She was still angry, but she was slowly cooling off. Her face was burning like fire. She didn’t want to show it in front of anyone, though. She did not like to show weakness in any way, even if it was a wound.
“I should never have let you go outside without me,” Nick said, angry at himself.
“Let me? Now you are starting to sound like Dizag,” Lana said. “You don’t own me, and you don’t get to ‘let me’ do anything.”
Nick opened his mouth to tell her he was just trying to watch out for her, but Brady caught his eye and shook his head. Nick’s mouth snapped shut. He shook his head and sat at the bar.
Lana looked around the club and saw that all eyes were focused on her and her exchange with Nick. It was dead silent. Not the whisper of a single breath could be heard.
Colleen grabbed Lana’s hand and pulled her into the back room. “I have a first aid kit. Let’s get the dragon saliva off your face and take care of those nasty blisters.”
Lana sank down into the couch gratefully, wondering how much longer her legs were going to be able to hold her up. The adrenaline that had exploded in her between the anger and fear had dissipated, leaving Lana feeling weak and exhausted.
She felt tears well up in her eyes. She felt overwhelmed and tired. She came here to the human world to find her sister, but instead found herself mired in a horror movie.
Angrily, she brushed the tears away. The back of her hand accidentally brushed across the spreading burn on her right cheek. She yelped from the pain.
Colleen turned around with a soft cloth and anti-bacterial soap.
“This is going to hurt like the dickens,” Colleen said. “But we have to get your wound cleaned, or the burn will continue spreading across your entire face.”
Lana nodded her understanding and gritted her teeth as Colleen wiped the burn and all the skin around it. Colleen was as gentle as she could be, but it was excruciating.
A small tube of anti-bacterial cream appeared in Colleen’s hands next. Gently, she spread the cooling gel across the area. Although it didn’t kill the pain by any means, it did help take a little bit of the sting out.
“I don’t know whether to cover it or not. You’re supposed to leave burns to the open air so they can heal faster. However, you have a lot of open wounds on this spot, and I wouldn’t want germs to get into it,” Colleen said.
“Let’s cover it for now to protect the burn from whatever is in the air here and outside,” Nick said, as he and Brady joined them. “Then, when we’ll remove the bandage at the house, I’ll put more cream on it, and she can leave it open to heal.”
Colleen nodded. Grabbing some gauze, she quickly and gently covered a large part of Lana’s face. She could feel her right eye start to swell up, and she was beginning to feel sick.
“Do you think that any of the poison could have got into my blood?” Lana asked.
Colleen looked worried. “I don’t know. It’s possible that it could have been absorbed into your bloodstream through the skin. Are you starting to feel sick?”
Lana nodded. “My stomach and my head hurt,” she said.
“It could just be from the intense stress and emotions you went through in a very short amount of time,” Colleen said, patting Lana’s back gently.
“Thank you,” Lana said, hugging Colleen. “You should have been a nurse.”
“Nah,” Colleen said. “I can’t stand the sight of blood.”
“That would be a problem,” Lana answered her, with a bit of a chuckle.
Then, she turned toward Nick. “Can we go home, please? I’m not feeling so great.”
Nick nodded.
As Lana stood up, she said, “You know, Dizag is going to kill again very soon. He enjoys the power he thinks that it gives him.”
Then, swaying slightly, she grabbed Nick’s arm.
They all said their goodbyes, and headed out to the car.
On the way home, Lana said, “I’m sorry for what I said. It was uncalled for. It’s no excuse, but I was just scared and angry and I lashed out at you.”
Nick grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “Don’t worry about it. I know you didn’t mean it. This has to be quite a shock to you. Hell, it’s a shock to me, and I’ve been around murder cases before. This is beyond the scope of anything imaginable.”
He held on to her hand all the way home. Lana didn’t want to let go. His hand was warm and comforting. He made her feel safe. She was very disappointed when they finally arrived back, because she didn’t want to give up his hand. She felt cold and empty when he pulled it away.
Nick came around to open her car door and helped her out. By this time, her right eye had swollen almost completely shut. The only bright light in the situation was that normally, shifters healed a lot faster than mundane humans did. She hoped that this was the case even if the injury was inflicted by a dragon shifter.
They walked slowly up to the front door, since Lana was having a hard time seeing. However, she couldn’t miss the message Dizag left for them. There was a series of huge scratches all the way down the door.
10
Nick
Nick saw the scratches, and his heart stopped. His first thought was that Dizag was hanging around, trying to snatch Lana away. However, if he was going to do that now, he would have taken her outside of the club when she was alone.
Nick carefully opened the door.
“Stay behind me. Without your eye swollen shut, you would have a hard time fighting him,” Nick said, to cut off her protests that she could protect herself.
He heard her soft sigh of acquiescence and felt her step behind him.
Gently closing the door, he searched
