Chapter 52
I woke up in hospital to the sounds of machines beeping, and the strong, bitter smell of disinfectant.
“Ava, look, she’s awake,” Dad said from next to me.
“Dad?” I turned towards the voice.
He gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Good to see you awake, Rock Star.”
“Sweetie, we were so worried,” Mum said, her eyes full of concern. “Your friends are out in the waiting room, and an officer. They’re waiting to talk to you.”
I couldn’t talk. Their presence made me realise that if I had died in that cell, they would never have known what happened to me. If Matteo had turned me, they very well could have been my first victims. Despair overwhelmed me, and I let out a sob.
“Shhhh, hey, you’re all right.” Mum ran her fingers through my hair, humming.
The sound was a comfort to me, and I relaxed. “What happened?” I murmured, trying to remember how I’d ended up in hospital.
“We got a call saying that someone had dropped you in Emergency, insisting that you needed a blood transfusion,” Dad said.
“The doctor said you had lost a lot of blood, but there were no injuries, so she couldn’t understand it.”
Carlos. Grateful that he’d done as Matteo asked, I would have to thank him if I ever saw him again. I didn’t know how much time passed, Mum holding my hand, Dad just standing there with his arms crossed.
“Are you going to tell me why you’re letting vampires feed off you?” Mum asked.
There were way too many people in my life who knew about vampires, while I’d been oblivious.
“I didn’t let them do anything,” I grumbled, not bothering to deny anything. “I got locked in a cage with a starving vampire.”
Mum pressed her lips together. “Yet you survived. How?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. I really don’t. One minute his fangs were in my throat, the next…” I struggled to remember. There had been a conversation, or had I imagined it? “I don’t know,” I said again. “I thought I was about to die.”
“How the hell did you get yourself involved with vampires?” Dad asked.
I didn’t know how to answer that question .
“Why don’t we let her talk to her friends?” Mum said. “Liam, she looks like she’s been through a lot. Be gentle.”
He relented. “Right. Let them in, I have to go back to work, anyway.” Despite his stern voice, he cast me another worried look as he walked out.
I rolled my eyes at Mum. “He thinks I’m still twelve.”
She frowned. “Today has been hard for both of us, my songbird. I hope we never receive a call like we did today. We already lost one daughter; we thought we were about to lose another.”
“I’m sorry,” I said in a small voice.
“It’s okay, just whatever it is you’re doing, be careful,” she smiled. “I’ll go tell Mia and Lilith they can come in.” She quickly left.
I had wires attached to me, with a sharp pinch of a needle in my arm. The machine beeping next to my bed made me grit my teeth.
“Quinn?” Mia’s voice shook as she stood in the doorway. “Oh my god!” She ran to me, hugging me, before slapping my shoulder. “I was so scared for you!”
Lilith stood behind her. “So, you got a blood transfusion,” she said. “I thought for sure when they took you that we’d never see you as a human again.”
“Lil, we don’t have to talk about that now!” Mia said, squeezing my hand.
“Actually, we do. Sorry, Quinn; Richie has some questions.” Lilith moved aside as her older brother entered.
As always, her brother’s resemblance to Lilith was uncanny. The same white-blonde hair and blue eyes.
“Hi Richie,” I said. “I suppose this is Hunter business.”
He smiled at my forwardness. “That’s right. Your association with vampires is a concern, but I’m relieved that I didn’t have to kill my little sister’s best friend.”
I flinched. He’d always been brutally honest, and that day was no different.
“So, what happened?” Lilith asked. “Did you see Matteo?”
I didn’t want to talk about it. I was tired of thinking about the whole ordeal. “Gabriela shut me in with him in the hopes to make him turn me. Or kill me, I don’t know which.”
“So, why didn’t he?” Lilith’s brother asked, eyes on my throat. “Clearly, he fed on you. Vampires aren’t known for their control. They’re animals who look like us, and they spread their plague, so why are you in a hospital bed right now, after a blood transfusion, instead of another one joining their ranks?”
