Chapter 40
At the sound of the double doors of the clinic opening, Catalina sat up. For her own safety, Maya had locked her in when she’d left shortly before sunrise. It wasn’t safe for her to go back to her own flat. She understood that.
A glance at the digital twenty-four-hour clock confirmed that it was daytime, and it couldn’t be Maya who was coming back.
Who was entering the clinic during the day?
Light on her feet, she went to the door of the hospital room she’d been sleeping in.
She’d left it ajar and now spied through the gap between the door and frame.
A scent hit her first, before she could see who it was.
It was different from the scents she’d encountered so far: the scents of vampire hybrids like Benjamin and Maya’s daughter, and that of a pure-blooded vampire like Maya and Brandon.
This was entirely different. It was overpowering, potent, and drugging.
Inside her body, she felt a change coming over her.
Her vision tinted red, and she felt her jaw ache as her canines lengthened slowly, while her hands turned into long, sharp claws.
She stared at her hands in disbelief. How could a scent do this to her?
She ripped the door open fully and stepped into the main area of the clinic, a circular space with a nurses’ station in the middle and treatment areas around its perimeter. Her eyes shot to the entrance, where two men had just entered. The double doors fell shut behind them.
Her brother stood only a few yards away from her, dressed in a dark suit, not the prison garb she’d become so used to. Next to him was Benjamin.
“Santiago,” she choked out. “You’re free.”
Her vision clouded, and she felt hot tears stream down her cheeks.
“Catalina, it’s really you,” he replied and hurried toward her, his arms wide to hug her.
When she felt his arms around her and buried her face in his chest, she was assaulted by his strong scent. It wasn’t perfume or aftershave. It was the scent of his blood. His human blood. That’s what had caused her transformation.
“You’re alive,” he said into her hair, his voice breaking.
His heart pounded against his chest, and she could hear it as if somebody was using a megaphone to project it to a crowd.
She lifted her head, and her face touched his neck.
Instinctively, she inhaled the scent of blood that was stronger now.
Hunger twisted her stomach into knots, while a shudder charged through her.
Looking over Santiago’s shoulder, she noticed Benjamin approaching. Her lips peeled away from her gums, ready to still the hunger that was now almost unbearable.
“Catalina, no!” Benjamin called out. “Santiago, step away, now!”
She felt Santiago move, but she was holding on to him now like a favorite toy she wasn’t willing to part with.
Not without a fight. But before she could drop her mouth to her brother’s neck and sink her fangs into him, he was ripped from her, and she suddenly found herself facing Benjamin, her brother safely behind his broad back.
“You don’t want to do that, Catalina.”
“What is happening?” Santiago asked, his voice shaking.
“She wants your blood,” Benjamin explained. “Go into the room just behind us, the one with the observation window, and lock the door from the inside. Don’t come out until I tell you it’s safe.”
When Santiago followed Benjamin’s command, his scent lingered, but it wasn’t as strong anymore. Slowly, her claws turned back into hands, but her fangs remained extended. The hunger was still there, strong as ever.
“You need to feed,” he said and went to a large refrigerator.
He pulled a glass bottle from it, unscrewed it, and handed it to her.
She recognized the bottle. “So it wasn’t tomato juice, was it?”
He shook his head. “Drink, it will help.”
Slowly, she set the bottle to her lips and took a sip. Her body recognized it as human blood. How, she didn’t know. But her instinct was to drink it. She emptied it completely within seconds, then put the bottle on a counter.
“Better now?” Benjamin asked.
Tears threatened to overwhelm her again, now that the worst of the hunger had subsided.
“I almost attacked him. Like I attacked you…”
“It’s hard to control at first,” he said with a gentle smile. “I’m so sorry.”
This was her chance to tell him what she needed to say.
“No, you shouldn’t be sorry. You saved my life. You did the right thing.” She wiped away her tears. “I have to apologize for running out on you. I should never have doubted you. I should have given you a chance to explain.”
“I’m sorry you had to find out this way. Had I only had the courage to tell you earlier…”
He sighed, and she took a step closer, hesitating. There was so much that needed to be said between them, but she also realized that this wasn’t the time or the place.
“We both made mistakes,” she admitted. “Please help me so I don’t make another one.”
She motioned toward the room where her brother had taken refuge. He stared at them through the glass.
“You should be good now for a while,” Benjamin said. “Santiago, it’s okay to come out now.”
Benjamin reached for a wet wipe from the nurses’ station and handed it to her.
“Here. To wipe away your tears.”
“Thank you.”
Santiago came out of the room and walked toward them. He refrained from hugging her again, and she was glad for it.
“You look good,” she said to him. “Black suits you better than orange.”
“Yeah, never liked orange much,” he replied. “Benjamin got me the suit for the funeral.”
“What funeral?”
“Yours.”
“Oh.”
She looked at Benjamin. Nobody had mentioned to her that she would have to be declared dead now that she was a vampire, nor had Brandon mentioned it.
“You have to do that for all people who get turned into vampires?”
“No,” Benjamin said quickly. “But I had to make sure the Prestons are getting a long prison sentence, not just a few years. With you officially dead, they’ll face murder one.”
“I guess I missed a few things.”
“I’ll let Santiago fill you in.”
At his words, she stared at him in panic. “You’re not leaving us alone, are you?”
“No, don’t worry. I’ll stay here until Santiago wants to leave.” He addressed Santiago, “And of course you can visit as often as you like, until we figure out something permanent for Catalina.”
She gave Benjamin a clandestine look, but she didn’t want to ask him what he meant by that, not in front of her brother. It was a conversation that should be private.
As if he’d noticed her look, Benjamin met her eyes. A warm golden glow appeared in his irises. It was the same look she’d seen when they’d made love. Her heart filled with warmth and confidence.
With a smile, she turned to her brother. “Now tell me what happened with the Prestons.”
As Santiago told her the extent of the Prestons’ crimes, and how Judge Norton had helped them, and was now also under arrest and facing a lengthy sentence once convicted, she felt something akin to normalcy return to her.
Her brother was innocent and free again, and the real culprits would pay for what they’d done.
Without Benjamin, she could have never done this.
He and his colleagues had done more than what she’d ever expected anybody to do.
Her belief in the good in people was restored.
And it didn’t really matter whether they were human or vampire.
What mattered was what was in their hearts.
She knew that now, because she could feel it inside herself.
She was still the same person, the sister who would do anything to free her brother, the daughter who would give anything to help and support her parents.
And Benjamin was still the same man she’d fallen in love with.
And she was prepared to fight for that love to see it bloom again.