“He can’t hurt you.”
“Like he didn’t hurt those guys?”
“He’s in bad shape, Min. Give him the time to heal today and he’ll leave.”
Mindy didn’t speak for what seemed like endless minutes. “I’ll stay, but we’re both leaving well before sunset.”
Olivia nodded, though she didn’t think she could leave unless Campbell looked well on the way to mending. She’d deal with that later. Now she had to somehow get Mindy and herself through the day wearing a facade of normalcy.
Mindy started preparing breakfast while Olivia headed to the freezer to check on Campbell.
Mindy stopped her. “Don’t.”
“It’s daylight. He can’t step foot out of there.”
After a moment, Mindy released Olivia’s arm. She even followed as Olivia approached the freezer and gripped the handle.
When Olivia opened the door, she saw that Campbell had managed to drag himself to a sitting position against some cartons of sausage. And he didn’t look as if he’d healed at all.
“Hi, Mindy,” he said, his voice weak and raspy.
Mindy gasped, though Olivia had no idea if it was because Campbell had spoken to her or because he looked as if he’d walked through hell. Without speaking, Mindy retreated. Olivia would be lucky if Mindy managed to stay in the building.
When Olivia returned her attention to Campbell, beyond the pain she saw a sense of relief in his eyes. As if he was glad not to be alone anymore.
She approached him and he tried to move away. He stilled only when she touched his hand, his badly burned hand.
“Why aren’t you healing? Do the cuffs prevent that, too?”
“No. I guess I just got smoked more than I thought.”
She met his eyes. “You need to feed to get better, don’t you?”
He hesitated before nodding.
“What happens if you don’t? It’ll just take a long time to heal, right?”
“Afraid not. I’ll stay like this. It’s too much damage.”
She bit her bottom lip. After what he’d done for her, she couldn’t let him suffer, too weak to heal or even to leave the relative safety of her freezer.
“If I take off the cuffs—”
“No!”
She flinched but didn’t move away from him.
“No,” he said more calmly. “I won’t take the risk of hurting you.”
“But I can’t let you suffer like this. I won’t.”
A look of disbelief invaded his blue eyes. Then he turned his damaged hand over and held hers. “Call St. Patrick’s. Tell Chloe what happened. She can help you get what I need.”
Olivia tamped down a twinge of jealousy that he was turning to another woman for help. It didn’t matter as long as it aided in his healing. And it was Chloe. Through their time together, she knew that Campbell and Chloe were nothing more than friends. Olivia and Chloe had bonded over the fact that they were perhaps the only two humans in Manhattan who could say they were true friends with vampires.
Campbell squeezed Olivia’s hand despite how it must make his tender skin pull. “Why are you doing this?”
She met his gaze then jumped off the proverbial cliff. “I think you know.” And before she could talk herself out of it, she leaned forward and kissed him gently on the lips. It was over before he had a chance to react, and the look of surprise on his face when she pulled away made her happy.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, she couldn’t help smiling as she stood. But she let the evidence of how Campbell made her feel fall away before she left the freezer and closed the door behind her. At least that kiss might give him something to think about other than his condition. Judging by the rapid beating of her heart, she certainly wasn’t going to forget it anytime soon.
Mindy looked up from where she was flipping sausage patties on the grill. “Is he dying in there?”
“No, but he’s not getting better. He needs to feed.”
Mindy fumbled and dropped a spatula. “You...you didn’t?”
“No, but I have to help him.” Olivia headed to the phone and dialed St. Patrick’s. When Chloe answered, Olivia said, “Hey, Chloe. It’s Olivia. I need your help. I need to go to the blood bank.”
“If you can wait another couple of hours, I’ll go and give my monthly quota, too.”
“No, I need to go now. Campbell is here and he’s badly burned. He needs to feed.”
Chloe gasped. Judging by the sounds coming through the phone line, Olivia guessed Chloe was standing and heading for the door. “I’ll be there in five minutes.”
“Okay, thanks.”
When Olivia hung up, Mindy was staring at her in disbelief.
“You’re leaving me here with that thing?”
“If not for him, I’d be suffering a fate worse than death now. Would you have me be so cruel as to let him die for it?”
“He’s already dead.”
“You know what I mean.”
Mindy squeezed Olivia’s hands. “I’m glad you’re safe, but nothing’s ever going to make me like them or trust them. They’re savages.”
Olivia wanted to cry as she faced the knowledge that she was going to lose her best friend or the guy she was falling for. She couldn’t have both. But first she had to help Campbell. Then she’d let him go.
Chloe screeched to a halt right outside the diner.
Olivia gestured to her that she’d be right out. “I’ve got to go. Help with this and I’ll never put you in this type of situation ever again.”
Tears pooled in Mindy’s eyes but she finally nodded.
“Okay. Be back soon.” Olivia hurried through the dining room out to Chloe’s car.
“Buckle up,” Chloe said as she zipped away from the curb.
Olivia got the impression that even if New York City traffic equaled what it had once been, Chloe would have found a way around it or possibly over the top of it. She very nearly took the right-hand turn at the corner on two wheels.
“Um, we won’t do Campbell any good if we kill ourselves getting to the blood bank.”
“You said he was bad off.”
“He is, but he doesn’t seem to be getting worse.” At least she hoped not. Would she be able to tell? Suddenly, she wasn’t so sure and fear swelled in her. When she met Chloe’s eyes, the rush of concern in her own must have been evident because Chloe floored the SUV, honking at anyone who dared get in her way.
Chloe parked behind the blood bank, the same one the team had taken Campbell to after he’d attacked her. “Come on,” she said as she hopped out of the SUV.
Olivia followed as Chloe swiped a card through a reader at the back door and stepped inside. Chloe walked into the first office at the back, one totally devoid of windows or any way sunlight could reach it.
“Hey, big brother,” she said, and proceeded to hug a tall handsome guy with reddish-blond hair.
“Hey, sis. What are you doing here?”
“Ethan, this is Olivia.”
Olivia shook his cool hand and noticed the silver bracelet around his wrist. A quick glance revealed an identical one on his other arm. So that was how he could stand to work in a blood bank. His sister was supplying holy water to more than V Force.
“Seems Campbell got himself a bit scorched trying to protect her this morning, so she needs some AB-neg so he’ll heal,” Chloe said.
Ethan made a pained expression. “We’re running really low. And I have half a dozen vamps coming in who got turned away last night. Two nights in a row of no blood and we could have a serious problem on our hands.”
“Take mine.” Olivia startled herself with her words.
Ethan looked at her. “How long since you last gave?”
“Long enough.”
Ethan hesitated only a moment before leading her to a chair and pulling out the necessary equipment. As he looked for the vein in the crook of her elbow, he met her gaze for a moment. “I’ve never seen anyone other than my sister give blood to a specific vampire.”