Page 5 of Happily Undead in Dark River

Judge looked over my head at Walker. “We need to get him to the Doctor’s office, now.”

Walker nodded, but his gaze flashed to me. They meant Doc Alice’s office. It had been sealed up since her trial, and the town hadn’t gotten a replacement doctor. “Raine, I think you should stay here.”

I’m not going to lie, a part of me just wanted to be weak and agree. But X had been looking for me for a reason, and I wanted to know what it was. So I shook my head. “I’m coming with you.”

Both Judge and Walker looked like they wanted to protest, but X gave another death rattle, shaking them into action. They lifted him, one at each end, and Beatrice was there holding the door open. I hadn’t even heard them come out of the kitchen.

I raced ahead to Doc Alice’s old office, pushing every memory I had of the building before tonight right out of my mind. I kicked open the door and turned on all the lights. The guys were right behind me. They slid X onto the examination table face down. “I need a suture kit and the cautery machine,” Judge barked, and Walker flew around the room like the wind. I had no idea what either of those things looked like and I felt completely useless.

Judge was talking me through it though. Maybe I looked like I was freaking out. Because I was freaking out. “The Traitor’s Blade is a dagger designed purely for Lucius by one of his witch consorts. It can issue mortal wounds on a vampire that never heal, which is a very powerful weapon. The Vampire Council was up in arms about the whole thing of course, and Lucius took a blood oath never to kill another vampire with it. So instead, he uses it to punish traitors by stabbing them somewhere non-life threatening, banishing the person, and allowing them to die a slow, miserable death by exsanguination if they can’t find a witch to heal them. Most witches hate vampires, with a few exceptions.”

“Like Miranda?”

“Uh, yeah.” Judge winced a little. I’d met Miranda almost two months ago when she’d placed a ward around my apartment. She and Judge had been… a thing. It had been tense, awkward and almost the end of Judge and me.

X groaned again, and I firmed my jaw. “Should we call Miranda again?”

A hand reached out and gripped my calf muscle. I looked down to see X staring up at me, his face the grey of someone who was bleeding out. “No… Miranda…” he gasped out.

I ran a hand over the short stubble of his head reassuringly. “Okay, okay, Big Guy. No Miranda. I was in no hurry to repeat that awkward little dance anyway.”

X grunted and I raised an eyebrow at Judge. “They have, uh, history,” he answered, taking the medical equipment Walker was holding out to him.

I narrowed my eyes at Judge. “Don’t we all?”

Judge pretended not to hear me as he set up the equipment with deft hands. Like he knew what he was doing. “Do this often?”

He didn’t look up, pulling on gloves despite the fact no one here could get infections. “A few times.”

The pointed tip of the cautery machine started to glow, and it finally dawned on me what the hell it was. “You’re going to burn the wound closed?” Okay, that might have come out a little like a pterodactyl screech.

Judge gave me a disapproving look and Walker edged toward me. “No. This isn’t the Wild West, Rainey Day. I’m going to cauterize the veins closed then suture the wound. It will take months to heal, but eventually, it’ll get better. Unfortunately, there’s no anesthetic for this. Walker, hold these forceps here.”

Walker did as he was asked, and I was glad for it. I didn’t do well around gaping wounds, which made being turned into a vampire kind of ironic. Once, my mom had gotten new knives from one of those late-night infomercials where they cut through tin cans and stuff, and I’d been so desperate to try them out. I misjudged slicing a carrot and cut off the tip of my finger. I’d puked, passed out and they’d found me two minutes later in a pool of vomit, my finger bleeding, and the tip still on the chopping board next to the carrots.

I saw the muscles on X’s back twitch, his low grunt of pain the only sign they were literally burning his flesh back there. I dropped down so I was face height with him.

I desperately wanted to ask if he was doing okay, because that’s what came naturally in these situations, right? But even I knew how stupid that sounded.

“Just so you know, the slit in your back looks a little like a vagina right now.” Judge stilled, blinking at me and even Walker looked at me like I’d lost my mind. But X’s mouth twitched in a smile and almost laughed. “Keep Judge… away from it… then,” he panted out. I laughed and put my hand on his head.

“I promise to protect your virtue while you are down.”

I don’t know what Judge did, but X hissed and latched onto my wrist, his fangs piercing my skin messily. Walker threw down the forceps, but I held up a hand to stop him. “No, continue. It’s okay.”

There was pleasure in a bite, and it was awkward as hell to be turned on while a guy was getting his back sewn back together. X’s dark eyes watched me carefully, his fangs so deep into my vein I was a little worried he would hit a tendon. “Not gonna lie, X, this is not the way to woo a girl. Your flirting skills are rusty as hell.”

X tried to mumble something back, but I waved a finger in his face. “Uh uh, it’s bad manners to talk with your mouth full.”

X’s eyes sparkled like the devil lived and breathed inside him. Which was better than the dull look of near death. He ran his tongue around the points where his fangs were sunken into my skin, the look in his eyes getting even hotter.

Then it hit me. “Holy shit…”

It was like molten lava coursing through my veins, if molten lava was equipped with tiny little tongues that deliciously licked all over my body. My whole body felt like jelly as pleasure and euphoria swirled over my skin.

I dimly heard an angry Walker demanding to know what he’d done, and Judge’s equally disapproving voice. “His tongue has venom. It gives his victims intense pleasure. Like horny goat weed crossed with the world’s greatest aphrodisiac.”

I came in a rush, my skin felt too hot, my muscles too lax. I can see why Judge called it a venom and not a drug. If I was an unsuspecting victim, I’d let him suck me until I was dry. But I wasn’t an unsuspecting victim, so I poked him in the eye, hard.

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