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I tried to get to my feet, but I collapsed on my knees, gripping my shoulder. It didn't hurt. That wasn't good. Shock setting in already?
"Castor!" Eddie cried, his voice hoarse with fear, but it sounded far away. He dropped down next to me, his hand on my shoulder, and even that didn't sting. My ears were ringing too loud to hear any of the frantic words he was uttering as he searched my face and looked me over in ever-increasing panic.
"Are you all right?" I asked through my teeth, even though I couldn't hear my own voice, either.
The question seemed to confuse him. He frowned, and when he spoke this time, his voice sounded a little sharper, but it was still like it was coming from underwater. My mind wasn't processing it, though. Something about venom.
Right. The bite...
"My pocket," I said, finding myself unable to regain the muscle coordination to reach for it. He moved fast, reaching into my pocket until he pulled out the small syringe.
"Jugular," I choked.
Eddie hesitated only a second before tearing the cap off with his teeth and plunging the needle into my neck. I let out a groan of agony as the antivenom spread through my veins, and that, I felt. It was unlike any pain I had ever experienced, and I collapsed in his arms, writhing and thrashing against his strong embrace.
"It's okay," he said in that sweet, gentle tone, now raw with panic, stroking my hair. "You're gonna be okay. I'm gonna get you back to the Abbey."
He lifted me into his arms easily, and I knew I was far gone because I didn't even care. Everything was in and out, a blurry mismatch of events that didn't line up in the proper order. The car. The forest. Father Marius. The wolves. The forest again. Everything was happening out of sequence, and it felt like there was fire in my veins.
Was this what they'd felt in their final moments? My parents and my brother... Was this the very last experience life had seen fit to treat them to? As the poison spread through my veins, I became aware of hands pinning me to some flat surface, and familiar voices.
Marius. Dr. Kelly. Eddie.
"You gave him the antivenom?" Dr. Kelly asked in a rushed voice. Something sharp pricked the crook of my arm. A needle, maybe. Or a knife. Hard to tell when the one would have been as insignificant as the other in comparison to the fire.
"In the jugular." Eddie's voice, strained and fearful. "Will it work? Is he going to die?"
No answer.
"Hold him down," Kelly barked.
The hands on my chest pushed me down harder. Was I struggling? I wasn't even sure it was my body I was feeling anymore. It felt as distant as the voices.
"It's not working. His temperature is too high and so is his pulse," said Dr. Kelly. "I'm going to have to drain him."
"Drain him?" Eddie cried.
"Get him out of here," the doctor ordered. "And get me the blood. Hurry."
Something cold slid across my throat. Cold and sharp but painless. Something hot and wet rushed down the front of my body, and my head grew light like I was floating further and further away from my body.
"Oh, God!" Eddie's horrified sob turned to a growl of blinding rage. It sounded like another beast was in the room. "Stop it! Don't fucking touch him!"
"I said get him out of here!" Kelly bellowed.
More screaming. More snarls. More struggling as they dragged him out of the room. I observed it all from a distance, apathetic about everything but one.
Eddie...
He was my last thought before the world caved in.
ChapterTwenty-Three
EDDIE
"Let me go!" I raged, thrashing against Arrow and Father Marius, tearing into their flesh with claws that hadn't been there a second ago. Was I shifting?
No. My limbs were still human, even if I didn't feel like it inside my head. An all-too-familiar fury was coursing through my veins along with adrenaline, giving me strength that shouldn't have been accessible to me in this form. Both men were having trouble holding onto me, but they wouldn't let go. "He's killing him!"
