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.processtext.com/abclit.htmlable to feel this kind of rage when it had been me lying in that bed; coping, surviving, had taken every lastounce of energy at my disposal.But watching Olivia take shallow, raspy breaths made me grind my teeth.Was the parasite systematically devouring her red blood cells, even now? Valentine? I turned, unsurprised to hear that familiar accent. Dr.Clavier.I should have known you d be here. Without waiting for him to comment, I gestured toward Olivia. Did he turn her? Clavier shook his head once. He appears to have failed.The police reports indicate that he wasinterrupted in the act.She didn t lose as much blood as you did. Relief eased my jaw muscles.No one deserved this curse.With Clavier at my heels, I stepped into theroom and quietly approached the foot of the bed.Olivia opened her eyes, one of which was badlyswollen and bruised.Even so, she managed to look surprised. That s a nice shiner you ve got there, I told her, deciding to take the liberty of inspecting her chart.She blinked and winced. Val? she croaked. You re& but I thought I was your& arch-nemesis orsomething. Maybe it was because Olivia was badly injured and I felt a kind of empathy with her now.Or maybe itwas because I had spent the weekend in Alexa s arms.Regardless of the cause, I felt pretty awful for theway I d treated her on Friday. Not unless you want to be, I said quietly. I m sorry for being such a jackass on Friday I was havinga monumentally bad day. I looked down and continued scanning her chart. You know, I would havegiven you a tour of the med school if you d asked you didn t have to go to such lengths. You re& a laugh riot. I could tell that speaking took a significant amount of effort;unsurprising in someone who had sustained head trauma similar to mine, and was also having troubletaking a deep breath on account of three badly bruised ribs.That fucking bastard. You need anything? Ice chips? Clavier could run all the tests he wanted; this was my version. Pain meds? she whispered hopefully.In that moment, I was completely convinced that she was not avampire.The pain all over my body had never ranked over the thirst in my throat.Clavier stepped out from behind me. I ll ring for the nurse, he said.Olivia immediately looked relieved.In the chair nearest me, her mother stirred. I m going to go, I said. Class, you know.But uh& feel better, okay? Yeah.Thanks, Val. I checked my watch as I walked back down the hallway toward the bank of elevators twenty minutesuntil class, an hour in class, and then I d finally have the rest of the day to myself.That was good,because I needed to do some major research over at the Consortium.I didn t care how good aninvestigator Devon Foster was she couldn t help but fumble in the dark over this case.I rounded thecorner, preoccupied by my planning, and literally slammed into the detective herself.She winced andtook a quick step back, then frowned in suspicion as she recognized me.Page 75 Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html Valentine? What are you doing here? I know Olivia, I said bluntly, dispensing with a hello.I stillwasn t over the way she d looked at Alexa.Drinking from her hadn t quelled the increasedpossessiveness I d been feeling ever since my attack.Maybe intense jealousy was another vampiricattribute.I d have to ask Helen. She and I have run in the same social circles since we were young.Iwas going to call you, to tell We re well aware, Foster snapped.I arched my eyebrows. All right then. I turned back toward the elevators, but she stopped me with ahand on my forearm. Look, I m sorry, she said. It s been a rough weekend.As you can imagine, there s even morepressure now to get this case squared away. I turned back to her and nodded.My temper worked the same way, after all, flaring up over nothingwhen I was under stress. What can I do to help? As if I didn t know better than she did.Foster spread her hands out in front of her, palms up.They were callused, probably from weights at agym. If you remember anything else& You re always the first to know. Thank you.Really. She smiled halfheartedly and then turned toward Olivia s room.I found myselfeyeing her gun, cradled in a hip holster today, as she walked away.I wondered if there was some part ofher that hoped she got to kill this guy herself to take him out, instead of bringing him in.And then Iwondered if deep down, that s what I wanted as well.The Consortium had a lounge on the facility s top floor, sporting a 360-degree view of midtown.Comfortable chairs were arranged in clusters near the windows, and a bar took up the center of theroom.The bartender had been serving drinks since 1881.During my self-imposed separation fromAlexa, I had often come up here at night to drink a scotch and brood over the city lights.It was a goodplace to think.As soon as my Neuroanatomy class finished, I called Kyle to ask him to meet me there.When I arrived,I found him catnapping in one of the chairs.His face was ashen, and an ugly bruise peeked out fromunder the collar of his button-down shirt. Hey, I said, crouching next to him and placing a gentle hand on his arm. Are you all right? He opened bleary eyes and blinked several times before he was able to focus enough to recognize me. Hey, Val.Yeah.I m okay. He gripped the edge of his chair and pulled himself out of his slumpedposition. Helen was thirsty last night. Jesus, I breathed, feeling the skin on the back of my neck start to crawl.Right then and there, I madea vow never to do that to Alexa to take so much that she could barely sit up.Never. I m sorry, Kyle.I didn t realize.You should sleep, and No, he insisted. I m good.Really.What s going on? I was worried that the only reason Kyle had agreed to meet me in his current state was that he hoped toPage 76 Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlget in my good graces so that I d deign to suck on his neck someday.Something else that was nevergoing to happen
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