‘You know,’ she says, a cruel little smile on her lips, ‘when I tried to turn you the first time, it was because I wanted to punish you. But now that you’ve got yourself a cute little vampire girlfriend, I actually think it’s more punishmentnotto do it.’ She goes for the door handle but turns for a second time as she grabs it. ‘You can rot, and she can watch you,’ she throws out, half over her shoulder, and then the door opens to reveal the inimitable figure of Elias Moreno.
I see her slight pause as she clocks him, the tension that zips up her spine. It’s a pretty common occurrence with Elias– the dude is a household name, after all. But then she raises one finger at him in a ragged point and it becomes clear she isn’t starstruck at all.
She’sfurious.
‘And you can fuck off as well,’ she spits out, right into his face. And then she marches out of the room and slams the door behind her. The entire room shakes with the force of it. There’s a moment during which we’re all stunned into silence, but it’s broken by Cam’s chuckle.
‘What didyoudo to her?’
Elias holds up both hands, feigning innocence, but there’s something that looks a lot like guilt in his eyes.
‘I, um?—’
‘Jesus Christ, Elias,’ Bram interrupts, dropping back into the chair beside my bed. ‘Is thereanyoneyou haven’t slept with?’
Elias’s eyebrows pinch together. ‘I didn’t sleep with her! I, um…’ He winces. ‘I turned her.’
As I realise what Elias has just said– in particular, the implications of it– my eyes dart to Bram, who’s staring right back at me, his mouth hanging open in shock. Then we both turn to Elias.
‘Don’t look at me like that,’ he says. ‘It was a few hundred years ago. I’m a better man now. I flew across the world to see this idiot, didn’t I?’
He gestures to me and my battered body. I can’t help but laugh.
‘I’mliterallystill in a hospital bed,’ I say, ‘but we’ll come back to that. You turned Abby?’
Elias rolls his eyes. ‘In like the 17-whatevers so yeah, I’m sure she’s over it by now. Although, wait. Now I think about it, I actually might have slept with her. Right before or right after, I’m not sure which.’
It dawns on us all at almost the same time. Bram and I exchange another glance, and I see Florence and Cam do the same out of the corner of my eye. Then we all turn our attention to Elias. I mean, what are the chances?
He frowns, looking at us like we’ve all collectively lost our minds. ‘What?!’
‘I think…’ I start, pulling in a long breath to stave off the laugh that’s bubbling at the base of my throat. ‘I think your sluttiness might just have saved the day.’
* * *
Almost an hour passes before I finally get Florence alone.
She stands quietly, attentively, while the others chat excitedly about the possibility that Elias, as Abby’s sire, could finish turning me. It’s a better outcome than I could have imagined. I don’t have to have any contact with her at all, and I like Elias a lot. He gives me as much shit as Bram does, but I know it comes from a good place. I mean, he’s a literal rockstar who flew back from his world tour when he heard I’d been injured.
‘Should we do a trial run first?’ Florence asks then, and my heart leaps into my chest at the sound of her voice. I turn to look at her, but when I do, I find that she’s directing her question to Cam. ‘In the lab, I mean. Should we test the theory before we let loose on Quinn?’
Cam hums in agreement. ‘I think that would be prudent. I have some extra blood samples that we took from Quinn while he was sedated, so Elias, if you don’t mind providing some blood too, we should be able to very quickly see if your cells are compatible with Abby’s.’
Elias jumps up. ‘Course. Should we do it now?’
‘No time like the present,’ Cam chirps, and they make their way to the door.
‘I’ll come too,’ Bram says, clambering out of his seat. I wonder what he’s doing before I catch the loaded look on his face, the quick glance towards Florence. He strides after the others, throwing me a wink as he shuts the door behind him.
And then it’s only us. Us, and the almost-steady beeping of my heart monitor.
‘So…’ Florence says, after a moment or two.
I chance another look at her and find her looking right back at me this time. ‘So,’ I say, and there’s a grate to my voice that feels like more than residual soreness from being intubated. It feels like there’s a lot riding on this one conversation, and I’m not sure how to begin, how not to ruin things before we even get a chance to make it right.
The silence stretches between us like a taut string. Ten seconds pass, then twenty. I see Florence’s jaw working, hear the unsteady breath she blows out. I’m just about to say something, anything, when she flops down on the edge of my bed and buries her face into my chest.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she mumbles, her face pressed up against my hospital gown. ‘I heard about your accident and I panicked and ran.’ I feel a sob rush out of her. ‘I was so scared I’d lose you.’