and one of her knee caps is shattered.  The biggest worry right now is that she’s bleeding internally, but I don’t think we should risk surgery.  I’ve set up a shunt to drain the excess fluid, but I’m not equipped for major surgery here and Thorn’s medical training is limited.”  He jerked his head toward the other vamp in with Hanna.

“I should’ve taken her to a hospital then,” Mason frowned deeply, but Colt shook his head. 

“As hard as it is to hear, all we can do right now is watch and wait.”

“But the bleeding...”

“It’s a slow bleed, and I believe we can keep on top of it as long as we keep giving her transfusions.  The biggest problem, I’m afraid, is that her body can’t decide what to work on healing first, so it’s all proceeding at a snail’s pace – albeit much faster than a normal human body can heal.  As soon as she’s fully absorbed the blood you gave her, Mason, we can give her another infusion of vampire blood and that’ll speed things along.”

His manner was calming, but I couldn’t help but pick up on the things he didn’t say.  “She is still in danger, though.  Isn’t she?”

He gave me a helpless shrug.  “We’ll keep a tight watch over her.”

“Thank you,” I murmured, my gaze returning to the window where she was thankfully still unconscious.  Colt went back into the room, maintaining a constant watch on her vitals and overseeing the transfusion. 

I had to appreciate how difficult it must be for a vampire to be a doctor and be around so much blood all the time.  Then again, maybe it’d made him immune to the cravings?  Maybe someday I’d ask him about it when I wasn’t scared to death I’d lose my sister if I looked away from her for more than five seconds. 

“Is it just me or did it sound like she could slip away at any second?” Mason asked, his face unusually pale, and I wondered if he was close to passing out with the blood he’d given Hanna himself.

“Come on, man, we can’t think like that,” Bishop said gently.  “Hanna’s a fighter, like her sister.”

“She’s just so damn tiny,” Mason wailed, running his hands through his hair so that it stuck up at odd angles.  “I can’t lose her.  I will fucking lose my mind if she...”

“Mason.”  Bishop’s voice rang with command.  “Report.”

Mason blinked in confusion at the sharp tone.  “I already told you what happened.  How I failed her.”

“I don’t need a commentary, I need details.  Tell me about the vehicle that struck you.” 

I got what he was doing, and Mason responded, his mind calming once it was given a task.  “It was a big, tricked out truck.  Dark.  Late model, maybe a Dodge, I think.  It had bright hunting lights on top that blinded me when he spun out.  I don’t know if he wasn’t expecting to find any traffic on the road at that hour, or what, but the bastard was going way too fast when he merged onto the road.”

“Did you see the driver?”

“Negative,” Mason replied, sounding more even keeled.  “He must’ve stopped to call for help, because the ambulance came pretty quickly, but he took off before it arrived.”

“There was an ambulance there?  Why didn’t you let the EMTs help her?”  I needed to know.

“I did.  I fed from them so that I’d have the strength to carry her out of there after I’d given her my blood.”

“You ate the EMTs?”  My mouth dropped open in surprise.  “And you don’t think the cops will find that suspicious?”

“I didn’t kill them, I fed from them and compelled them to forget they’d found any sign of us at the bottom of the cliff.  She was far beyond anything the EMTs could’ve done for her, trust me.  I knew I had to get her back here fast, so I swiped the ambulance and drove like a bat out of hell until I made it to the city.  I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to move her, but I ditched it a few blocks from here and carried her the rest of the way.”

“You did the right thing,” Bishop assured him.  I wasn’t quite as sure, but I understood that Mason needed to hear that in the moment, so I gave him a slow nod. 

We both had work to do that night, but Bishop put everything on hold to stay by my side as I watched Hanna sleep.  Neither one of us brought up the conversation I’d started in his office, it wasn’t the time or place.  I made a brief call to Maggie, explaining what’d happened and asked her to shunt everything from my schedule for the time being.  Some things were more important. 

Someone produced a change of clothing for Mason, but he didn’t want to be gone long enough to put them on, in case Hanna woke or took a turn for the worse.  So he stripped down in the hallway with us. 

Eventually, Colt ducked his head out of the room, his eyes searching for and finding me.  “She’s awake and asking to see you, Your Grace.”

Mason’s face tightened in disappointment, but he didn’t try to crowd the door as I approached it.  “Tell her I’ll be waiting for her, whenever she’s ready to see me.”

“I will,” I said with what I hoped was a comforting smile.  “Try not to read anything into this.  Sometimes a girl just needs her sister.”

He offered me a tight nod, but didn’t say more. 

“I
’ve got her on morphine, so don’t freak out if she doesn’t make a whole lot of sense,” Colt said in a low voice as soon as the door clicked shut behind me.

“Thanks.  I’ll keep that in mind.  And really, thanks for helping her in the first place.  I know this isn’t your job,” I started to say, but he waved the distinction away.

“I took an oath to heal others.  It makes no difference to me if they’re human or vampire.” 

Finally, someone who understood that human lives were just as important as ours.  “Thanks again though, she’s my favorite sister.”

“I’m your
only
sister, you dork,” Hanna called out from the bed, her voice weak, but easy enough for me to pick up. 

“Nothing wrong with her hearing, I see,” I replied, pasting on a cheerful smile as I approached the bed.  “You know, if you wanted to come and hang out with me tonight, you could’ve called.”

“Ha, we both know it’d take more than a phone call to break into your busy schedule.”

“I will always have time for you if you need me,” I insisted, picking up her hand as gently as I could.  “All you have to do is ask.”

“I’ll remember that for next time.  This way turned out messier than I’d anticipated.”  Her lips curved into a weak smile, and she licked them. 

“How are you feeling?”

“Like I got hit by a truck.”

