Runaway Vampire (Argeneau, #23)(74)
“Tomasso was there at this warehouse?” he asked sharply.
“I’m not sure, but I think so,” she said unhappily. “I was going to tell you what I’d heard once I forced them to stop the van. I thought maybe we could drive in, in the van. They wouldn’t have been expecting that. But then dumb Ernie ignored my warning and went for the dart gun. I tried to grab him and broke Bert’s neck and we crashed.”
Sighing, she dropped her head to his shoulder again. “I’m sorry, Dante. I messed up. It’s all my fault.”
“No,” he said firmly, wrapping his arms around her. “It is not. If you had not done what you did, we might all now be in the same position Tomasso is in. Instead, we are alive and safe and able to help look for him.”
Mary thought it was sweet of him to try to soothe her conscience, but she still felt guilty. Relaxing against him, she closed her eyes, then glanced up with surprise when Dante pulled back. But he merely scooped her up in his arms and carried her back out to the bedroom.
Bailey was still lying on the bed and Mary frowned with concern as she noticed the cast on her leg.
“She is fine,” Dante said softly. “She has had her pain killers and the cast barely slows her down. She is not even limping anymore.”
“Oh,” Mary murmured as he carried her around the bed and set her down next to Bailey.
Dante quickly covered her with the sheets and blankets she’d tossed aside just moments ago, and then straightened and turned to open the cabinet door of the table on his side of the bed. Curious, Mary watched as he bent to retrieve something, her eyes widening when he turned to set two bags of blood on the bed.
Catching her surprise, he smiled and said, “It is a hidden fridge. Mortimer,” he paused to explained, “He’s the head of the rogue hunters. He had them custom-made. Now everyone wants them for their homes,” he added with amusement as he retrieved two more bags to set next to the others. He closed the door as he straightened, then scooped up the four bags and set them down right next to her before leaning forward to kiss her on the forehead. “I have to go tell Lucian what you told me. He will want to send someone to search the warehouses in the area and see if there is any information that might be of use.” He straightened, and then asked, “Is there anything you want me to bring you when I return? Something to eat or drink?”
Mary hesitated, but then aware that he wanted to leave, just shook her head. “Maybe later.”
Nodding, he bent to kiss her again, then leaned past her to give Bailey an affectionate pet before straightening and crossing the room.
“Feed,” Dante said firmly as he opened the second door in the room to reveal a hall beyond. Glancing back he added, “I want all four bags empty when I come back.” Then he slipped from the room and pulled the door closed behind him.
Mary picked up one of the bags, but then just stared at it. She had no idea how to make her fangs come out. Before this, they’d just popped out whenever she was hungry. She hadn’t had to—
The thought died as she felt a shifting in her mouth. Mary waited, and then ran her tongue cautiously along her teeth until it rubbed up against a fang. Well, that was handy. But then she was hungry, although she hadn’t realized it until she’d actually picked up the bag. Or, perhaps, it was better to say she hadn’t been able to identify what she was hungry for until then. Although, Mary thought, she wouldn’t mind food either, just then. However, she didn’t have any, so she simply opened her mouth and popped the bag toward it, relieved when it landed correctly and remained in place.
Keeping her hand in place on the bag to support it, Mary glanced to Bailey then. The dog appeared to be asleep. She suspected it might have something to do with the pain pills Dante had mentioned. On the other hand, Bailey slept a lot. Most dogs seemed to. They’d run around like crazy chasing balls, animals and anything else that caught their attention, and then would drop and sleep for a while before getting up to do it again.
It was a tough life, Mary thought with amusement and glanced to the bag to judge how much more blood there was in it. It was going down pretty quick, and didn’t bother her as much as it had at first. She didn’t exactly like the feel of cold fluid moving up her teeth, and she wasn’t pleased to have to actually consume blood, but at least she didn’t have to actually drink it cold from a cup or something. That would have been disgusting. This way she didn’t have to taste it or anything.
The moment the first bag emptied, Mary tore it off and slapped on another, eager to get the chore over with. It seemed to take forever, although she knew that was probably because she was waiting through it with nothing to distract her. Still, she was surprised when she finished the next two bags and Dante hadn’t yet returned.
Tearing the last bag from her mouth, she scooped up all four of the empty bags, crawled off the bed and took them into the bathroom to throw them in the small garbage can there. Mary then went right back to the bed.
Her getting up had apparently disturbed Bailey and the dog had raised her head to watch for her return. Mary smiled at the shepherd as she climbed back into bed, and then settled back onto her side and ran a hand down her side.
“We’re a pair, huh?” she asked softly, petting her. When Bailey just closed her eyes on a little huff of sound, Mary stopped petting her and instead curled her arm around her, careful not to get anywhere near her broken back leg. She then closed her eyes, surprisingly sleepy again. She never heard the door open when Dante returned.