Chapter Thirty-One
So much was happening that Jessie wasn’t sure she could keep up. She’d been working on an adrenaline high these last few hours. Keeping in step with Ricard and helping to care for the injured, meeting more vampires, and learning about the lives these Panthera employees were forced to live was difficult enough. But listening to the poor human victims who were already so confused by what they had endured brought back so many memories of the life she and Joshua had been living. These poor people had no idea what they would have withstood had they not been rescued.
Now seeing Rafe so injured that the once powerful vampire could not even lift his head and his always-chatty mate could not form a full sentence, she felt the weight of such sadness nearly impossible to withstand.
With the help of Gabe and Aurelia, Ricard moved Rafe and Maddie to a larger bed and set her up with a blood transfusion. “He will need to feed throughout the night, and she will need to be the donor, if this is to work.”
“It will work.” Gabe stood beside the bed, keeping guard. “And when she needs a break, Aurelia and I can step in.”
Aurelia rested her hand on Gabe’s shoulder. “He will make it. I feel it. He’s stronger than both of us. He will not succumb to this.”
Gabe looked at his mate and nodded. The tears he fought to keep back could not be contained, and Aurelia moved into his embrace.
“He will make it, Gabe.” She kissed him. “Have faith.”
Jessie couldn’t help but cry with them. Ricard pulled her aside. “Come, love. You need to sit for a few minutes.”
“Losing Joshua, I know how this feels for them.” She sniffled.
They’d hardly sat down when the larger contingency returned. Serge came in, followed by Garrison, Oz, and Brandt. Each of the men looked worse than the next. Jessie and Ricard rose to help them.
“Sit.” Serge waved them back. “I need only to get blood for Garrison. Then I will go to my mate.”
“I came to see Rafe,” Brandt said. He wore no shirt and had claw and bite marks over most of his torso. He glanced at Jessie and must have seen a surprised look. “I found the revenants first. It’s been a long night, but I’ll be fine by nightfall.”
“I think you might have killed more than Oz,” Garrison said, collapsing onto the table where Rafe had lain.
“Damn straight.” Brandt peered down at Rafe, then clasped Gabe on the back. “The lab has been destroyed. Engulfed in flames.” He shook his head. “There’s no way anyone survived this time. Your father and Rollins were trapped inside. Those bastards won’t be experimenting on anyone else.”
“Fuckers.” Gabe sneered.
“The sun is up, and we’ve left the human guards working to ensure the last of the building burns to the ground.” Serge shoved straws into two bags of blood and handed them to Garrison. “In a sweep of the city we found a couple dozen revenants hidden, but otherwise they were the only ones outside of the lab.”
“And they are no more.” Garrison pointed a finger in the air.
“No thanks to you,” Brandt said. “You wimp.”
“I got a few,” Garrison said.
“You did a fine job, Garrison. Maybe someday you’ll find a mate so I don’t have to babysit.” Serge shook his head. “Our work is not done. We still need to rebuild this city. But for now Central City is safe.”
“I’m going home. I’ll catch you all in a few days. I don’t plan to let Rachel out of the house for a week.” Brandt turned and left the lab.
“That’s the best idea I’ve heard all night, and I’m fairly certain that’s what everyone else will be doing, too,” Serge said. He checked on Rafe’s neck, and Jessie noted how the wound had healed. The blood loss had stopped and skin, reknit itself.
Gabe bent over his brother, peering at the neck wound with more interest than Serge. He studied his brother in much the same way Jessie had looked after Joshua. Then he nodded. “It’s good.”
Rafe lay unmoving. In fact Jessie did not believe he breathed. She leaned forward, staring at his chest where Maddie’s arm was draped. Nothing appeared to move.
“Are you sure he’s not…” She jumped up from her seat, wondering if the stress of the situation was causing them to miss the truth.
Ricard came up behind her, pulling their bodies together. “He’s sleeping. Notice the way Maddie now sleeps with him.”
Maddie lay nestled close to Rafe, her arm and leg draped over his body, her breathing, equally as shallow as Rafe’s.
Ricard pressed a kiss to Jessie’s head. “He will recover, though they will rest for several hours before rising again. It is the way vampires recover and the way mates protect each other.”
Jessie felt the way her mate held her, not only in his arms, but in his soul. She felt the way he comforted her, and the tender way his presence reassured her everything would be fine.
“Good job, Ricard.” Serge turned from the table. “Had you been in the field and not here where we needed you most, Rafe might not have made it.”
Gabe came to stand before Ricard. “Thank you for saving him. As we said before we despise our father for what he did to Genevieve and to you. And now that you’ve save my brother, I owe you a debt twice as great.” He held out his hand.
Ricard shook Gabe’s hand. “You owe me nothing. You and Rafe are not to blame. We are all victims of the same monster.”
Serge clasped both men on their shoulders. “Once again, The Vampire Guard has a common cause.”
~The End~
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