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Now or never. This could heal him or—or, it might do nothing at al . Or it might backfire or take him on a trip he wouldn’t be ready for. Morio was caught too deeply by his fever to tel us what he wanted and had to rely on Camil e to make the right choices.
As if she were reading my mind, Camil e looked up. “He’d say, Bring it on, babe. He respects you, Menol y. He’s not afraid of the death magic we work. He’s not going to quibble over a little vampire blood in his body.”
I hoped she was right. Not that I thought Morio would object, but the way the Nectar of Life had rebounded on Chase left me nervous and wondering about just how far we could go messing about with the essential nature of the body. My sisters and I were mixed bloodline, and it had screwed up our own powers. Images of Frankenstein’s monster rol ed through my head, and Dr.
Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. What would Morio become? A potential monster? Or . . . or maybe I was just being paranoid.
“Al right, then.” Sharah slowly inched the needle into the angry flesh surrounding the wound, and the three of us watched as my blood filtered into Morio’s system.
CHAPTER 19
The room seemed to darken, and there was a long hush as we watched the wound. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but there was a sudden hiss and the gash began to foam, a steady stream of oily white liquid pouring out mingled with the crimson of Morio’s blood. It drained steadily into the basin, the stench rising.
Morio began to thrash, pouring sweat. He groaned, and the restraints threatened to break as he began to transform into his ful demon self.
“Stop this. We’re trying to save your fucking life, babe.”
Camil e leaned over him, avoiding the long claws that grabbed for her. She was holding it together in a scary way. The last time I’d seen this look on her face was when I burst through the door at home, hel -bent on kil ing and turning my entire family. Her look of desperation had been replaced with one of sheer wil , the wil of the damned.
With a loud yip that turned into a scream, Morio began shifting so rapidly it was hard to keep track, first to his human self, then his fox self, then demon, then human . . . al so fast we could barely keep up with him. The strains of so many rapid transformations were taxing him. Sweat soaked the bed, even as the fluids from his side poured in a deluge, waterfal ing out of the gash.
A look of horror on her face, Sharah cal ed for security, but they couldn’t get near the flailing youkai. But Camil e climbed up on the bed, straddling him, holding him down as best she could while they applied heavier restraints. Sharah gave him a shot of something and within seconds, he stopped fighting.
“What’s happening to him?” Camil e looked up, her expression bleak.
“I don’t know . . . but look!” Sharah pointed to the wound. With a hiss, the pus thinned and then became just a trickle of blood flowing, drop by drop, into the basin. Within another minute, the stream stopped.
Sharah moved the container of blood and infection and washed her hands. I helped Camil e down off the bed as Sharah examined Morio’s side.
“He’s beginning to heal.” The flesh was mending before our eyes. Muscle and sinew bound together, weaving new threads, coiling and tightening into scar tissue. Within twenty minutes, the wound was stil angry and swol en, but the infection looked to be gone.
“I think he’s going to be down for some time, but he should make it,” Sharah said, straightening her shoulders. She probed the gash. “The infection is gone, and now it’s just going to be a matter of how quickly he can recover from the life energy loss. That’s something we can’t do anything about. It wil take time, but now he has that time.”
Camil e dropped to the floor, weeping softly. “Thank you. Thank you for helping him.” She gazed up at both Sharah and me. “Without both of you, he’d be dead.”
“Hey, my pleasure.” Sharah glanced at me over her head. “But we stil don’t know just what effect the vampire blood wil have in his system. You’l need to watch him closely.”
She nodded, wiping her face with the back of her hand. “I wil .”
As I slowly withdrew from the room, fol owed by Sharah, I felt a weird pul , like I was stretching a rope between me and . . . oh crap. Morio. A connection had been formed. What the hel did that mean?
“You get back in there and make sure he’s stil alive.” I whirled on Sharah. “Something’s going on. I feel a bond that’s been established between the two of us. He’s got my blood in him—he’s demon. I’m not sure what that’s going to do to us.”
Sharah stared at me. “What? What do you mean?”
“I mean, some link was created. When I stepped out of the room, I felt the connection stretch.
That’s not a good thing.”
She blinked, and then without another word, she headed back into the room and leaned over him. Lifting his arm, she felt for a pulse, then listened with her stethoscope, then frowned. Camil e gave her a frightened look, but Sharah reassured her before rejoining me in the hal .
“He’s alive. I don’t know what it is. I told you, I wasn’t sure just what kind of effect this was going to have on him. Apparently, it triggered a psychic connection between the two of you. But he’s alive. Without your blood, he wouldn’t be for much longer. Now, if you’l excuse me, I’ve got to get in an hour or two of sleep. I’ve been throwing myself into keeping him alive nonstop since you brought him in.”
With a weary sigh, she waved lightly and headed off down the hal . I watched her go, then slowly returned to Morio’s room. Camil e gave me a curious look, but I wasn’t sure just what to say. I didn’t know what was going on myself.
As I approached the bed, there it was again—a feeling of familiarity, of inner knowing. Morio . . .
his long dark hair was damp from his fever, but the nurses were motioning for us to move back so they could change his sheets.
