Hot Blooded

“Jessica,” Danny whispered, turning his head slightly. “I’d like to point out that you have always been my favorite.” He smiled grimly, obviously in pain. “You have something in spades that we wolves sorely lack. Compassion. Please don’t ever forget it.”



“Danny”—my voice full of sorrow—“I know for a fact beef jerky has always been your favorite. And I’m telling you right now, I’m going to fix this. Promise me you’ll stay with me. We’re going to find a way to make this better as soon as I’m done here.”



As Naomi sucked, I wondered how long was long enough. I peered at her body as she took my blood. Her skin looked a little better, almost like it was thinking of knitting back together.



“Ahhhhh.” Without warning her eyes shot open and her mouth detached, surprising me. She blinked twice, focusing on me as I leaned above her. “What are you doing?” she accused, my blood streaming down the side of her mouth, her eyes looking crazed and wide, oscillating from flecks of mercury to jet black, and back again.



“Um.” I sat back on my haunches and wrapped my ripped wrist tightly with my other hand to stanch the flow. The bleeding stopped almost immediately. “We thought you were dying, so I gave you my blood. I also thought you weren’t going to let go of me on your own. So that was a shocker.”



She sat up slowly, Dracula-style, bending smoothly at the waist. She was still mangled, but her face was starting to repair itself at a rapid pace. “What did you say?” she asked, her eyes still eerie and unfocused.



“I said I gave you my blood.”



“Why would you do such a thing?”



“I just covered this—you would’ve died otherwise. The venom was going to kill you. I didn’t know what else to do. Eamon said this would work and that drinking the blood of an immortal was your only hope.”



She glanced down her body, startled, her eyes easing back to their normal hazel color. “What has happened to me? I do not remember.” She spread her arms out, taking in her injuries, her lips curling in distaste—a look I was used to seeing on her brother’s face, not hers.



“You were attacked by winged devils, Cozmos or something, from the Underworld. Apparently they have poisonous venom that impedes supernatural healing. You don’t remember anything at all? That must be powerful poison.” Naomi turned, noticing Danny for the first time, lying, thankfully, out cold a few feet away.



“Quickly. We need to wake him.” She sprang forward, crawling on her hands and knees, her voice trembling.



“Whoa. What are you talking about? You just woke up. You need to heal first.” I reached an arm out to stop her.



She brushed me off. “Non, non,” she muttered in French. “You don’t understand. If we do not get the venom from his system he will die within moments.”



“What?” I said, completely alarmed. I moved quickly next to her, crawling toward Danny, because it was the easiest way to get there. “That’s not what your brother told me. He said the wounds would fester, but not that his life was in immediate jeopardy, like dying in the next few minutes kind of jeopardy.”



“My brother is foolish,” she mumbled with annoyance. “He thought to save me, but he was careless about your wolf friend. Come. Help me wake him and do as I say. I will show you what to do.” She carefully rose up on her knees and reached into the pocket of her mangled jeans. There was material left, but not much. It wasn’t a jeans kind of day. “You need to insert this into his body.” She cradled something carefully in her palm. It was a small scarlet bag with a front flap, decorated in gold thread. Using the edges of the flap to protect her fingers, she pulled out a small cross and set it on top of the bag. It was beautifully detailed, the craftsmanship exquisite. It was carved with symbols and flowing decorations so small and intricate it must’ve taken years, and huge magnifying glasses, to complete.



“Is that silver?” I asked.



“Oui, yes, and it is spelled. It will destroy the venom and anything else in his bloodstream.”



“But silver can kill a wolf,” I said, my tone firm. “I’m not putting that inside his body. If it gets into his heart, it could stop it for good. I can’t take that chance. He’s too weak.” Tyler’s distrust rang through my mind as I put my hand out to push her hand away.



What if it was the vamps’ agenda to kill us all from the beginning and I’d been wrong? What if this had all been a ploy to get me to give her blood.



“Non,” Naomi tsked. “The cross is specially made; the silver will react only with the blood to kill the danger, not the body. Just do as I say. We are running out of time! You are stronger than I am now. It must be inserted deeply. Go!” She shoved it toward me again.



Something in her face, and the urgency of her voice, made me take notice. I had just saved her life. Surely she wouldn’t repay that debt by killing my friend? Reluctantly I took hold of the cloth by the edges, grasping the cross through the soft fabric. Silver was highly conductive to supernatural magic, the very essence that fueled us, and would burn me if my fingers touched it.



