Terra's Victory (Destiny's Trinities Book 7) (12 page)

At least a dozen elves were trying to fight their way over to him, calling in ululating cries that made Declan shiver all over again.

Something moved behind Amrod and Declan understood. There was a Grimoré standing right behind the elf, who was tall enough to mask him. The Grimoré had a grip on Amrod’s arm and throat. As Declan watched, the Grimoré shifted his long fingers, finding a grip, then yanked his arm outward.

Declan saw the first spurt of blood and looked away, sickened.

The same high pitched, almost inaudible cry went up, this time from a dozen or more elvish throats.

Declan had to look. He swung his gaze back.

The front of Amrod’s elvish clothing, which had already been liberally daubed in the black vampeen blood, was now sodden with his own very red blood. As Declan looked, Amrod crumpled.

The Grimoré behind him vanished.

So did the others, all at once. They didn’t reappear, either. He looked behind him, through the barn doors. They weren’t there.

“Defense only!” Seaveth shouted and he could
feel
the command rolling through him.

Cole dropped his knife and stepped back, away from the vampeen he had been about to gut.

The vampeen halted, too. It blinked. Declan could see the eyes, which, under the red, looked quite human.

Then it turned and ran in the long, loping and uneven gallop that the vampeen used. Despite how clumsy it looked, the pace ate up the distance.

They were all turning and running. Declan watching them drain away from the center of the battlefield like water poured over an upturned bowl. Within seconds the area where the trinities and the elves stood was empty of vampeen, as the last of them hurried away through the trees.

“
Somebody help me
!”

“That’s Sera,” Zoe breathed.

Sera was on her knees, Diego beside her. In front of them, Blake laid on the flattened and trampled grass, writhing in agony. Blood covered one side of him, from the neck to his waist.

“Oh, shit,” Declan breathed.

Zoe spun toward him, her arm slapping his middle and she jumped, almost the instant she made contact with him.

The field rematerialized around them. Blake was at their feet. Declan dropped down beside him and took a grip on the man’s arm, trying to control the squirming. Blake was panting, his eyes closed.

Sera looked at Declan, her face drawn. “It bit him,” she said helplessly.

Declan steeled himself against the rush of fear that gave him.

“We have to stop the bleeding,” Diego said, sounding just as shocked and frightened as Sera.

“No, he needs to bleed,” Declan said quickly. “The more he bleeds out, the better. Does anyone know what blood type he is?”

“AB Negative,” Diego said woodenly.

Only the rarest type out there.

Zoe pulled on Declan’s arm. “I have coordinates from Beth. We have to go. Now.”

Declan reached to pick up Blake. Diego pushed his hands aside. “I’ll do that.”

Zoe gripped Sera’s arm and hauled her to her feet. She held her face. “Did you get the location from Beth?” she asked, her voice sharp and commanding. Declan knew she was trying to cut through Sera’s shock.

Sera blinked.

Zoe shook her. “Sera!”

The elvish woman shuddered and sighed. “I have them,” she whispered.

“Take Blake there now,” Zoe snapped again. She didn’t wait to see if Sera processed that. She turned to Declan. “You need to prepare.” She did the same stomach-slapping football tackle, taking him off his feet and jumping at the same time.

It was already dark in New York and the interior of the abandoned warehouse was blazing with light. In the center of the open space was a circle of heavy-duty plastic stretched on frames, creating a sterile area. The lights focused on the area.

One of the frames had been pulled aside and Zack stood next to it, waiting for them.

Declan stepped into the circular room. It was an operating theatre in all but name. Around the emergency bed was a doctor’s dream list of equipment. Scanners, diagnostics, trays of tools and a locker on wheels that held an entire ER’s worth of drugs.

Declan rolled up his sleeves. Bacteria and viruses didn’t cling to him anymore, so there was no need to sterilize or wear gloves. “Where’s Blake?” he said sharply.

Zoe was tying a surgical gown over her bloody clothes. “Coming.”

There was a sound outside the plastic frames. Muted panic, hysteria held barely in check.

Diego strode up to the bed, Blake in his arms. He put the man on the bed. Blake was writhing still, and Diego held him there with sheer force.

“Benzodiazepine,” Declan said quickly. “Ten milligrams.”

