Phantom Shadows Part 37

"Wait!" Cliff s.h.i.+fted his warm, b.l.o.o.d.y fingers on her neck. "I-I-I think I found a pulse. She's not dead yet."

"Yet," Joe repeated and began backing toward the doorway.

"Joe? What are you doing? Get help."

Joe just kept moving, his head rocking back and forth. "I can't do it."

"What?"

"I can't do this. Not without Dr. Lipton. Not without Melanie. I can't be here."

"She isn't-"

"You know what they'll do to us! They hate us! They'll blame us! They'll kill us!"

Cliff gaped as his friend sped through the doorway. He looked over at Stuart, whose wide-eyed gaze was fixed on Dr. Lipton.

Crimson liquid trailed from the corner of his mouth. "I did that?"

"Yes!"

"I didn't mean to!"

Cliff could believe it, but . . . s.h.i.+t! Joe was on the run. Dr. Lipton's heartbeat was faltering. "If you didn't mean it, get your a.s.s over here."

Stuart scrambled forward.

Cliff pa.s.sed him Dr. Lipton, praying he was doing the right thing. "Keep pressure on her neck. I'm gonna go for help."

Stuart nodded. He should be flushed from feeding, but his face was pale as death.

Cliff took one last look at Melanie, then raced from the room. Down the hallway toward the elevator he went, moving so fast he would kill the humans if he b.u.mped into any of them. "Bastien!" he shouted.

Up through the roof of the elevator he went.

What? Bastien called back from somewhere outside.

Cliff leapt up two floors, grabbed the edge, and propelled himself up two more. "Melanie needs you! She's hurt real bad!"

One more leap and he ran smack into Bastien on the ground floor . . . or what was left of it.

"What happened?" he demanded.

"Stuart drained her."

Bastien's eyes flared with panic as he turned to the elevator shaft.

Cliff grabbed his arm. "Joe's gone. He saw Dr. Lipton and freaked out. I have to go after him."

"The sun's coming up."

"He can't be alone. He's too close to losing it."

Bastien nodded and pulled him into a rough hug. "Be careful. If you don't make it back by sunrise, I'll find you."

Cliff nodded and watched Bastien drop through the opening and free-fall to the bottom, where he landed smoothly in a crouch.

Cliff eyed the chaos around him. There was fire everywhere. Bullets whipped past. Immortals . . .

He swallowed. Holy c.r.a.p. No wonder Bastien's vampire army had fallen beneath the immortals' swords. They were terrifying in their speed and strength and intensity.

Cliff's heart began to pound. His chest felt tight. He felt exposed. Terrified. He hadn't been outside by himself in over two years. Had he become agoraphobic as a result? Because his feet felt frozen to the pitted floor.

Until a freaking missile shot past.

Cliff ducked behind what was left of a desk. The ceiling was gone, the roof mixed with the other rubble beneath his feet.

Where the h.e.l.l was Joe?

Smoke stung his eyes as he peered around, trying to find the blond vampire.

There! Diving into the trees.

Cliff took off after him. He leaped over a pile of mercenary bodies and dodged as many bullets as he could. The d.a.m.ned things were flying everywhere. A blurred form sailed past, eyes flas.h.i.+ng bright amber.

Terror cut through him like a blade.

Would the immortals think he was trying to escape and kill him?

When the dark as midnight figure kept going, Cliff allowed himself to breathe again.

Apparently he wasn't their highest priority.

Relieved, he headed for the trees, intent on finding Joe.

Something stung his neck.

Reaching up, he slapped at it and came away with a tranquilizer dart. His vision wavered. His knees buckled.

The ground lurched up and hit him hard.

A shadow fell over him.

Cliff squinted up at two soldiers. "Ah s.h.i.+-"

Bastien raced through the hallway, unable to breathe, panic closing his throat.

Melanie.

He saw nothing. Saw no one. Only the door to Melanie's office.

He rushed inside.

Empty.

Stepping out into the hallway, he met Marcus's gaze. "Where is she?"

Stone-faced, Marcus pointed to the lab.

Bastien burst through the doorway.

