Page 68 of Stripped

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“There she is,” Zane said. He was leaning over me, but his face was a bit blurry. I blinked and he came back into focus. God, I loved his face.

“Am I dead?” I asked.

He smiled and brushed the hair away from my face. “No. You came close, had us all worried, but you pulled through. Doc is re-thinking her long-held belief that humans are weak.”

“I'm not feeling particularly strong at the moment.” But I didn't feel as bad as I thought I should either. I looked around and saw that I was in a bare room, and there was a needle in the back of my hand, a needle connected to a tube that ran up to a bag of what I assumed was saline.

“We're just re-hydrating you,” Zane said. “We almost went to Aspens Whiten for blood, because we didn't want to accidentally turn you into a wolf, but Doc figured you'd be okay with fluids.”

“Zane was going to go to Aspens Whiten anyway,” Julie said, her face appearing next to Zane's. “But your vitals improved as soon as doc got the saline in you.”

“What happened?” I asked.

Zane pushed a button and the head of the bed lifted until I was in a sitting position. The room was packed. Carly was there with Zed, and so was Axel and Aron and Payne. Even Clarissa was there, looking slightly bored.

“We were hoping you could tell us what happened,” Zane said. “When we got there, you were on the floor next to Leopold, who was covered in some black stuff and screaming like he was dying.”

“He was dying,” Axel said. “He died a couple minutes after we showed up. What did you do to the guy?”

“I threw up on him.” Even in my weakened state, I felt my cheeks heat with embarrassment. “Is that what killed him?”

“He also had a hole in his chest,” Zane said. “Either the vomit, the hole, or a combination of the two killed him.” Zane's expression hardened, but only a little, like he couldn't be truly mad at me. “Why did you run out that way? What were you thinking going to see Leopold?”

Julie shifted, causing me to look at her. “I told them about you wanting to go after Leopold,” she said. “That's how they found you.”

I looked back at Zane. “I had to try to help Alice.” I met Carly's gaze. “He'd already killed her, sweetie. I'm so sorry.”

Carly slapped a hand over mouth and turned to Zed, who wrapped his arms around her as she shook with sobs. My own eyes stung with tears as the reality that we'd never see Alice again sunk in. I swallowed hard. I had important things to tell them.

“Once I knew I couldn't help Alice, I wanted to know what the hell his end game was with the town. I figured he might bite me to renew the compulsion, but he'd still want to use me as a spy, so he wouldn't hurt me too badly. I just didn't want him to hurt anyone else, and I didn't think…Well, I was wrong.”

“You could have been killed,” Zane said. “And then he would have hurt other people anyway.”

“Well, I wasn't. And I found out a few things that…” I considered what I'd learned from Leopold and figured it probably wasn't good news, no matter how I spun it. “You should know.”

I filled them in on what I'd learned from Leopold. When I was done, everyone settled into a stunned silence. “Well that's shitty,” Zane said. “No wonder the council was supporting the vamps. I bet they love this idea of having more powerful vamps to corral the less powerful, rogue vamps.”

Axel frowned. “But why would they support making a psychopath like Leopold the most powerful? That's pure insanity.”

“Because the council doesn't give a shit who gets hurt,” Clarissa said. “As long as the vamps are reined back in.”

No one seemed to have an argument for that.

“We need to find out what's in the water that makes it so special,” Julie said. “Do you think Doc could do that?”

“We can ask,” Axel said, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her in close. “If we can figure out how to change the water so it doesn't help the vamps anymore, we can get the council and the vamps off our backs.”

“We'll have time,” Aron said. “My sources in Aspens Whiten say the vamp coven has devolved into chaos with Leopold dead. There's no one else strong enough to lead and they're all fighting each other for the top spot.”

“We could sell your blood,” I said.

Everyone in the room spun and looked at me like I was crazy. “You need money, they want your blood. It's no different than donating to a blood drive.”

“Except we'll be making our vamp neighbors incredibly, unbeatably strong.”

I shrugged. “Not if you sell them the blood after you've figured out how to change the water”

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