"Stay with me, Jo."
She forced her eyes open at that growl to see that Nicholas had grabbed a towel from the bathroom and was pressing it down on her chest. Jo watched him, thinking that it should probably hurt, but it didn't. That probably wasn't good either, she thought a little hazily, and peered at his face. He looked frantic, but his eyes were flaming silver as they did when they made love and she mumbled, "Your mood eyes are reading horny again."
"What?" He peered at her face with confusion and then frowned at whatever he saw there. Taking one hand off her chest, he reached for her face, his eyes burning into hers as he touched her cheek and said harshly, "You have to stay with me, Jo."
"I'm here," Jo mumbled, and then opened her eyes and said, "I love you." She didn't know where that had come from. She hadn't planned on saying it, but knew it was true. She did love the big lug. He was handsome, and smart, and so built… and he had more honor in his pinky finger than most men had in their whole body. Nicholas had been born to help people, to save them, as he had saved her over and over. Jo was certain of that. She was also certain she wasn't going to be around to help him with it, which was a shame, because she really wished she could be.
Jo wished a lot of things, that she could help him solve the mystery of the past so he could stop running and settle down to enjoy life, preferably with her. She wished they could have a life together full of love and squabbles and making up. She wished she could have his babies and…
Jo closed her eyes wearily, but forced them open again to get one more look at him, because as the darkness crept up the sides of her vision, she knew she would have none of what she wished for.
"Jo?" Nicholas said anxiously when she closed her eyes again. He reached up to slap her face lightly and then shook her a bit in an effort to wake her up, but it wasn't working. Cursing, he glanced around wildly and then back to her chest wound. He had been trying to stanch the blood, but it still seeped out around his fingers, and he cursed with frustration, wishing she was immortal. The nanos would stop the bleeding at once if she had any, he thought, and then froze as his mind suddenly cleared.
He had to turn her. It was that simple. The moment the thought struck his brain, Nicholas raised his wrist to his mouth, bit in, tearing away a flap of skin, and then forced Jo's mouth open and placed his wrist over it. He watched silently as his blood gushed over her lips, instinctively lifting her head up with his other arm so that the blood would run down her throat. When the bleeding slowed and then stopped, he eased her back onto the bed and ripped open another patch of skin on the same arm. This one he let bleed into her wound until it too slowed and stopped.
Nicholas glanced to her face then, holding his breath as he waited for some sign that he hadn't been too late. He knew he should have turned her right away rather than trying to stop her bleeding, but he hadn't exactly been thinking clearly. In truth, he hadn't been thinking clearly from the moment he'd seen Ernie pass him in a car and realized it was Jo in the passenger seat beside him.
Nicholas's gaze slid to Ernie. The man was as still as death, the arrow protruding from his heart ensuring he wouldn't be getting up again. At least not until the arrow was removed. Of course, the female who had escaped was a problem that would have to be dealt with later… preferably by someone else. If he was left to deal with it, Nicholas would probably wring the little bitch's neck for shooting Jo, and he didn't care that she'd actually been aiming at him and Jo had thrown herself on the weapon.
Jo moaned, and Nicholas leaned eagerly closer, watching her face.
A second moan came from Jo as she turned her head weakly. He closed his eyes and whispered, "Thank you, God," as he realized she was turning. He hadn't been too late.
His eyes opened again on the third moan, however, and Nicholas frowned with a new worry. The turning was excruciating to both the body and mind. It was known to bring on nightmares and hallucinations so horrible that turnees could be driven mad by it. Nicholas wasn't willing to risk it. There were drugs and tricks to help her through it, and he was going to make damned sure she got them.
Standing abruptly, he glanced around the room and then back to Jo and finally to Ernie. He wanted to leave the rogue behind, but couldn't risk that the mortal girl who had shot Jo might not return, remove the arrow presently incapacitating Ernie, and help him escape. Turning, he headed out of the room, pulling the door not quite closed so that it wouldn't lock behind him. He then quickly crossed the parking lot to his van, jumped in, started it up, and moved it over to back it up to the motel room door.