Stuart was bent over Melanie on the floor.

Bastien roared with fury.

Stuart spun around, eyes frantic. "I didn't mean to! I swear I didn't mean to do it!"

Bastien sent the vampire flying across the room. "What did you do?" he bellowed.

Melanie's eyes were closed.

Bastien knelt beside her and gathered her limp form into his arms. "Melanie?" He brushed her hair back from her face. It was littered with powder and fragments of sheetrock. "Melanie, sweetheart?"

Cliff had made it sound as though she were dying, but . . . her skin was warm to the touch. Her heartbeat sounded strong. Blood stained her pale neck. Perhaps Cliff and Joe had seen that and a.s.sumed the worst?

"I was injured," Stuart said and approached with caution. His pants were soaked with blood. His s.h.i.+rt bore a large stain and was scorched in places.

Bastien couldn't tell if the blood was Stuart's or that of the men and women he had helped. It wasn't Melanie's. The scent of her blood rose from her throat and did not match that on Stuart's clothing. Only that on his face.

Bastien hugged her tight, terrified by how close he had come to losing her.

"I was hurt," Stuart babbled on. "I didn't know I'd lost that much blood and . . . I don't know what happened. I just . . . I didn't realize I was feeding on her until those other vampires came in and . . . I didn't mean to drain her."

"You didn't drain her," Bastien murmured and buried his face in her hair. Why wasn't she waking up? Had she hit her head? He should kill the vampire for this. Accident or not- "Yeah, I did," Stuart said with trepidation.

Bastien raised his head. "No, you-" He broke off, inhaled deeply. He stared down at Melanie, bent, and drew in her scent. Swearing, he looked up at Stuart. "What the h.e.l.l did you do?"

Stuart halted and began to backtrack. "She was dying. I didn't know what else to do. Her pulse . . . She barely had a pulse. She wouldn't have made it if I hadn't . . ."

"You gave her your blood?" Bastien demanded.

"Yes."

"How much?" Had it just been a little, she wouldn't be so warm. She'd be going into shock and- "A lot," Stuart admitted in a small voice. "She was nice to me. I didn't want her to die."

"You infected her?"

Chris burst through the doorway. "What's going on? Marcus said something was up."

"Stuart infected her."

Chris drew a tranquilizer pistol and shot Stuart.

The vampire looked down at the dart in his chest and swayed. His eyes rolled back. His legs buckled.

Bastien felt nothing but guilt and regret as the young vamp dropped to the floor. He looked up at Chris. "Can you help her? Can you stop it?"

Melanie had talked about being transformed later on in life. Not now. Not unless it was absolutely necessary. If they could undo it while the infection was still fresh . . .

Chris leaned his head back and shouted, "David!"

Seconds later, David stood in the room with them. "Yes?"

"She's infected," Bastien said. "Can you stop it?"

David shook his head. "My healing gift has no affect on the virus."

"Richart!" Chris whipped out his phone and dialed. "Are we up and running yet? . . . Okay."

Richart appeared in the doorway. "Yes?" His brow furrowed with concern when his gaze found Melanie.

Chris hung up. "The new network headquarters is ready. Richart, would you teleport Melanie there? Maybe if we remove as much of the infected blood as possible and replace it we can halt the transformation."

Bastien stood with Melanie in his arms.

Richart held out his own.

Handing her over was one of the hardest things Bastien had ever done.

Richart met his eyes as he cradled Melanie in his arms. "I'll take good care of her."

Bastien's throat was too thick to respond.

The two vanished.

The explosions overhead ceased. As did the automatic weapons fire. For one moment, all was silent, as if the entire world-not just Bastien-waited with bated breath to see how Melanie would fare.

Lisette entered. etienne. Roland and Sarah. Yuri and Stanislov, whom Bastien hadn't even realized had entered the fray. Ethan and Edward. Marcus and Ami entered last.

All formed a semicircle in front of Bastien, faces somber.

"Is it over?" Bastien asked.

etienne nodded. "The sun has risen. A handful of mercenaries escaped."

Good. "Then Ami should be able to track them to their base."

"There's more," Lisette said.