Page 89 of Uncontrolled

“How about some soup?” she says. “You should eat. You’ve been in and out for about twenty-four hours now.”

My head whips up in surprise. “A full day?”

Allie gives me a sympathetic nod. “Transfusions are tricky,” she says, and then her voice lowers. “Your body tried to fight off the blood. I didn’t think you were going to make it.”

I braid our fingers together and give her hand a squeeze. “Told you I’d come back.”

“Yeah,” she says, sounding unconvinced. “You did.”

After a long moment, she bounces my hand twice before she drops it and heads across the room into the small galley kitchen. Through the open area of the breakfast bar, I can see her searching the cabinets.

Talia’s leaning against the door frame of her bedroom, arms crossed as she watches me watching Allie. “Can’t figure you out,” Talia says.

I reluctantly rip my gaze off Allie and turn to her friend. “Talia, can we not do this now?”

But Talia’s brow furrows as if in confusion. “She’d be dead or being tortured without you.” She’s quiet enough Allie wouldn’t have overheard with the whir of the can opener. “Do you have any idea what the Doctor would do if he got his hands on her?”

“Nothing good,” I sigh and rub a palm over the nape of my neck to work a kink there.

Talia goes on as if I never spoke, her tone strangely distant. “It’s mostly rumors, the bits and pieces we hear. Tales of bodies. Their hands gone black. Blood poisoning. Necrotic tissue. Experimented on and then dumped when whatever he’s trying to do fails.” She studies me. “One of the resurrectionists here found Jason Jourdain yesterday. His body. Not much left.”

“Damn it,” I say.

“Allie said you wanted to bring him back alive. Find the Doctor and…” She trails off, shaking her head. “Do you have any idea how stupid that would have been?”

We both watch Allie as she empties a can of soup into a pan, oblivious to us, a content smile flaring and fading on her lips almost as if she’s afraid of it. It breaks me. “Whatever it takes to stay with her, I’ll do it.”

Enough time passes that I think maybe Talia’s done for now, and then suddenly she moves to sit next to me on the mattress. Uncertain, I rear away from her as she reaches for me, only relaxing when she yanks me into a hug.

“Thank you for saving her,” she whispers into my ear, her tone grateful. Her hand clasps at the back of my skull as she draws me tighter. “I’m glad I was wrong about you.”

“So does this mean killing me is off the table this week?” I joke.

Taking my cue, Talia drops her hold on me and scoots to put some space between us. “Kill you?” she says, amusement dancing in her features. “Like I would waste my blood that way.”

I freeze. “Your blood?”

“Allie wasn’t kidding when she said it was touch and go with you. You about bled her dry and we were cutting it close on time. Unless we overloaded your system with resurrectionist blood, you weren’t coming back.” Talia shrugs like what she did was nothing. “She pleaded your case. Made me an offer I couldn’t refuse,” she says. “You know how these things go. Everybody’s got a price.”

“What was your price?” I ask. A little voice at the back of my brain tries to argue that I’m not worth whatever Allie bartered away, but I know what I would do to save Allie and somehow it makes things a little more okay.

Talia doesn’t answer my question. “You got about two pints of me running through your veins,” she says instead. She slugs me in the shoulder almost gently enough to be playful, but not quite. “We’re even now, so don’t go expecting any more favors.”

“Will the Doctor come after her?” I ask.

Any sign of our friendly banter fades from Talia. “He moves around constantly. He could be in the area. If so, I might get lucky and pick up his trail.”

“But you doubt it?” I guess.

“But I doubt it,” she says.

I can’t help but look over at Allie. As if she senses my attention, she raises her head, a smile lighting her face as she stirs what’s on the stove. She purses her lips to blow me a subtle kiss.

“Let him try,” I whisper.

Allie

Christopher rushes through the kitchen, half of a bagel with cream cheese shoved into his mouth as he fights with the buttons on his shirt.

---