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Then she recalled Chase’s words: Give me fifteen minutes after I drink blood and use the ointment, and if I’m still bad you can call your good friend Steve.
For one second, she worried how awkward that would be, but before that second ended, she had dialed and was waiting for Steve to answer.
He picked up on the first ring.
“Hey.” In that one word, she heard how happy he was to hear from her.
“I need you to come to cabin fourteen. Chase’s hurt … It’s bad.”
She pulled in a deep breath. “I’m sorry.” She realized he’d hung up. Was he coming? Was he angry that—? Chase moaned. Della ran to the bed and caught his hand.
“Chase? Can you hear me?” She lifted his head and held the bottle of blood to his lips. “Drink some blood. You need blood.” He didn’t drink and his head fell to the side.
She heard someone running up the steps. Inhaling, she got Steve’s scent. He didn’t knock, just ran in.
“In here.”
“What happened?” Steve set a bag down and went to stand by the bed.
Baxter growled.
“No, Baxter,” Della said, and then, “I … don’t really know. He was going to a prison to see if someone there had information about my aunt’s killer.”
“I thought your uncle—”
“My uncle said it was another vampire.”
“How long has he been unconscious?” Steve asked.
“Just a few minutes.”
Steve spotted the bottle on the bedside table. “Did you get him to drink any blood?”
“No. He passed out.”
Steve pulled out an IV line, needle, and bag. “Take his clothes off and see how bad his injuries are while I set this up. And … get the dog out of the bed.”
Della motioned for Baxter to get down. He didn’t like it, but he did it. Dropping down on the other side of the bed, he looked up at Steve as if to say he wasn’t going any farther.
Della started undressing Chase, and the sight of the wound in his abdomen made her breath catch. “It’s bad.” Her voice shook.
“He’s vampire.” Steve grabbed the blood and poured it into a bag. “If it’s just blood loss he’ll be okay. Take his jeans off, too,” Steve said. “To make sure he doesn’t have more wounds.”
The fact that she was undressing Chase only seemed awkward when she started unzipping his jeans. She saw his green fitted boxers, and recalled him joking about her being interested in his underwear. Now her only interest was making sure he lived to tease her about this. Her chest hurt again from the fear that he wouldn’t ever know, that she’d never hear him tease her again, or see his eyes brighten with a smile.
“He doesn’t have any wounds on his legs,” she said, tugging his jeans off and tossing them on the dresser.
When she looked back, she recalled touching Chase’s back and thinking he’d had wounds there as well. She turned him over. With her hands on his bare torso, she noted how shallow his breaths were. “He has another one in the back. Oh, God. It’s bad, too.” She clenched her fist. “Please don’t let him die, Steve.”
Steve’s eyes met hers for one second. “I’ll do everything I can.” He looked away and hooked the blood bag on the back of the bed. He shifted Della out of the way. “Let me get the IV in and then I’ll check his wounds.”
Della called Kylie again. No one answered. “Where are you? Please come to cabin fourteen.” If Steve’s magic didn’t work, maybe Kylie’s would. But even Kylie couldn’t heal Della during her rebirth, and Kylie hadn’t been able to save Ellie the vampire, either.
Della felt a few tears roll down her cheek and she swiped them away. “Tell me he’s going to be okay,” Della said to Steve.
“Get me some hot water to clean the wounds,” he spouted out.
“Oh, and I’ll get the ointment. I think it’s in the kitchen.”