“Leave her alone!” cries Trevor, struggling to get up, but it appears one of his legs is hurt.
Salma is still warm, so there is a chance this could work. William opens his mouth and stabs his fangs into her neck.
Tiffany cries out, but soon every sound disappears into the background as he drinks, the blood restoring the energy he depleted fighting Lenny and running here. The disease that was killing Salma does not affect the quality of her blood, only gives it a corrosive taste—yet the more he drinks, the more he can detect its original flavors…
She is a Stoker.
The realization awes him as he pulls away. If he does this, she will be able to turn others.
He looks at Lorena, who stares at him as if he holds all her hope in his hands. And he knows he cannot let her down.
So he punctures his own wrist as hard as he can, until blood dribbles out. Then he holds the wound to Salma’s lips so it fills her mouth. He keeps doing this until he has given her enough blood, then he rests her down on the floor, and he rises.
William cannot be sure if it worked. Changing a human after their death is rare, and he does not know how much time has passed since Cisco cracked Salma’s neck. If it was not within two minutes, she has no chance of making it.
Cisco looks down at Salma’s body, too. When Nate moves closer, William is relieved to see that he has let Lorena go. William pulls her to his side, and she stares at Salma like she could will her back to life.
Zach pulls Tiffany up, and they both help Trevor, letting him rest his weight on their shoulders so he can hobble over. As all seven of them look down at Salma, an almost sacred hush fills the space.
The whole world seems to hang in the balance between life and death.
It should have happened by now.Even though it can take hours for a newborn vampire to awaken, there is one sign that indicates their corpse has immortalized. And it has not happened for Salma.
“Lorena,” William says mournfully. “I am sorry. I was too late—”
But a series of sounds like the cracking of knuckles begins to emanate from Salma’s body as her bones stretch out, adding more inches to her height.
Lorena looks at him with wide, hopeful eyes. “Does that mean—?”
“She is transitioning,” he says, hearing the relief in his own voice. “She will awaken in a few hours.”
Lorena falls to the floor, takes her friend’s cold hand in hers, and begins to sob. Trevor, Zach, and Tiffany just stare in utter shock, seeming unable to process any emotion yet.
William looks from Nate to Cisco, steeling himself for another fight.
Instead, Cisco falls to one knee and bows his head.
William turns to see how Nate is going to react to this betrayal, but the ponytailed vampire has also gone down on one knee.
“Go meet Fabiana and the others,” says William after a beat. “Bring them down here after we have left. And make sure someone has a thermos of blood for Salma.”
Nate and Cisco nod and march off.
William looks at Trevor next. “Thank you for protecting them.” Once their eyes meet, William inwardly compels him:Forget what happened in this room. All you know is William led the vampires back into hibernation. Salma went home early for medical attention, and you fell down the stairs trying to chase her to say goodbye. Leave here in twenty seconds.
William looks at Tiffany next. “Are you all right?”
“Th-thank you,” she whispers, and as soon as she looks at him, he sends a similar command into her mind.
When Zach meets his gaze, William compels him, too, adding one more thing:You were leaning out from a window to take a photo and dropped your camera. It broke.
The three humans leave without a word, Trevor’s friends carrying him out. William is now alone with Lorena and Salma’s transitioning form.
“I am sorry I did not make it back in time to stop Cisco,” he says, and Lorena wipes her eyes and looks up at him, then scans the rest of the space.
“Where’d everyone go?”
“Your friends will not remember what happened in this room. All they will know is that I never made it back.”
