“In case of what?” My voice was getting a little shrill. Fear clawed at the back of my throat. I wanted to believe that I’d imagined the creature that attacked me, but I knew I hadn’t. What I’d seen shouldn’t exist, but it did. I knew what I saw was true.
I remembered the fangs ripping into my throat, the pain, the blood, the sharp stink of fear. My fear. I’d felt my life ebbing away, leaking out onto the cold pavement. I should be dead. The refrain kept pounding through my head: I should be dead.
“In case you turn.” Her voice was flat.
“Turn? Turn into what?” Panic tried to take hold, but I fought it down with a fierceness I didn’t know I had.
“A vampire.” She wasn’t kidding. “We tied you down in case you turned into a vampire.” I could tell by her expression that if I had turned, I wouldn’t have lasted long.
“I didn’t turn.” I wanted to feel relieved, but I didn’t. Not yet. Not until I was sure. “Wait. Vampires are real?” What I’d seen already told me they were real, but I wanted someone to tell me I wasn’t crazy and she was the only one there in that cold, bright room.
This time her smile was pure and true. “No. No you didn’t turn. You’re still human. And yes, vampires are real. So are a lot of other nasty things you’ve probably never heard of.”
“Then I’m OK? I’m not going to turn into … into …” I couldn’t say it. I didn’t even want to know what she meant by ‘other nasty things.’ I was still trying to get over the fact that vampires were not only real, but they weren’t the dazzling, beautiful creatures of Hollywood. The creature that had attacked me had been anything but sexy. Damn. There went a couple of my favorite fantasies.
She shrugged. “I still don’t know. It’s been three days. If you were going to turn you should have done it within the first twenty-four hours. Since you haven’t, I think we can safely say you’re not going to.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank the gods.”
“Yeah, you should definitely be thanking somebody. Nobody survives a vampire attack like that without turning. Nobody.” She looked me over as though I were an interesting new specimen. I stood my ground and refused to squirm. Points to me.
“Good, you’ll do.” Her expression went from cool curiosity to warm approval that fast. It threw me just a little, but it also made me feel kind of warm and fuzzy inside. Acceptance always feels good, even when you don’t really know why you’re being accepted.
I gave her a baffled look. I was feeling decidedly confused and a little bit lost. “Do for what?”
She stripped off the binding on my wrists then stuck her hand out. I took it gingerly and she gave my hand a firm shake. “I’m Kabita Jones, Class 1 Vampire Hunter and Demon Slayer. Welcome to my world, Morgan Bailey.”
Chapter Sixteen
“So you survived a vampire attack. And rather well, I might add.” Eddie took out a handkerchief, polished his glasses and popped them back in place. His brown eyes danced with excitement behind the thick lenses. I guess Eddie was a bit of a second-hand adventure junkie. I repressed a grin at the thought.
“Yeah, well lucky for me, the street where I lived was a popular spot for paramedics on their dinner breaks. It was an ambulance pulling up that scared the vampire away. The guys were able to jump start my heart then rush me to the hospital for a transfusion or twelve. They didn’t know it was a vampire attack, of course. Just thought I was another victim of gang violence.”
The fact they’d been able to revive me at all with so much blood loss was a major miracle. The reason for the miracle was starting to become obvious no matter how much I wanted to deny it. Even without the transfusions, I would have survived.
“Your injuries, how bad were they?”
I shrugged. “Bad enough. I had three broken ribs, my right ulna was snapped in three places, and I had a skull fracture and massive concussion. My kidneys were damaged, my spleen lacerated. I’d also lost a lot of blood, close to drained me. Don’t even get me started on the bruises and the teeth marks. He practically ripped my throat out.” I didn’t even want to think about how many stitches I’d had.
The British had become very adept at dealing with vampire attacks, as had most of the rest of Europe, since they’d been aware of supernatural beings for centuries and had been fighting them just as long. Like the US and the rest of the European union , the British government didn’t officially acknowledge the existence of vampires and other creatures, but Hunters were everywhere and plenty of funding existed through MI8, the British Military Intelligence branch responsible for researching the ‘occult’ and identifying threats of a supernatural nature. They weren’t supposed to exist, but then neither were vampires.