“Lilo!”
She was just getting up from the floor, most likely having been pulled in by Ryder or one of the twins to get her out of harm’s way. Blake tried to move toward her, but he couldn’t pull himself up. The silver was already taking its toll on his body, doing severe damage.
“Are you okay?” he asked her.
Instead of an answer, she ran to him, crouching down next to him, her gaze homing in on his shoulder wound, her expression horrified. “Oh my God, he got you!”
“Better me than you.”
Lilo met his eyes, and for a moment time stood still. Lilo was safe.
“Let’s get this off you.” She helped his good arm out of the sleeve of his jacket, then eased it off his injured side. “Oh my God!” She pulled his shirt aside, ripping one button clear off the fabric, before dipping her head past him. “No exit wound.”
When she looked at him, he nodded. “I know. The silver bullet is still inside me.” That’s why vampires preferred small-caliber handguns to anything more powerful: the likelihood of a bullet remaining stuck in the victim’s body was higher with a less powerful weapon.
“We’ve gotta stop the bleeding.” She pressed her hand against the wound.
Footsteps on the stairs suddenly alerted him and he lifted his head. Nicholas and Adam came running, their eyes wide.
“Blake?” Nicholas cried out in horror. “You’re hurt!”
Blake snapped his head to Ryder. “Get the boys into the safe room. Now!” Then he looked up toward the second floor, a cold hand clamping around his heart. “Where’s Sebastian?”
“Ursula picked him up,” Ryder said quickly.
Relieved, Blake nodded, when another wave of searing pain wrecked his body. He gritted his teeth. “Ryder, now! Get them to safety.”
“Boys, move it!” Ryder ordered and ushered them to a door at the end of the hall.
Knowing his charges would be safe, Blake looked at his shoulder for the first time, trying to assess the damage. “Let me see,” he told Lilo, and she removed her hand from the wound.
The entry wound wasn’t large, but when he saw little bubbles rising with the blood that gushed from it, he knew it was bad.
“You’re bleeding too much.” She pressed her hand back on the wound, unafraid. His brave Lilo.
He tried a smile and failed, the pain increasing with every second. “The bullet has to come out.” As soon as possible.
“We’ve gotta get you to the hospital. Right now,” she urged.
He shook his head, meeting her concerned look. “By the time we reach a hospital, I’ll be dead.”
He had maybe ten or fifteen minutes until the silver had eaten away enough of his flesh and bone to poison his blood and send dissolved silver particles straight to his heart.
A choked breath that almost sounded like a sob came from Lilo, and she pressed her lips together.
“Get a butcher knife and a towel from the kitchen.”
Lilo stared at him, her mouth gaping open. “Oh my God, you can’t be serious. You can’t just cut it out like that.”
“No, I can’t.” He swallowed. “But you can.” He panted through another wave of pain, trying without success to hold back the scream that was building in his chest. “Uuuughhhh! Get the knife, Lilo, please.” He removed her hand from his wound and pressed his own over it. “Please!”
Finally, Lilo jumped up and rushed in the direction of the kitchen, and he let go of his control. Everything before his eyes turned red, and he felt his mouth fill with his fangs as they extended to their full length. His fingers turned into claws, razor-sharp and deadly.
The pain paralyzed him, rendering him unable to move. He could only hope now that Ryder and Lilo knew what to do. Or the silver would eat him alive.
28
Lilo was running on pure adrenaline. Panic gave her wings. If she’d thought that she’d been through the wringer in the last two days, then she’d been wrong. The danger was only just beginning. And now it had reached Blake’s doorstep.
She was grateful that he’d told her what silver did to a vampire. His words had sent a chill through her veins: By the time we reach a hospital, I’ll be dead.
She couldn’t let that happen. She owed him too much. He’d pushed her out of the path of the bullet. It was her fault that he was injured.