Of A Darker Nature (28 page)

The somber men shuffled out of the room.

Scott prepped Marcus by cutting the ragged shirt open. Only his arms were covered now. He motioned for Emily to join him. “He’s your pet, so get over here and help me. Get the rest of this shirt off him.”

Jai Li’s irritated gaze narrowed at the derogative term, but she said nothing. Corey looked like a little boy who had lost his best friend. He pushed away from the wall and took a couple steps toward them. He wrung his hands. “Is there anything I can do?”

Scott didn’t look up from the tools he was laying on the cart. “That depends on whether I’m able to save him or not. He’ll be hungry when he wakes.”

Corey frowned, not following where Scott was leading him. He glanced at Jai Li who lifted a shoulder.

“He'll need blood.” Scott stood poised over his patient, a large pair of tweezers held loosely in his hand.

“He can have some of mine.” Emily turned to rummage through the cabinets for a needle and some tubing.

The tweezers clanked against the cart. Scott gripped her arm and spun her around to face him. He leaned close and growled in her ear. “No way in hell.”

Emily shoved him aside. “I won't let him die!”

Cursing, Scott returned to the worktable. He took a calming breath and set his mind on the task at hand. If anyone could save Marcus, Scott could. Without protest, she finished stripping away the mutilated shirt and slipped on a pair of latex gloves.

Corey’s gaze slid in Jai Li’s direction again. He looked positively ill with worry.

Jai Li was obviously not the warm and fuzzy type. She crossed her arms over her chest and watched as Scott selected a scalpel. She averted her gaze when Scott made the first cut. “Don't you have any blood here? He'll need more than Emily can provide.”

Scott didn’t look up from the first gunshot wound. “No. After it was compromised, I asked Beau to get rid of it.”

“What are we gonna do?” Corey’s forehead creased with worry. He sought comfort from Jai Li by sidling closer to her. 

She did not touch him or offer any words of comfort. Instead, she seemed to study each and every move Emily and Scott made as if she were looking for them to make a mistake.

Scott lifted his head, a bit of compassion bleeding into his gaze. “What about the human outside? Would he be willing to donate blood?”

Jai Li seemed to relax a little. “Ah, what a smart man you are.”

Corey leaned close to Jai Li, though he didn’t try to hide what he said. “I suppose this means he isn’t the one running the disposal. I imagine Marcus will want to discontinue surveillance.”

Emily stiffened at Corey’s words. Scott's only reaction was a narrowing of the eyes. She frowned down at Marcus. He’d been running surveillance on her boss? Feeling it important to come clean with Scott, she said, “I didn't know.”

Scott shrugged. “I did.”

The white-hot sun blinded Marcus. He squinted up into the brightness and wondered just how he’d managed not to burn to a crisp. It wasn’t the sun, but an overhead lamp. The sterile scent of industrial cleansers and something much stronger burned at the back of his throat. One by one, his senses slowly began to reawaken. The taste of coppery blood—probably his own—left a bitter tang in his mouth.

The kiss of cold steel touched his body and his head was held immobile by whatever it rested on. Where the hell was he? He remembered falling against a car and Emily’s mournful cry. Suddenly everything that happened came flooding back in a rush.

Oh shit, where was Emily?

He allowed his gaze to slant to the right and spotted her. She wore latex gloves and a smear of blood just beneath her swollen left eye. On his other side, Scott Hall leaned near with a scalpel in hand.

Scott pursed his lips, a look of concentration on his face. He pressed the tweezers against Marcus’s skin, his expression unsure. “I suppose once he gets some blood in him, he can heal on his own?”

Someone murmured an affirmative.

“Good,” he said with just the hint of a smile. “Because I’ll have to cut this one out.”

He dropped something into the collection pan Emily held. Marcus wanted to speak—to ask if she was really okay—but couldn’t muster the strength. Starr must have really messed him up. His head didn’t feel right. Even his body seemed lethargic and unwilling to respond.

“Check this out.” Scott held a piece of gnarled metal in his gloved hand. A silvery liquid shimmered down the length of his thumb.

“Looks like there’s some liquid packed inside. It’s like a paintball only with shrapnel.”

“Silver,” Corey said on a shaky exhalation.

Scott looked up and frowned at the vampire. “I can't promise that I can save him. If this silver has gotten into the blood stream…well, we might not be able to reverse the damage.”

“If anyone can do it, you can.” Emily pressed a wad of gauze against Marcus's chest and assisted Scott in plucking another bullet from his flesh.

“I'm just flying by the seat of my pants. What choice do I have now that the goon squad is here?”

