understand,” he gasped as we led him out the door. “Alcohol doesn’t affect me.”
“You’ve been drugged,” I said, helping him navigate the front step, hoping he was aware enough to understand. “You have to stay awake.”
“Drugs don’t work on me,” he said, voice slurred.
I glanced back at Nina’s house. “This one does.”
We sped off in Vinny’s car, not even caring about breaking cover. Lucien lay across me in the backseat. He wasn’t moving. I smoothed his hair back, just to have something to fuss over.
This was bad. We had no idea how to reverse whatever Bliss had given him.
“Contact the Vampire Council,” I told Vinny. “See if they’ve learned anything about Slimprol.”
Lucien was dead weight as we pulled him out of the car. His skin was clammy, and his face had gone deathly pale.
“Drag harder,” Vinny said. He took Lucien’s head and shoulders while I took his feet. “He’s not helping us at all.”
“Stay with me.” I planted Lucien’s feet on the ground, then slipped underneath and helped lift him out. “You hear me?”
Tia came running up the driveway. She’d lost her shoes and had the wide-eyed look that told me she’d be no help to us.
“Go home, Tia.”
“But, Heather, I—”
“Not now.”
We could be fighting for Lucien’s life here. He was immortal, but he wasn’t un-kill-able and I still didn’t trust Bliss not to make a lethal move. She was desperate, vicious, and out for blood.
Vinny was thinking the same thing. “Lock the door,” he said when we’d made it inside.
I threw the dead bolt and the chain. Then I set the security alarm.
There was no way we could drag Lucien up the stairs. In fact, we made it as far as the couch in the living room.
“Easy does it,” Vinny said, out of breath as we laid Lucien on the white couch facing the fireplace.
“How could Bliss even think she’d get away with this?”
Vinny pulled out his cell phone. “I doubt she was thinking that far.” He hurried toward the kitchen. “Rodger? Get me Milosh.” He took the rest of the conversation in the garage.
Lucien struggled just to keep his eyes open. His pupils were fixed and dilated. His breathing had slowed as if he were asleep.
“Stay with me.” I ran my fingers through his short blond hair and touched my lips to his forehead. “Come on. You can do it.” I kissed his eyelids and his cheeks.
God, he had impossibly long eyelashes.
I was anxious. Terrified, really. It was as if a big hole had opened up in my chest, waiting to be filled, or crushed.
His eyes fluttered.
“That’s it,” I said. “You don’t want to miss this.”
I brushed a kiss over his lips, and then another. A tear splashed down on his cheek and I wiped it away, glad that no one saw.
“See?” I asked, wiping my eyes. “You’re fine.”
What was wrong with me? Getting blubbery over a job.
I’d seen death more than I cared to admit. It was part of being a pack enforcer.
But this was Lucien and he was different and he didn’t deserve this.
The garage door burst open. “No information on Slimprol, but they’re sending a medic.”
“How long?”
Vinny shoved his phone in his pocket. “A half hour.”
“Damn it, Vinny.”
“What?”
“I don’t think he has a half hour.” My voice caught in my throat.
His breathing had all but stopped. He wasn’t keeping his eyes open and he’d gone deathly pale.
Vinny stood frozen. “Shit.”
“Get on the phone,” I ordered. “Figure it out.”
“Yeah,” he said, fishing in his pocket.
Vinny retreated back to the kitchen or the garage or wherever the hell he went. Damn the Vampire Council for being so slow. Damn Vinny for not figuring this out. I wanted to scream. I wanted to beat something because Lucien was dying right in front of us and there was nothing I could do.
I couldn’t cure a vampire.
I couldn’t make this better.
I—
“Wake up.” I tapped at his cheek until I was full-fledged slapping him. “Wake up!”
His eyes cracked open.
“You’re going to have to drink from me,” I said, breathless. I couldn’t believe I was saying it, much less thinking it, but there was no other way.
Lucien was a vampire. He needed blood to heal and I would give it to him.
“Lucien!”
He groaned.
“Damn it, Lucien. Wake up. You have to drink from me.”
I rubbed at my wrist, trying to figure out where there’d be an artery. I’d heard there was one in there somewhere.
To hell with it. No time.
I climbed on top of him and lowered my neck to his mouth. “Drink!”
He