“Sounds about right then.  Are you in much pain?  I could see if the doctor can give you more...”

“No thanks, I’m already too spinny as it is.”  She licked her lips again, and I guessed she was thirsty, but probably not allowed anything to drink.  “I need to talk to you first.”

“We can talk later.  Maybe you should get some rest and concentrate on getting well for now.”

“No, there are some things I need to say before it’s too late.”

I kept the smile on my lips, not wanting to let on how bad of shape she was in.  “Now I know you’re not thinking clearly.  There is no too late, you’re going to be fine.”

“You always were a shitty liar, An.  I’m not so stoned I can’t see the fear in your eyes.  That’s why we need to talk.”  Her head turned slowly until her gaze fell on Colt.  “Alone.”

“He’s here for your safety.” 

“There are some things I need to say to you in private,” she insisted, and the doctor held up his hands. 

“I’ll take a quick break, I’m dying for a drink anyway.  Don’t worry, I won’t go far.  But if any one of these machines goes into alarm or she loses consciousness abruptly – not drifts off to sleep, but abruptly mind you – give a yell.”

“Will do,” I nodded.  That answered the question about the cravings.  He’d just delayed them until it was convenient for him to take a drink.  It made me wonder how long he’d been a vampire for, but I was far more interested to hear what my sister had to say.  “So, what’s up?”

“I know you’ve had fairly strong opinions about my staying out of vampire stuff as much as possible.” 

“And I stand by that,” I nodded.  “You have to admit, you made a less than favorable splash in the pool when you came to the party.”

“Hey, that party was all kinds of messed up and it had nothing to do with me.”

“That might be true, but drunkenly insulting the Elder of the East is never a smart thing.”

“Oh, but it’s cool for you to insult that little bald kid?”

“Is there some kind of point you had in mind here?  Or were you just apologizing for blowing your first step into vampire society?”

“I want you to let Mason turn me.”

“What?”

“You heard me.”  Her eyes rolled up to the ceiling as if she was dizzy, and she swallowed again before looking back at me. 

“There’s no need for that, I told you, you’re going to be fine.”  I know, I’d been ready to turn her if it came down to her dying, but she seemed well on her way to recovery now. 

“It’s not about that.  It’s about making a choice, and I want Mason to make me like him.”

“Mason can’t turn you, he’s a member of the Order.” 

“So?”

“So, that’s one of the oaths they take, they’re not allowed to have progeny.  Why else do you think they’re working so hard to keep you alive here instead of taking the easy way out and turning you?  The fact that you don’t know that shows me how little you know about the choice you’re making.”

“Ugh.”  I couldn’t tell if she was rolling her eyes at me or having trouble focusing.  “They’re not allowed to get married either, but you didn’t object to that one.”

“That didn’t end up with you joining the undead club.  Hanna, this is a very serious step, and not one you should make while flying high on morphine.”

“This isn’t just about what happened tonight, we’ve been talking about it for a while now.”

That brought me up short.  “You have?”  What else had changed since we’d had time to sit down for a heart to heart? 

“You know me, I’m not the type to make a snap decision like this.”

“Not ordinarily, but you have to see that this isn’t the best time to act on it.  Get better first, and then we can talk about it.”

“What for?  If I become a vampire then I’ll heal right away, won’t I?”

She had a point.  When I’d turned Rob all of his injuries had completely healed by the time he’d woken in the morgue.  But that’d been an emergency and this wasn’t.  I had to know that she’d really taken the time to weigh all the consequences, not just the perks that Mason shared with her. 

“Hanna, I need you to understand what it is you’re choosing.  Do you really comprehend what you’re giving up?”

“Any more nights like this?”  She smiled weakly.

“No, just because you can heal doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt like a motherfrakker when you’re in pain.  You’ll be stronger and harder to kill, but you can still be hurt.  Trust me.”  My experiences being tortured by Volkov had taught me that. 

“No old age, no sickness, no dying.  Seems like a decent trade off to me.  I’ll never be hotter than I am right now.  Nothing’s sagging yet, I’m wrinkle free, and my skin’s cleared up.”

All good points, but being pretty for eternity didn’t sound like a good enough motivator to me.  “You’ll have to break off communication with Mom and Dad after a while.”  Eventually it would be hard to explain away why we wouldn’t age. 

“I thought you were pointing out the down sides,” she cracked. 

“Funny, but I’m trying to be serious here.  They’ve already lost one daughter and they don’t even know it yet.  Do you really want to deprive them of both of their children?”

“Ouch, when did you get Mom’s guilt genes?” she winced, her eyes staying closed longer than they had to be.  “I can still keep in touch with them.  That’s what long distance calls are for.” 

“What about a family?”

Her eyes, the exact same shade of blue as mine, looked up for an instant, before they slid away to study her hands.  “I don’t have that option with Mason anyway.”

“And you’re sure, one hundred percent irrevocably sure that having kids is something you want no part of?” 

“You’re not having any either.”

“And I honestly don’t know how I feel about that yet,” I sighed, my gaze flicking back to the window where I could see Bishop talking quietly with Mason.  “No, I can’t imagine my life with kids right now, but it’s not an option for me anymore.  In a few years, who knows, it might really bother me that it’s something I can never have.  But most of all, it sucks because I wasn’t given a choice.”

“Well, I have a choice, and I’m making it.”

“You say that now, but...”

“But what?  I know what I want, and it’s to be with Mason.” 

“Then be with him.  Nobody says you have to be a vampire to stay with him.  And what if things don’t end up working out with Mason?”  I hated to suggest it, but nobody knew better than I did how life could throw you a curveball and how everything you thought you wanted in life could suddenly change. 

Hanna shook her head, drawing another wince and her head fell back against the pillow again.  “He’s the one.  I choose forever with him.”