Blake's Pursuit (Scanguards Vampires, #11)(54)

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.

Lilo pulled a sharp knife from the wooden block on the kitchen counter, then snatched a couple of clean-looking kitchen towels from their hooks and rushed back out into the hallway, just as Ryder was dragging Blake into the living room, Blake’s good arm draped over Ryder’s shoulder, and Ryder’s arm around Blake’s waist, supporting his weight. She followed them and watched Ryder deposit Blake on the sofa, where his head slumped back against the cushions.

A gasp escaped her when she saw Blake’s face. He was all vampire now: glaring red eyes, extended fangs, and fingers that had turned into claws. To her own surprise, the sight didn’t scare her, because she saw something else in his face: pure agony. Her heart bled for him. Nobody should be feeling such pain, not even a vampire.

“I’ve got the knife,” she said.

Ryder turned to her. “Give it to me.”

Glad that he was taking charge, she handed it to him and slid next to Blake on the couch. She ripped the already damaged shirt wider, so there was clear access to the wound. It looked larger now than before, evidence that the silver was consuming his flesh.

“Make a deep incision,” Blake gritted out.

Ryder nodded in silence and set the knife to the wound. Lilo turned her face away. She couldn’t watch this. She gripped Blake’s hand, not caring that his fingers were sharp barbs that could slice her into pieces. She squeezed his hand, when Blake whirled his face to look at her, staring at her in grateful surprise.

A scream dislodged from his throat.

“I’m sorry, Blake!” Ryder let out. “But I’m not done.”

Lilo held onto Blake’s hand while cupping his cheek with the other. He met her eyes then.

“I don’t regret it,” she confessed, answering the question he’d posed many hours earlier. “I could never regret it.”

For a brief moment, the red in his eyes subsided, making space for the golden shimmer she’d seen before.

“Lilo,” Blake murmured.

“I can’t see the bullet. It’s too deep,” Ryder interrupted.

Lilo released Blake’s hand and leaned over the wound. “There’s too much blood.” She snatched the towel she’d brought and pressed it against the wound, trying to soak up as much blood as possible, before removing it again. From the corner of her eye she noticed Blake clenching his teeth.

“I’m so sorry.”

“I think I can see it,” Ryder said. “I’m gonna have to use my fingers.” He was already sticking two fingers into the wound.

“No!” Blake protested, jerking away. “Not you! The silver… it’ll hurt you.”

Lilo understood immediately. Silver wasn’t only toxic to a vampire, but also a hybrid. “I’ll do it. Move aside.”

Ryder didn’t protest.

“Hold him immobile,” she instructed.

Ryder followed her command and held onto Blake’s shoulder and arm with both hands. With an apologetic look at Blake she brought her hand to the open wound. It was all torn skin and damaged muscle, covered in copious amounts of blood, and more spilling from the wound every second. She saw the bone, too, and right there, in Blake’s rotator cuff something shone through. The silver bullet.

Choking back the rising nausea at the sight of so much blood, she willed herself to remain calm. She had to do this. One hand she placed at the edge of the wound, pulling it open a little more, while she stuck the index and middle finger of her right hand into Blake’s flesh.

He cried out simultaneously, but she forced herself to ignore it. She mustn’t be distracted.

She felt for the various different textures: sinew, muscle, blood, now that she had no clear line of sight anymore. It was warm, and the stickiness of the blood as it coated her fingers made her stomach lurch. But she foraged on. There, her fingers had struck something hard. Bone? It had to be. She explored with her fingertips, rubbing along the hardness until she found a bump.

“That’s it!” she called out in triumph. “I found the bullet.”

“Grab it!” Ryder encouraged her.

Lilo caught Ryder’s concerned look, then gazed past him to Blake. His face was distorted from the pain, his mouth open, fangs bared as if ready to attack.

“He can’t hold on any longer,” the hybrid murmured to her. “Do it!”

She concentrated and curled her middle finger, then pushed her index finger toward it, trying to create human pliers to grip the silver bullet. She yanked at it, her fingers pulling free of the wound. But there was nothing between her fingers, no silver bullet, just more blood and sinew.

Blake howled with pain.

“It slipped,” she cried out, sweat beading on her brow, her pulse hammering. Her hands were shaking now. How much time was left? What if she couldn’t do it? “Oh God!”