Sun Poisoned (The Sunshine Series) (37 page)

“What’s happening?” I ask like an idiot. He just told me. I’m dying.

Myles is holding me by the shoulders.
“Michael’s blood is moving too fast,” he says. “I meant that.”

I whimper.

It’s quiet as he holds me, as I fall apart in a whole new way I never thought I was capable of.

When the pain has stopped yet again, I push him away.
“I want to talk to Jade.”

Exasperated isn’t the right word for the expression on Myles’ face, but it’s all that comes to mind.
“Sophie,” he says. “I—”

“
No,” I practically scream.

Myles sighs, looking indecisive for a moment before moving closer.
“Here,” he says.

I flinch when his hands are at the bottom of my shirt. Myles notices it, a bright blue flash as his eyes meet mine for a second before he ignores it and continues to lift up my shirt.

“Stop.” It almost doesn’t come out and when I try to push him away, my fingers collapse against his hands.

“
Look,” he says.

I make it a point to stare at the ceiling.

Quickly, Myles is behind me. His arms are under mine. He lifts me up so I have no choice.

He says what I’m seeing before I can take it in.
“The marks are coming back,” he says.

Myles removes layers of gauze that are already soaked through with my own blood. The small scratches that were once there are now fresh wounds that look like they never healed.

“It’s destroying your veins,” Myles says, lightly placing a finger and trailing it across my stomach where a deep red line is forming and spidering out. “Destroying
you.
”

I shake my head like it will make what I’m seeing and what he’s telling me one more lie he’s made up.

“Yes,” he says, holding my head in place with a hand. “And if we don’t do something about it, you’re going to die.” His voice softens now. “I’m sorry.”

He rolls my shirt back down so I
don’t have to look at myself.

“
I’m sorry that this is happening to you and that you have to go through this.” He gently shifts his arm from under me and stands, lying me back down. “But this is more important right now, okay?”

My eyes are burning, my stomach is killing me. My head is spinning and my limbs feel like they’re tied to the bed.

“You were right,” Myles says suddenly. When my eyes are on him in question because I doubt I can talk at this point, he says, “This is why he kept you alive.”

To torture me.

To torture me until I die.

So Myles could watch it all happen.

Because I’m “unnatural” and should die. That’s what he said the first time, wasn’t it?

My abdomen and arms start cramping up, not with pain yet, but there’s a promise that comes with the sensation.

“There isn’t much time,” Myles says. “A few weeks at most.”

“
Before I die.”

He kneels down.
“I won’t do anything unless you want me to, but you need to decide soon,” he says. “Or else you’ll be too weak.”

My vision blurs and I’m not sure if it’s from tears or whatever’s pumping into me through the IV.

“Can you at least call Jade for me?” I ask. “Tell him I’m okay . . . again?”

Myles swallows before grasping my hand. I allow the contact.
“Okay,” he says. “You get some sleep, and I’ll call him.”

It’s not what I want. What I want is Jade. Here. With me. But I can’t have that for whatever reason, so I let this compromise ease my mind and lull me back into restless sleep.

***

I don’t know how long I hang in between sleep and being awake. One, two, three days? I still can’t sit up on my own, but the pain in my limbs dulls to an ache.

The window near the bed has dim light behind the blue curtain. It’s either sunrise or sunset. I scan the rest of the room and find Phyllis, sitting on the couch in the living room. I realize that she’s not alone; Alex is with her.

“
Oh,” Alex says, standing up and turning off the TV. “You’re awake.” She’s standing next to the bed now, but I’m not sure if she’s moved that fast or if it’s the drugs messing with me.

Phyllis moves at normal, human speed, stopping at the IV stand, adjusting something near the base.

“How you feeling, sweetie?” Phyllis asks as I become aware of the other machines I’m hooked up to.

There’s a low beeping coming from behind me that I recognize as a heart monitor. There’s plastic around my left index finger, taking my temperature. There’s also air being pumped through my nostrils.

My arms are completely covered in various sizes of rectangular bandages. Some have dark brown splotches in the middle and some have bright red stains around the edges.

“
Crap,” I whisper.

“
I think you look a lot better,” Alex says.

Phyllis ignores her.
“Can you sit up?”

I shake my head.

“That’s okay,” she says. “Alex, will you help me?”

She smiles.
“That’s what I’m here for.”

I expect them to lean me against the headboard but Alex gently hoists me over her shoulder.

“I’m just going to change the dressings on your back,” Phyllis explains.

I hadn’t thought of that. My back was bitten too, wasn’t it? And if that’s true, then the wounds will be coming back there
as well. My wings are going to be destroyed along with everything else, then. I completely break down, sobbing into Alex’s neck as Phyllis peels off old, bloody sheets of gauze and replaces them with new ones.

It only takes her a few minutes and Alex lays me back in my original position.

“You don’t have to stay, Phyllis,” she says, handing me a tissue from the nightstand. “I can stay with her.”

“
You sure?” she asks. “I can stay a little longer.”

“
Nonsense,” Alex waves a hand. “Myles will be back soon anyway.”

Phyllis glances at me one last time before removing her gloves.
“Alright,” she says. “Just let me know if anything changes.”

“
Sure thing.” Alex is fluffing my pillows and covering me up with the blanket.