I bent over Danny and shook his shoulder. Maybe he wasn’t dying and I wouldn’t have to use this thing. “Danny, Danny, wake up!”



He moaned and mumbled incoherently, his cracked, bloodied lips turned down in a painful grimace.



“Insert it near the heart. Find a wound that is already open,” Naomi urged. “You must do it now.”



“Near the heart? You’ve got to be kidding!” I balked, feeling panicked. “Look. He’s waking. Maybe he’s not as dire as you think. He could heal on his own. Eamon might be wrong.”



“Do you want your friend to live or die?” Naomi snarled, her voice fierce. “Now stop wasting time!” I glanced at her to argue my point, and gasped. She was nearly healed. “You’re almost fully—”



She ripped the cross out of my hands and elbowed me out of the way, plunging it deeply into Danny’s chest.



It was inserted at an angle, only the top of it visible. As she drew her hand away, I could see the imprint of the cross left in her palm. I didn’t have time to do anything else, because Danny’s back arched beneath him and he let out a strangled howl. The hairs on my arms rose.



“Quickly, grab on to his arms and legs,” Naomi ordered.



This was a werewolf we were talking about, not a toddler. “Tyler,” I screamed. “We need help!” Nothing else but to trust her now, because Danny was bucking beneath us. The cross was clearly doing something. I just prayed it wasn’t killing him.



I chose to trust her.



Tyler raced through the trees toward us. “What are you doing to him?” he shouted.



“Naomi put some kind of charmed silver cross in Danny’s chest. She says it will cure him. Without it he dies from the venom.”



Tyler roared and lunged for the cross. Before he could reach it, I jumped up and knocked him out of the way. “Tyler, stop!”



He stumbled backward, but recovered himself in an instant, coming at me. “What do you think you’re doing, Jess?” he raged. “This is insanity! I can’t watch this vamp kill my best friend without doing anything to stop it. Wake up and take a look around. They have the full advantage here, and putting silver into a werewolf this weak means death. Danny’s as good as gone, and this was probably their plan all along. Don’t you see? You’re playing right into it!”



“Tyler,” I ground out. “I don’t have time to argue with you now, but I’ve chosen to trust Naomi on this. Time is wasting and we need your help. Like I told you before, not everyone is out to kill everyone else. I want Danny to live, and if you do too, grab his goddamn legs so that thing stays in!”



“And what if he dies?” Tyler demanded, his eyes swirling amber. “What then?”



“Then I will KILL HER MYSELF,” I bellowed with as much power as I could infuse into the words.



Tyler dove to the ground and snatched up Danny’s bucking legs. I wasn’t sure if I had manipulated him with power or if he’d gotten it on his own, and I didn’t really want to know. Tyler kept his head down. I knelt back down and grabbed Danny’s shoulder and torso on one side. Naomi had the other.



“I am not murdering your friend,” Naomi whispered as we all did our best to keep him still. Danny groaned and snarled in our grasps. “My memory is slowly returning. Your friend was selfless to come to my aid when he was not forced to do so. I will return the favor, as is common among our kind. This was his only chance. It was the cross or his certain death. There is no other way to exorcise the venom.”



Tyler did not respond. Danny continued to buck and yell. I glanced down the length of his body. His wounds were starting to fester in earnest. Yellow muck began to bubble out.



“What the hell is that stuff?” Tyler growled.



“That is the poison,” Naomi answered. “Stay away from it. The venom is born of the Underworld and still very potent. The silver is reacting to it and forcing it to flee his system.”



“Why didn’t we see it come out of your body then?” I questioned, running my eyes over Naomi’s almost fully healed body. There’d been no hint of yellow anywhere.



Naomi wouldn’t meet my eyes for a moment. When she did, she looked slightly abashed. “I believe your blood neutralized the venom on its own.”



“What? How can you be sure? Does that mean that my blood is immune to the little bastards?” I asked.



“I do not know for sure if you are immune.” She shook her head. “But I do know that vampires are very sensitive to blood types of all kinds. We can detect even the most subtle textures and tastes of any blood. Without a shadow of a doubt, your blood has cleansed me. As I drank, it was like nothing I’d ever tasted before, even in my unconscious state. It was dangerous and wild, sweet and powerful. I believe your blood seared the poison inside me, eradicating it the instant it mingled with the venom.”

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