Zoe nodded, opening the drug cabinet. Her hands were filthy. Blake had more serious issues than unsterile hands touching him.

She handed Declan the dose in a syringe.

“Let me get at his arm, Diego,” Declan said.

Diego picked up Blake’s arm, tore the shirt from wrist to shoulder, then clamped down on both shoulder and hand, keeping the arm outstretched and still.

Declan injected the dose into the big vein. “Zoe, see if there is a direct transfusion pump. Diego, you can sense blood types?”

Diego didn’t take his gaze off Blake’s face. He nodded.

“Is anyone in the vicinity a direct match? Diego!”

He blinked. “Not here.” His voice was hoarse.

“Where, then?”

When Diego didn’t answer, Declan grabbed his face and made him look at him directly. “Who is a match?”

Diego blinked again. “There’s a family in the hunters Wyatt recruited. Ronny and his squads are working the Keys. Cairo had to leave them there.” His gaze shifted inward as he started to think properly again. “Mia’s trinity has one.”

“Get them,” Declan told him. “You and Sera and anyone else who can jump. Go!” He pushed Diego toward the exit space, where Zack was standing guard.

Beth was tying a clean gown around her waist and Zoe was holding gloves out for her.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Declan said, gripping Blake’s shoulders and holding him down on the bed so he didn’t thrash himself over the edge.

“Sera can’t help. I can,” Beth told him.

“You’ve no medical training.”

“She’s the calmest person here right now, including you and me,” Zoe told him. Her eyes were huge with fear.

True
. Declan could feel the panic flowing deep inside, beneath the immediate medical concerns.

“Set up an IV,” he told Zoe. “Saline to start, with the sedative.”

“We could just knock him out,” Beth suggested.

Declan shook his head. “Not yet. As hard as it is to watch, the more he moves about, the harder his heart pumps, the more he bleeds, which means the less of his tainted blood remains inside him.”

“You’re going to replace his blood?” Zoe asked.

“That’s the plan.” He looked down at the great wound in Blake’s shoulder. It had missed the artery, but it was a jagged and ugly thing, all the same. “Beth, find some sterile solution. I want to clean the wound.”

“And not staunch the bleeding. Got it.” She opened the cabinet.

Declan looked out beyond the plastic walls. “And if you can reach out and goose everyone into getting back here faster, that would be good, too,” he told her.

“I’m screaming at them,” she assured him.

Declan looked down at Blake. The man’s eyes, which were normally a pleasant green color, were bloodshot and tinged red. They rolled wildly beneath the half-lowered lids.

The panic jumped closer to the surface and Declan pushed it back again, with sheer willpower. “You fight it, Blake, you hear?” he told him.

* * * * *

Beyond the sterile operating area, where the current donor was sitting with the needle in his arm, feeding Blake the fresh blood, there was nothing but blank concrete and insulated, windowless walls, also made of concrete.

Everyone who waited for news sat on the floor. Some laid on it, using coats for pillows. The AB negative donors that Diego and Sera had found were also waiting their turn.

Blake had stopped moving several hours ago. He lay with his eyes closed. Diego had his hearing racked up to the most sensitive. Blake hadn’t said a word since the vampeen had attacked him.

Beyond the walls, Diego could sense that it nearly dawn.

The need to move, to do something,
anything
, was building like a fever inside him. Sera, though, was resting with her head on his thigh, her hand in his and no matter how much he wanted to stride, to punch his way through steel and scream at the top of his lungs, he would not disturb her rest. His shirt was still damp from where she had finally broken down and wept with despair, which had drained all her emotions, giving her a kind of peace.

He vaguely wished he could do the same, only Blake might yet need him. He had to stay alert and ready to do whatever he could.

A hand rested on his shoulder. He looked up.

Lindal crouched down next to him. “Is there any news?” he asked, nodding toward the operating area.

“Keep your voice down,” Diego told him curtly. “I don’t want Sera woken. She’s just got to sleep.”

Lindal glanced at his sister. “She’s not sleeping.”

“She’s not awake,” Diego assured him. After all this time watching her and Blake sleep, he was an expert.

“It’s a state of…” Lindal frowned. “The closest human equivalent is self-induced hypnotic trance. It’s calming and restorative.”

“Good,” Diego said flatly.

