Mistwalker (20 page)

Juliun’s countenance was immobile. “My reactions might not have been so rational at seeing him here and hearing you say you were not dressed. Are you in a relationship with him?”

She stared up at him, incredulous. “What?”

He turned his steely gaze on her. “Are you having a relationship with him, Simone?” Juliun asked, clearly. “Is that why he was here? Tell me now if it is so. Why were you undressed?”

She shook her head. “He’s a
friend
. He was here checking on me. He came over after I ate some steaks, and I was worried he’d notice all the blood on my hands and my face, so I took a shower.”

He briefly closed his eyes.
“Fine. I have lifted it.”

She breathed a sigh of relief and leaned forward.
“Don’t ever do that again. The few friends I have, I’d like to keep.”

“But it brings up the subject of you having a boyfriend. Do you?” he asked. She shook her head.
“Someone else in your life?”

Her mouth parted and brow creased. “Wait. Remind me of how this is any of your business?”

He nodded slowly. “Will you come with me tonight?”

She blinked at the change of subject and the softening of his tone. “I want to visit Tammy. I know you said you would help arrange it, but I can’t bear it for much longer. She’s my best friend. I feel something’s wrong with her. I’m not sure how to go about it, but I need to see her.” Simone’s stomach growled, and she grimaced. “That’s why I can’t visit your grandfather.”

“Still hungry?”

A warm flushed raced across her face at his openly sensual look. He appeared a dark shadow in the centre of the living room and crowded her small apartment.

“I planned to pick up blood from the hospital on the way back.” Her stomach chose that moment to growl again.

“I am surprised you managed to control your hunger with your friend around.” He cast
her a sardonic glance. “Newly risen vampires aren’t known for their self-restraint. Stay here.” He disappeared with a rush of black wind, then suddenly reappeared holding a silver bucket with a half-filled bottle of blood. “It’s warmed.” With his other hand, he placed two crystal glasses on the coffee table. “I’ll leave the warming canister here, and put some bottles in your fridge later on.”

She smiled at him.
“Really? Thank you.”

“You are welcome.” He poured out two glasses, and then handed her one. They chinked glasses and smiled at each other over the rim of their glasses.

She finished off her drink in a few gulps and said, “Vinnie’s off-limits food-wise. I would never hurt him. You should have seen me last night at work when I was surrounded by humans.”

“You drank at the club. The edge would have gone.”

She nodded. “True.”

“To get into the hospital you’ll need to disable the cameras, use glamour on any staff you meet and hack into the computer base to find the details of her condition.”

“Make it sound easy, why don’t you?”

“It will be with my help.” A cell phone appeared in his hand, and he flipped it open. “If that is your only reason for not keeping our
appointment at Ravenkeep, then we shall go to the hospital immediately. I planned to take you there tonight anyway.”

Her brows rose, and she blinked. “You did? You’ll help me break in?”

He smiled widely. “It will be a good chance for you to meet one of my employees.” He punched in a number on the keypad and spoke into the receiver, “Alec, we are coming down to see the friend. You know what to do.” He clicked the phone shut, dropped it into the inside pocket of his black overcoat and swept her to her feet.

“Wait! I need my shoes and a coat.
My gun!”

He sighed and released her.
“Women.” He waited while she pulled on a pair of brown calf skin boots and a thick jacket.

She tucked the gun inside the pocket of her coat. “All set.”

He strode toward her and held out his hands. “Come here.”

She frowned and balked. “We’re using the mist, right? I didn’t have to touch Willem to do that.”

“You are about to see your friend.” He gathered her close, and she shifted uncertainly in the warm circle of his arms, but loved the divine smell of his skin and clothes. Really, that shouldn’t make a girl weak at the knees. Blood and a full dose of Juliun were about to be her undoing.

With a sexy smirk and a rumbling voice, he added, “Argue later. Ready?”

She nodded.

His presence drifted into the non-parts of her being, and when she stood on solid ground again in an unfamiliar, darkened room, she didn’t need to be told he’d somehow merged with her during the fade. She’d
felt
him.

He ran a gentle hand over her shoulders, steadying her.
“All right?”

Hot blood pounded in her ears. “How did you do that?” she asked quietly, pushing the hair from her face.

“What?” He sounded far too close in the darkness.

“I could feel you. We were like one cloud.” She ran a hand through her hair and forced herself to breathe slowly. “That didn’t happen with Willem.”

“No, it wouldn’t.”

A silence stretched between them. He safeguarded her from the
outside world beyond the door, but she’d spent her whole life training to be her own protector. Predators preyed upon weakness. What did it feel like to have a wall tumble down inside her heart?

Juliun opened the door, and the hospital’s lights spilled in a square patch at their feet.
“One step at a time, Simone. Alec will be waiting. Are you ready?”

“Yes.” She straightened and didn’t take his proffered hand. The memory of their closeness still rattled her.

If any nurses were to come along, they would probably drop their bedpans and run away, screaming in the opposite direction. Juliun’s dark overcoat swept down to his black leather boots, and he glided down the corridor, his long black hair in total contrast to the pale symmetry of his face and grey eyes swimming with unholy power. No wonder Vinnie had got his back up. He has a healthy sense of self-preservation.

A tall blond vampire in a white doctor’s coat stood at the receptionist’s desk. He bowed to Juliun. “
Your Highness, I am most sorry to hear about—”

“Not now,” Juliun interrupted, making a gesture so fast Simone she wasn’t sure she saw it. “This is Simone Woods.” That last bit was said in such a happy tone she stared up at Juliun. “Simone this is Alec, our doctor.”

Alec’s gaze swerved to her, and he smiled, then bowed again. “It is my greatest honour to meet you again.”

She didn’t know how to reply to that so she smiled uncertainly.
Again?
“Likewise.”

