“I’ve never seen anything like this,” he murmured.
“Is she becoming one of them?” Juan asked.
“No. Her mouth isn’t black, so that means he didn’t give her any blood, and sheiscompletely dead. If I’m not mistaken, the change happens when someone is on the brink of death…?”
The doctor lifted his head and looked questioningly toward Logan. “That’s true,” Logan confirmed. “I’ve never heard of the dead being resurrected before.”
“Neither have I,” Dr. Espinosa said. “But I figured I’d double-check. Anyway, it wouldn't matter without a vampire’s blood, and Manuel didn’t give her any. I’ve examined vampire-attack victims before who died from being drained of their blood, but I’ve never seen a victim with so little blood remaining in them. It’s… it’s fascinating and awful.”
“Maybe he fed on her for longer than any of the other victims you saw,” Elena suggested.
She was grateful her shirt hid the bite Logan left on her earlier. She’d almost forgotten about that amazing experience in all the horror of tonight. The mark on her neck meant something to her, but after all of this, if anyone else saw it, they’d probably freak out. And she wouldn’t blame them.
“Maybe,” Dr. Espinosa murmured.
“But you don’t think so,” Logan said.
Dr. Espinosa didn’t speak as he stared at Maria.
“What do you think it is?” Juan asked.
“I don’t want to make any assumptions without knowing more.”
“We won’t hold you to whatever you say,” Asher assured him.
Dr. Espinosa wiped his forehead with the back of his arm. Despite the AC and the coolness of the building, he was sweating profusely. With a sigh, he turned to look at Maria again.
“I think he was more demon than vampire, almost like a… this is going to sound ridiculous, but I can’t think of any better term for it, but he was almost like a… a… super vamp. He was stronger, faster, and I think he drank her blood a lot faster, and he drank alotmore of it. He killed her faster than any regular vampire could.”
None of them spoke as the doctor’s words sank in. Elena stared at her before shifting her gaze to where Leonardo and Diego lay. They weren’t directly injected with that crap; would they be the same as Manuel or different?
She suspected there wouldn’t be many differences, not with that blackness filling their mouths. It was already starting to darken their cheeks too as it spread through their bodies.
“I can only imagine what a demon would do to a human if they got their hands on one,” Logan said.
“If they’re anything like Manuel, they could probably completely drain a human in less than a minute.”
Elena hugged herself and cupped her elbows. When Logan stepped closer and embraced her, she rested her cheek against his chest and closed her eyes as she inhaled his scent. He smelled of blood and sweat and power, but beneath it all, she detected his inherent nutmeg aroma, and it soothed some of her battered soul.
The door opened, and the hunters who had gone to check the jail cells returned. When Juan looked at them, they gave a brisk nod.
“It’s time to move your patients, Doctor,” Juan said.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Everyonein the compound walked around like they were stepping on eggshells. Extra guards stood at the gate, along the wall, and had been placed throughout the compound, so sneaking out to Logan’s house became impossible.
Aching for him and miserable over being stuck in the house, Elena spent the next two nights listening to her mother and other hunter women nervously discussing everything happening.
If she had to listen to their gasps of fright one more time, she was going to claw her way out of her skin. It didn’t help that her ache for Logan had become this awful, physical manifestation that was tearing her apart.
She’d never been this unhappy before, and she didn’t understand it. She loved him, yes, but her skin felt like fire ants were crawling all over it, and she didn’t understand why. It was such a new, strange sensation, and the only time it went away was when she was around Logan.
She hated feeling this dependent on him, but she couldn’t deny the physical toll it took on her body and the battering it gave her spirit when they were separated.
She yearned to see him again, but he was on guard duty, and she was stuck here.
On top of that, the hunters in prison were progressing through the same changes as Manuel… except one of them was doing it a lot faster. It was taking everything the doctor had to keep him sedated, and the bars designed to withstand hunters had to be triple reinforced.
