Page 213 of Caelum

Frazer cleared his throat. “Sammy’s sister has epilepsy,” he explained, and we watched as the Vampire pressed his ear to Eve’s mouth. His relief was evident when he shuddered, then reaching for her right arm, heelevated it and pressed her hand to her left shoulder. Raising her right leg so her knee was bent, he used that to tilt her onto her left side.

Eren’s voice was tight as he bit off, “Still think we have time to kill?”

The seven of us shot each other uneasy glances. He was right. Whatever the ink meant, whatever purpose it served, it wasn’t about to let us waste time, and it definitely wasn’t going to let us hide Eve.

Not without Eve paying the consequences.

THREE

EREN

“She okay?”

I shot Stefan a look. “She’s still sleeping.”

His nostrils flared, and I had my own private show of Stefan’s temper surging to life. He was pretty controlled most of the time, but most knew that the hotheads were the Hell Hounds, the Incubi, and the Succubi. They naturally ran hot. Okay, that was a generalization. Most of us ranhot, but those souls were renowned for their tempers.

“The drugs?” Samuel asked.

I’d had this conversation with every single one of Eve’s Chosen. Well, Samuel wasn’t technically a Chosen yet, but he would be. We were all tied together in a way that someone somewhere might understand, except us, naturally. It didn't make sense for Samuel to be the final creature in Eve’s coterie, and for him not to be her Chosen.

“Maybe. But it drained out of our systems two days ago.” She’d been unconscious for four fucking days. Four. I wasn’t the only one going crazy with worry. “I don’t see why it wouldn’t do the same with hers.”

“We’re bigger than her,” he said, just as all the others had.

“I know,” I replied impatiently. “What I don’t know is why she’s still sleeping, Stefan. We just have to figure out our next move and hope she’s awake for it.”

His eyes flashed with concern, but he nodded, and with his arm in the doorway to the stateroom where Eve was sleeping, he launched himselfbackward so he could take off and retreat to the deck, which was our battle command.

A pretty fine one too.

The stateroom had a huge queen-sized bed that Eve took up a sliver of. It was covered in silky fabrics that she didn’t even snuggle into. She just lay there like some kind of weird Sleeping Beauty. It was creepy and terrifying at the same time.

Silver cabinets gleamed on either side of the bed, picking up the reflections of her glowing ink and sending little light displays into the moldings that reminded me of the sun’s rays on the surface of a pool.

At the foot, there was a sofa, and that was pretty much where I’d been sitting for as long as she’d been out. I slept with her but sat here when I was awake because lying next to her was an act of torture. I wanted to haul her into my arms and warm her with my body, but when I tried, she just lay there like a corpse, and it was freaking me the hell out. She wasn’t cold to the touch, and her chest moved up and downslightly, but those were the only indications she was sleeping.

She didn’t even snore, for God’s sake. That would have been beyond reassuring.

She hadn’t needed cleaning up yet either—in four days, she’d yet to have need of the toilet… It truly was like I’d fallen into some surreal Snow White retelling and we were the seven dwarves, except they hadn’t been the ones to wake her up, Prince Charming had, and no way was another dude going near my gal.

Fuck, who was I kidding?

If he could wake her up, then I’d try not to castrate him, but that was all I could promise.

With my ass on the dusky pink sofa, my feet in a cream sheepskin rug, and my body surrounded by girly, mirrored furniture that showed me how shitty I looked after hardly any sleep for four days, I was starting to get cabin fever.

I’d self-appointed myself as her guardian while she rested, but it was starting to get to me. The fear and the concern were working their insidious paths inside me, and I knew if I didn’t take a break soon, I could potentially crack.

Arms braced on my knees, back bowed and shoulders hunched, I studied Eve’s quiet and restful features for so long, I wasn’t sure how much time had passed between Stefan disappearing and my phone buzzing.

Blinking, I reached for the new cell Samuel had given me the other day and studied the text.

Samuel:Can you take a picture of Eve’s arm?

I frowned and texted back:Why?

Samuel:Please?

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