“What about you?” Ethan dared to ask.
“What about me?”
“Can you really afford to expend the energy you are by trying to heal her again?”
Seth stared at him, his face set in stone. “What else would you have me do?”
Sighing, Ethan sank into the chair Tracy had abandoned when Darnell and Sheldon had forced her to get some rest. “I don’t know.”
Three days. Three days, and Lisette hadn’t opened her eyes. Melanie had even tried administering another double dose of the antidote today.
There had been no change other than Lisette’s heart pounding rapidly in her chest as her breath shortened. She hadn’t so much as twitched otherwise. Hadn’t murmured in her sleep. Hadn’t spoken telepathically. Hadn’t dreamed.
Ethan had heard one of the doctors Melanie had consulted over the phone ask if she thought Lisette might be brain dead.
“It isn’t possible, is it?” he asked, stomach heavy with dread.
“What isn’t?”
“An immortal’s being brain dead?”
Seth returned his attention to Lisette. “Such would be a first.”
That didn’t reassure Ethan as much as it would have five years ago.
There had been a lot of firsts lately.
Too many, perhaps.
Silently he prayed this wouldn’t be another.
Lisette? Can you hear me, love?
Zach’s deep voice carried to her through the darkness, bringing Lisette some much-needed warmth.
Yes, she responded.
Why was she so cold?
Pain shot through her fingers and up her arm.
Why are you crushing my hand? she asked.
The pressure eased.
Forgive me. Soft, warm lips bathed her sore fingers with kisses. Can you open your eyes for me, sweetheart?
Inwardly, she frowned. Of course. Only, when she tried, her lids didn’t seem to want to lift. Alarm pulsed through her. What’s wrong with me? I can’t open my eyes.
It’s okay. Don’t panic.
Don’t panic when she couldn’t move or open her eyes and Zach clutched her hand to his chest like a lifeline? Easier said than done.
“She’s speaking to me telepathically,” she heard Zach tell someone. “But she can’t move or open her eyes.”
The panic multiplied.
Lisette? Seth’s bass-baritone voice filled her head.
Merde.
The chuckle that inspired carried relief, not humor. Not the response I was hoping for, but I’ll take it.
Zach? she called, fear rising.
I’m here, love.
What the hell are the two of you doing in the same room? You are in the same room, aren’t you?#p#分页标题#e#
Yes.
Has Seth hurt you?
A sigh. You toss two bodies through David’s bay window, and she asks if I hurt you, Seth griped.
You did what? she demanded.
She wasn’t conscious when I . . . delivered the vampires, Zach said. Then, to Lisette, he added, You were tranqed, love.
Shouts of denial pummeled her head. That’s not possible.
It is and you were, Zach insisted gently.
Is that why I can’t move?
Yes.
Why haven’t you given me the antidote?
A long pause ensued.
We did, Seth informed her. Melanie gave you double the dose. Twice. You didn’t respond.
Four doses? Fear crept in. I thought four doses would kill an immortal.
Melanie seems certain that it would, Seth acknowledged, so she administered double the dose the night you were tranqed, then waited forty-eight hours before administering it again.
Forty-eight hours?
“Her fingers just tightened around mine,” Zach spoke, voice full of excitement.
How long have I been out? she asked.
Five days, Zach answered, his telepathic voice full of anguish. Five long, terrifying days.
A thousand questions flooded her mind as energy gradually flowed into her limbs. The anvils holding her eyelids closed lifted, allowing her to pry them open. Pain pierced her head, driving her to close them once more.
“Too bright,” she muttered.
The room instantly dimmed to near darkness.
Lisette valiantly forced her eyes to open again and focused them on the man sitting at her side.
Zach’s hair was a bit of a tousled mess, as if he had finger-combed it one too many times. Shadows formed dark pools beneath eyes bracketed by lines of fatigue. And, in those eyes, she saw love. Love and fear and such stark relief that tears rose in her own.
“It’s okay,” she whispered, mustering what strength she could to tug him closer.
As he rested his head on her chest and wrapped his arms around her, she combed her fingers through his hair. “It’s okay,” she repeated, voice raspy. “I’m okay now.”
The doorway went black as Immortal Guardians garbed in hunting gear poured through it, Richart and Étienne at the front of the pack.
Her brothers looked from her face, to her arms wrapped around Zach, and back to her face.