Boundary Born (Boundary Magic Book 3) - Melissa F. Olson Page 0,31

attached to a long tube with some sort of one-way stopper on the end. Quinn had passed out again, so Simon unceremoniously poked the end of the tube through his lips, provoking a hilariously confused expression from the vampire.

“Hey, dipshit,” Simon said brightly. “Let me get the first round.” Quinn rolled his eyes and held the tube to his lips.

Lily was stripping off her surgical gloves. “Can you feed Maven?” I asked her.

“In a minute. You’re too pale.” She took my wrist, checking her watch with her free hand. “Tachycardic,” she muttered to herself. She reached toward me until she could put both hands on my face, like a mother feeling for a fever. “Shit. You’re clammy. You lost way too much blood.”

“Yeah, I was just starting to think that myself,” I said unsteadily.

“This a severe hemorrhage, Lex. You could go into shock.”

“Later.”

“You need a blood transfusion—”

“Later,” I said stubbornly. I tilted my head toward Maven, lifting my eyebrows.

Lily sighed. “Let me see your hand.” She made a clucking noise when she saw the cut I’d made. “Sloppy. But it shouldn’t scar, since you got some vampire saliva in there. Stitches or butterfly bandages?”

“Butterflies.”

“I figured.” As she taped up my hand, I watched Maven’s still form. She still looked bad, but maybe a tiny bit better than when I’d first arrived? It was so hard to tell with the change in lighting. I wanted to ask Quinn what he thought of her condition, but he’d have to stop drinking blood to answer, and he needed it more than I needed an answer just then.

“How much belladonna did she get?” Simon asked, seeing my gaze. When I looked back at him, I noticed the old spark of scientific curiosity in his eyes. I cocked an eyebrow, and he blushed. “Sorry. I didn’t mean for that to come out . . . excited. I’ve just never actually seen any of the Solanaceae in action before. Do you know how strong the dose was?”

“No, but she took two vials in the back.” While waiting for the Pellars, I’d checked Maven for puncture wounds. There were two marks right next to each other in the middle of her back, between her shoulder blades.

“They shot her in the back?” Lily said, wrinkling her nose in disgust. “That’s so . . . tacky.”

“Yes, it is.” I heard the anger in my own voice. It really bothered me that I hadn’t thought of the possibility of a dart gun.

Lily had finished bandaging the back of my hand and was digging into her own pack. She pulled out a half-gallon container of orange juice, with about a third of the juice still inside, and a package of Newman’s Own cookies, handing them to me. “This is what my mom had available. You need the glucose and hydration.”

As I took the food, she picked up the IV kit again and began swabbing the inside of her arm. “I get better veins there,” she said when she saw me looking. “Simon?”

Her brother leaned forward and helped Lily insert the IV needle, moving very slowly so he wouldn’t disturb the needle and tube taped to his own hand. For a moment, watching the two of them literally tying themselves to vampires, I was overwhelmed with gratitude. Simon may have been Quinn’s friend, but neither Pellar really owed the vampires anything. They’d come because I’d asked, and they had done so without a second thought. My vision blurred a little. I told myself it was just blood loss.

“Lex?” Whoops. Simon had been talking to me.

“Sorry, what?”

“I asked if you thought there were multiple shooters. Shouldn’t she have been able to dodge after the first dart? The poison can’t work that fast.”

I shook my head. “Dart guns are single-shot weapons. There’s no way someone would have time to reload, which means two weapons firing simultaneously.” Being careful of the bandage, I held out my hands in front of me to demonstrate. “Two shooters is possible, but I’d put my money on one shooter with a sidearm-style tranquilizer gun in each hand. It would be the easiest way to make sure the shots were simultaneous.”

Simon frowned. “If I’m remembering right, those darts don’t hold all that much liquid, though. Would that amount of belladonna really put Maven down?”

“Those weren’t the only shots,” Lily said suddenly, staring at Maven’s linen top. All three of us looked at her. “Look.” With her free hand, she pulled down the neckline, stopping just above the vampire’s breasts. I