30. Bella – The Next Morning
Chapter thirty
Bella – The Next Morning
“Let me escort you home through the fog, Bella,” Darius says as we awaken.
“You can’t just say things like ‘escort you home through the fog’ in that voice.”
Darius looks at me. “What voice?”
“That ridiculously elegant, old-fashioned deep vampire voice of yours.”
“I was unaware I possessed one.”
“You absolutely possess one.”
His mouth curves slowly.
“Interesting.”
Damn him. I’m on a high from our night together and we’re now in his car heading to the harbor.
“You know,” I say casually, staring out the window, “for someone who acts emotionally restrained all the time, you were very unrestrained last night.”
Darius grips the steering wheel slightly tighter.
“…Bella.”
“What? I’m simply making a medical observation.”
“You’re enjoying this far too much.”
“Oh, absolutely.”
“Well, by the way, you were as unrestrained as I was, darling. You were … beautiful,” he says with that voice.
My heart skips a beat. I feel like I might already crave him. The feel of him, the smell of him, those eyes, that voice, the way he is with me. The freedom I felt with him last night.
Yeah, our bond is growing. It’s new for me and I admit I like the feeling.
Darius stopped and ducked into Molly’s for coffees. He knows what humans need in the morning and he wanted to shield me from Molly’s observations. Smart.
Now he pulls up to the clinic.
“I’ll see you very soon, Bella.”
He gives me a kiss as I exit the car and go inside.
Finn said nothing about my night away as I come in, bearing coffees from Molly’s. “My hero,” he says, taking a coffee quickly. He takes one for Silas and Lena as well and the second bag with pastries to distribute.
Charlie sniffs the air dramatically as I walk through the door. Well, he says. This situation escalated. And now you smell faintly like him.
My face heats instantly.
“Charlie!”
Facts remain facts, Bella.
I go to the exam rooms, shaking my head. Finn has been monitoring the patients and gives me a report.
“Doc, Lena seems to be having nightmares when she finally falls asleep. I had to calm her down twice last night. Then she said she was hearing whispers. That webbing is darker, too. I had to give her a calming pill and she finally slept.”
“Thanks, Finn. You are a treasure. What about Silas?”
“He’s been running a fever, and his silver necklace is now causing irritation and burning. Had to take it off, but he keeps it in his pocket. I might be crazy, but he looks more pale … he also said he heard voices last night. But he isn’t as volatile as Lena.”
“Tom barely wakes up. It’s almost like he’s in a coma, but the webbing is taking over his body and he’s running a fever.”
I pull out the chart to make notes and decide what we need to do. Then I hear the front door open and see Darius carrying someone in. Quickly and seriously. He just rushes in, fast, controlled and final, carrying a man’s body.
“What’s this,” Finn says quietly beside me.
We lead Darius to an empty treatment room. He lays the man on the table. And for a second, I don’t move. Because my brain refuses to process what I’m looking at. Then training kicks in.
“What happened?” I ask, already reaching for gloves.
“Found him in The Wilds on my way back home,” Darius says. His voice is flat and controlled.
“My Lord,” Finn says.
I look down and start my exam. Can I save him? I can’t.
Everything in me goes cold.
The body of this man is destroyed. He’s torn everywhere. Not like an animal attack would be. Not like anything I’ve seen before.
The skin is shredded. Like something was attacking and searching. Or learning. Or playing.
“Oh God,” Finn mutters as I turn his body. “Thanks John Levine.”
“Stay with me,” I say automatically to the body of John, though there’s no one left to stay.
Charlie looks at me with pity but says nothing.
I check the body anyway. No pulse. Eyes clouded and one of them gone. Skin shredded up and down, blood everywhere. Clothing ripped, bone and skin exposed and bloody. No silver necklace.
I swallow. Hard. Then I see it.
Under the skin of his right arm, or what’s left of it. Those same dark lines, the webbing. Spread like something moved through him before—and then finished the job.
“He was a donor,” Darius says quietly.
I don’t respond. I don’t need to. We both know. Finn looks confused but holds his tongue.
“Recently?” I ask.
“Yes.”
“Bella,” Finn says, quieter now. “That’s not just—”
“I know.”
This isn’t just illness. It’s escalation by whatever is in the woods. By whatever is in their blood not staying contained.
It’s moving outward. And when it does, is this what happens?
I straighten slowly and look at Darius.
“It’s getting stronger. Lena and Tom have darker markings. The silver necklace Silas wears is burning him…”
Silence settles between us, heavy and trepidatious. Because this is happening and it’s escalating.
And whatever we’re dealing with— it just took its first life.