Runaway Vampire (Argeneau, #23)

“As for how long a turn takes, it varies. For some it is faster, for some longer. Your injuries probably contributed to the length as well.”

“Right,” she murmured, wondering what her injuries had been. From what he’d said, they’d been life threatening, but had it been head trauma, or had she been pinned? Crushed? Skewered by a piece of metal?

Maybe she didn’t want to know, Mary decided, and admitted, “I don’t remember much. I know they drove us off the highway, and then it was like the RV exploded.”

“The RV did explode,” he said, but quickly added, “after I got you out.”

“Oh.” She sighed her relief and grimaced. “I don’t remember that. I just remember everything flying at me and—” She whirled and glanced around the room with alarm. “Where is Bailey?”

“She is fine,” Dante said quickly, taking her arm and urging her into the chair across from the one he’d been seated in. “She broke a leg in the accident, but—”

“What?” Mary cried, jumping to her feet again.

“She is going to be okay,” he assured her, placing a hand on her shoulder to push her back down onto her chair. “She is at the veterinary hospital.”

“And they’ve kept her four days?” Mary asked with alarm, popping to her feet once more. Vets did not keep dogs that long unless it was terribly serious. Hell, she’d had dogs that were operated on and sent home the same day.

“Russell . . . convinced them to keep her for a few days because we thought it best she not be here while you were going through the turn,” Dante explained soothingly.

Mary didn’t need to ask to know he was talking about mind control when he said convinced.

Dante added, “It was for the best. We had enough on our plates looking after you and trying to keep anyone from calling the police to report a murder. We couldn’t watch Bailey too.”

“What murder? Why would anyone call the police?” she asked with a combination of alarm and confusion.

“Mary,” he said solemnly. “The turn is very painful. You have been screaming your head off for four days. We had to take turns, two of us holding you down to ensure your bindings did not snap and loose you to hurt yourself, and one of us out in the hallway controlling anyone within hearing distance.”

“You tied me down?” she asked with amazement.

“We had to. You would have hurt yourself otherwise,” Dante said apologetically.

“I would not,” Mary assured him indignantly. “I’m not into cutting or any of the other self-abuse things.”

“It is not a matter of being a self-abuser,” he assured her. “It is a matter of the pain being so great that . . .” Dante paused as if searching for an example, and then sighed and said, “I heard once of a turn who stabbed himself in the eye trying to end the agony.”

“Ewww,” she said, sitting down abruptly.

“Si. Exactly.” Dante nodded. “I wished to avoid your doing something like that.”

“Thank you,” Mary muttered, trying to imagine how bad pain had to be to make a person do something like that. She couldn’t even imagine it though. It just seemed so alien. Shaking her head, she admitted, “I don’t remember suffering any pain.”

“That is a blessing then,” Dante said and began to move the plates with food still on them closer to her.

Mary stared down at the food before her, and then glanced up and asked almost apologetically, “You said Russell is sure the kidnappers followed us back here?”

He nodded.

“So they drove us off the road and then just let this Russell and Francis collect us and bring us here?”

“Not exactly,” he said dryly. “When the kidnappers forced us off the road, Russell and Francis were in the SUV directly in front of us. I do not think the men in the van even realized they were there. The RV probably blocked their view of them.”

Mary nodded. She had noticed the SUV he was talking about. It had practically been riding the RV’s front bumper. She had no doubt the kidnappers hadn’t known they were there and had probably thought the road empty when they forced the RV off the road.

“Russell and Francis pulled over at once when we were forced off the road,” Dante continued. “Apparently shots were exchanged and then the kidnappers must have decided not to risk themselves. The van pulled away and Russell and Francis gave chase, but we were only miles from town. Russell and Francis had to slow down once they reached the more populated area to avoid harming innocent mortals. The van, however, did not and they lost them. Russell and Francis then came back for us.”