The Immortal Hunter(79)

He shook his head. "Not me. Leo did."

"Christ," Etienne breathed, drawing Rachel's confused eyes his way.

"Who's Leo?" she asked with bewilderment.

"He's the no-fanger that disappeared from the clearing up north when they found Nicholas," Etienne said. Apparently they'd been filled in briefly on at least part of the recent events and Rachel had merely forgotten the name, because she said, "Oh," and nodded again.

"Did you know about Nicholas being Thomas and Jeanne Louise's brother?" Leigh asked curiously.

Rachel nodded. "I had trouble drinking blood when I was first turned. Thomas helped me out. He said his sister-in-law used to have the same problem, but they found a fix for it and he hooked me up with a couple of straws. I didn't think anything of it until I was talking to Jeanne Louise at Kate's wedding shower and asked her about brothers and sisters. She said there wasn't anyone else, just her and Thomas."

Leigh nodded, "We had a similar conversation where she told me the same thing. I guess she took it badly when Nicholas went rogue."

"Yes," Rachel murmured, and then finished, "I didn't confront her then on what Thomas had said, I wasn't sure if I'd misunderstood him or something, so I waited until I could ask Etienne about it and he told me about Nicholas."

Silence fell in the room for a moment, and then Leigh asked, "Why is it so awful that Leo turned Dani?" When everyone turned to glance at her, she shrugged and added, "I mean, Morgan was a rogue and he turned me and no one seemed bothered by it, but everyone seems super upset that this rogue, Leo, turned Dani."

"Because Leo isn't just a rogue, he's a no-fanger," Decker said quietly.

"I know, but do the fangs really matter?" she asked. "I mean, we use bagged blood anyway."

"It's not that," Rachel explained, "According to Bastien, being turned by a no-fanger is dangerous."

"Why?" Sam asked curiously.

When no one else answered, Decker said grimly, "Because it means she only has a one in three chance of coming out all right, an edentate, just missing the fangs but otherwise like us."

Sam's eyes widened with horror. "You mean she could die?"

He hesitated and then admitted, "One in three do."

"So, one in three die, and one in three come out all right." She paused and raised her eyebrows. "What happens to the other one in three?"

"They come out a no-fanger, crazy like Leonius," Etienne answered when Decker remained tight-lipped.

Decker found himself swallowing back the fear suddenly lodged in his throat as they all turned to peer at Dani. He'd rather have Dani die during the turn itself than see her become like Leonius. If that happened, she would either have to be put down like a rabid dog, or be kept locked up and restrained for the rest of her life, which could very well be eternity. Decker didn't want to see Dani locked up, but didn't know if he had it in him to take her life if she was one of the one in three who went mad. She was his life mate. She was also someone he'd come to care for and even love during the short period they'd been together. There was so much to admire in Dani, he hadn't been able to help himself... and now he was faced with the possibility of losing her.

There was a horrible taste in her mouth. That was Dani's first awareness as she began to wake up. That and the fact that her mouth was so dry, her tongue felt like a roll of used-up sandpaper. Moving it around in her mouth, she tried to work up some saliva, but what little she did manage to draw out merely made the taste in her mouth worsen. Grimacing, Dani opened her eyes and peered around the bedroom she'd used the first night at the enforcer house, and then she recalled everything and sat up abruptly. Something brushed against her arm and she glanced down, a scowl claiming her lips as she saw the ropes fastened to her wrists and trailing away across the mattress. Dani tugged at them, a little surprised when the frayed ends came snapping up and nearly hit her in the face.

She had a vague recollection of waking to find herself tied down, but-judging by the frayed ends-it looked as if the rope had been worn away. Her eyes slid to her feet to find that there were two more pieces of rope attached to her ankles. She was also still wearing the clothes she'd worn when taken from the mall.

Ignoring the rope for now, she peered around. The room was as empty as it had been the first day she'd woken here... except that the bags of clothes from their shopping trip sat neatly stacked against the wall.

She could change into clean clothes, Dani thought, and then grimaced at the idea of pulling nice clean clothes on her less than clean body. She felt greasy, as if she'd just worked an eight-hour shift over a fryer.

Dani grimaced and started to crawl to the edge of the mattress. She then braced one hand on the wall and forced herself to her feet. She was as unsteady as a newborn foal when she finally straightened. She closed her eyes briefly and leaned against the wall until the trembling this little bit of activity had caused eased slightly. She then walked carefully to the bathroom door, her hand sliding along the wall as she went, ready to press against it and keep her upright should her legs buckle.

When she made it to the bathroom door, it raised her confidence a little. She went straight to the bathtub, turned the taps to start the water running, and then manipulated the button to switch it to shower mode. Water immediately began to surge down, catching her head and shoulders, but Dani merely closed her eyes, turned her head, and opened her mouth to let it gush in.