Chapter 41 #3
“Why the hell would I lie about it if my life was on the line?” I was but that wasn’t the point. The point was they were deluding themselves into thinking vampires were real, and they were killing people with the cure.
“We saw the marks.”
“It’s fake. The bite’s not real.” Knowing I’d put myself in this position, Jack was going to have a field day. Once he found out, I doubted he would ever let me out of his sight again. “We thought everyone needed bite marks to get in.”
My convincing did nothing. They were sold on their narrative and there would be no changing their minds.
“She needs the first dose soon, Hank. She was bitten over an hour ago.” Todd worked to roll the woman over, but she rode him like a bucking bronco. “Her heart might stop if we wait any longer! You saved my life in minutes, minutes, Hank, it might already be too late for her!”
Hank thumbed the blue cap off—the autoinjector equivalent of disengaging the safety—and reared back his hand. And for a moment, I thought I wasn’t going to get out of this, that I was going to get stabbed in the neck with adrenaline.
I could take it. One dose of adrenaline. To the neck. Once he stabbed me, he’d have nothing to hold over my head. He wouldn’t be able to restock. I gritted my teeth, ready to grimace and bare it, when—
“I’d think again,” Jezebel’s voice cooed from somewhere behind me. The rush of panic fizzled. Hank froze.
Though I couldn’t see her, I got the distinct impression Jezebel was threatening him with a sharp object to his throat. Yes, she’d saved me from a jab to the neck, but I was more content knowing she was alright.
As part of our plan, Jezebel was meant to break into the apothecary van while the staff were otherwise occupied looking for me. I was starting to worry my miscalculation had gotten her into hot water. I’d never been happier to be wrong.
“Nice of you to finally join us, Jez,” I teased, trying not to let the fear and fading surge of my own adrenaline shake my voice. Considering the capsule threatening my neck, I said, “Let me guess, they’ve got a stash of auto-injectors in there.”
“Van was chock-full of them.”
Todd made another attempt to dislodge the woman, but his body didn’t cooperate, and she dropped her weight into the center of his back. “She’s got a shoe to your throat, Hank. Not a knife.”
“It’s a stiletto.” Jez corrected. “It’s sharp enough to make you think twice about whatever you’re planning next.”
“We’re saving her, you dolt. But you wouldn’t know that would you? You’re just another mindless familiar with a death wish.”
I caught a silhouette of a nearing form over the woman’s shoulder. “The only people here with a death wish are you, and Hank.”
“Enough, hurry up and save her, Hank! She’ll thank us later.”
The capsule of autoinjector rose, ready to plunge. The silhouette’s arm drew back.
“Jezebel,” I warned. “Duck.”
Hank’s arm lurched towards my neck, bracing myself, a disturbance rippled the air, a hard object whizzing past my face.
Clack!
There was a smack of something against hard plastic. A thud on the grass, followed by a guttural, “Gah!” while Hank’s meaty palm connected with my throat—but no needle.
“You okay, darling?” Carmen who had just thrown a rock with startling accuracy sprinted towards us.
A throaty “yep,” was all I could manage after the blow to my trachea. But still I smiled, as Carmen picked up speed, and I realized she was about to full-on linebacker tackle the disoriented woman off Todd’s back.
Okay, Carmen was officially in my good books.
My straight white teeth still fully on display, I grabbed a hold of Hank’s arm and used the only weapon at my disposal. I bit him.
“You bitch!”
He thrashed, releasing his hold around my abdomen to clutch his wounded wrist. Blood pooled between his fingers.
I’d broken the skin.
I spat. Biting people was gross. Zero out of ten. Do not recommend.
The tang of copper coating my lips, Hank was only upright for a second, before crashing to the ground, with a swipe of Jezebel’s legs.
From there we devolved into clash of hands and fists and feet, as Jez and I made to immobilize Hank and get the autoinjector out of his reach. He managed to land a couple of kicks to my shins, and tore a couple of holes in my dress, before I wrangled his legs into submission.
“Stop. Moving.” Jezebel sat on Hank’s chest, feet to his wrists, stiletto to his throat. “You’re only making it harder on yourself.”
But Hank just kept wriggling, shouting, “I’m bit! I’m bit! Oh my god, I’m bit!”
“Hank, Hank! It’s okay, honey, just hold on!”
Todd, still prone, kept a firm grip on the woman’s ankles as she tried and failed to kick out of his hold. Carmen had the woman’s hands secured against the ground above her head. A ragged smile pulled at Carmen’s lips. “This is normal for you I take it?”
Hank’s legs wriggled beneath me. “I normally don’t have to use my teeth.”
“I’m going to die! I’m bit, I’m bit!” he cried.
“Shut up.” Jezebel dropped her weight on his heaving chest. “You’re not going to die.”
“We need to get him treatment, or his death will be on your hands!”
“Is there a way you get them to stop screaming?” Carmen asked, her nose wrinkling.
Hank’s squirming slowed, but I kept my grip firm. “They’ll cry themselves out after a while. Shouldn’t be too long now.”
As if on cue, the woman started crying, “I love you, honey. You know that right? Whatever happens. I’ll love you.”
Hank was crying too. “I love you, Maeve. I’ll never stop loving you. You’re my everything.”
I rolled my eyes. “No one’s going to die.”
The couple wept, full on wracking waves, and we took the moment to catch our breath.
In our moment of respite, I seized the opportunity to slip Hank’s wallet from his front pocket.
The “success” comment Hank made bothered me.
If he’d had success, he must have injected a familiar with epinephrine before, and there was only one person that came to mind, and their name wasn’t Hank.
It was the name printed on Hank’s driver’s license: Henry Day.
“Your name is Henry?” I was taken aback. “I thought you were Hank?”
The man and woman kept on crying.
“Hank is a nickname for Henry,” Carmen offered.
That was news to me. “What?”
Carmen shrugged. “I couldn’t tell you why, but it’s a thing.”
At least the logic was making sense. If there were more people running around injecting epinephrine to prevent ‘vampire transformations’ it would be a real cause for concern.
“Uh, Delilah?” the alarm was noticeable in Jezebel’s voice. “Not to worry you, but are the people running towards us with guns friendly?”
Over my shoulder, Kaatz and Zhou were sprinting at full speed across the lawn towards us, guns at their side.
“Finally.” I sagged with relief, but didn’t give Hank any leeway. “Took you long enough.”