The hours dragged by. I checked on the two vampires in the bedroom intermittently, but they were both sleeping like the dead. Or rather, like the undead. One would think I’d be used to the ‘no breathing’ thing by now, but nope—it still took me by surprise every time.
Finally, around mid-afternoon, I heard the sound of movement from the master bedroom and cautiously went to see what was going on. Rans was standing in the doorway, one arm outstretched behind him in a silent warning to stay back. I came close enough to get a glimpse past his shoulder, and found Guthrie sitting up in bed with a hand clamped to his temples as though to combat a headache.
His fingers fell away as he became aware of our presence by the door. Guthrie’s eyes skated past Rans to fall on me, and they were glowing with an amethyst inner light.
The part of me that had evolved from ancient proto-humans living in a world of saber-toothed tigers and cave bears wanted to shrink back, seeking invisibility when faced with a dangerous predator that had just centered me in its sights. In front of me, Rans seemed to grow in stature, his aura crackling around him like a warning.
“Are you back with us yet, mate?” Rans asked, his tone level but unyielding. “Or do you and I need to go another round before I get you a fresh blood bag out of the cooler?”
Guthrie blinked. A dazed, unfocused look slid across his pleasant features... but at least that meant those disconcerting eyes were no longer pinned on me.
“Rans?” Guthrie rasped. “What—”
His voice cracked on the word, and he doubled over, one hand clutching at his chest and the other at his stomach. I drew in a worried breath and started forward without thinking, but stopped short at Rans’ sharp gesture.
“Not yet, love,” he said grimly. “Stay outside for a few minutes. I’ll call you in when it’s safe.”
“All right,” I whispered, and stayed where I was as Rans closed the door, cutting me off from the room.
At least this time, there was no screaming. Combined with the spark of recognition he’d shown, I took that to mean Guthrie was no longer out of his mind with bloodlust—but that parading a warm-blooded snack around in front of him before he’d had a blood bag or two to take the edge off would still be a bad plan.
As he’d promised, a few minutes later Rans opened the door and tipped his chin, indicating I should enter. The bed was empty; it took me a few seconds to notice Guthrie jammed into the far corner of the room with his knees drawn up against his chest. There was blood staining his t-shirt; I tried to ignore it.
“Guthrie?” I asked softly.
Guthrie’s eyes had returned to their normal deep brown, and the grayish cast beneath his complexion had lessened. Even so, his expression held the distant, shell-shocked air you sometimes saw in news reports about people trapped in war zones or the aftermath of a natural disaster. I wasn’t at all sure he’d even registered me speaking to him.
His mouth worked for a moment before words emerged.
“Wh-what’s wrong with me?” He frowned, looking around the bedroom as though he’d never seen it before.
His nostrils flared, scenting the air, and his attention landed on me again. His eyes lit up, but this time the violet glow receded almost instantly. I stood my ground, trying to look more like a person and less like something that might be fun to eat... none of which meant that I wasn’t poised to high-tail it out of there if he came at me. I might be getting better at the whole ‘self-defense’ thing, but I also wasn’t an idiot.
Rans crossed the room and lowered himself smoothly into a crouch in front of Guthrie’s huddled form, just out of arm’s reach.
“What’s the last thing you remember, mate?” he asked. “Take your time. Think about it a bit.”
Guthrie still looked lost, like someone who’d been plucked from the Earth’s surface and deposited on an alien planet with no explanation. I could sympathize... at this point, I was growing way too familiar with that feeling. His eyes darted from side to side as he searched his memory, becoming visibly more upset as his brain refused to cough up the relevant information.
“I don’t...” He trailed off. “What day is it?”
I opened my mouth to reply, only to discover to my consternation that I had no fucking clue what day it was. Talk about the blind leading the blind.
“Thursday,” Rans offered. “I’ve never been a fan of those, really.”
Guthrie’s gaze zeroed in on him. “But that... that... can’t be right...”
His nostrils flared again, and he looked down at the red stains on his shirt. An expression midway between fascination and disgust sculled across his face.
Rans sighed, resting his elbows loosely on his knees and clasping his hands together in front of him. “Guthrie, mate. Your old demon buddy finally decided to collect on your soul debt via the medium of a fatal heart attack. Very nasty... but also a slow enough option that Zorah and I were able to get here before you slipped away from us completely. I brought you over as a vampire to keep you from dying. I’d apologize, but the truth is I’d do it again under the same circumstances, so there’s not really much point.”
I watched as various emotions registered across Guthrie’s expression. Disbelief, anger, fear, bitterness. His eyes were still fixed on the
