“He needs more. Get another six men,” Rodney barked, since with his throat open, Bones could hardly speak.
I shouted out the order, unable to tear my eyes away. There was scrambling as more donors were rounded up. Rodney helpfully held them in front of Bones long enough for the refills to take place, and then each man was dragged away to the medics. Distantly I hoped they’d brought enough plasma, because this was taking much more blood than we had anticipated.
When Dave’s head tilted to the side and his eyes opened, I fell to my knees. Rodney placed his severed rib cage back over Dave’s chest like fitting a piece into a puzzle. Bones rubbed the area with the blood pooling around him, and I had to try twice before I could speak.
“Dave?”
His mouth opened and closed before a scratchy reply sent tears coursing down my cheeks.
“Cat? Did... the vampire... get away?”
God, he thought he was still in the cave in Ohio! That made sense, since it was his last memory. Bones and Rodney moved away. Juan wept, mumbling in Spanish. Tate knelt, shell-shocked, before he touched Dave’s hand and broke into tears at the answering squeeze.
“I don’t believe it. I do not fucking believe it!”
Dave frowned at the three of us.
“What happened? You guys look awful... Am I in the hospital?”
I opened my mouth to respond when he reared back suddenly and sat up.
“There’s a vampire! What... ”
He finally noticed the blood. Bones was also covered in it where he sat a few feet away. I held Dave by the shoulders and spoke urgently to him.
“Don’t move yet. Your chest hasn’t knitted together completely.”
“What—?” He looked down at himself, and then around the tented area before his eyes settled on the coffin and the headstone bearing his name.
“Dave, listen to me.” My voice was thick. “Don’t worry about the vampire; he won’t hurt you. Neither will the ghoul next to him. You... you weren’t hurt in that cave in Ohio. You were killed. This is your grave, and that’s the coffin you’ve been inside for the past three months. You died that day, but... we brought you back.”
He stared at me as though I’d gone crazy, then a heartbreaking smile tugged his lips.
“You’re trying to scare me for breaking formation. I knew you’d be mad, but I never thought you’d go this far—”
“She’s not trying to scare you,” Tate croaked through his tears. “You died. We saw you die.”
Dave glanced in alarm at Juan, who gulped and hugged him hard, crawling behind him.
“Mi amigo, you were dead.”
“But what... how... ”
I went to Bones and Rodney, laying a hand on each of them.
“We had a choice, Dave, and now you have to make one, too. These two brought you back, but there’s a price. Your humanity died with you, and nothing can change that. You’re only with us now... because you’re a ghoul. I’m so sorry for not warning you in time when that vampire ran out of the cave. He killed you, but you can continue on... undead.”
The denial filled his features as he looked at us, his surroundings, and then the headstone.
“Look, mate, feel your neck,” Bones said practically. “You don’t have a pulse. Take that knife.” He pointed at the instrument that had been busy all evening. “Slice it across your hand. See what happens.”
Dave cautiously placed two fingers to his throat, waited, and then his eyes bugged. He grasped the bloodied blade and drew it swiftly across his forearm. A thin line of blood welled before his flesh neatly closed together, and then he screamed.
I abandoned my previous position and clutched his hands. “Dave, let me tell you from experience that you can overcome an unexpected heritage. We are who we make ourselves to be, no matter what. No matter what. You’re still you. You’ll still laugh, cry, do your job, lose at poker... We all love you, listen to me. There’s more to you than your heartbeat! So much more.”
He started to cry, pink tears leaking out of his eyes. Juan, Tate, and I wrapped him in a group hug, covering him as he shook. Finally he pushed us back and wiped his eyes, staring at the blood on his fingers.
“I don’t feel dead,” he whispered. “I remember... hearing you scream, Cat, and seeing your face, but I don’t remember dying! And how can I go on if I’m dead?”
Tate answered fiercely, “Dead is stuffed inside that box, not what you are now. You’re my friend, always will be, no matter what the fuck you eat. I didn’t believe that pale prick when he said he could wake you up, but you’re here, and don’t you dare think of covering yourself back up with dirt. I need you, buddy. It’s been hell without you.”
“I missed you, amigo,” Juan said in almost incoherently accented English. “You can’t leave me again. Tate’s boring and Cooper only wants to train. You stay.”