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“Fucking ghosts. Why won’t the wound heal? What’s preventing it?”
Sharah motioned for me to take a seat at her station. “The wound came from one of the hungry ghosts—we think it siphoned enough life force off him to weaken his body, and the stake managed to do far more damage than we first thought. There’s no way to give him a transfusion of energy, not unless your friend Vanzir can reverse his feeding technique and give instead of take.”
I shook my head, not wanting to mention that Vanzir couldn’t even take energy from anybody now, let alone give it. “No. Not possible. And there are no magical spel s to infuse him with life force? To strengthen his powers?”
She frowned and pointed to a stack of books. “I’ve been reading al day in hopes of finding something that might work. Camil e knows of no spel that wil help. We don’t have Smoky or Roz here to offer advice. I don’t dare ask any of the sorcery shops because of your run-ins with Van and Jaycee—they’re stil out there and they could easily set it up to poison him as wel as help him.”
I thought of Wilbur, but dismissed the idea. Wilbur was good but not this good. “So . . . the only option you found was vampire blood.”
“Yeah, kind of fal s out that way.”
She sat silently beside me as I contemplated the idea. It wouldn’t turn him into a vampire, but it would create a link—one I didn’t know if I wanted. And because he was demon, it might create other problems that we couldn’t foresee. But the only other option was to let him die. I couldn’t do that, not when my blood might hold the answer to his cure.
Final y, I swal owed my resistance. “Go talk to Camil e. If she’s wil ing, I’l do it.”
Sharah clapped me on the shoulder. “Thanks, Menol y. I know this isn’t easy for you. I know how you feel about sharing blood with others.”
My thoughts drifted back to Roman. That hadn’t been so bad, but this . . . this was no vampire older than the hil s, joining me in ecstasy. Morio was seriously wounded and this might save him, but at what cost? Just as Chase had shifted when he drank the Nectar of Life, this could have serious repercussions on a demon. On a human, it would probably strengthen them for a while, cause euphoria, perhaps even permanently shift their aura. But a youkai . . .
Sharah stood, her scrubs making a scratching sound as she slid past me. I watched as she disappeared down the hal . So many troubles. So much anguish and blood and battle. We were steeped in it. We were al walking under the shadow of death now. Camil e had her death magic, Delilah was a Death Maiden, and I was dead. And the shadow was growing as the days progressed.
Sometimes I wished Shadow Wing would just make his move, come through, and that somehow in the mad scheme of life, we’d be able to beat him senseless, slit his throat. But the Unravel er, as he was cal ed, was intent on tearing apart the worlds. Al chances were that we’d be toast under his feet.
With a silent plea for a little luck, I slipped out of my seat and fol owed on Sharah’s heels. I ignored Tril ian and Vanzir as I strode into Morio’s room, where Sharah was talking to Camil e.
My sister was pale beyond the moon, pale as morning glory under the moon. She looked up at me, her eyes wide.
“Wil you do this thing?”
I held her gaze. She was hoping I’d say yes, but I knew Camil e. She would never beg me. She would let me decide even if it cost her one of her loves. We were sisters above al else.
Nodding, I reached out and took her in my arms. “I wil , if you want me to. I have no idea how it wil affect him, but I’m wil ing to give it a try.”
“Then please, save him if you can.” She leaned down and kissed the perspiring brow of the fox demon. His eyes were closed and he had tubes and IVs running out of his body til he looked like a machine man. Sweat drenched his forehead and chest, and I could see the wound—it was a horrid gash, gaping and red and swol en against his side. It was being loosely held together by some sort of thread—probably spidersilk—and was oozing a constant stream of blood and pus that trickled into a basin below.
“Oh gods,” I whispered. I hadn’t realized just how horrible he looked. I turned to Sharah. “Do it.” I sat down on a nearby stool and pul ed off my jacket, then rol ed up my sleeve while Sharah hurried to fetch a needle and tube.
Sharah gazed at the scars on my arm. “Where . . . I don’t know if I can find a vein . . .”
I rol ed down my sleeve and pul ed my braids back. “My neck. Take it from my neck.” I fingered the skin until I found my vein—I could feel the slow blood oozing through my system, no longer driven by heartbeat but by whatever force caused the vampirism.
Camil e knelt beside me. “Thank you.”
“Thank me if it works.”
We watched as Sharah prepared the needle—a good three-inch-long spike attached to a syringe that could hold a large test tube for col ecting blood. She rubbed my skin with a splash of rubbing alcohol and then, with Camil e watching, she plunged the needle under the skin in the side of my neck, sliding the length into my carotid artery.
I barely felt a twinge as the needle entered my body, but the cool metal nestled against me, oddly at home. I could hear the faint gurgle as Sharah slapped a test tube with a vacuum seal into the syringe and the blood began to rise. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the level slowly fil ing, angry crimson blood draining out of my body.
Vampire blood was darker, thicker than normal blood, but it was al life force. I didn’t need to have it pumping through my system to survive. I just needed to ingest blood and it changed, working its way through my body, through the veins, a magical river of life keeping me on this side of the veil. I would never die from lack of blood, but I might go dormant or mad, aching with hunger.
Sharah final y eased the syringe out and pressed a bandage over my neck. She removed the test tube from the syringe and slid it into a new one. Then she walked over to Morio, and glanced at Camil e and me.
“If you want me to stop, say so now. I can’t undo it once I inject it into the wound.” She waited.
“Please, help him.” Camil e sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly, squeezing her eyes shut.
I nodded. “Now.”