“Why the hell are you blaming me for this?” I demanded, my temper flaring. “I’m the one who was taken and fed on. I almost died, but this is my fault?” I glared at Lilith. “I gave myself up to protect the two of you. She would have killed you.”
Lilith’s face softened.
“Richie, go easy on her,” Lilith said.
“It’s Richard,” he grumbled.
“Right now, it’s Dick,” she replied.
I snorted. Mia’s eyes lit up as she tried to suppress laughter.
Lilith sat in the chair Mum had been in. “Quinn, is there anything you can tell us about where they took you? Richie thinks they have a den somewhere, and we can take them all out at once.”
Take them all out at once. She really hated vampires enough to kill them all. She was so different from the best friend I’d grown up with. I didn’t understand her hatred of vampires. Matteo had never denied what he was, and he had shown me he was capable of remorse. Of tenderness.
“I’m sorry,” I said to Lilith’s brother. “I don’t even remember how they took me there. They took me away from Lil and Mia in the alley, then suddenly I was in the cell with Matteo.”
“Cell?” Richie’s interest piqued and he stepped forward.
“He’s locked up after what he did. I don’t think Gabriela was very happy with him,” I explained.
Richie pulled his phone out of his pocket.
“Dad, it’s me. Matteo Barone is subdued. That’s why no one has seen him.” He listened. “Do you think that will work?” His eyes darted to Lilith, and she rose, moving towards him.
“What’s he saying?” she asked.
He shushed her. “How do we go about doing that? Right. Are you sure she will agree to this? Well, it can’t hurt, I guess, unless we all die.” He hung up.
“What was that about?” Lilith demanded.
Richie grabbed her by the arm and dragged her from the room.
“I guess we don’t get to hear,” Mia said. “Even though she told me everything, she’s still so secretive.” There was hurt in Mia’s eyes.
“I’m sure she just wants to keep you safe,” I said. I shifted around in the bed, trying to get comfortable. “Can you pass me some water?”
“Quinn?” Mia passed me a glass of water from the side table.
“Yeah.” I gulped back the water, cool liquid a relief, refreshing .
“I was really scared for you. We have our tour in a few months, and I was scared you’d never get to see your dream come true.” She touched my shoulder. “Our dream. Lilith went looking for you, and I didn’t sleep at all last night. I was so worried. For both of you.”
I touched her arm. “I was, too,” I admitted. “I wasn’t really thinking about the concert at the time, but I actually thought I would die.” Guilt washed over me then. In the moment I thought I was dying, my last thought hadn’t been about my friends or family, but about Matteo, and his damn song.
“The tour,” Lilith muttered at the door. “I’d almost forgotten about it.”
“This vampire thing has taken over our entire lives,” Mia said. “I miss our old life, before a sexy Italian vampire tried to make Quinn his queen.”
I scoffed. “What?”
“His queen?” Laughter danced in Lilith’s eyes.
“I don’t know, isn’t that what they do?” Mia shrugged.
The tension that had been between me and Lilith lately partially melted as we burst out laughing.
“Mia, no more of your dark romance books,” Lilith shook her head. “Especially the vampire ones.”
Mia gave a sly smile “I don’t hear you complaining when I get frisky because of my books.”
“I guess now we know why you hate vampire movies,” I said.
“I grew up knowing about the real thing. I never understood why people were so obsessed over them. Why they were romanticised.” Lilith grabbed my hand. “I’m glad you’re okay. We tried to find you, but we didn’t know where to start. ”
Carlos’s words echoed in my mind. It was on the tip of my tongue to ask her about Rowan.
“I’m okay,” I reassured them both. “I just hope Matteo is.”
“Hopefully soon, we won’t have to worry about him,” Lilith promised. “Ever again.”
“Why? What did your brother say?” Mia asked.
“They’re going to try to get Gabriela’s attention by offering to take Matteo off her hands.” Lilith’s eyes were on me as she said it. “He thinks her anger at Matteo might be enough for her to give him up.” She met my eyes. “So we can kill him, as our ancestors were hired to do.”