I hear the door open and shut; she and I are now alone.

“You’re not in pain anymore at least,” she comments.

I blink a few times to make sure. No cramping
in my muscles, no razor blades in my veins. I nod as she touches my cheek.

“
You’re cooler too. That’s good.”

I try to smile at her, but the soreness of my throat gets worse when I do, so I give up.

“Where’s Myles?” I ask.

“
He had to step out a minute.” She shrugs and I immediately think she’s hiding something, but I let it go. I don’t want any more confrontation. I’m too tired. “He’ll be back, though.”

“
How long was I asleep?”

Alex is still fooling around with the blanket, tucking it into the mattress beneath me.
“You were in and out the past two days.”

“
My God,” I say to myself. “This can’t be happening.”

“
I’ll make you something to eat,” is Alex’s response. “Would you like that?”

She’s walking through the living room and into the kitchen before I answer. I’m about to protest, but I can’t deny how hungry I am.

The drugs make it almost impossible to stay awake, so I drift off again. It can’t be more than a few minutes before I’m fully awake and Alex is in front of me once more. I feel a little bit stronger, so I sit up on my own this time. I eat the chicken noodle soup she’s made me without really tasting it, the mere action of lifting spoon to mouth proving to be too much activity for my body to handle.

Alex sits down in the chair by the window.
“Turning isn’t so bad,” she says.

I glare at her as I set the empty bowl on the end table to my left.
“Alex, look,” I say. “You don’t have to tell me about it.”

“
But I do.” And when she stares up at me, her cobalt blue eyes are big and unyielding.

“
Okay,” I say just so she’ll stop looking at me like that.

“
I was about your age in the early 1930s,” she says. “My father was a painter, my mother was a music teacher. We lived in Germany.”

I have to lean my head back against the headboard because the room is starting to sway.

“All of us got sick.” I can hear her voice crack the tiniest bit. “Really sick.”

Now my head is full-on against the pillow. It’s the only way I can keep the image of Alex from spinning without closing my eyes.

“We all went to the same hospital to get treated…I was the only one to walk out, although I wasn’t alive when I did.”  

She smiles to herself.
“Myles came and saved me. Made me strong. Made me what I am now.”

“
What?” I croak.

Alex gazes right through me.
“He turned me,” she says.

“
Why didn’t he tell me?”

She shrugs.
“It’s not really your business.” Alex doesn’t sound rude when she says this. She’s just stating a fact.

“
Anyway,” she continues with her story. “Myles eventually went off on his own and so did I. I met Adrienne not long after. He was human when I met him.”

“
And you turned him?” I’m trying to be patient with this. I really am. All I want to do is go back to sleep as the world I know is crumbling around me. When I have these huge choices laid out in front of me and she’s on this mission to convince me to lean more toward her side of things.

“
No,” she says. “Only older vampires can turn a human. I had to find Myles so he could do it.”

My mind is cutting in and out now, and I don’t know what to take as true or a dream at this point.
“Okay.”

“
Don’t you want to know why?” she asks.

I try to muster the same tone, but
with my sore, broken, body, I can barely compare to her. “Because you wanted him to?”

“
Because he knew Adrienne would
survive
,” she says emphatically. “He wanted to make him stronger.”

I blink and my eyelids are so weak I’m half surprised that they don’t shatter.
“Okay. What’s your point?”

Alex sighs but her expression softens as she inches closer to me, sitting on the bed near my legs.
“Sophie,” she says. “Myles loves you. I’m sure you’re aware of that.”

She waits for me to respond so I nod.

“Here’s the thing you don’t understand,” she says. “Even if a vampire is in love with a human, even if he wants her to be with him forever, it means nothing if they aren’t strong enough.”

“
Okay…”

“
Myles has
chosen
you,” Alex says slowly, like she’s explaining it to a little kid who doesn’t understand. “Even if you betrayed him by letting Evan bite you after Myles marked you.”

“
Alex, I don’t think—”

“
And you’re sitting here, worrying about what he’s hiding from you, where your brother is, and I get that,” she continues like she didn’t hear me. “But for the love of God, Sophie, stop acting like such a bitch about this whole thing.”

I was about ready to drift back to sleep, but when she says that, I can feel my jaw snap open in a gaping expression of shock.
“What?”

The
n she stands, smiling sweetly without even a hint of sarcasm or malice behind it. She takes my empty bowl from the nightstand.

“
You rest now,” she says simply. “We can talk more later if you want.”

If I wasn’t so exhausted, I’m sure I would be able to stay awake long enough to respond to everything she’s just said to me. But it just so happens that I
am
that exhausted, so I let my mind shut off and my lids creak shut.

Then I’m awake again. Barely. It feels like it’s only been a few minutes, but the room is completely dark now. This time the cramping is almost completely in my stomach. I gasp as hot razors run their way through my veins from my abdomen to my lower back, encircling me like a boa constrictor. I wrap my arms around myself and my palms come away damp. The blanket’s been kicked off and the dark grey T-shirt I’m wearing has dark stains on it that I know aren’t from sweating.

I want to scream but I can’t. I don’t have to. Alex is there, turning me on my side right before I start throwing up. Most of it gets on the floor.

Tears start rolling down my face and I’m not even trying to cry.

“
I know,” she says.