Enemy Within (Vampire Born Trilogy, #2) (25 page)

She latches onto it, her attention diverted from attacking Hawk to the liquid seeping into her mouth.

“I see she’s awake already,” Hawk says, stating the obvious.

Kaitlynn’s not fighting my hold around her, but I’m not letter her go yet. “Yes, she was stronger than we thought she was.” There’s way more to it than that, but I hope it’ll satisfy Hawk.

I step back slowly and ease Kaitlynn onto the bed as she slurps from the bag. She doesn’t protest, which is a good sign. “Nobody make any sudden movements or sounds. She needs time to calm down and adjust to everything.” And we’re out of blood bags.

Hawk takes Brooke and walks her back to the corner with everyone else. A part of me doesn’t want him here because I don’t want him to know what Kaitlynn can do, but I’m glad to have him help me keep Brooke back.

Kaitlynn gets to end of the bag and slows her swallows.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

She continues to suck from the bag as she nods.

“Are you sure? It’s okay if you’re not. I just need to know about it.”

She sips the last of the liquid and looks at me. “I’m all right.”

“Okay. Great. I’m going to reach for the blanket at your feet to wipe your mouth. Keep your eyes on mine.” I point two fingers from her eyes to mine and then slowly, I grab the blanket with my other hand and bring it up to Kaitlynn’s face, touching it to her cheek. “Feel its texture. How rough it feels.” She’s on sensory overload and I want her to focus on the blanket and only the blanket as I wipe away the blood.

“Yeah,” she says weakly.

Good. She’s composed enough to be frightened of moving while I’m touching her face.

I swipe from one cheek to the other and back again, quick and efficient, removing most of the blood. That will have to do for now.

I drop the blanket to Kaitlynn’s lap, swoop up the empty bags, and toss the gauzy blanket behind me.

Kaitlynn’s eyes are returning to normal, onyx giving way to emerald.

“If you get hungry again—and you’ll know because it will feel like a stomachache—you tell me. Do you understand?”

“Yeah,” she replies, sounding more like herself.

“Kaitlynn?” Brooke asks from the corner.

Kaitlynn looks at her. “Brooke,” she says and smiles. Then her eyes grow wide. “Omigod! I’m a vampire!”

Brooke laughs and steps forward gingerly. “We both are.”

“It’s … different,” Kaitlynn says as she tilts her head.

“That’s one way to put it.” I allow Brooke to step next to the bed. Kaitlynn’s reined in the hunger enough to appear satisfied, but I won’t go too far from her just in case.

Brooke leans over the edge of Kaitlynn’s bed.

“Give her some space,” I tell Brooke when I realize she’s thinking of hugging Kaitlynn.

Brooke looks at me with a half glare, likely out of frustration. When she looks back at Kaitlynn, they’re transported to that place that no one else can breach. The place that only the two of them exist. Their own little bubble.

“I was so worried about you,” Brooke says.

“Omigod, Brooke. It hurt soooooo bad.”

“I know.” Brooke’s brunette brows dip in regret. “But the doctor was talking like there was nothing else they could do.”

Kaitlynn bites her lip and rolls it between her teeth. “You saved me.” Tears well in her eyes.

“I didn’t want to live without you,” Brooke says and hugs Kaitlynn.

I lunge over to pull her back as Kaitlynn returns the hug. I stop myself because they’re okay. Kaitlynn isn’t striking out. If I overreact, Kaitlynn will respond to that and probably attack.

Jaren steps up behind Brooke. “Kaitlynn.”

She pulls away from Brooke and out of their bubble when she sees him. “Jaren!” She puts her arms out and he bends over to hug her.

My shoulder tense. I wish she didn’t feel the need to hug everyone. At least not yet. 

Kaitlynn’s gaze roams the room, taking stock of her surroundings and its occupants. She pulls back from Jaren. “Where’s David?”

Jaren freezes. I guess he isn’t ready to tell Kaitlynn yet, either.

She looks at Brooke and her breathing increases. “Brooke?” Her face is contorted as if she already knows something is wrong.

Brooke works her throat on a deep swallow. “He’s gone, Kaitlynn.”

Kaitlynn shakes her head. “Gone? What do you mean
gone
? He’s coming back, though, right?”

Brooke only answers her with a sad look.

“No,” Kaitlynn says on a strangled cry. She cups her hands over her nose and mouth and pulls her elbows in tight against her rib cage, as if to keep the shattering pieces of her heart in one place.

Brooke wraps her arms around Kaitlynn and holds her while she shakes.

I’m torn between pulling them apart and risking it because Kaitlynn deserves to be comforted right now.

Kaitlynn grabs onto Brooke’s forearm like she’s drowning and it’s the only thing keeping her head above water.

I allow it and step back. Jaren takes my place. His cheeks glisten and he wraps his arms around the girls.

I’d leave and let them have some time to process it all, but I don’t feel comfortable letting Kaitlynn out of my sight. I do the next best thing and stroll over to the corner of the room where Cindy and the other nurse watch in a daze.

Hawk messes with the tools near one of the sinks.

We stand in the corner until Kaitlynn has processed things enough to start asking questions. She wipes her puffy face. “What happened?”