“Please, follow me.” Alec turned and glided down the corridor.

She immediately looked up into the far corners of the room, seeking the camera’s unblinking lights, and the nurse seated behind the reception desk looked like she’d done twelve rounds of mind warp with the kind doctor. Fluorescents gleamed in the corridor, and Alec turned into the Intensive Care ward, but then went through another six doors. Finally, he pushed open a door to the right and stood aside.

“No wonder I couldn’t find her.” Simone entered first, and the sight landed such a hard blow that she doubled over. Tammy lay on the hospital bed, tubes sticking out of her nose and mouth. Simone made it to her bedside where the feeble nightlight above the
headboard dimly lit the sleeping woman.

Simone swept a hand over her friend’s brow, gentle and soothing.
“Oh, Tam. I’m so, so sorry.” She shook her head, grabbed Tammy’s pale hand, fighting back tears. “I should never have brought you here. I’m so sorry.” A heavy, warm hand landed on Simone’s shoulder, and she looked up in a blur of tears. “I did this to her. Me.”

Juliun’s gaze softened. “No. That onus lands on me. Let it come to me. I took Lars that night. You are not to blame.”

“What’s wrong with her?” she asked. And that’s when Simone noticed the smell. That earthy, cloudy scent that reminded her of the club. She drew back and shook her head. “No. It can’t be.”

“Yes,” Juliun said, implacable.

“No! She can’t be. Unless...unless Lars was?” Simone held a trembling hand to her cheek.

Juliun shook his head. “No.”

“She would have told me,” Simone said. “I would have
known
.”

“Told you?” Juliun asked, softly. “When would have been the right time for that then?”

“She wanted to help me,” Simone recalled, the light dawning. “She knew I was afraid of Whitby.”

Juliun gave her a strange look.

Alec strode to the other side of the bed, and he pulled out a stethoscope to check Tammy’s vitals. He strung the rope back around his neck and looked at Simone. “Her parents came today again, and they mentioned contacting you. I had to wipe their memories. They are human with no idea their daughter’s a werewolf.”

Simone pulled out a chair and sat down before her knees gave way.
“You did what?”

“They talked of getting the police to break into your apartment. I paid a visit to the police they mentioned and wiped their memories as well. Your life would have been in danger.”

“How much did you erase?” Simone asked, dreading the answer.

“Everything concerning the accident.
They will still have all their other memories,” Alec said. “I am very careful about what I remove.”

Juliun squeezed her shoulder. “Alec is excellent at his profession.” He nodded at the doctor. “You have done your job well,
as usual.”

The tears refused to stop sliding down her face. “They called me. I was wondering how to handle her mother. But this seems so…so…” She fell silent, then burst out, “Heartless.”
Tammy was a werewolf.
“Incredible.” Simone’s fingers scraped a path into her hair. “Can’t anything be done for her?
Please?
I’m begging you.”

“She hasn’t turned.” Alec gripped the bed railing, his knuckles strained white. “If she did, I do not know what she would become. Her werewolf body is fighting the poison circulating in her system. The consensus of all the doctors is that they believe her heart will give out soon.” He sounded sad. “Werewolves are especially prone to poisons.” He glanced at Juliun. “Lars was sick, and now she is very ill. There’s every chance Lars’ bite was not enough to inject the necessary vampire strength, and she will die.”

“Lars
was
sick? You mean he’s better now? Why hasn’t anyone told me this before now? That’s good news, isn’t it?” Simone leaned against the bed frame and studied Alec with panic. She couldn’t believe her best friend had been keeping such a secret for so long. Yet again, hadn’t Simone been keeping secrets?

Juliun released his wonderfully warm, large grip on her shoulder and stepped away. “Not exactly,” he said. “And we were uncertain how you would react to her being a werewolf.”

Simone shrugged. “Whatever she is, she’s my friend.”

“There is a chance I can help speed her recovery,” Alec said, looking at Simone. “But it will be touch and go. I will need your permission.”

“Speed her recovery how?” Simone stood up and paced the room.

“Her only chance is to become a vampire, yet I cannot destroy her werewolf side, it’s embedded into her DNA. The change will end her suffering. It is the only avenue open to us at this point.”

“So, you’re talking, what…she has to drink more vampire blood?” Simone shifted closer to the bed and laid a hand on Tammy’s arm. Her skin was frighteningly cold. Simone’s heart thumped.

Alec nodded. “Yes and no. I have tried infusions, and they have not worked. She needs to be bitten again. I offer my services. She may change to be both werewolf and vampire. I think by the full moon, she will change into a wolf, and the rest of the time, a
vampire. I think.”

“You think?” Simone studied him. She felt so helpless, unable to do anything. “You think?”

Alec nodded. “It’s the best I can do. My blood is one of the strongest you will find.”

What would Tammy want?
Would she rather die than go through life as a vampire? What right did Simone have to make that decision for her friend, especially since she was already living as a werewolf? “How can I choose something like this for her? It’s her whole life we’re talking about. You’re the doctor.”

Juliun’s steady voice answered hers. “It is your choice. We will stand by whatever you decide.”

Alec frowned at that as though he might put up a fight if Simone chose to end Tammy’s life.

Life and death
. Scratch that. Life as a vampire, slash, werewolf or death as a werewolf. Simone chewed her thumb nail. “How sick will she be when she wakes up?”

“There’s every chance my blood will override Lars’, and she should wake up feeling fine, although I can’t speak in guarantees.”

“And without your bite?”

He sighed and looked down at Tammy lying so deathly still on the bed. The machines made a soft mechanic whir in the background, and the cast of light made her look like a broken doll. “She will be dead within days. She is fighting and suffering as though every minute were a lifetime. I only hope there is no permanent damage. If you’ve ever seen a half turned vampire die…”