The Reluctant Vampire(58)

Mirabeau shook her head at once. “Leonius wouldn’t try to kill her. He wants her alive for breeding.”

“Breeding?” Teddy squawked, his dismayed eyes shooting to the fifteen-year-old.

Mirabeau nodded, her expression tight. “To replace the sons he lost taking Stephanie and her sister. He wouldn’t have tried to kill her,” she said firmly. “It couldn’t have been him.”

“I don’t know,” Tiny said slowly, and when the others turned to him in question, he pointed out, “He’d know that a car accident probably wouldn’t kill her. And this Leonius sounds pretty twisted. He might enjoy torturing and tormenting her, along with anyone else he could, before taking her.”

“The more I hear about this animal, the less I like,” Teddy muttered, staring at Stephanie with troubled eyes, no doubt still contemplating that some madman wanted to use the child as a broodmare.

“Where’s Anders?” Harper asked suddenly.

“He was watching over you with me,” Teddy informed him. “Just before you woke up, he left. In fact, I think it was the sound of the door closing that woke you.”

As if having heard his name, the door to the bedroom suddenly opened, and Anders entered, phone in hand. His gaze skated over Harper, flickering as he noted that he was up and about, and then the immortal handed his cell phone wordlessly to Mirabeau.

They all fell silent, simply listening. Not that there was much to hear. Mirabeau said, “Hello,” and then listened briefly, said “Yes, Lucian,” and hung up.

“Well?” Teddy asked as she handed the phone back to Anders.

“We’re to switch to feeding them blood. It’s faster than the IVs. Lucian wants Stephanie and Drina back on their feet as quickly as possible,” she said grimly, standing to move to the cooler and retrieve two bags of blood. Pausing then, she glanced to Tiny apologetically, and added, “And he wants you turned by nightfall.”

Tiny frowned. “But Jackie wanted to be here for it, and she and Vincent won’t be here for another couple days.”

“I know. I’m sorry,” she said regretfully.

Tiny sighed and nodded. He took one of the bags from her, but as she moved up beside Drina’s bed, asked, “Did he say why?”

“He wants us all at top speed as quickly as possible and prepared for anything,” Mirabeau answered, bending over Drina. She opened the unconscious woman’s mouth and massaged her upper gums to force her fangs out. The moment they slid down, Mirabeau popped the bag onto them.

“Hold this for me,” she said to Harper, and when he reached out to hold the bag in place, Mirabeau turned, took the other bag back from Tiny, swung toward Stephanie, and then paused, a blank look covering her face. Stephanie didn’t have fangs.

“Will she swallow it if you pour it down her throat?” Tiny asked, seeming to recognize the problem.

“I don’t know,” Mirabeau admitted on a sigh.

Tiny hesitated, but then shrugged and moved around to the other side of Stephanie’s bed. Sitting on the edge, he slid an arm under her neck, raising her so that her head draped over his arm. Using his free hand, he then caught her jaw and pulled it open before glancing to Mirabeau. “From what I understand, she won’t choke or drown from it. Even if it gets in her lungs, the nanos will probably retrieve it to use. You may as well try.”

Mirabeau hesitated, but then nodded and stepped forward. She held the bag over Stephanie’s open mouth and stabbed at it quickly with one fingernail. Blood immediately began to gush out.

Drina had a serious case of dry mouth. It felt like she’d gone to sleep with glue in her mouth. A most unpleasant sensation, she decided, smacking her lips together with a grimace and rolling over in bed only to bump up against something hard.

Opening her eyes, she stared blearily at the wide dark expanse before her, slow to recognize it as a man’s chest in a dark shirt.

“You’re awake.”

That mumble from above her head made her lean back slightly and peer up to find Harper lying facing her on his side. He was looking sleepily down at her, and the relief on his face was obvious. Her head was nearly tucked under his chin, or probably had been when she’d first rolled over, she realized, and smiled at him.

“Hi,” Drina said, and frowned at the sound that croaked out of her parched throat.

“You need more blood.” He rolled away and sat up, then stood and moved around the bed and out of sight. Drina had to shift onto her back to follow him with her eyes as he moved to a set of coolers by the window. He opened one, retrieved a bag of blood, and returned, but, when she realized they were in her room, she turned her attention to the bed beside her own.