Chasing Shadows(51)

I nodded. “When Juliette is well, we’ll have to have you over for dinner. The circumstances then will be much more ideal.”

Monica nodded, then leaned forward to kiss my cheek as well. “Take care of my children for me,” she said softly. Next she moved over to her husband and took his hand. When she started for the back door, he went automatically.

“He’s gonna be alright?” Mark asked when they had gone outside and she had shut the door behind them.

I nodded. “He’ll be fine. He might recall that she had a hard time reaching Juliette, but he won’t remember going out to look for her. I’m sure she’ll think up a plausible explanation for everything.”

He scoffed. “She’s sure had a hell of a lot of practice lying to him. What’s one more?”

“Mark, you saw your father,” I pointed out. “He was not handling the truth well at all. Beguiling him was for his own good. Best that he not remember that Juliette nearly died tonight.”

“Which of us will do it?” Lochlan asked.

I turned and walked over to the couch, kneeling beside him. “Well, the natural choice, I guess, is me, since I don’t produce draculin at all.”

“But will you be able to control yourself enough not to kill her?” Loch returned. “Mark’s the first non-animal you’ve tasted in many years, and we’ve already surmised that your control with him may be related to your bond.”

“Are you saying you think Jules will taste like an animal, and that because of that Saphrona won’t be able to stop?” Mark asked, coming to stand at my side.

I glanced up at him, then back at my brother. “I have no idea what she will taste like, but I am fairly certain that my doing this is less risky than Lochlan doing it.”

Loch studied my expression for a moment and then nodded. He reached under the blanket and gently pulled Juliette’s arm out, passing it over to me. I held her wrist before my mouth in much the same way I did when I drank from Mark.

“Forgive me, sister,” I whispered, then bit down.



*****



When Lochlan smelled that Juliette’s blood was clean, he reached over and grasped her arm tightly enough to cut off the blood flow. When it registered that I was no longer drawing blood through the bite I stopped drinking, and became gradually aware of my surroundings. And when I realized that it was Juliette that I had been feeding from, I all but threw her arm away from me, backing away from the couch on all fours.

“What have I done?” I breathed fearfully.

Mark knelt next to me. “It’s okay, Saphrona. You didn’t lose control of yourself—you were only drinking to get rid of the drugs in her system. Remember?”

I nodded. “Sorry. Sometimes it takes a minute.”

He frowned. “You’ve never reacted this way with me,” he said curiously.

“Well, not to put too fine a point on it, but you mean more to me than she does,” I replied. “Lochlan, is she okay?”

My brother nodded. “Aye, she is well. And I believe that her body is already healing faster than it was a few minutes ago. You’ve done well, Saphrona.”

He turned to look at me then. “At risk of sounding crude, what did she taste like?”

I frowned. “Are you serious?”

“Come on, dear sister. You cannot blame me for being curious, as you denied me the privilege of aiding her recovery,” Lochlan returned.

“Loch, you’ve also aided in her recovery,” I said scooting forward again. “I’m sure you’re been very diligent in treating her wounds.”

Lochlan looked down at Juliette’s face, which, although still pale, was already getting some of its color back. “Aye, and I won’t lie and say it was not without difficulty to see all that blood and not take a taste of it. But I did not wish to disrespect her that way. She’d already been violated enough.”

I nodded. “Her blood was strong—animalistic. Not as domestic, for lack of a better word, as a cow or a pig, yet not as predatory as a wolf or a bear. And even though I was caught up in the feeding frenzy, I didn’t enjoy feeding on her. The drugs made her blood very bitter.”

“A shame,” Lochlan muttered, then he stood. “Come, sister. Let us get her cleaned up, dressed, and in a bed.”

I stood with him. “I’ll take it from here, Lochlan. You’ve already seen enough of her nudity. Imagine how horrified she’ll be when she finds that out.”

Though he seemed reluctant to acquiesce, Lochlan nodded, and then grinned. “And I simply cannot wait to tease her about it mercilessly,” he said lightly.

“Great,” Mark groaned as I reached underneath his sister’s knees and shoulders and effortlessly lifted her into my arms. He tugged on the blanket to try and cover as much of her as he could. “We’ll never hear the end of this.”

Although I grinned as well, when I looked down I noticed there was blood on the couch. Noting my gaze, Lochlan promised me he would clean it like new. I nodded, and then turned to carry Juliette up the stairs and into the bathroom.

After setting her gently in the tub, I took the blanket off, removed the few bandages Lochlan had put on, and turned on the water, bringing it to just above room temperature. I then took a washcloth out of the linen closet and came back with it, kneeling beside the tub to get it wet and soapy so that I could clean the blood from her face and body. Juliette stirred as I wiped away the blood but did not wake. I noted that her wounds were already healing, the bruises and cuts fading gradually.

When she was clean, I lifted her from the tub and carried her to the spare bedroom, where I was met by Mark. He pulled the blanket down so that I could lay her on the bed, and then turned his gaze away as I reached to pull it back up to her chin.

“Lochlan said he gave her a shot of morphine when he first brought her into the house, because she had some broken bones he had to reset,” Mark said quietly.

“Which means she’s probably in pain right now because I drank it out of her with the other drugs,” I observed.

“He left to go get some more morphine and an I.V. kit. He said she would need it for the next twenty-four hours at least.”

I nodded and then went to retrieve the single chair that was in the room so Mark could sit by the bed with his sister. When I gestured for him to sit he shook his head, telling me to sit down. Then he left the room, returning shortly with the chair that had been in our bedroom. He placed it next to the other one, so we sat down together to keep vigil over Juliette until Lochlan’s return.





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Seventeen





We sat in silence for some time, our hands twined together on Mark’s leg, as we waited. Every so often Juliette would moan softly, and Mark’s face contorted sorrowfully.

“I wish there was something I could do for her,” he said softly.

I gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “Mark, you are doing something for her, right now,” I told him. “You’re here, supporting her with your love.”

“But what if it’s not enough? What if she dies?”

Shaking my head, I glanced over at Juliette’s still form, her pretty face marred by a slight frown even though she still slept. “She’s not going to die. Her blood is free of the drugs and her heartbeat is strong. I am sure that Juliette will be fine.”

He looked at me. “Then why hasn’t she woken up?” he countered.

I smiled lightly. “I’m fairly certain it’s because her body needs time to heal, and all of us heal better when we’re asleep.”

Mark thought about that for a moment and then nodded. “I feel so helpless, just sitting here,” he said after a time. “I want to go out looking for the son of a bitch who did this to her, but I can’t because I haven’t the faintest clue where to begin.”

I sympathized with his desire for vengeance—I felt the same way. I was angry because Juliette had been hurt, and I was angry that she had been used to get to me.

“Do you remember earlier when we talked about how this was an indirect attack against me?” I asked, and Mark nodded. “Well, I was just thinking that as pretentious as it sounds, it must be true. I mean, whoever did this dumped her in my driveway. How would they have even known to bring her here unless this is about me?”

Then suddenly another idea hit me, and I looked at Mark with alarm. “What if it’s about you?” I breathed.

“What do you mean?” he said with a frown.

I squeezed his hand again. “Mark, think about it. Juliette was driving your truck. The person that did this might have been following it thinking it was you behind the wheel.”

He nodded. “Okay, maybe at first, but anyone with half a brain would have realized fairly quickly that it wasn’t me—Juliette’s almost a foot shorter than me,” he said. “And besides, it’s like you just said: they knew to bring her here. So either they were waiting out on the street for the truck, or they ambushed her somewhere else, and they either tortured the address out of her or they already knew where you lived.”