Unhinged (Malus Vampire Family #2)

Chapter 1

Chapter

One

Abead of warm blood drips down my forehead, catching on my eyelashes.

My heartbeat reverberates inside my chest and time stops.

Devon’s eyes widen and his gaze meets mine for half a second before he collapses onto the ground.

I stand there, rooted to the spot, still staring at the place Devon just was.

And then I blink and everything hits me all at once.

“No!” I scream and fall to my knees, hands shaking as I reach for the arrow that’s sticking out of Devon’s chest. All the years of training go out the window and I start to panic.

“It’s okay,” I tell him, though by the amount of blood that’s pouring from the wound, I don’t think he will be.

The arrow hit him right under his collarbone, missing his heart—I think.

“You’re going to be okay.” Tears fill my eyes and I put my hands on the wound, meaning to stop the blood but when I press down, it only makes him bleed more.

Screaming, I jerk my hands back only to reach for him again. He feebly brings a hand up and I freeze, looking into his eyes as he wraps his fingers around mine.

“Stay away from them,” he pants, struggling to say each word. He coughs, sputtering up blood.

“Wren,” someone says, and I feel them coming up behind me.

“He’s not a vampire!” I cry, tears filling my eyes.

I blink rapidly and try to remember what you should do when someone has been shot.

Put pressure on the wound. Do not remove the arrow.

I put my hands back to Devon’s chest. This isn’t the first time I’ve tended to someone gravely injured; in our line of work, you stumble across things like this pretty frequently.

But I’ve never seen someone I care about—someone I love—hurt and dying before my eyes.

I can hear Leo and Ryder arguing several paces back and then Antonio’s hand lands on my shoulder. I turn and a mixture of my tears and Devon’s blood drips down my face.

"We thought he was—” Antonio starts, face sickly pale white. He holds my gaze for a moment and then jumps into action, taking off his plaid button-up shirt to use to stop the bleeding. “Keep him with us,” he tells me and I take one bloody hand from Devon’s chest and smooth back his hair.

“Hey,” I say, voice breaking. “You’re going to be fine.”

Devon’s eyes flutter shut and I shake him out of desperation. He’s going to bleed out if we don’t get him to a hospital—or if Xavier doesn’t get here in time.

“Get the car,” Antonio orders and I look up to see Leo and Ryder just standing there.

“I thought he was a vampire,” Ryder says, and I don’t know if he’s talking to me or just out loud to himself. “They said he took you. He was the one who took you.”

“Get the car!” I repeat, my tone shrill. My mind is torn; part is playing through what I should do as a hunter who is unbiased and well trained in intense situations like this. And the other part is panicking and terrified of losing Devon.

“We need to get him to the ER,” Antonio says. “Call 911 but anticipate taking him ourselves.”

His words should calm me, reminding me that we have a plan. But it sends another wave of fear through me: we don’t have the average eight minutes it takes for EMTs to arrive on scene.

“Hey, hey, hey,” I rush out, hands trembling as I watch Devon’s eyes flutter open and shut again. “Stay with me. You’re going to be okay.” I nod, more tears rolling down my face.

“I thought he was a vampire,” Ryder says again in disbelief.

My heart is in my throat and I can hear Leo talking to the 911 dispatcher.

Antonio presses down harder on the wound and Devon’s body shudders.

I close my eyes, unable to look. I’ve never been bothered by anything, no matter how gruesome or gory. But this…I can’t handle this.

And it hits me like a sucker punch to the gut just how much Devon means to me.

I’ve kept him at bay because I had to. He’s my brother-in-law.

Even if we do end up having a child together, I’m not supposed to have feelings for him.

I didn’t want to admit it to myself if I did.

But I do, and it’s more complicated than I can comprehend right now.

I’m not in love with him the way I’m falling for Xavier—or am I?

It doesn’t matter at this moment what’s right or wrong.

Which brother I should risk giving my heart to.

But I can’t deny it anymore. Faced with the reality of losing him, my heart is already breaking.

“You’re going to be okay,” I repeat. Everything around us is still and silent, echoing my rapid heartbeat in my ears.

I’m aware of too much and nothing at the same time: Leo’s shoes scuffing on the loose gravel of the parking lot.

The hum of the bright lights above us. The soft chirping of crickets in the distance.

Traffic. Horns honking. The low hum of music from a bar a block or two over.

It all swirls around me until my vision starts to blur and I rock back, moving from squatting to sitting on the pavement next to Devon. Antonio jerks his head up, looking to make sure I’m okay while keeping pressure on the wound.

“There are EMTs nearby,” Leo says and relief starts to wash over me, but in the back of my mind, I know it’s too soon to let myself think Devon can be saved.

He lost a lot of blood. He’s going to need a transfusion—now.

The arrow most likely shattered his collarbone and by the way he’s breathing, it pierced a lung.

“How long?” Antonio asks, tone level.

“Two minutes.”

“That’s good.” Antonio looks at me. “It’s going to be okay, Wren.”

Abhorrence floods my veins like ice water. I’ve sat next to him while he’s said those same words to victims before, knowing they weren’t true. No one is okay after having their chest ripped open by a wendigo. No one can survive after being bitten by hydra.

And the chances of surviving being shot in the chest by an arrow…

I smooth Devon’s hair back, watching the life fade from him. Mentally, I’m counting down each second. One…two…three…four…five… Two minutes is an eternity. I blink my eyes rapidly, realizing for the first time how badly my left eye stings from the blood that splattered in it.

