Page 30 of From the Shadows
“What did the idiot do this time?” he demanded.
Apparently the two of them had history. Shay gave him the information he’d gotten from Ranna, and a sneer marred the doctor’s somewhat handsome face.
“You moron!” he snarled at Diego. He turned to Shay. “Do you have the blood packs Empatia sent you?”
“Yeah, one sec.” Shay rushed to the kitchen. He glanced up the stairs, grateful Jeremy was asleep. No way did he want the kid to see Diego like this. He grabbed the package, marked “For Diego’s Use Only” and hustled back to where they were huddled around Diego. The doctor yanked open the strip that held the box together, reached in and pulled out several of the bags, then held one to Diego’s mouth. A moment later, Diego’s nostrils flared and his mouth opened. The doctor jammed the bag inside, and Diego’s mouth slammed shut and his throat began to work.
As they watched, Diego drained the bag, so the doctor took a fresh one and repeated the process. Before he got to the last one, Shay had gone back to the kitchen for another package, then returned with them. As he returned he called for Ms. Connelly.
Yes, Shay?
Can you please get more blood. I don’t know for sure, but I get the feeling Diego is going to need it. Probably lots of it.
Of course. I’ll take care of it right away. And Shay? Are you okay?
Was he? No, not really. Seeing Diego like that rattled him to his core.I’ll be okay. Eventually.
If you ever need to talk, my door is always open. Anytime, day or night. Okay?
Yes, ma’am.
He got back in time to see the last of the pouches being drained, then discarded. He held out the box, which the doctor ripped open and started the feeding again. Shay stood mute as Diego drank more and more blood, but still didn’t open his eyes. His heart quaked, and he wasn’t sure of the reason for it.
By the time the doctor finished, Diego had nearly drained all thirty-six of the bags they’d had stored for him. All the while, Dr. Oliver was muttering some very undoctorlike things to Diego.
“Stupid fucking moron. How did you get so dumb?”
“Doctor,” Borne warned, his voice dark and crackling. “Regardless of your feelings, heisyour patient.”
Dr. Oliver’s head snapped up and he pinned Borne with a harshglare. “You think I don’t know that? I would be telling any of my patients how stupid they were if they pushed themselves like that. After I heard this idiot had been starving himself, this was the worst thing he could do.”
Shay was lost. “I don’t understand.”
Dark gray eyes glared at him keenly. “Who are you?”
“Shay! I run the house,” he snapped. “I’m responsible for everyone here. Now tell me what you mean!”
That sharp gaze darted back to Diego. “It means he’s an idiot, just like I said.”
“Shay is human, doctor. He doesn’t understand, so please enlighten him.”
“Human?” He looked from Diego to Shay. “I thought Diego hated humans.”
“It was Shay who got the blood for Diego.”
“Oh, brilliant. Thank you for looking after this idiot.” He leaned in close and sniffed Diego, then drew back and directed his attention to Shay. “Vampires use energy, just like humans. Only instead of food similar to what you eat, they replace it with blood. Somehow, through whatever means he employed, Diego’s store was already nearly depleted. What he did tonight? He exhausted every last bit by pulling this stunt. He brought himself to the brink of death. The bastard has one foot in the grave, and he seems determined to jump in headfirst.”
It made no sense to Shay. “But he drank those bags of blood. I watched him and took the empties out.”
Dr. Oliver sucked in a breath, which Shay took to mean he was frustrated by the questioning. “Tell me something, Shay. If you’ve been starving yourself for three centuries, do you really think twelve bags of potato chips are going to give back everything you’ve lost? They might make you feel better in the short term, but that’s it. That isn’t how it works, especially for vampires. It could take Diego years, if not longer, to regain everything, and that’s only if he stuck to a strict regimen. What he’s done? It would be like an Olympic-level athlete depriving themselves of good, clean food and workouts for five years, then trying to run a marathon and come in first.Diego expended everything he’s taken in, any little bit he had left. When he came to see me, I told him he needed to take it easy, but of course the idiot never listens.”
“I…. I didn’t know that was a thing. It wasn’t in any of my paperwork.”
“Not something vampires like to talk about. Their abilities directly correlate to their energy stores. Normally it takes a long time to use up what one feeding gives you, but Diego has been running on empty for so long, his body was consuming itself to keep up. Each time he faded into the shadows, it drew from his stores of energy. But this little stunt? It’s taken nearly everything, and now he’s going to pay the price for it.”
“But you haven’t even examined him,” Ranna insisted, her voice tight, her grip on Diego’s left hand punishing. “How can you be sure?”
Oliver sighed and lifted Diego’s right arm above his head. A thick vein, a washed out cyan in color, ran the length of his arm, going downward, where it disappeared below his belt. “This is Diego’s life in one viewing. That vein? You shouldn’t even be able to see it. Think of it as a barometer of sorts. If Diego was healthy, you wouldn’t notice it against the flesh around it. This shows how close he came to dying tonight. In a normal vampire, one who has full energy, it would be similar in color to his skin, all healthy. As he uses energy, it drains, going first to red, then to dark blue, and finally to this washed-out cyan.” He clucked his tongue. “How he kept the hunger under control all this time is nothing short of a miracle. This? He’s lucky he had backup or he wouldn’t be here. Even if you only killed a few vampires, that’s what saved his life.”
