Rachel quickly used one hand on her forehead and the other on her chin to pull her lips apart. Thomas then pressed his wrist to Inez’s mouth.
“Hey! Is everything all right down there?”
Thomas didn’t even bother to glance around, leaving it to the others to deal with. He was vaguely aware of Etienne moving away to do so, and then raised his wrist to peer at it, frowning when he saw that the nanos were doing their work and the bleeding had stopped.
“Did she get enough?” Rachel asked Bastien.
Thomas glanced over to see the frown on his face. Knowing he was hesitating to say something, he snapped, “What is it?”
“She’s probably had enough to initiate the turn,” he said slowly.
“But?” Thomas asked, knowing there was more.
“But if her condition is as bad as Rachel said, she might not survive long enough for her body to repair itself and complete the change,” he admitted and then added quickly, “But I’ve heard the more blood an immortal gives, the faster repairs can be made and the better the chance of a badly injured mortal surviving the turn.”
He’d barely finished the words before Thomas was slicing himself open again. It made complete sense to him. The more nanos he poured into her, the faster they could work and they were definitely working against time here. Inez’s heartbeat was still slowing with every passing moment.
Thomas sliced his arm open six times before allowing the others to convince him that he’d given her enough. He then scooped her into his arms and tried to stand, his heart lurching in alarm when he found himself swaying weakly and nearly dropping Inez.
“Give her to me, Thomas,” Bastien said quietly.
Thomas scowled at the man, but didn’t really have a choice. He wasn’t at all certain that he could get back to the townhouse without help himself. He definitely couldn’t manage the feat while carrying her. He reluctantly let Bastien take her, staggering after him when he turned away with her in his arms and then stumbling to a halt as the ground swayed under his feet.
“Let me help you.” Etienne was at his side, drawing his arm over his shoulders. “We’ll get you both back to the townhouse and give you blood. You gave up a lot and must be in pain.”
Thomas was actually in agony, but didn’t comment, his concentration was on staying on his feet as they moved to the stairs.
That walk was the longest of his life. Thomas was fuzzy-headed and suffering pain from the blood loss, but he was also furious at the very people now trying to help him for putting Inez in this predicament and anxious over the agony she was soon going to go through—and, in fact, was beginning to experience. Increasing the amount of blood given might be good for speeding up repairs, but it also sped up the onset of the agony, and Inez was already moaning and beginning to thrash in pain as they turned up the short walk in front of the rented townhouse.
Terri rushed ahead to unlock the front door and light splashed over them as it opened. Thomas heard Terri exclaim in surprise, but didn’t understand why until Etienne helped him in through the door and he saw Lucern and Kate in the hall, and Vincent and his lifemate Jackie in the doorway to the living room.
Thomas glanced at them, but couldn’t muster up any interest in their presence. The pain had grown increasingly worse as they were making their way back to the house, while the nanos still in his system tried to replicate themselves, using up what little blood was left. They’d moved out of his bloodstream in search of blood and he was suffering, but when he realized Bastien was carrying Inez into the living room, he mustered up the strength to growl, “Upstairs. Our room.”#p#分页标题#e#
Bastien didn’t argue. He turned toward the stairs at once, asking Terri to bring up one of the coolers of blood they’d brought with them as he started up.
Etienne turned Thomas in that direction to follow, but before they could reach the stairs, Thomas was hit by a wave of pain that made him double over and his legs buckle. Whether Etienne managed to keep him from falling or not, he never knew. He lost consciousness.
When he woke up, Thomas found himself lying in one of the twin beds in the room he and Inez had chosen. An already half-empty bag of blood was stuck to his fangs and Etienne and Terri were leaning over him, worried expressions on their faces.
Terri looked relieved when his eyes opened, but Etienne just looked more worried and turned to announce, “He’s waking up.”
Thomas saw his lips move and wondered why it was so hard to hear his words and then realized a high, keening scream was rending the air. Turning his head sharply, he saw Inez thrashing on the opposite bed while Rachel and Bastien tried to hold her down.