“Wren,” Devon breathes, lips parting as he gasps for air.

“Shhh,” I tell him. “Save your energy. An ambulance is on its way. You’re going to be okay and then you’ll heal and we’ll talk about going to Europe like we planned. Maybe we’ll even go to Disneyland Paris. Wouldn’t that be fun?”

His eyes fall shut and I wince, whimpering back a sob. I can feel a heartbeat in my fingers and I don’t know if it’s his or mine.

“He’s still alive,” Antonio says, knowing exactly what I’m thinking.

“I got his pulse.” I shift my gaze and see that he has his fingers on Devon’s neck, feeling for the heartbeat.

We’ve all had extensive first-aid training but nothing prepares you for what it’s like when the person you’re providing aid to is someone who has your heart.

“I hear the siren,” Leo says and takes off, going toward the street to flag down the EMTs as soon as they come into view.

My heart is pounding and every second drags by as I count again.

I’m not keeping a steady count and rush through to sixty twice before the ambulance is here.

The EMTs run out and it’s like I’m moving through deep, thick water.

Antonio helps me up, pulling me back as the EMTs get to work.

Leo comes over, putting his arm around me and turning me away so I don’t have to see what’s going on.

Antonio talks to the EMTs, saying we were all together when someone shot at us.

Should I be upset he’s lying? Right now, it doesn’t matter.

My chest is tight, shaking with anxiety and fear.

My hands are trembling and I want to sink down on the pavement and close my eyes, falling asleep so I can wake up in my bed and realize this all is a nightmare and didn’t really happen.

“Take a breath, Wren,” Leo says gently. “You’re holding your breath.”

I let out a shaky breath, nodding quickly. Then I look at Ryder. “What did you do?” I whisper.

“I…I thought he was a vampire,” Ryder repeats and I just shake my head. “He…he said he was the one who took you.”

“He pretended to be a vampire when he came to the house,” Leo says, fingers pressing into my arm as he talks. He’s scared too, whether it’s for Devon’s life or for his own if the Order finds out they shot a human, I don’t know. And then there’s no telling what the Malus family will do.

“We were trying to save you,” Ryder goes on, eyes landing on me as if that will change everything and I’ll thank him. For so long, I wanted him to step up, to be the man who would do anything for me.

To choose me.

“He was innocent.” Tears blur my vision again.

“So were the hunters,” Ryder spits.

“What?” I blink away the tears and reach up, finally wiping my eyes.

“It’s okay when your vampire hunter kills for you, but not when we do.”

“Hey, man,” Leo starts, shaking his head. “Not now.”

“But we—”

“Stop,” Leo interrupts.

The EMTs get Devon onto a stretcher and Antonio comes over, taking my hand. He’s talking, telling me what’s going on but his words are lost on me. I’m shaking as I get into the passenger seat of the ambulance so I’m out of the way.

“We…we can’t meet you there,” Antonio tells me, voice low, right before he closes the door. “You understand, right?”

My head bobs up and down, because I do understand. It’s the same when we send a victim of a demon attack to the hospital. We don’t go, don’t give our real names, don’t get involved more than necessary.

“And I trust you’ll…” Antonio trails off, shaking his head.

“You’ll do the right thing,” he says and closes the door.

Only a few seconds later, we’re off, siren blaring overhead as we speed through the city.

I sit in shock for the first part of the drive, and then remember that I have my phone in my pocket.

My hands are shaking so much it’s hard to unzip my pocket and pull the phone out. I have two missed calls from Xavier. It takes me a few tries to be able to call him back.

“Wren,” he says. “Where are you?”

“I—I’m…I’m on the way to the hospital,” I say, each word coming out jerky. “I’m okay. Devon isn’t.”

“What hospital?”

“I don’t know.” I look at the EMT. “Where—what—where are we going?”

“Atrium General,” he tells me.

“I’ll meet you there,” Xavier says, having heard. “I’ll stay on the phone with you until you get there.”

“Thank you,” I tell him, then realize it was a dumb thing to say.

“What happened?” Xavier asks.

“He was shot. With an arrow. They thought he was a vampire.”

“They? Who, Wren?”

“I…I…”

“Don’t,” he says, changing his mind. “Don’t say anything in front of anyone. Are you okay? Physically?”

“Yes. I’m not hurt.” My whole body trembles and I close my eyes. The scene flashes before my eyes again. “It happened so fast.” My teeth chatter when I talk as if I’m cold. “I...I couldn’t stop it.”

“It’s not your fault, Wren.”

“I could have de…deflected it. I didn’t.”

“It’s not your fault,” he repeats, gently.

I sniffle and wipe my nose with the back of my hand, incidentally smearing blood all over my face. Xavier does his best to keep me focused on what he’s saying, trying to calm me as much as possible.

We get to the hospital and I lower the phone from my ear as I scramble out of the ambulance. I can go into the hospital with them, but I know I won’t be able to follow them into the OR, where they’re rushing to.

I have to force myself to keep my eyes open when Devon is brought out of the back because I’m terrified he’s going to be lifeless and gone. He’s hooked up to an IV and his eyes flutter open as they walk him past me.

“Devon,” I murmur.

“Wren,” he chokes out. “Don’t…don’t let them turn me.”