Page 27 of The Rising Dark
Michelle ignored them.No wheezing, and no bubbles appeared in the blood alongside the stake.Her lung might be punctured, but if it was, the stake was obstructing the hole, at least for now.If she removed it, the lung might collapse.It would have to be removed at some point, but the situation seemed stable enough for now.
There was no immediate sign of head trauma, nor of any other significant wounds.The knuckles of her right hand were scratched, but they were only surface-level abrasions.She had significant bruising along her arms, possibly having warded off blows, but Michelle didn’t see anything that was particularly worrying besides the impalement.The blood around the stake was slowing, oozing and clotting around the wood.
“A light?”she asked.Lavinia pulled her phone from her pocket and turned on the light before handing it over.
Drawing up Proserpina’s eyelids one by one, Michelle checked the pupil reflex.They contracted normally under the light.She looked pale and clammy, having lost a significant amount of blood.
“She’s going to need a blood transfusion,” Michelle said.“Is that something vampires can do?”
Lucretia bent to Quintia.“Get Zachary.Tell him we need some blood.”
She showed Lavinia how to press the towel against Proserpina’s chest wound.Michelle turned to the other vampire.She was leaning against the wall, looking like a character from a horror movie with the blood streaming down the side of her face.
Michelle beckoned her over and slid out a chair for her at the table.“Here, have a seat.”
The blood poured from a cut that slashed diagonally from her forehead to her temple.Like all head wounds, it bled profusely, but at least it didn’t seem particularly deep.It might need stitches—but then again, she’d seen how fast Lavinia’s wound had healed.She might not need stitches at all.
There was no debris in it; it was a clean slash, as if made by a knife.One of the vampires had put a first aid kit on the table, and Michelle gratefully helped herself to some wipes, cleaning the skin around the wound.
“Can you tell me what happened?”Michelle asked, trying to remove the sticky blood from the woman’s dark skin.It had soaked into her hair as well, leaving the bright blue splattered with brown, matted patches.
“Rogue caught me with a knife.I didn’t quite get out of the way quickly enough.”
“Did you hit your head in any way?”The box also contained a pile of sterile bandages.She tore one from its plastic, placed some gauze on the cut, and put some pressure on the wound.
“Nah,” the woman said.
“Any dizziness?Blurred vision?Ringing in your ears?”
“Bit lightheaded,” the vampire admitted.
Michelle checked the vampire’s pupil reflex—normal—and asked her to perform some simple memory and coordination checks.
“I don’t think you have a concussion, so the dizziness might just be from the blood loss,” Michelle said.“But to be honest, I don’t know much about vampire physiology.”They looked human enough; their blood looked normal, if slightly stickier than human blood.But that didn’t mean they were the same beyond what she could see.There had to be differences, or vampires wouldn’t be as strong or as fast as they were.“It’s best to drink plenty of fluids.You may want to take it easy until the dizziness passes.”
The vampire nodded and stayed in her seat.Michelle always liked a good patient who followed advice.She patted the woman’s shoulder and, at that moment, Quintia came back into the room with Zachary in tow.Strangely, they weren’t carrying anything.Did they fetch Zachary to instruct him to drive somewhere to retrieve vampire blood?Would they need a specific kind?
However, no one spoke, and the man slid out of his jacket and rolled up one sleeve.
“What are you—” Michelle said, when Zachary leaned over Proserpina, extending his bare arm.The woman still lay unconscious, unaware of the man leaning over her.
“Got to get her going,” Lucretia muttered, and Zachary turned, showing her his arm.Casually, Lucretia bent over, opened her mouth, andbit.
Blood welled up from the wound, and Zachary went back to his previous position.Cupping Proserpina’s chin, Quintia gently opened her mouth.A drop of blood trickled onto her tongue.Another.Michelle stared at the scene unfolding in front of her.Nothing happened for a moment.Then, Proserpina rose an inch off the table, latching onto the arm, teeth sinking into flesh.Her throat worked, swallowing, swallowing, but her eyes stayed closed.A brief flash of pain spread across Zachary’s face.Then, a deep tranquillity followed.The moment felt strangely intimate, like Michelle was intruding on something private.
After a minute, Proserpina unlatched, her head bobbing back onto the board, her mouth open.Her breathing deepened, closer to a natural sleep.A faint blush had crept across her cheeks.
Now it was Michelle’s turn to feel dizzy.She dropped down heavily onto one of the chairs.It was one thing to understand intellectually that these women were vampires.That they looked like humans, but were somehow other.That they had their own habits and customs, even rules, and lived in a world separate from the one she knew.
Still, it was a whole other thing to watch one of them suck blood from their driver.
Chapter Fifteen
Lavinia joined her Sisters in a lightning-fast conference, leaving Proserpina in Michelle’s capable oversight.Zachary, too, stayed in the dining room, enjoying his post-feed bliss.Luce rang the Magistrate from the phone in her study, briefly outlined the situation, got the confirmation she wanted, and hung up.
“We got authorisation to clean up the nest,” she said, somewhat redundantly.All of them could easily hear the Magistrate’s words through the handset’s speaker.
Outside of the window, the sunset painted bright red and orange across the sky.“Does anyone need to stay with the wounded?”Vesta asked.
