They went through this four more times, five bags of blood altogether gushing into what had become the bottomless pit of her stomach, and then Dani stiffened as her body went still. There was no more rushing in her ears, no more acidy cramping in her stomach, and her heartbeat slowed to almost a stop. Dani felt trepidation creep over her then. It felt like the calm before a storm, and she just knew when it hit it would be a hurricane, devastating everything in its path.
"What is it?" Decker asked. He was eyeing her face with worry, another bag held, but unopened, in his hands.
"You tell me," she said tightly. "You're the expert here."
"I'm not an expert. I was born an immortal. I've never sat through a turning before," he admitted, and then turned to glance at Leigh in question.
"I'm afraid I haven't either," Lucian's life mate admitted, worry clear in her expression.
Dani heard Decker sigh, and then he turned back to her and said, "Tell me what's happening."
She opened her mouth to speak, and then cried out as it all charged back. The rushing in her ears returned, but was now a roaring, making her deaf to everything else. The acidy cramping returned in earnest and then became an invisible bed of knives slamming down from the ceiling, stabbing through her stomach and chest and then shooting off in all directions through her body. And her heartbeat began racing, charging, thudding so hard she feared it would explode out of her chest. But worse still was the blast that went off in her head. Pain as she'd never experienced ripped her skull apart. Her body then began to convulse, and Dani lost the ability to see or even think. She was pure sensation now, aware only of the agony tearing at her.
"Dear God, what's happening?" The question screamed through Decker's head, even as Sam asked it aloud when Dani began to convulse on the bed.
"Maybe I'd better call Lucian and see if this is normal," Leigh said.
"No. Lucian can't do anything," he said at once. "Call Bastien and tell him to send over drugs and an IV."
Leigh nodded, but before she could go in search of a phone, Dani suddenly began to thrash.
Decker turned back to the bed just in time to see her jerk her hands toward her chest. She appeared to be trying to grab at her stomach, or perhaps her heart, but the rope stopped her... for half a second, and then the sound of the box spring frame's snapping reached his ears just as her hands continued toward the middle and up. The edge of the destroyed box spring and mattress on the side Decker wasn't sitting on curled upward as Dani grabbed not for her chest or stomach, but for her head. Her fingers raked into her hair, catching handfuls and then fisting around them as she pressed against her skull, and then just as quickly she began to tug outward.
Had Decker not launched himself to grab her hands and stop her just then, he was pretty sure Dani would have torn whole hanks of hair out of her scalp. Fortunately, he did grab her and then struggled to hold her down and keep her from hurting herself, but her legs were now moving too, her whole body bucking. Decker was more than grateful for Leigh's help when she launched herself on Dani's legs, but when he saw Sam in his peripheral vision, coming up the side of the bed to help by taking one of the arms, he roared, "No! Stay back. She's too strong. She could kill you right now without even realizing it."
"But you two can't hold her alone," Sam pointed out, her eyes frantic.
Decker didn't respond, but knew she was right. While he and Leigh were strong thanks to the nanos, the combination of nanos and the pain Dani was suffering was making her unmanageable. He was about to suggest Sam call Justin upstairs when the bedroom door opened and he saw his cousin Etienne, and Etienne's redheaded wife, Rachel, rush into the room carrying two large duffel bags.
The moment the pair saw the state of things, they dropped the bags and rushed to the bed.
"What happened?" Rachel asked, moving up on the other side of the bed to catch at that arm even as Etienne moved to help Leigh hold Dani's legs.
"She's turning," Decker muttered. Even with the four of them holding her down, they couldn't keep her still.
"Yes, we know that," Rachel said. "We were at the office when Lucian called asking Bastien to send out an IV and some drugs for a turning. We offered to bring them over and help out," she explained, and then added, "But I meant why is she like this already? Lucian said she'd been given the nanos only an hour ago, and Kate took three or four hours to get to this stage."
Decker frowned. "You were at Kate's turning?"
"I may work in a morgue, but I'm still a doctor," she pointed out dryly. "Knowing that, Kate asked me to be on hand in case anything went wrong."
"And it didn't go like this?" Decker asked with worry.
She shook her head, grimacing as Dani nearly got loose, and she had to pretty much sit on her arm to keep it even close to still.
"This started after the fifth bag of blood," Sam said, moving a little closer to the bed.
"You've already given her blood?" Etienne asked. "How?"
"Her mouth," Decker answered. "I opened the bags one after another and poured them in."
"Oh."
That soft sound of understanding drew his eyes to Rachel to see her biting her lip. "What is it?"
"I-Well, I think that's probably sped things along a bit," she admitted. "According to Marguerite, they've found that using the IV slows the process a little because it takes longer for the blood to get into the body. But it also reduces the risk of the turnee injuring themselves or someone else. However, if you poured five bags down her throat one after the other, then the nanos have probably gone into overdrive and are doing everything at once."
Decker cursed.