Jaren releases them and steps back to wipe his nose. He looks at me briefly, his blue eyes rimmed red, and I try to convey understanding in my body language. I’m not judging him. I know how shitty it feels to lose someone you love. I can relate to him on that, and his suffering doesn’t make him any less of a man.

Brooke answers quietly. “He was murdered.”

Kaitlynn asks for more details with a scratchy voice, and Brooke relays the story with a delicacy meant to spare Kaitlynn as much as she can.

Kaitlynn’s demeanor changes from sorrowful to vengeful as Brooke relates the story.

“Hawk,” I say and walk over to the bed so I’m close if need be. He doesn’t need to follow me, but I need him at attention.

Kaitlynn’s quiet after Brooke mentions David’s murderer is dead as well. The buzz from the overhead lights grows loud, crushing the silence.

Kaitlynn speaks when I don’t think she can handle it anymore. “And my parents are safe?”

Brooke peers over at me.

“Yes, they’re with Ace at your house.”

Kaitlynn nods, as if I’ve affirmed what she already knows. She swipes her hand across her cheek and catches a stray tear. “Did anyone grab his hat?”

“David’s?” Brooke asks.

“Yeah, he left it in the room when he left to go shower.” Her jaw juts out like she’s fighting the pain.

Jaren answers. “I didn’t realize he’d left it.”

Brooke looks to me.

“We’ll have to get it when we leave.” I don’t think anyone should leave here yet.

“That’s all I have left of him,” Kaitlynn says, desperation evident in her tone.

“I’ll go get it,” Brooke says.

I don’t want to be an insensitive ass, but I don’t like that idea any more than I like the idea of me leaving to go get it. “Hawk can get it.”

All the guilt and heaviness Brooke carries over David’s loss weighs the corners of her lips down. “ It’ll only take me a minute and then we won’t have to track it down if someone decides to clean out the room.”

“I’ll go with her,” Hawk offers.

A tiny thread of hope mixes with the anguish on Brooke’s face.

She steps around me, but I stop her and bend over to her ear. “Go straight there and straight back.” I squeeze her hip in emphasis.

After the attack on David, I don’t want Brooke wandering around any more than she has to. “Don’t let her out of your sight,” I tell Hawk. I can see in the way Brooke looks at me that she
needs
to do this for Kaitlynn.

That need speaks to something deep within me, so I let her go.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Brooke

Hawk and I step off the elevator on Kaitlynn’s floor, and I am relieved when the smell of antiseptic hits me. It’s not a great smell, but it beats the morgue’s.

I
’m pretty sure the only reason Mirko let me leave is because he pities me. That should bother me, but it doesn’t.

Maybe I’m going numb as a way to process everything.

God, I hope so.

We turn down the corridor and almost bump into Emerik coming down the hallway in front of me.

I jump, startled.

Emerik smiles. “I was about to come looking for you. Your friend is no longer in her room. Is she all right?”

Crap. I’d rather Mirko do all the talking about Kaitlynn. “Uh, yeah, she’s much better now, thanks. We only needed to grab something.” I move around him toward Kaitlynn’s old room.

“Actually.” Emerik stops me. “Could you spare a moment and walk with me? We have much to discuss.”

I look down the hall to Kaitlynn’s old room and long to grab David’s hat first.

“Would you mind?” Emerik asks Hawk. “What we need to discuss is sensitive, and I would rather you not be privy to it.”

Hawk looks at me. At this point, I just want Emerik off my back and David’s hat. It doesn’t matter now if I’m not the one to get it. I shrug.

Emerik steps out of the way and lets Hawk pass before he turns around, motioning me to follow him.

I walk in step with Emerik. “How’d the meeting go?”

He waits until we’re farther from Hawk before he answers. “Not as well as we’d hoped. You will be testifying. There is no way around it.”

“Oh.” The chance my father could get me out of testifying was slim, but I still hoped for something to fall into place.

I glance back over my shoulder. “Where is my father?”

“He’ll be along shortly.”

We pass the nurses’ station and the elevators, and I can’t help but frown. It seems unusual that my father would go somewhere by himself when I needed his help, instead of coming directly to me and sending Emerik to do whatever he’s doing.

Is my father really up to something? Could he actually be responsible for what happened to David?

My heart clutches at the possibility. It’s hard enough losing David in such a horrific way, but it’ll be so much worse if my dad is responsible for it. If he’s the one who premeditated it.

I stop after Emerik at the oak door with a small industrial window leading to the stairs. He holds it open for me and then follows through behind me. We’re on the third floor, the top floor, but Emerik takes the stairs up.

The door latching behind us echoes along the gray walls. The space is chilly even though there is no draft. “Do you know what’s up here?”

“The roof.” He doesn’t look back as he leads me up. “The privacy up here should be ideal as we don’t want anyone to hear what I need to tell you.”

Whatever. I just want to get this over and get back to Kaitlynn.

Emerik reaches the door and gives it a stern tug. He looks back at me and grins when it opens. 

I force the corner of my lips up and step out onto the gravel-covered roof. A cold breeze hits me and sinks deep into my bones. I pull the hood from my sweater over my head and fold my arms tight to my chest to block the cold.