The Vampire Hunter's Daughter: Complete Collection(23)

“I don’t know,” Drew replied, and then lifted him off the ground and into his arms. Gently, he carried him into the house while I followed behind. While I watched Drew place Luke on the couch, I realized that if my arm hurt like hell now, it was going to get a whole lot worse when the adrenaline wore off.

“Drew, he needs to go to the hospital.” I looked down at Luke. “I think I need to go, too.”

Drew yanked a cell phone from his pocket and hit a speed dial number. “Damn it!” he said after a minute. “No answer.”

“Who are you trying to call?” I winced as pain shot up my arm. I could feel tears welling up and threatening to spill over. I really didn’t want to start bawling in front of Drew.

“I’m trying to call the medics. We have our own little version of a hospital, like an urgent care center, I suppose. They are either really busy with other injuries or the vamps got them.”

“Let’s just go to the real hospital then.” I really wanted to go. I knew my arm was messed up.

He sighed. “We’re going to have to.” He glanced at my face and then down at my arm. “Go out to the garage and start Luke’s car.”

I did as he said, but first I collected my bow and some of my arrows. I placed the arrows into the quiver and then hurried out to the garage, just in time, too, because the tears finally broke their dam and began their suicide mission down my cheeks.

After starting the car, I waited for Drew to come out with Luke. When I saw them, I opened the back door so he could gently slide Luke onto the seat. Luke cried out and coughed roughly a few times during the move. I ran around to the passenger side and hopped in. I was ready to go. I’d never had a broken bone before, but I knew that the longer I waited, the worse it was going to feel. I still felt kind of pumped up and was entirely sure that when that completely wore off, I was going to be in even more pain. I guess I could be grateful there were no bones or anything sticking out through the skin.

Drew slid into the driver’s seat and pushed the button that lifted the garage doors, backed out slowly and then hit the gas. We flew down the deserted road and into town. The street lights cast an eerie glow onto the empty streets. As I stared out the windows, I thought about where everyone was. I guess I had an image of people running all over in the streets, bloody and screaming, like in some zombie horror movie.

When we arrived at the gates, Drew slowed and came to a stop at the guard shack.

“Oh, great,” he murmured.

“What?”

“There isn’t anyone in there. When the sirens go off, the controls for the gate in the guard shack shut down. I’m going to have to go up to the control room and turn them back on.”

“Really?” I moaned.

Without a word, Drew slammed the car into reverse and turned a wide circle until we were headed back the way we had just come. It seemed like forever to go the short distance to the control room. When we finally arrived, Drew parked the car and asked if I had my gun.

“Of course, I have my gun,” I told him, but in my head, I was wondering how the hell I was going to shoot with my left hand since I obviously wasn’t going to use my right one.

He nodded, and then he slammed the door and ran through the dark parking lot. I watched through the windshield and saw him punching numbers into what must have been a coded lock. He slipped inside and didn’t come out for close to fifteen minutes—fifteen long, painful minutes.

While he was in there, I looked back over the seat to make sure Luke was still breathing, but it was rough and gurgly. When I managed to lean over the seat and feel his face, he felt cold. I got out of the car and opened the trunk. Sure enough, there were two army green blankets folded and tucked into the corner. I grabbed one and placed it gently over Luke’s body, trying to be cautious of his arms as I tucked in the sides.

With my arm throbbing and feeling like it was still on fire, I got back into the front seat to wait for Drew. When he finally came back, his face was flushed, and his eyes were blazing.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

He slammed the door and fired up the car. “Nothing,” he growled, and then peeled out of the parking lot in reverse.

“Well, it looks like something is wrong.”

“Leave me alone, Chloe.”

“Fine.” Normally I would have crossed my arms because I was so annoyed, but my arm hurt too bad to move it.

Finally, we arrived at the hospital. Drew sped into the ER drop off and jumped out of the car. He ran through the double glass doors and was in there for about two seconds before people dressed in paper coats and gloves came rushing out with him. They gathered Luke onto a gurney and wheeled him through the doors. I watched him go, and said a little prayer that he would be okay. I didn’t love him, but he was the closest to anything in my life that I could love.

A nurse or doctor or something had stayed behind. “Miss, you need to be seen as well. Come with me.”

I looked at Drew. I desperately wanted him to come with me, but he only nodded and got into the driver’s seat.

“I’ll come in and find you,” he told me, and then he slowly drove away.

The first thing they did was a bunch of X-rays. It turned out my forearm was broken, but not as badly as it felt. They set it and gave me a cast that only went up to my elbow. Obviously, I didn’t have to stay in the hospital for anything, but we stayed all night in the waiting room because Luke was in surgery. One of the nurses had explained to us that Luke was unconscious from shock, mostly. He had to have surgery on four broken bones, and one of his ribs had punctured a lung. He was going to be in the operating room while they did all the surgeries and made sure there wasn’t anything wrong with his brain.