Hot Blooded (Jessica McClain)

chapter 10

My brother and I stared down at him, slack jawed. “Danny, please don’t be awake right now,” I pleaded. “Are you in pain?” I reached my hands out to touch his body, to console him, but pulled them back. I couldn’t risk hurting him.

Nothing was healing. The wounds were a festering mess.

Tyler bent closer, his voice filled with pain. “Danny, you don’t know what you’re saying. You’re hallucinating. Go back to sleep.” He glanced at me. “We have to knock him out again. We can’t let him suffer like this.”

“No,” Danny breathed, his lips almost unmoving. “Give her my… blood. Now.”

I turned to Eamon. His face was grim. He didn’t like the idea any better than I did. I smoothed his hair back carefully. “Danny, you’re too damaged and you’ve lost too much blood. I can’t let you do it.”

“She needs it.”

I glanced at Naomi. He was right. Neither of them appeared able to survive this on their own. Danny looked horrible, but Naomi had been hit harder. She was smaller and had been out there longer. Her body was mangled and shredded beyond recognition. “I can’t argue with you there, buddy, but you can’t be the one to do it,” I said.

Tyler glared at me. “Don’t even think about it, Jess.”

“Why not?” I snapped. “The wolves will never accept me anyway. I’ve been an outcast since the day I was born.” My body tensed with emotion. “Why wouldn’t I choose to save a life? It’s the right thing to do!”

“Because it’s not the right thing to do!” Tyler shouted, jumping to his feet. “We are sworn enemies of the vampires. If they had their way, they would’ve annihilated our race long ago. They’ve always wanted supreme power over all the Sects. Their Queen will not expect you to save this girl!” He gestured angrily at Naomi. “And the wolves will never accept it.”

“What he says is correct,” Eamon interrupted.

I narrowed my eyes at them both. “I don’t care what the Queen expects—or doesn’t—or anyone else for that matter. If I can save Naomi, I’m going to do it. She’s already proven herself loyal on this journey. And Danny was willing to give it to her, even in the shape he’s in.” I indicated to his bleeding body. “There’s no reason for me not to try.” I yanked up my shirtsleeve to prove my point. I stared at my brother, both of our eyes sparking, each of us growling. “You can leave if you can’t take it, but I’m not going to stand by and let her die when I have a chance to save her. And after I’m done, I’m saving Danny, even if I have to give him a blood transfusion. Do you hear me? Neither of them is going to die if I can help it.” My voice came out in a wash of power all on its own, my wolf chiming in with a ferocious snarl.

Tyler took an inadvertent step back, frustration and anger creasing his brows. “If you think I’m going to stay here and see you sacrifice yourself to save a vamp, think again.” He turned and stormed off into the forest. I knew he wouldn’t go far. He wouldn’t leave Danny for very long.

Once he was gone, I scooted next to Naomi. She was so broken. I swallowed. “Okay, what do I do?” I turned to Eamon, who seemed as stunned as Tyler that I was actually going to go through with it. “Eamon.” I snapped my fingers in front of his face. “Let’s get moving. What do I do now?’

Eamon physically shook himself. “Bring your wrist up to her mouth. I do not know if the venom has rendered her senses deadened or not, but once she has the taste of your blood on her lips, she should latch on by herself. When you feel she’s taken enough, you will need to sever the contact by ripping your wrist away. She will not let go on her own. If you do not, she will drink you dry.”

Well… hmm.

I had a throwing knife sheathed on my waist. I drew it out and positioned it above my wrist. My wolf snarled a warning, making me falter for a moment. What? You don’t want to save a life? You were behind me just a moment ago. She snapped her jaws twice, showing me a picture of wolves—only wolves—surrounding us. A life is a life, even an undead one. Naomi was forced to help us by her Queen and she doesn’t deserve to end 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. Help me wake him and do as I say. I will show you what to do.” She carefully rose up on her knees and reached into the pocket of her mangled jeans. There was material left, but not much. It wasn’t a jeans kind of day. “You need to insert this into his body.” She cradled something carefully in her palm. It was a small scarlet bag with a front flap, decorated in gold thread. Using the edges of the flap to protect her fingers, she pulled out a small cross and set it on top of the bag. It was beautifully detailed, the craftsmanship exquisite. It was carved with symbols and flowing decorations so small and intricate it must’ve taken years, and huge magnifying glasses, to complete.

“Is that silver?” I asked.

