me after he dropped the arm.
I looked around the cavern, blood everywhere. When I looked at Heath, my stomach dropped, and I began to Change back into my human form.
He had wrapped his shirt around his neck, blood trickling down his chest. There were nearly a dozen scratch marks over his chest and shallower bites on his arms. He busied himself with slowly tying up the vampire left behind by his companions, the mute with the ruined midsection.
“Heath, let me check your injuries,” I said, my jaw aching more than I expected. “Jabari, are we safe for now?”
He must have Changed while I did because he was a man when he walked over to the vampire. “Yes. They won’t risk attacking with the injuries they sustained. I was able to have the other two severely bleeding by the time they ran. They will lose energy and power throughout the night until they feed again.
“They have one of the wolves left alive,” Heath whispered weakly. I didn’t like how shallow and pale his face looked.
“Heath, please let me check your injuries,” I begged softly. “Please.”
“I got a few hits in. The stupid bitch got the jump on me and took a mean bite, but it’s the worst of it,” he informed me, keeping his eyes focused on his slow task. I reached out and took the ropes from him, and he growled pitifully at me. “I broke a few of her bones, and that hand will be useless or weak the next time we see her.”
“That’s good, but I think you’re about to drop,” I said gently. Looking down, I realized I might drop too. My abdomen was already bruising and there were long thin lacerations running across it. Blood was everywhere.
“Let her tend you,” Jabari ordered. “I will handle this.” He reached down and picked up the vampire who hissed before giving a pained whimper. “You have no tongue, but that’s okay. I don’t need you to have one.”
That nearly made me sick from the implications.
“It’s just some blood loss,” Heath bit out. “I’ll take a fucking nap and be fine.”
“Yeah, but…” I felt awful. He would have never been up in these mountains if it weren’t for me. He had a family to go home to—a loving one, one he should have already been back with.
“We can clean off in the stream together, but please don’t coddle me,” Heath said, moving to stand. When I tried to help him, swaying on my own feet, he growled softly. “They hit you in the head with a fucking big stone, Jacky. You need to be careful yourself.”
I touched my head and felt the blood. I remembered being hit, but I hadn’t paid attention to any bleeding.
“And your jaw,” he murmured, reaching out to touch it with bloody hands. “It’s going to be swollen and bruised by dawn.”
“Yeah, it hurts like a bitch.” Looking down, I saw scores and scores of cuts and bruises on my body again, taking them in further. “Fuck.”
“Yup.” Heath looked over me, wobbling as he did. “Jabari—”
“You’ll both clean up and rest while I keep watch,” my brother said, not unkindly. “We leave to hunt them down at dawn.”
“We need to go sooner,” Heath growled. “The last wolf will be dead if—”
“If they intend on draining him to heal, they will be done with it by the time we get there,” Jabari growled back, baring his bloody teeth. “Let me handle this one. I didn’t take as much abuse as you two did.” He jerked his head, obviously annoyed, his jaw clenched. “And good job tonight. We took one out of the fight, and the others are going to be very weak and easy to track.”
“So, we’re still going to hit their hideout during the day?” I asked, fighting to see him clearly.
“If you two get enough rest, yes.”
I grabbed Heath’s elbow weakly and tried to guide him away. He pulled away, but when my hand dropped, he wrapped his arm around my waist, and we walked together to the stream at the back of the cavern. Before washing off, I drank. I wasn’t worried about ingesting the blood because it would do nothing to me. It wasn’t the case for humans, but Heath and I would be fine.
I was just thirsty.
Heath leaned into me as he tried to wash off. I touched his hands to stop him before taking some water into my hands and rinsing off his face. The stream was cold because it was