Marcus laid there, eyes half open. Though the pain was intense, he’d endured far greater in his lifetime.

“I read the guy on Claude's table.” Emily leaned closer to Scott, a look of accusation on her face. “He wondered if you accepted money to take out the garbage, if you know what I mean.”

She glanced over her shoulder at their company. Marcus followed her gaze with his eyes and found Corey and Jai Li huddled against the far wall. Both were somber, reminding him of someone awaiting bad news. Didn’t Emily realize the vampires could hear every word they uttered?

Though Marcus couldn’t remember closing his eyes, he opened them. The room snapped back into sharp focus. Had he lost consciousness again? The sting of blood and antiseptic tickled his nostrils.

“This one’s in there pretty deep.” Scott seemed to dig the scalpel in and twist.

Had Marcus been able to, he might have cried out.

Scott frowned at Emily. “Do you remember how to do an I.V.? There’s very little blood in his veins and I’m afraid we’ll lose him if we don’t do it now. Maybe he'll be able to fight any silver that's still in his system.”

“I’ll go see if Chad will donate a little.” Emily hurried to the door and called his name. When his bulky frame filled the doorway, she said, “Marcus needs blood.”

“Of course.” Chad moved forward, already rolling up the sleeve on his left arm.

“You don’t have to if you’re not okay with it.”

“I owe him my life, Miss Cross. It’s the least I can do.”

Emily gathered the things she needed. She prepped his arm and slid the needle into a vein. The blood ran through the tubing and into the bag. After a few minutes, she’d taken all she safely could.

Chad took the offered bandage. He moved toward the door that led back to the alley and said, “Good luck.”

Emily looked like she might break down and cry at any moment. Marcus wanted nothing more than to take her into his embrace and kiss her fears away.

Scott’s sharp voice was anything but comforting. “Get it together, Emily. If we don’t save him, what do you think Isabella will do to us?”

Emily regarded the plasma with renewed determination. She worked on his right arm, only taking two tries to get the needle into place. The first one bent and broke.

She squeezed his hand and smoothed the hair from his face in a tender gesture. Her voice caught on a sob. “Marcus.”

He wanted desperately to look at her face, to let her know he was still there, but everything had gone black. Had he merely closed his eyes or gone blind? Warmth began to trickle through him and his body hungrily absorbed the plasma.

“He needs more.” Scott frowned. “I don’t want it to be yours.”

“Chad gave all he could. I’m the only one left.”

The room came back into bright focus. The afterimage of the light bulb burned into his retinas.

“I’ll give him some of mine,” Scott said, but didn’t look the least bit happy about it.

Emily leaned over him to grip Scott’s arm. “No. I’ll do it.”

Scott’s face heated with anger, but he didn’t tell her no.

“You never mentioned that Starr offered you money,” Emily whispered.

Scott lowered his voice. “I didn’t see any point in telling you. You’ve got your hands full as it is.”

Emily’s freckles stood out against her pale complexion. She looked rough with tangled, dirty hair and a black eye. Dirt and blood had smudged her cheek and chin.

Marcus found it quite interesting that Starr had asked Scott to join her. Would either of them be interested to know he’d already called off the constant surveillance? Instead, he’d asked Chad to drive by occasionally and keep an eye out for trouble. Frankly, he didn’t give a rip about what happened to Scott Hall. Emily was his responsibility, not her boss.

Scott jabbed giant tweezers into the wound he’d made with the scalpel. He pulled the hunk of silver free and dropped it into the collection pan. Marcus groaned.

“It looks like your friend is back from the land of the dead.” He laid the blade aside and tossed a used wad of gauze onto a nearby cart.

“What about the neck wound?”

Scott was unconcerned. “It’s a through and through. He’ll heal on his own. Same with the stab wound.” Finally, a bit of warmth crept into his expression. “Why don’t you let me run you over to the hospital to get checked out? You’re pretty banged up.”

Emily ducked her head. “I’ll live.”

“Let me take a look at you.” He reached for her, but she shied away. His expression hardened. “It’s almost dawn and you’ll need to get Marcus somewhere safe for the day.”

Jai Li jostled Marcus into a sitting position. His head fell forward, and he couldn’t muster the strength to hold it up. His limbs were heavy, no feeling left in them. Chad’s blood should have begun the healing process. This couldn’t be right.

Corey beckoned Emily closer. His voice cracked with emotion. “He’s not coming out of it. Why isn’t he coming out of it?”

Emily grabbed a new needle. “Scott, you want to give me a hand over here?”

