“The same.”
Logan had expected this; not much time had passed since they last talked, but he almost crushed the phone in his hand. “Are they eating?”
“Some human food, but we still haven’t offered them blood; I’m afraid of what will happen if we do.”
Logan completely understood his fear. It was one he had himself, but it was time for someone to be the guinea pig in this, and it wasn’t going to be Elena. Leonardo and Diego had been like this the longest; it only made sense it should be one of them.
“Maybe you should try giving one of them blood and see what happens,” he suggested. “Starving them hasn’t helped to save them, and they’re the furthest along, so it should be one of them.”
A tiny part of him felt like a complete asshole for suggesting such a thing, but at this point, he didn’t care about saving the others. Elena was all that mattered.
Beside him, Saber remained as still as stone, but Asher released a small breath. When Logan glanced into the back seat, Callie looked away; Lucien gave him a brisk nod. He would have suggested the same.
There was an extended pause before Juan responded. “And which one of them should I choose to experiment on?”
Logan heard the despair in his voice, but he didn’t care. No matter how crazy and counterintuitive it seemed, he had to know if this could somehow help Elena. But then, Elena was different than Leonardo and Diego. She was already a vampire when they shoved that shit into her body; even if this did miraculously help them, it might not help her.
“I don’t know,” Logan admitted, and he didn’t envy Juan his position. “Flip a coin.”
A rustle sounded across the line as Juan ran his fingers through his hair. “What do you plan to do with Elena?”
“I plan to save her; I don’t know how, but Iwill.”
“Her mother would like to try talking to her. She’s here with me now.”
“I’m going in to see her now. I’ll call you back when I’m there.”
Juan disconnected without saying goodbye.
Chapter Fifty-Five
Elena was no longer sleepingwhen Logan returned to her cell. She stood at the far end of the glass cage with her palms and back against it. Black flowed through her veins, and her eyes were entirely black when they met his.
He saw no spark of recognition in those eyes as her lips skimmed back to reveal her fangs. Her eyes had always reflected the beauty of her soul and love for him. Now, they contained all the warmth of a shark’s eyes.
An incessant roar started inside him. It grew until it reverberated around his skull. The color flooding his system pulsed through his muscles with every beat of his heart. A strange tearing sensation went through him, and for a moment, he felt as if he stood outside himself and was staring at the monster he was becoming.
Then the disconcerting illusion vanished and reality returned. But with that reality came the stark truth—if he couldn’t find a way to save her, he would join her.
Unable to stop himself, he rested his hand against the glass. Though he couldn’t hear it through the thick walls, she hissed at him.
The sound of footfalls on the tile floor drew his attention away from the cell, and he turned his head to discover Saber striding toward him. Logan didn’t realize the vampire was coming to speak with him, not just passing by, until Saber stopped beside him and looked at Elena.
Elena snarled and raced across the space separating them. She leapt into the air and crashed into the glass. The impact knocked her back, but the glass didn’t waver. She screamed at the glass before backing up and charging at it again.
Logan winced when she hit the glass, bounced back, and fell on her ass. She lay there for a few seconds before shaking her head and sitting up. Her chest heaved, and a spark of white-blue color flashed through the black encompassing her eyes before vanishing.
Neither he nor Saber spoke, and Elena didn’t move as time stretched onward. Finally, after what felt like hours but was probably only minutes, Saber cleared his throat.
“She can come back from this,” the vampire stated.
Logan wasn’t entirely sure why Saber was talking to him. They hadn’t exchanged many conversations that lasted beyond “hey,” “what’s up,” and “duck” since Saber arrived. The enigmatic vampire was far more of a loner than the rest of them, and he wasn’t much of a talker, but he was a hell of a fighter.
“Shewillcome back from this,” Saber said.
Logan stared at Elena as he replied, “How can you be so sure?”
Saber took so long to respond that Logan had almost forgotten what they were talking about as Elena studied him quizzically. And then, Saber drew him back to the conversation by speaking again.
