Divine noted the shock and dismay on Jackie’s face as she took in what the fire had done to Marcus’s face and found herself peering at him closely. She’d somehow forgotten that his face still bore the ravages of the fire. In the form of scars, but it was still ravaged.
“Dear God, Marcus.” That comment, just as horrified as Jackie’s expression, drew Divine’s gaze to a male immortal just coming out of the house. He was as dark as the woman was fair, his face holding chiseled features and the striking silver-blue eyes of an Argeneau. He was also obviously aghast at the state of Marcus at the moment.
“You were in the RV at the time,” Jackie said, and it wasn’t a question. Her gaze then turned to Divine and narrowed. “But you weren’t.”
“No. I wasn’t,” Divine said, her voice cool at the suspicion in the woman’s eyes. “I was in town and returned to find the RV in flames and Marcus hiding in the cotton candy trailer.”
“She helped me to the SUV and got me out of there,” Marcus said quickly, drawing the couple’s attention his way again. “She’s been taking care of me for the last twenty-four hours, and managed to find me a couple of donors to help get the healing started. But I obviously need more blood to finish, and she needs blood too, but neither of us were comfortable feeding off the hoof once the worst of the healing was done.”
Divine’s gaze flickered at his words. She hadn’t been uncomfortable with his feeding off the hoof, although she had found herself reluctant to feed that way now that she knew she wasn’t supposed to. His neglecting to feed off the gas station attendant despite the agony she knew he must be in had made her reluctant to feed off the attendant herself despite the gnawing in her stomach. Still, she hadn’t mentioned her reluctance to Marcus and wondered if he had been able to somehow recognize it, or was just saying that for the couple’s benefit.
“Well, we had a fresh delivery yesterday so have lots of blood on hand at the moment,” Vincent said cheerfully, drawing Divine’s attention back to the couple in time to see Jackie peering at her intently. She wondered about that as Vincent continued, “So come on inside. It’s bed and blood for the two of you. It looks like you both need it.”
“Thank you,” Marcus said solemnly, taking Divine’s arm.
She was about to shake off his hold, but then realized he wasn’t trying to control her, just taking her arm to walk her inside in what would be considered a gentlemanly fashion. She really wasn’t used to this kind of treatment.
“Come, the kitchen is this way,” Jackie said brightly, leading them down the hall as Vincent turned to lock the front door. It seemed they were security conscious, she noted, and wondered about that.
Marcus released Divine’s arm and shifted his hand to her back as they followed the young woman. Divine had to grit her teeth to hold back the shiver the touch inspired.
“We have loads of blood, so don’t be shy. Besides, Bastien is sending more, remember,” Jackie reminded them as she led them into the large bright kitchen at the end of the hall.
Divine watched Jackie move to a refrigerator and open it to peer inside, but then turned her gaze over the kitchen. It was probably every mortal’s dream kitchen; lots of cupboards, a kitchen table, a large island with stools around it, and one wall made up of large windows and French doors that overlooked a pool. She eyed the pool with interest. Divine had loved to swim since she was a small child and it had come naturally to her. They used to say she was swimming before she was walking, although she didn’t know if that were true.
“Here you go.”
Divine turned to see that Jackie had retrieved half a dozen bags of blood and was holding one out to her.
“Thank you,” she murmured, accepting the offering. But she just held it. When she glanced to Marcus and saw that Jackie had already given him a bag, two in fact, and that he had opened his mouth and was raising one to his descending teeth, her eyes widened with alarm. “Wait. Marcus, maybe you should—”
She didn’t bother to finish. The bag was already fastened to his teeth and draining so fast it would have been empty before she could finish speaking.
“Is something wrong?” Jackie asked as Vincent entered the kitchen.
“Oh dear,” he murmured, taking in the situation.
“What?” Jackie asked with bewilderment as Marcus dragged the now empty bag from his teeth, alarm on his own face.
“I didn’t think,” he gasped apologetically, and had barely finished saying it when he cried out and dropped to his knees.
Divine sighed and handed her bag back to Jackie as she knelt next to Marcus. “Can you walk?”
His answer was a roar of pain as he reached for his face, both hands extended in claws.
Divine caught his hands before he could try to rip off his own face and looked to Vincent, yelling, “There’s chain in the back of the SUV.”
Nodding, he turned and rushed out of the kitchen.
“What’s going on?” Jackie asked with alarm, shouting to be heard over Marcus. “He was fine a minute ago.”
“That was before he had the blood,” Divine snapped, blaming her for giving him the blood in the first place. But then recalling that the girl hadn’t been an immortal long, and certainly situations like this didn’t crop up every day, she dug deep for patience and as Marcus’s screams dropped to a constant, ululating moan, explained, “The nanos are taking up the blood and rushing to try to finish their repairs. It will be excruciating. Marcus should have been chained or tied down before he was given blood.”
“But then why did he drink it?” Jackie asked with dismay.
“He obviously wasn’t thinking clearly,” she said grimly.
“But he seemed fine,” Jackie argued sounding a little shaky. “He was talking fine, and thinking fine . . . and you let him drive here,” she pointed out, sounding accusatory.
“He was fine,” Divine assured her grimly. “I wouldn’t have let him drive otherwise, but—” Marcus managed to get one hand free of her hold, and she took a moment to grab it up again, before saying, “Look, when he woke up the last time it was because he was no longer in danger medically speaking, and the nanos needed more blood to finish healing him. They back off then, buzzing around inside the body, attacking nonessential organs like the bladder and kidneys in search of more blood—”
“Those are hardly nonessential organs,” Jackie protested.
“They are for an immortal. Any damage done to them will be reversed the moment the immortal gets more blood. In the meantime, the pain serves to tell the host that they need that blood. The nanos mostly leave the mind and limbs alone, though, until the necessary blood arrives. They are usually healed first anyway.”
“Why?” Jackie asked at once.
“I presume because the brain and mobility may be needed for the host to get the blood the nanos need,” Divine said through gritted teeth as she dragged Marcus’s hands to clasp them against her chest and press them there. He’d nearly slipped her hold again, and she had no doubt that if he got loose he’d try to rip his own face off in a desperate bid to end the pain he was presently enduring. It wouldn’t work, of course, but he wasn’t exactly thinking clearly right now. All Marcus would be aware of at this point was the agony he was going through as the nanos set to work repairing the newly formed scars on his face. It probably felt like the flesh was on fire, or like they’d pressed red-hot frying pans to his face. Basically, a million little nanos were tearing away the damaged skin in tiny pieces and rebuilding fresh, baby-soft skin in its place.
“So the pain went away long enough for him to get the blood?” Jackie asked, sounding almost fascinated.