“You look pale.”
Thomas glanced at Etienne as he spoke, noting that he was peering at his wife with concern.
Rachel smiled faintly and leaned into his shoulder. “You don’t look so good yourself.”
“There’s blood in the refrigerator downstairs, and lots of food too,” Bastien said. “Why don’t the two of you go grab a couple bags and make yourselves something to eat.”
Etienne and Rachel exchanged a glance and then moved away from the bed. “Call us if you need us.”
Bastien then turned to Terri. “You should go too, Terri. You’re pale as well.”
Terri glanced toward the departing couple with yearning, but then glanced back, her gaze skittering anxiously between Thomas and Bastien before she shook her head and said, “I’ll stay with you.”
Knowing she was afraid to leave the two of them alone for fear that he would attack Bastien the moment they were gone, Thomas opened his mouth to tell her it was all right, she should go, but Etienne spoke, cutting him off.
“We’ll bring up something for all three of you,” his cousin said as he ushered Rachel out the door.
Shrugging, Thomas moved to sit on the side of the bed and take Inez’s hand in his.
“You should go take a shower and then catch some sleep.”
Thomas glanced up at Bastien’s quiet words. Terri was asleep on the twin bed he’d been lying on earlier, and had been for hours. Other than that, the two men were alone; one on either side of the bed Inez was in.
Shrugging, Thomas turned his gaze back to Inez. “You go ahead. I want to stay with Inez in case she wakes up.”
It was well past sunset of the second night since Inez had been injured and then turned. It hadn’t been an easy process for any of them. While the drugs definitely helped, there were times when they didn’t seem to even touch the pain she was suffering and it had taken several of them to keep her in the bed. Rachel and Etienne had returned several times through that night and day as Inez turned, helping Thomas, Bastien, and Terri try to keep Inez still so she wouldn’t reopen her healing injuries as she’d battled the pain as well as the demons filling her hallucinations, a side-effect of the turn.
Her screams had been the worst, though. Every single one had torn at Thomas’s heart like a claw, ripping deep. But that had stopped hours ago and she had rested peacefully and deeply since then.
When Bastien had suggested Terri get some sleep earlier, she’d hesitated, and then had lain down on the opposite twin bed, telling them to just shake her awake if they needed her before falling into a deep, exhausted sleep. Thomas and Bastien had been alone since then, both of them working together to feed her the occasional bag of blood or give her another shot when she began to show signs of pain.
“It might upset her if she wakes up to find you covered in blood as you are,” Bastien pointed out.
Thomas glanced down at himself and frowned. Neither of them had changed since returning to the townhouse and both now wore clothes that were wrinkled and blood stained. However, Thomas was pretty much soaked in a combination of Inez’s blood and the two bags he’d spilled. It was dry now, crusty and unpleasant, and it would definitely upset Inez if she woke up to see him like that, he supposed.
He nodded, but hesitated, his gaze slipping back to Inez again.
“I’ll stay with her,” Bastien assured him solemnly.
“Thank you,” Thomas murmured automatically as he released the hand he’d been holding and got to his feet.
“It’s the least I can do,” Bastien said with a sigh and then met his eyes. “I’m sorry Thomas. I never should have put her in danger like that. I never would have had I realized this would happen.”
“It’s all right, Bastien, I know you wouldn’t have,” Thomas interrupted, waving away the apology. Lucern’s earlier words flowing through his head, he added, “Besides, you’re family and even immortals make mistakes.”
“Thank you,” Bastien said quietly.
Thomas shrugged and then added in hard tones, “However, I wouldn’t have been so forgiving if she’d died.”
“I know,” Bastien said solemnly. “I would have lost you along with her.”
Thomas didn’t bother to deny it and simply turned away. He never would have forgiven either Bastien or Etienne if he’d lost Inez because of them. Never.
Grabbing his knapsack, he slipped from the room and crossed the hall into the bathroom to take a quick shower and pull on clean, or at least, mostly clean clothes. Thomas had run out of fresh clothes, but at least the ones he pulled on weren’t covered with blood.