That was probably a good thing, but Logan had hoped someone would have some insight into what was happening. Asher pulled a chair over to sit beside him as the doctor strode over to rest a hand on the crying woman’s shoulder. He spoke to her in a tone so low and soothing Logan couldn’t make out his words.
When the doctor finished, the woman rose and went to her baby. She lifted the boy out of the playpen and crushed him against her chest before turning and leaving the building.
“She’ll be back,” the doctor murmured as he watched her go. “But hopefully, she’ll get some rest first. Her mother and sister are waiting for her to return home.”
“What do you think is going on here, Doctor?” Logan asked.
He hadn’t wanted to broach the subject while the woman was here, and she arrived shortly after the doctor did.
The man’s gaze fell on Manuel. “I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this before, but then, this isn’t a modern medicine thing. This is something the Savages came up with.”
“Could they have injected him with their blood?” Asher asked.
“They could have,” Logan said. “But this didn’t happen to me or any of the other hunters who were changed. And it’s never happened to someone who has had vampire blood.”
It certainly hadn’t happened to Asher or Elena—something Asher seemed to be thinking too, as he nodded his agreement.
“And injecting him with their blood wouldn’t do any good. He would have to be dying too for the change to start,” Logan said.
“Maybe they found a way to bypass that,” Asher said. “Vampires who don’t get blood after the change become mindless monstrosities. Maybe, because he didn’t feed, that’s what’s happening to him too.”
Logan stared at Manuel as the doctor walked over to rest his fingers against his wrist while checking his watch. The hunter’s pulse was on the screen, but the doctor either didn’t trust it or was looking for something to do.
“Does that feel right to you?” the doctor asked.
“No,” Logan said. “I don’t think there’s any way they could bypass such a step, and it doesn’t explain the black blood. When purebred vampires and turned hunters get pissed off enough, their skin becomes a mottled red and black color, but it’s their entire bodies, not just their veins.”
They all became silent, and Logan suspected they were all thinking the same thing as him; they just didn’t want to give voice to their suspicion.
Finally, Asher said, “What about demon blood? Could they have given him demon blood? We have no idea how anyone would react if that happened.”
No one spoke, but they didn’t have to. There was a very good possibility that wasexactlywhat happened. And now, they would have to face the consequences of it.
“Dr. Espinosa, do you think there’s anything we could do to stop whatever is happening to him?” Logan asked.
The man tilted his head while he studied Manuel with intelligent, golden-brown eyes. His graying, dark brown hair marked him as an older hunter as it took nearly a century for hunters to gray. On the right side of his face, next to his right eye, was a red birthmark.
“I might be able to put him on dialysis to filter his blood, but I’m not sure if it would take the demon blood out or not,” the doctor said.
“Do you have a dialysis machine here?” Logan asked.
“No. It’s rare for any hunter to suffer from any kidney problems, so I’ve never needed one before.”
“Where can we get one?”
“There’s a medical supply store in the next town over. I can call them and see if they have one in-store; if not, I’ll ask around until I locate one. I’m not sure it will work, but it’s worth a shot.”
If it meant returning Manuel to his family, then it was a shot Logan was willing to take.
Chapter Thirty-Three
They didn’t getthe dialysis machine until the next day. Once it arrived, Dr. Espinosa hooked Manuel up to it. A group of hunters and Manuel’s wife crammed into the medical building to see what would happen.
Elena stood by Logan’s side as they all watched the black blood leaving Manuel’s body. She’d seen that black in his veins and on his face, but watching it move through those tubes made her feel like she was living in a horror movie.
She kept waiting for something to erupt out of him and splatter them all with that black blood, which would make each of them mindless creatures too. But instead, the hum of the machine was the only alien thing in the room.
No one spoke; she wasn’t sure they breathed half the time as they all stood there, staring and waiting while the machine worked and worked and worked.