“Oui, yes, and it is spelled. It will destroy the venom and anything else in his bloodstream.”

“But silver can kill a wolf,” I said, my tone firm. “I’m not putting that inside his body. If it gets into his heart, it could stop it for good. I can’t take that chance. He’s too weak.” Tyler’s distrust rang through my mind as I put my hand out to push her hand away.

What if it was the vamps’ agenda to kill us all from the beginning and I’d been wrong? What if this had all been a ploy to get me to give her blood.

“Non,” Naomi tsked. “The cross is specially made; the silver will react only with the blood to kill the danger, not the body. Just do as I say. We are running out of time! You are stronger than I am now. It must be inserted deeply. Go!” She shoved it toward me again.

Something in her face, and the urgency of her voice, made me take notice. I had just saved her life. Surely she wouldn’t repay that debt by killing my friend? Reluctantly I took hold of the cloth by the edges, grasping the cross through the soft fabric. Silver was highly conductive to supernatural magic, the very essence that fueled us, and would burn me if my fingers touched it.

I bent over Danny and shook his shoulder. Maybe he wasn’t dying and I wouldn’t have to use this thing. “Danny, Danny, wake up!”

He moaned and mumbled incoherently, his cracked, bloodied lips turned down in a painful grimace.

“Insert it near the heart. Find a wound that is already open,” Naomi urged. “You must do it now.”

“Near the heart? You’ve got to be kidding!” I balked, feeling panicked. “Look. He’s waking. Maybe he’s not as dire as you think. He could heal on his own. Eamon might be wrong.”

“Do you want your friend to live or die?” Naomi snarled, her voice fierce. “Now stop wasting time!” I glanced at her to argue my point, and gasped. She was nearly healed. “You’re almost fully—”

She ripped the cross out of my hands and elbowed me out of the way, plunging it deeply into Danny’s chest.

It was inserted at an angle, only the top of it visible. As she drew her hand away, I could see the imprint of the cross left in her palm. I didn’t have time to do anything else, because Danny’s back arched beneath him and he let out a strangled howl. The hairs on my arms rose.

“Quickly, grab on to his arms and legs,” Naomi ordered.

This was a werewolf we were talking about, not a toddler. “Tyler,” I screamed. “We need help!” Nothing else but to trust her now, because Danny was bucking beneath us. The cross was clearly doing something. I just prayed it wasn’t killing him.

I chose to trust her.

Tyler raced through the trees toward us. “What are you doing to him?” he shouted.

“Naomi put some kind of charmed silver cross in Danny’s chest. She says it will cure him. Without it he dies from the venom.”

Tyler roared and lunged for the cross. Before he could reach it, I jumped up and knocked him out of the way. “Tyler, stop!”

He stumbled backward, but recovered himself in an instant, coming at me. “What do you think you’re doing, Jess?” he raged. “This is insanity! I can’t watch this vamp kill my best friend without doing anything to stop it. Wake up and take a look around. They have the full advantage here, and putting silver into a werewolf this weak means death. Danny’s as good as gone, and this was probably their plan all along. Don’t you see? You’re playing right into it!”

“Tyler,” I ground out. “I don’t have time to argue with you now, but I’ve chosen to trust Naomi on this. Time is wasting and we need your help. Like I told you before, not everyone is out to kill everyone else. I want Danny to live, and if you do too, grab his goddamn legs so that thing stays in!”

“And what if he dies?” Tyler demanded, his eyes swirling amber. “What then?”

“Then I will KILL HER MYSELF,” I bellowed with as much power as I could infuse into the words.

Tyler dove to the ground and snatched up Danny’s bucking legs. I wasn’t sure if I had manipulated him with power or if he’d gotten it on his own, and I didn’t really want to know. Tyler kept his head down. I knelt back down and grabbed Danny’s shoulder and torso on one side. Naomi had the other.

“I am not murdering your friend,” Naomi whispered as we all did our best to keep him still. Danny groaned and snarled in our grasps. “My memory is slowly returning. Your friend was selfless to come to my aid when he was not forced to do so. I will return the favor, as is common among our kind. This was his only chance. It was the cross or his certain death. There is no other way to exorcise the venom.”

Tyler did not respond. Danny continued to buck and yell. I glanced down the length of his body. His wounds were starting to fester in earnest. Yellow muck began to bubble out.

“What the hell is that stuff?” Tyler growled.

