AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Dr. Reynolds pulled a syringe out from his pocket and plunged it into Declan’s chest. I watched in frozen shock as Declan immediately ripped the needle out of his flesh, glaring fiercely at it before casting it to the side.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he snapped.
“Research,” Dr. Reynolds said, backing up a step.
Declan fell hard to his knees and braced his hands against the ground. “Tranquilizer,” he muttered, and already I heard the strength leaving his voice. “That was a...tranquilizer.”
I’d stopped breathing. “What in the hell is going on? Why would you do this?”
Lawrence grabbed the back of Declan’s leather coat and yanked him up to his feet as if two hundred and twenty pounds of solid muscle weighed next to nothing. Declan’s eyes had already glazed over, his limbs slack and useless. Lawrence shoved him down into the chair. Around it was the scattering of gray ash—all that was left from the other vampire, apart from the lingering burning scent.
Dr. Reynolds moved closer to Declan, his gaze flicking to my stunned expression. “Stay where you are, Jill.”
I ignored him and rushed toward Declan, but Dr. Reynolds caught my arm and he dug his fingers painfully into my flesh.
“Did you hear me?” he snapped.
“Explain to me what the hell you think you’re doing with Declan,” I demanded.
“I need him.” There was a steely look of determination in his eyes. The grief I’d seen there when he’d spoken of his dead wife was only a memory now. “I’ve witnessed your blood easily kill a vampire, but I don’t know if it will kill a dhampyr too.”
He snatched up the silver gunlike device and tossed it to Lawrence who caught it easily.
“Do it,” Dr. Reynolds snapped
“Wait, no...” I began.
But before I could say another word, before I could take another breath or even scream, Lawrence stabbed the needle into Declan’s neck and pulled the trigger.
CHAPTERELEVEN
Now I screamed.But it was too late to stop what had happened.
My blood. My poisoned blood...
Declan’s face tensed, and his teeth clenched a moment before they parted and a roar of pain escaped from him.
I shoved Dr. Reynolds away from me with all my strength, then grabbed hold of Declan’s arm. Lawrence stumbled back from me to keep his distance from the scent of my blood.
“Declan, no! Please...”
When he looked at me, I could see the utter realization of what had just happened in his pained gaze. “Jill...”
My name sounded broken, jagged.
Then his single gray eye rolled backward, and his head slumped forward.
I fumbled to feel for a pulse at his throat, scared to death that there wouldn’t be anything there. But there was.
His heart was still beating, too erratic and way too fast, but it remained strong beneath my touch. But. it was too soon for relief and fear was still a bitter taste in my mouth.
Declan was half-vampire. Every vampire who’d tasted my blood had died in a flash of fire and ashes like the woman in the grocery store parking lot. So far, there was nothing so dramatic, but that didn’t ease my mind. He was unconscious, either from the pain my blood had caused him or from the tranquilizer, but he was still alive.
Finally, I turned from Declan to Dr. Reynolds, a man I’d held in high regard until only a minute ago. “You shouldn’t have done that,” I growled.
There was only darkness in my tone and enough of a warning edge that it actually made the doctor take a step back from me. I knew I was far from being a frightening presence, especially compared to somebody tall and muscular like Declan or Jackson, but Dr. Reynolds now regarded me with caution.
“My hypothesis seems to be wrong,” he replied. “He’s still alive.”