She shoved the tube and baggie into Corey’s hands. “Hold these.”

Scott hadn’t moved from the sink. “Do not give him your blood, Emily. Please.”

Marcus reached for her with leaden arms. His body moved on its own accord, and he was unable to stop it. Fingers closed around her shoulders and hauled her up against him. He pitched forward, mouth at her neck. At the last second, he came to his senses enough to avoid tearing her throat out. Instead, his fangs sank into the space where her neck and shoulder met.

Emily cried out, but didn’t fight him. Somehow she ended up in his lap. Her arms twined around him, holding on for dear life. A little moan, he was unsure if it was pain or pleasure, escaped her.

He clung to her, drank deeply and savored the sweet flavor of her blood. His hunger began to recede, but a new need began to grow. Had he been stronger and not had an audience, he might have seen to it as well.

Jai Li was at his ear. Her voice was indifferent. “You have to stop now, Marcus. You’re going to kill her.”

He opened his eyes and found Scott pinned to the cabinets by Corey. He’d most likely tried to come to Emily’s rescue. With much reluctance, Marcus eased back then released her.

Marcus smoothed the hair out of Emily’s face with trembling fingers. He’d wanted her blood so badly, but not like this. His throat seized, and he couldn’t find the words to tell her he was sorry.

As soon as Corey let go of him, Scott rushed to Emily’s side.

Within moments, Jai Li and Corey bombarded him with questions and congratulatory comments on his well-being. He was more concerned with Emily. God, he hoped he hadn’t hurt her – or even worse, destroyed the fledgling feelings she had begun to explore with him.

Scott led Emily over to the sink. He dabbed at her neck with a damp towel and inspected the fang marks. The expression on his face was one of concern and irritation. “I’m not sending you home with him. Stay here with me.”

“I need to take Marcus home.” She lifted fingers to her neck and winced. “I’m okay, really.”

“I don’t like this. He’s dangerous. He’s fed from you, and now he’ll have a taste for it.” His expression was heavy with distress. “Please listen to me, Emily.”

Ignoring him, she washed her hands at the sink. Scott put hands on either side of her ribs. She sucked in a sharp breath and shied away.

“You might have a bruised rib or two. You should get it looked at to make sure they’re not cracked.”

Marcus tried to understand exactly what he had witnessed. Scott wanted to protect her from him and honestly it wasn’t a bad idea. The allure of her blood and body was something he could no longer fight. Now that he’d had her, he wanted so much more.

Scott strode through the workroom doors without another glance. “Be sure and lock up when you leave.”

What odd behavior. If he were at full mental capacity, he might understand their actions. It was difficult to think with Jai Li hugging the air out of him and Corey talking nonstop.

Corey cupped a hand beneath Marcus's chin to force him to look at him. “Are you able to walk? We ought to get you back to the mansion.”

“No.” Marcus allowed Corey to help him off the table. The lower portion of his body still tingled.

“No?” Corey repeated and scratched at his left eyebrow. “No you aren’t up to walking or no you aren’t going back to the mansion?”

Marcus stood on his own. Perhaps his legs would hold him after all. “Both.”

Corey gave Marcus a fierce hug then quickly stepped away, looking embarrassed by his actions. “I’m glad you’re okay. I felt like something was wrong even before the phone call. You’re not my sire so that was kinda weird, huh?”

Jai Li glared at Emily like it was entirely her fault. “You can’t be serious, Marcus. You need rest and proper time to heal. Not to mention a decent meal.”

“In case the two of you forgot, I have a job to do. Someone has to be there in case the witch tries to take Emily again.” He watched Emily gather the dirty linens and deposit them in their proper place.

She looked paler than normal and he feared he’d taken too much of her blood.

Corey pounced on the chance. “Let me go. I’ll do a good job. I want to go. I can do this.”

Lord, the boy was more hyper than a four-year-old hopped up on sugar. “No, Corey. I need someone whole and strong there with Isabella. What did you learn about Riley?”

Corey settled down, looking a bit disappointed. “Not much. He went straight home. Ravenna and Arthur were there and I didn’t want to cause a big to do over nothing. Maybe we were wrong about him. You know how teenagers are. They always seem like they’re up to no good.”

“What about Chad and Watts?” He flicked his gaze in Emily's direction and she ducked her head.

“Nothing,” Jai Li answered with a shrug. “Chad says Isabella wanted to see firsthand that she was okay. It seemed kind of rehearsed and I suspect she planted that answer in his head.”

He chose to move past it. “I think I found the location of the ley line a few nights ago. There seems to be a great deal of power at the back of Emily’s property.”