Sucker Punch (First Fangs Club #3) - Kristen Painter Page 0,46
why I’m here.”
Donna blew out a breath as she began to feel queasy. “I don’t feel so hot.”
Jerabeth nodded. “Like you might be sick?”
“Yes.”
“Nausea is another side effect of the tremetol. And a pretty strong indicator that it’s winning complete control over you. This can’t happen soon enough.” Jerabeth looked at Dr. Fox. “It’s up to you now.”
He readied a syringe, then took hold of the IV port. “All right, Governor. I’m injecting the antidote now.”
Donna nodded and said a prayer as he pushed the plunger.
A second later, pain jolted through her, followed by intense heat. She sucked in a breath as the pain increased. If the heat boiling inside her didn’t do her in, the sharp jabs all over her body might. Were her bones breaking? She ground her teeth together as her fingers dug into the padding of the massage table.
Dying might not be such a bad option.
Chapter Sixteen
Donna thrashed involuntarily as her muscles seized and spasmed. Hands held her down. She heard what she assumed were soft, reassuring words, but the haze of heat and pain swamping her drowned them out.
A low, keening sound broke through, and she was vaguely aware that it had come from her own mouth. Her skin felt covered in flames. Her bones ached, and her blood had turned to lava.
She wasn’t going to survive this. Death had to be easier.
A new sensation welled up. The unbearable heat morphed into darkness, and a few seconds later, everything went black and still and cold.
Was this death? No, she was too aware to be dead. But the nothingness was a mercy. She wanted to stay there, floating and numb, for as long as possible.
She awoke to the soft beeping of a monitor and three very concerned faces peering down at her. She squinted at them, unable to open her eyes any more.
“She’s awake,” Dr. Fox whispered.
The room was freezing. For the briefest of moments, she wondered if she was in the morgue. “Did I die or pass out?”
“Just pass out. For about fifteen minutes.” He cleared his throat. “How are you feeling?”
She took a quick inventory. “Good, actually.” She blinked a few times, finally getting her eyes all the way open. “Why is the room so cold?”
“You spiked a fever of nearly 105,” Jerabeth answered, wiggling her fingers. “So I dropped the air temp.” She tipped her head. “How do you feel emotionally?”
“Say something that might make me mad.”
Dr. Fox chuckled. “Would you like for me to tell you the amount of my bill?”
Donna managed a little smile. “That won’t make me mad.”
Jerabeth narrowed her eyes. “Pierce is leaving you to go to work for Claudette.”
“He’d never do that. But good try. I think I’m fine. The antidote must have worked.” She went to sit up, got a hard dizzy spell, and lay back down. “Whoa. Super lightheaded.”
“You need to do a little healing, which means you should feed again. Any blood will do now.” Dr. Fox glanced at the monitor they must have hooked her up to while she was out of it. “Your blood pressure is a little low, but a feeding should fix that up. Should I have Mr. Harrison come in?”
“No, I’ll go find him. I’d rather get unhooked from all this stuff before I take care of anything else.”
Dr. Fox nodded. “Right away.” He went to work on removing her IV first.
Donna shivered at the cold. Jerabeth had really put the supernatural AC on. “Thank you, Reggie. I owe you.”
Reggie’s smile was brief. “Let me kill my share of fae, and we’re even.”
Dr. Fox removed the sensor from her temple and helped Donna sit up again. She weighed Reggie’s request. “Any fae that don’t surrender are fair game. In other words, if they’re trying to kill you, have at it.”
Donna tipped her head as she pondered her own response. “Huh. The poison’s definitely out of my system. A half hour ago, I would have told you to kill them all. But when Temo and I met with his fae contact, I got the impression there are some fae who would turn against Dredward if given the chance.”
Reggie frowned. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
“Me, too, but someone on the inside is still talking to him.”
Dr. Fox coiled up the wires from the monitor. “There you go. All free.”
“Thank you.” She got off the table but kept a hand on it until she was sure she wasn’t going to go wobbly again. “Jerabeth, where are you with the potion that