The Reluctant Vampire - Lynsay Sands [67]
“Alessandro, Edward, and their mates arrived a few minutes ago,” Harper informed her. “Teddy, Tiny, and Mirabeau went downstairs with Anders to greet them and coordinate everything. Until then, we’d been feeding you and Stephanie bag after bag of blood, trying to rush you through the healing. They were administering it intravenously before that.”
Drina grimaced, suddenly understanding the dry mouth. The slower the blood entered the body, the slower the healing was, but it was also less painful. When the blood was fed through the fangs bag after bag, it hit the system fast and sent the nanos into a frenzy of healing that hurt like hell. She’d probably been screaming her head off until the worst of the healing was done.
She turned and glanced toward Stephanie again.
“They were pouring it down her throat,” Harper said quietly. “It seemed to work just as well.”
Drina nodded and pulled the now-empty bag off her fangs.
“Do you want another?” Harper asked, getting up.
“No.” Drina smiled wryly. “I think I’m probably good for blood, but water would be nice.”
He leaned to the side at once and picked up a glass of the clear liquid from the bedside table.
“Thank you,” she murmured, accepting it. Drina was very happy to see that her hand didn’t tremble as she raised the glass to her lips. She wasn’t suffering any lingering weakness. At least she didn’t appear to be, she thought as she drank half the water down in one go. Drina paused to breathe and smile at him, and then downed the rest of the glass before handing it back.
Harper set it on the table, then reached out to slide his hand into the hair at the back of her neck and pulled her forward to press his forehead to hers. “I’m sorry.”
Drina nodded solemnly, bumping her forehead on his nose as she did. “You should be. You should have spun the wheel so your side of the car took the impact and saved Stephanie and me all this.”
Harper pulled back with amazement. “Crap, I didn’t think of that.”
“Idiot,” Drina chided, rolling her eyes. “Honestly! I was joking. I wouldn’t have wanted that any more than you wanted my getting injured to occur. This wasn’t your fault. And we’re all fine. That’s the important thing.”
A small smile tugged at his lips, and Harper suddenly leaned forward to kiss her. Afraid her breath was less than pleasant at the moment, Drina froze, but if it was bad, Harper didn’t seem to care. When he deepened the kiss, she sighed and allowed him to ease her back on the bed.
“Geez, guys, really? Right there in the bed beside me?”
That husky growl from Stephanie made them both stiffen, and then Harper straightened, bringing Drina upright with him again. They turned to peer at the girl together.
“How are you feeling?” Drina asked quietly, as Harper released her.
“Thirsty,” Stephanie said on a sigh, sitting up as well and rubbing sleep from her eyes.
“Blood thirsty or water thirsty?” Drina asked at once.
Stephanie hesitated, and then sighed and admitted, “Maybe both.”
Harper immediately stood to return to the cooler and brought back a bag for the girl, only to pause. “We don’t have straws. Mirabeau was just stabbing the bag and letting it pour down your throat.”
Stephanie immediately tipped her head back and opened her mouth, apparently willing to go that route to get what she needed. When Harper hesitated, Drina realized what the problem was and stood to take the bag from him. He had no nails. She did. She positioned the bag over Stephanie’s mouth and quickly stabbed the bag, then squeezed to force the liquid out more quickly as the teenager swallowed over and over.
“More?” Drina asked when it was empty. When Stephanie paused to consider, but then shook her head, Drina tossed the bag in a garbage pail that had been positioned between the two beds, picked up a second glass of water from the bedside table,