“You’re human hot, Diego. You’re chewing up energy too fast. I could put you into the same sort of state. It would help.”

“Help me, maybe. It wouldn’t help Blake.” He turned his gaze back to the plastic enclosure.

“Going crazy with blood lust won’t help him,” Lindal replied.

“Look, prince high and mighty, I appreciate the offer. There is just no fucking way I am going to move from this spot, or pass out, or do anything except whatever it takes to make sure Blake gets through this, so do me a favor and fuck off.”

Lindal didn’t move. His eyes, which were so similar to Sera’s, didn’t show anything other than serenity. “You know, the first time I realized Sera was part of the third trinity and that you were one of the others, I wanted to kill you. You were soulless, angry…
so
angry. Nothing but murdering things moved you. Alexander told me to wait and see and he was right. The trinity changed you.”

“Thanks,” Diego said dryly.

“You make Sera happy, you and Blake,” Lindal said, his voice low. “There hasn’t been a lot of happiness in her life, until you came along. I’ve never said it, but for your part in her happiness, I am grateful. So understand, Diego Savage, that I am here to help you
and
Blake and I can see you’re just about vibrating off the floor. You have to calm down, or you’ll be useless when he needs you.”

“I’m already fucking useless,” Diego ground out. “All I’m good at is killing things, as you say. This…this…I’m….” He swallowed. “It should be me on that bed. Blake, Sera, they both do good in this world.”

Lindal’s hand squeezed Diego’s shoulder once more. “They can only do that good because you’re there for them.”

Diego couldn’t breathe, which normally wasn’t a problem. Now, the need to draw in air was overwhelming. His chest was locked, his throat tight. He couldn’t look at Lindal. He couldn’t focus on anything, because pain was a novelty and it was tearing through him, reminding him of his humanity, reacquainting him with the fact that even vampires were vulnerable to loss.

His vision blurred and the same ache that was tearing at his throat made his eyes ache.

Lindal didn’t say anything. He didn’t move. For that, Diego forgave him every insult and slur the elf had ever dished out. Diego sat there, unable to move while the tears leaked from him, each one gouging out a piece of his soul and Lindal didn’t take advantage of it. He just waited, instead.

The pain eased. The tears stopped flowing. Diego could draw a breath.

Astonishingly, he felt calm, drained of the need to punch through concrete. He also felt light and clear headed.

So when Declan settled on the concrete in front of him and crossed his legs, he was able to look at him calmly. “I guess this is the family conference,” Diego said. “You get to brace us for the bad news, now.”

Declan glanced at Lindal.

“I’ll go,” Lindal said, standing up.

“No, stay,” Diego told him. He looked at Declan. “He’s family.”

Lindal sat on the floor next to Diego, one knee cocked and his arm around it.

Gently, Diego shook Sera and lifted her up, so she was leaning against him. Her hand tightened in his.

Declan cleared his throat. “The good news is, we’ve stopped the turning.”

Diego breathed heavily, riding out his reaction.

Sera closed her eyes.

“The new blood did what I was hoping it would do,” Declan added. “Whatever the element is in a vampeen bite that turns humans, it was diluted to the point of ineffectiveness by the influx of untainted blood. His eyes returned to normal about an hour ago.”

“And the bad news, doc?” Diego said.

Declan threaded his hands together. “Have the three of you ever talked about the future? Sera is immortal and you’re essentially so, Diego. Blake is human, though. Did you ever talk about….”

“Turning him?” Sera whispered. Her grip on Diego’s hand tightened again.

Diego stared at him. “He lost too much blood…” he breathed.

“Direct transfusion is dangerous. When he was fighting off the vampeen toxin, it was the lesser of two evils. It was always going to be a gamble, though. His injury—the bite itself—was severe. Without that trauma, he might have had the strength to pull through. Now, you have a decision to make.” He got to his feet. “I’m afraid there isn’t much time in which to make it either. I’ll be waiting.”

He headed back to the operating area, weaving through clumps of people on the floor.

“There’s no decision,” Diego said flatly. “We turn him.”

“Blake tried to walk away from the trinity once before,” Lindal pointed out. “Will he appreciate being made a permanent part of this world?”

“He already believes he is,” Sera replied, with heat in her voice.