Page 88 of Kiss Across the Universe
Sydney glanced at her. “It comes to all of us, eventually, Alannah.”
“He wanted to jump. To keep jumping. He loved time travel….”
Rafe rolled up his sleeve. “He might still yet have that privilege. Sydney, the long syringe there.”
Alannah knew immediately what he intended. She wanted to cry. Aran might yet live, but his days of being human were over. “Jesse, too,” she said, her voice choked. “He won’t want this, if Jesse isn’t part of it.”
Sydney nodded, handed Rafe the syringe, picked up a second one and turned to face the other bed. Alexander was already rolling up his sleeve. The stethoscope hung about his neck.
“Give me the syringe,” came the command from just behind Alannah.
She twisted.Farstood in the doorway, dressed in sixth century clothing that included tartan and sandals and a great sword strapped to his side.Athairwas right behind him. “Jesse for me,”Athairsaid flatly. “Aran for you.” He pushedFarinto the room and strode over to Alexander and plucked the syringe out of his hand. “Thanks, Alex, but this is for us to take care of.”
Taylor stepped into the room behind them. She wore the same authentic clothing as Veris and Brody, but hers was the feminine version of a sixth century British Celt. She wore a sword, too.
She bent over Aran, her chin working. Veris eased her out of the way, the syringe in his hand already loaded with his blood.
“How did you know?” Sydney asked quietly.
Taylor looked up. “We heard Jesse. It pulled us here.” She soothed Aran’s brow. “We had no choice.”
“Neither did we,” Sydney said softly.
“Nor us,” Kieren added. “But we were already on our way.”
“We’re cleaning up the mess,” Nyara added, also speaking softly. “As it seems this might have been our mess all along. But first, let us save these two.”
Veris plunged the long syringe into Aran’s heart, and injected the blood. Then he tossed it away and began CPR, to make the heart pump and drive the symbiont-loaded blood Veris had injected around Aran’s ruined body.
Alannah turned away, slid around the doorframe and put her back to the wall. She was trembling. She had no doubt that her father and Alexander would save Jesse and Aran. They would be vampires, but they would live once more.
She rested her head against the wall and closed her eyes, to stop her tears from escaping.
Chapter Thirty-Four
It could take anywhere fromthree days to a week for a newly created vampire to claw together a sense of their old identity, enough to be able to distinguish friends from foe…or food. During that transition time, Alannah’s family had learned to keep the new vampire isolated, and to control their first feeding.
Nyara and her people volunteered to provide Aran’s and Jesse’s first feeding, but Veris refused. “You have symbionts in your blood. In stasis, but who the hell knows what they might do if they’re ingested? The symbionts are driven to survive by any means necessary. If two of them are in the same host, do they fight each other to the death? And what happens to the host? Thank you, but no, Nyara. I know you feel responsible, and we’ll discuss that by and by, but we’ll find normal humans for this.”
Alannah had immediately volunteered. So did Kit, which brought the entire room to a short, still silence.
He shrugged. “You’re short on humans right now, if I’m counting properly. Marit can barely open her eyes thanks to her migraine. It has to be me and Alannah.”
“You do understand what you’re agreeing to, yes?” Brody said gently.
“More or less,” Kit said. “I’ve seen the movies.”
Rafe snorted. “Don’t let Veris hear you say that.”
“I’m wrong?” Kit asked.
“You’ll find out,” Brody said, standing up. “Thank you, Kit. We accept.”
While they waited for the appropriate time for the feedings, everyone lingered in or near the house. Nyara’s people quartered the area, looking for more of Mixon’s mob. Kit borrowed Taylor’s truck and went into Canmore to look for signs of them. He took Remi with him, and when they returned late in the day, Remi shook his head. “Friends and family everywhere, that man has. His army is embedded across the town. They say Mixon is gone. For certain, this time. I believe them.”
“So he got away,” Veris said, his voice rumbling. He glanced at Nyara.
She nodded. “An explanation is waiting for you, whenever you’re ready.”
