The Reluctant Vampire - Lynsay Sands [65]
“What happened?” Harper asked as he accepted the bag, and then clarified, “After the accident. How did you get us out?”
“I was first on the scene,” Teddy said grimly. “Got the call in my car and headed right over. Didn’t realize it was you three at first. Between injuries and the burst bags of blood all three of you were unrecognizable.” He grimaced at the memory. “I thought it was people at first and as good as dead, but then you moaned Drina’s name, and I took a second look. Once I realized it was you three, I blocked off the road and called the house, then started trying to get you all out. I thought we’d need the Jaws of Life, but then Beau and Anders got there and started pulling the metal away like it was toffee. Even so, it took a long time to get Stephanie and Drina out. They were both a damned mess. Never seen a body so mangled, let alone two, and it was hard to tell where flesh ended and metal began,” he added with a shake of the head. “Never want to see anything like that again so long as I live.”
“I had no brakes,” Harper said fretfully, his old familiar friend, guilt, creeping over him as he wondered if there was something he could have done to prevent the crash.
“Yeah, I know,” Teddy said, surprising him, and then explained, “I took witness reports, and when they kept saying you didn’t even try to stop, I knew something was wrong. I had the car towed down to the garage to be looked over. The mechanic, Jimmy, called me just a few minutes before you woke up and reported that the brake lines were cut.”
“Cut?” Harper asked with a frown, and then muttered, “We didn’t have any trouble on the way into London. It must have been done in the parking lot while we were in the mall.”
“Most likely,” Teddy agreed. He then added, “The news, though, immediately made me wonder if that Leonius feller didn’t track down the girl here after all.”
Mirabeau shook her head at once. “Leonius wouldn’t try to kill her. He wants her alive for breeding.”
“Breeding?” Teddy squawked, his dismayed eyes shooting to the fifteen-year-old.
Mirabeau nodded, her expression tight. “To replace the sons he lost taking Stephanie and her sister. He wouldn’t have tried to kill her,” she said firmly. “It couldn’t have been him.”
“I don’t know,” Tiny said slowly, and when the others turned to him in question, he pointed out, “He’d know that a car accident probably wouldn’t kill her. And this Leonius sounds pretty twisted. He might enjoy torturing and tormenting her, along with anyone else he could, before taking her.”
“The more I hear about this animal, the less I like,” Teddy muttered, staring at Stephanie with troubled eyes, no doubt still contemplating that some madman wanted to use the child as a broodmare.
“Where’s Anders?” Harper asked suddenly.
“He was watching over you with me,” Teddy informed him. “Just before you woke up, he left. In fact, I think it was the sound of the door closing that woke you.”
As if having heard his name, the door to the bedroom suddenly opened, and Anders entered, phone in hand. His gaze skated over Harper, flickering as he noted that he was up and about, and then the immortal handed his cell phone wordlessly to Mirabeau.
They all fell silent, simply listening. Not that there was much to hear. Mirabeau said, “Hello,” and then listened briefly, said “Yes, Lucian,” and hung up.
“Well?” Teddy asked as she handed the phone back to Anders.
“We’re to switch to feeding them blood. It’s faster than the IVs. Lucian wants Stephanie and Drina back on their feet as quickly as possible,” she said grimly, standing to move to the cooler and retrieve two bags of blood. Pausing then, she glanced to Tiny apologetically, and added, “And he wants you turned by nightfall.”
Tiny frowned. “But Jackie wanted to be here for it, and she and Vincent won’t be here for another couple days.”
“I know. I’m sorry,” she said regretfully.
Tiny sighed and nodded. He took one of the bags from her, but as she moved up beside Drina’s bed, asked, “Did he say why?”
“He wants us