“That is the poison,” Naomi answered. “Stay away from it. The venom is born of the Underworld and still very potent. The silver is reacting to it and forcing it to flee his system.”

“Why didn’t we see it come out of your body then?” I questioned, running my eyes over Naomi’s almost fully healed body. There’d been no hint of yellow anywhere.

Naomi wouldn’t meet my eyes for a moment. When she did, she looked slightly abashed. “I believe your blood neutralized the venom on its own.”

“What? How can you be sure? Does that mean that my blood is immune to the little bastards?” I asked.

“I do not know for sure if you are immune.” She shook her head. “But I do know that vampires are very sensitive to blood types of all kinds. We can detect even the most subtle textures and tastes of any blood. Without a shadow of a doubt, your blood has cleansed me. As I drank, it was like nothing I’d ever tasted before, even in my unconscious state. It was dangerous and wild, sweet and powerful. I believe your blood seared the poison inside me, eradicating it the instant it mingled with the venom.”

I grimaced. Just talking about drinking blood gave me the willies. Plus, she just reminded me I’d broken every code and rule the wolves had about sharing anything with a different Sect—especially giving my blood. My father would be furious with me when he found out. There would be repercussions, there was no doubt. “If that means I’m immune, can I give my blood to Danny? Will it work the same way?”

“It won’t be necessary,” Naomi said. “He is almost clean. Look for yourself.”

The yellow had finished festering out. Now only bright red blood leaked from wounds, which thankfully were starting to close on their own. Danny had stopped thrashing once the poison had finished ejecting, but he was still out cold.

There was a noise in the woods to my left. Ray was coming through the trees. It seemed he’d found his way back from wherever he’d hidden himself when the devils had attacked. I’m not sure how much he’d seen of them in the dark, but thankfully it had been enough to keep him away. “Ray, the threat might not be fully gone,” I called. “But for now I think it’s okay to stay. Just make sure you don’t step out past the trees to my right. Unless, of course, you want to be eaten alive by supernatural devil bats.”

“I’m not going anywhere near there,” Ray grumbled. “I saw those things. I just spent the last hour huddled under a downed tree convincing myself I wasn’t dreaming. Every time I turn around there’s another freaking creature coming out of the woodwork. When does it end?”

“To be fair, I’ve never seen anything like them either. There are a lot supernaturals on this earth that I’ve never heard about.” Witches might know about demons—and horrid demon pets—because they were natural enemies, but wolves had never bothered with the Underworld to my knowledge. The standing philosophy was: we stayed away from them and they stayed away from us. Demons could raise seventy-five different types of killer bats and we would be none the wiser. “Ray, as long as you’re back, make yourself useful. Can you be a sport and get us some water?”

I’d been hoping for Eamon to return, but this would have to do.

“How am I supposed to find water in the dark, Hannon?” Ray said. “I could barely find my way back here in one piece. My eyes don’t spark up every time I need to see.”

I smiled in spite of the situation. “Our eyes don’t spark so we can see. They light because of the magic manifesting behind them. Eyes really are a portal into the soul, Ray. As for the water, it can be found in any of the packs. Just feel around.”

“Fine,” Ray grumbled, as he shuffled his way around the area.

“Water will be good,” Naomi agreed.

“Do you think the venom will rinse off his skin?”

She nodded. “I believe so.”

Tyler still had a grip on Danny’s legs, but he stayed silent. We were all ready to spring if Danny started thrashing again.

Ray tripped over something and let out a string of curses. “Jesus, what’s in this? Lead bricks? I can barely lift it.”

“Just drag it over here,” I said impatiently. “Hurry. We have to rinse this stuff completely off Danny.” The yellow residue was now smoking where it lay on his skin. It was beyond nasty.

Ray toted the pack along the ground. “Here.” He set the pack by my leg and leaned over my shoulder to squint at Danny. “Jesus.”

The cross was still embedded in Danny’s chest. I didn’t know when we were supposed to get it out. “Do we take the cross out yet?” I asked.

“Non. It needs more time. I will keep holding him in case there is a reaction. Run the water over him,” Naomi ordered. “Once he is free of all the venom, he should come back to us on his own. After his wounds heal over, we will remove the cross.”

I let go of Danny and unzipped the pack. There was a big canteen sitting right on top. I unscrewed the top and doused the liquid slowly over his body. His clothes were shredded or had been eaten away, so it was easy to see his flesh. I handed the canteen to Tyler when I was half done, and he ran the rest over his legs. We were careful not to let the yellow crap touch us as it washed away.

