Hot Blooded (Jessica McClain) - By Amanda Carlson Page 0,41

like this—I don’t care if she’s not our kind. She lifted her head once, brought it back down, and sat, resigned.

I exhaled the breath I’d held and sliced the knife cleanly across my wrist. Blood flowed out in a rush, but I had to move quickly because it wouldn’t run for long.

I angled my wrist down toward Naomi’s mangled lips, dripping blood onto them and into her mouth. She stirred after a moment, moaning faintly.

Eamon’s breath hitched as he watched my blood flow into his sister’s mouth. Vampires didn’t need to breathe, but in order to talk they had to take in air. “I must leave now.” He rose quickly. “Thank you… for helping her. It is a debt we will repay as required by our laws, decided by our Queen.” He shot up into the air.

Right then Naomi latched on to my wrist. Her sharp teeth punctured it deeply, hitting bone. “Jesus!” I yelled, grabbing on to my forearm with my other hand to keep it in place, resisting the urge to pull back as she began sucking ravenously. My wolf let out a howl in my mind. It’s okay. We’ll pull back soon.

“Jessica,” Danny whispered, turning his head slightly. “I’d like to point out that you have always been my favorite.” He smiled grimly, obviously in pain. “You have something in spades that we wolves sorely lack. Compassion. Please don’t ever forget it.”

“Danny”—my voice full of sorrow—“I know for a fact beef jerky has always been your favorite. And I’m telling you right now, I’m going to fix this. Promise me you’ll stay with me. We’re going to find a way to make this better as soon as I’m done here.”

As Naomi sucked, I wondered how long was long enough. I peered at her body as she took my blood. Her skin looked a little better, almost like it was thinking of knitting back together.

“Ahhhhh.” Without warning her eyes shot open and her mouth detached, surprising me. She blinked twice, focusing on me as I leaned above her. “What are you doing?” she accused, my blood streaming down the side of her mouth, her eyes looking crazed and wide, oscillating from flecks of mercury to jet black, and back again.

“Um.” I sat back on my haunches and wrapped my ripped wrist tightly with my other hand to stanch the flow. The bleeding stopped almost immediately. “We thought you were dying, so I gave you my blood. I also thought you weren’t going to let go of me on your own. So that was a shocker.”

She sat up slowly, Dracula-style, bending smoothly at the waist. She was still mangled, but her face was starting to repair itself at a rapid pace. “What did you say?” she asked, her eyes still eerie and unfocused.

“I said I gave you my blood.”

“Why would you do such a thing?”

“I just covered this—you would’ve died otherwise. The venom was going to kill you. I didn’t know what else to do. Eamon said this would work and that drinking the blood of an immortal was your only hope.”

She glanced down her body, startled, her eyes easing back to their normal hazel color. “What has happened to me? I do not remember.” She spread her arms out, taking in her injuries, her lips curling in distaste—a look I was used to seeing on her brother’s face, not hers.

“You were attacked by winged devils, Cozmos or something, from the Underworld. Apparently they have poisonous venom that impedes supernatural healing. You don’t remember anything at all? That must be powerful poison.” Naomi turned, noticing Danny for the first time, lying, thankfully, out cold a few feet away.

“Quickly. We need to wake him.” She sprang forward, crawling on her hands and knees, her voice trembling.

“Whoa. What are you talking about? You just woke up. You need to heal first.” I reached an arm out to stop her.

She brushed me off. “Non, non,” she muttered in French. “You don’t understand. If we do not get the venom from his system he will die within moments.”

“What?” I said, completely alarmed. I moved quickly next to her, crawling toward Danny, because it was the easiest way to get there. “That’s not what your brother told me. He said the wounds would fester, but not that his life was in immediate jeopardy, like dying in the next few minutes kind of jeopardy.”

“My brother is foolish,” she mumbled with annoyance. “He thought to save me, but he was careless about your wolf friend. Come.