“Are you okay?” he asked her.

Instead of an answer, she ran to him, crouching down next to him, her gaze homing in on his shoulder wound, her expression horrified. “Oh my God, he got you!”

“Better me than you.”

Lilo met his eyes, and for a moment time stood still. Lilo was safe.

“Let’s get this off you.” She helped his good arm out of the sleeve of his jacket, then eased it off his injured side. “Oh my God!” She pulled his shirt aside, ripping one button clear off the fabric, before dipping her head past him. “No exit wound.”

When she looked at him, he nodded. “I know. The silver bullet is still inside me.” That’s why vampires preferred small-caliber handguns to anything more powerful: the likelihood of a bullet remaining stuck in the victim’s body was higher with a less powerful weapon.

“We’ve gotta stop the bleeding.” She pressed her hand against the wound.

Footsteps on the stairs suddenly alerted him and he lifted his head. Nicholas and Adam came running, their eyes wide.

“Blake?” Nicholas cried out in horror. “You’re hurt!”

Blake snapped his head to Ryder. “Get the boys into the safe room. Now!” Then he looked up toward the second floor, a cold hand clamping around his heart. “Where’s Sebastian?”

“Ursula picked him up,” Ryder said quickly.

Relieved, Blake nodded, when another wave of searing pain wrecked his body. He gritted his teeth. “Ryder, now! Get them to safety.”

“Boys, move it!” Ryder ordered and ushered them to a door at the end of the hall.

Knowing his charges would be safe, Blake looked at his shoulder for the first time, trying to assess the damage. “Let me see,” he told Lilo, and she removed her hand from the wound.

The entry wound wasn’t large, but when he saw little bubbles rising with the blood that gushed from it, he knew it was bad.

“You’re bleeding too much.” She pressed her hand back on the wound, unafraid. His brave Lilo.

He tried a smile and failed, the pain increasing with every second. “The bullet has to come out.” As soon as possible.

“We’ve gotta get you to the hospital. Right now,” she urged.

He shook his head, meeting her concerned look. “By the time we reach a hospital, I’ll be dead.”

He had maybe ten or fifteen minutes until the silver had eaten away enough of his flesh and bone to poison his blood and send dissolved silver particles straight to his heart.

A choked breath that almost sounded like a sob came from Lilo, and she pressed her lips together.

“Get a butcher knife and a towel from the kitchen.”

Lilo stared at him, her mouth gaping open. “Oh my God, you can’t be serious. You can’t just cut it out like that.”

“No, I can’t.” He swallowed. “But you can.” He panted through another wave of pain, trying without success to hold back the scream that was building in his chest. “Uuuughhhh! Get the knife, Lilo, please.” He removed her hand from his wound and pressed his own over it. “Please!”

Finally, Lilo jumped up and rushed in the direction of the kitchen, and he let go of his control. Everything before his eyes turned red, and he felt his mouth fill with his fangs as they extended to their full length. His fingers turned into claws, razor-sharp and deadly.

The pain paralyzed him, rendering him unable to move. He could only hope now that Ryder and Lilo knew what to do. Or the silver would eat him alive.

28

Lilo was running on pure adrenaline. Panic gave her wings. If she’d thought that she’d been through the wringer in the last two days, then she’d been wrong. The danger was only just beginning. And now it had reached Blake’s doorstep.

She was grateful that he’d told her what silver did to a vampire. His words had sent a chill through her veins: By the time we reach a hospital, I’ll be dead.

She couldn’t let that happen. She owed him too much. He’d pushed her out of the path of the bullet. It was her fault that he was injured.

Lilo pulled a sharp knife from the wooden block on the kitchen counter, then snatched a couple of clean-looking kitchen towels from their hooks and rushed back out into the hallway, just as Ryder was dragging Blake into the living room, Blake’s good arm draped over Ryder’s shoulder, and Ryder’s arm around Blake’s waist, supporting his weight. She followed them and watched Ryder deposit Blake on the sofa, where his head slumped back against the cushions.

A gasp escaped her when she saw Blake’s face. He was all vampire now: glaring red eyes, extended fangs, and fingers that had turned into claws. To her own surprise, the sight didn’t scare her, because she saw something else in his face: pure agony. Her heart bled for him. Nobody should be feeling such pain, not even a vampire.

“I’ve got the knife,” she said.

Ryder turned to her. “Give it to me.”

Glad that he was taking charge, she handed it to him and slid next to Blake on the couch. She ripped the already damaged shirt wider, so there was clear access to the wound. It looked larger now than before, evidence that the silver was consuming his flesh.

“Make a deep incision,” Blake gritted out.

Ryder nodded in silence and set the knife to the wound. Lilo turned her face away. She couldn’t watch this. She gripped Blake’s hand, not caring that his fingers were sharp barbs that could slice her into pieces. She squeezed his hand, when Blake whirled his face to look at her, staring at her in grateful surprise.

A scream dislodged from his throat.

“I’m sorry, Blake!” Ryder let out. “But I’m not done.”

Lilo held onto Blake’s hand while cupping his cheek with the other. He met her eyes then.

“I don’t regret it,” she confessed, answering the question he’d posed many hours earlier. “I could never regret it.”

For a brief moment, the red in his eyes subsided, making space for the golden shimmer she’d seen before.

“Lilo,” Blake murmured.

“I can’t see the bullet. It’s too deep,” Ryder interrupted.

Lilo released Blake’s hand and leaned over the wound. “There’s too much blood.” She snatched the towel she’d brought and pressed it against the wound, trying to soak up as much blood as possible, before removing it again. From the corner of her eye she noticed Blake clenching his teeth.