Once the water rinsed away the last of the venom, Danny started to moan in earnest.

There was relief all around when his eyes blinked open. “What…?” He brought a bloodied hand up to his forehead. “… Happened? It feels like a lorry ran over my face and crushed my legs in the process.” He tried to sit up, but Naomi set a restraining hand on his chest.

“Take it easy there,” Tyler murmured. “One thing at a time, tough guy.”

“You must try to sleep,” Naomi said. “It will take time to heal all your wounds.”

“Sleep, my arse,” Danny growled, glancing from her to me for an explanation. “My body feels like it’s been shredded by a weed whacker. Sleep is the last thing on my mind. And can anyone tell me why I have a bloody chunk of silver lodged in my chest?” Before we could answer, he plucked out the cross and tossed it into the forest with one defiant flick of his wrist.

“No!” Naomi yelled as she jumped up and went to search for it.

“You just threw away your cure, buddy,” I told him. “That was a little ungrateful of you, but we will forgive you given the circumstances.”

“A cure?” Danny replied, a little bewildered. “How can that be a cure? It hurt.”

“It’s some kind of spelled cross of Naomi’s that magically rids the bearer of all the bad stuff, but won’t kill you. It must have cost her a fortune.”

“Well, then, I am indeed very ungrateful. I thank you kindly, Naomi,” Danny called. His body was healing extremely quickly now that all the gunk was gone.

Tyler stood as Naomi came back. His voice was carefully measured. “How did you know we were going to need that thing?” He pointed to the cross, now wrapped in the shreds of her shirt so it didn’t burn her skin. “Did your Queen know we were going to encounter something from the Underworld?” Tyler’s voice began to ring with tension. “So you just happened to have a cure-all in your pocket for just such an emergency?”

Naomi stared back at Tyler, her eyes defiant. They held a glint of a challenge. “I carry this with me always. It never leaves my sight.” Naomi bent over and picked up the bag it belonged in off the forest floor and carefully wrapped the cross back up, placing it in her pocket.

“It’s pretty handy you had the only thing in the world that could’ve saved him,” Tyler egged, pushing for a fight. “Without it, he would’ve died.”

“I earned this healing cross with the blood of my servitude,” she retorted, a steel edge lacing her normally lithe accent. “Selene would take it back from me if she was given the chance, but it’s mine now. I won it from her fairly.”

“The cross was the Lunar Goddess’s trinket?” I asked. No wonder it worked on the devil venom. It had been made for a goddess.

Naomi nodded slowly. “It was… yes.”

“See,” Tyler accused, pointing at Naomi. “This proves my point exactly. Naomi and Selene know each other personally. Did you know that?” He turned to me, his eyes blazing. “We can’t keep trusting them blindly, Jess! If we do, we’ll all end up dead. The Queen gave us two vamps who have a connection to the very Goddess we’re trying to kill. This isn’t an even game; it’s rigged.”

I ignored Tyler’s tirade for the moment and instead narrowed my eyes on Naomi, assessing. There was pain and some guilt in her expression before she finally glanced away. I ventured a guess. “You said you earned that cross with the blood of your servitude.” I pointed to her pocket. “You served Selene?”

“Oui,” Naomi said thinly, turning back to face me.

“Willingly?”

She hesitated for a few beats. “Oui.”

“Your Queen is very shrewd. I’ll give her that.” Sending two of her best, knowing they knew the enemy better than we did put us in a challenging position. “Did your Queen order you not to divulge this connection to us?” I asked.

“We were to give you the minimum assistance, as always. It is so for any duty. She needn’t have ordered us to keep quiet specifically; it would be expected of us.”

“Now that we know you’re connected to Selene, what happens next?” I asked. “If you served the Goddess, you have inside information, things that will make defeating her easier. Now that we know, what are you going to do about it?”

Tyler stood next to me, silent, his anger vibrating around us in waves.

A slow smile spread across Naomi’s features, making her appear both sweet and gruesome at the same time. She was still covered in dried blood, the white of her cheekbones standing out in bright contrast against the red. “Now that this information is out it seems the rules have changed.”

There was a gust of air and Eamon dropped beside her. “Naomi, you must keep your mouth shut. Our Queen will not tolerate anything more. We are almost to the boundary. That was our only duty. We will see them to the edge and leave—nothing more.”

Naomi uttered a single word in response. “Non.”