Page 41 of Kidnapping Their Third

There was a numb, blank spot in his mind, and it was one of the worst sensations he’d ever experienced.

“Are you okay, Pike?” Cora asked. “You’re moaning.”

“Sorry,” he mumbled. He hadn’t realized he was making any sounds. “I’ll try to stop.”

Cora made an exasperated sound. “I don’t care about that. Are you in pain? Is Kimble in pain? Talk to me!”

“I think he’s dead,” Pike whispered, even though he didn’t want to contemplate it. “He’s gone from my head. There’s nothing there. And I don’t feel right. It feels like…”

His words trailed off. How did he describe the sensation of your soul dying while your body was still breathing? He might not be able to see auras like vampires could, but he knew Kimble’s wasn’t as vibrant or strong as it should be. Was this what happened to a flock when the vampire died?

“He’s not dead!” Cora announced, aggressively dodging right to pass an SUV using the bicycle lane. Several cars honked at her, but she ignored them as she’d been ignoring all the angry drivers.

“Do you hear me, Pike?” Cora asked, her voice more a demand for obedience than a question. “He’s not dead. Whatever’s wrong, we’re going to fix it. If he needs more blood, we’ll get it. If he needs a vampire doctor, we’ll find one. This is not how we end.”

Pike tried to focus on Cora’s commanding voice instead of his own fear and discomfort. “I’m so scared,” he admitted. “If I lose Kimble then I’m gone too.”

“All you have to do is listen to me,” Cora said. “Because I’m not going to let either of you go!”

She kept talking to him, sometimes demanding that he respond. She helped keep his terror from overtaking him, so by the time she pulled into the driveway, he wasn’t a sobbing, shaking mess.

Fear made him an uncoordinated mess as he fell from the van and stumbled several strides, almost going down face first before he caught his balance. He felt unsteady, as if suffering from vertigo. Cora flung open her door and rushed around the van to him.

“Lean on me,” she urged, wrapping a steadying arm around his waist. She was surprisingly strong for such a small human. He was able to support himself, but Cora added a stabilizing effect. If he fell while Cora was helping him, they’d both end up on the ground, so he focused on putting one foot in front of the other.

Soon they were in the house and faced with broken furniture and a trail of blood across half the living room.

“This looks bad,” Cora mumbled as she steered them into the kitchen, following the red trail. The sight that met his eyes made Pike go weak at the knees.

“Kimble!” he cried out. Pulling away from Cora, he made it the two strides to Kimble’s side before he collapsed to the floor.

Kimble was lying unconscious in front of the open refrigerator. There was a massive piece of glass sticking out of his chest and several small pieces embedded in his arm and shoulder. Blood was seeping from the wounds and pooling on the floor.

With a shaking hand, Pike cupped Kimble’s cheek. His skin was cold and felt lifeless.

“No,” he moaned, hunching over as tears flowed down his cheeks. “No, you weren’t supposed to leave me like this. We were going to live long happy lives.”

“Pike, I don’t think he’s dead,” Cora said. Pike looked up to see that Cora had peeled back one of Kimble’s eyelids. “His eye is twitching a little. I think he’s still alive. Or you know, undead. Whatever, he’s still with us.”

As he watched, Kimble’s eye moved again before Cora let go of the lid. Sitting back, Pike rubbed his face and focused. “What do we do? How do we fix this?”

Cora blinked at him. “How would I know?”

“I, uh,” Pike’s mind blanked. He didn’t know anyone he could call for advice that wouldn’t take advantage of Kimble’s weakened state. The people he trusted didn’t know any more than he did.

“Imani!” Cora shouted and fumbled her phone out of her back pocket. “Imani’s a vampire. She might know what to do.”

Pike noticed her fingers shaking as she tapped on the screen. Even though he wanted to comfort her, he was too distressed to do anything but watch the phone as it started ringing.

“Hi, Hellion, what’s up?” Imani answered cheerfully. They could hear murmured words in the background, then Imani’s voice moved away from the phone. “If you’re hungry go eat, I’ll be down after I talk to Cora.”

“It’s Kimble,” Cora cried out. “I think he fell on my coffee table and has a big shard of glass embedded in his chest and there’s blood everywhere. He drank about ten bags that we had in the fridge, but he’s not healing or moving. We don’t have any more blood to give him. What do we do?”

“Have him drink from Pike, he’s plenty big enough to handle some blood loss,” Imani said.

Cora shook her head at the phone, even though Imani couldn’t see it. “He’s not conscious, Imani. We can’t make him bite anything.”

“Pike, you there?” Imani called out.

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