Page 39 of Missing Piece
“Bitch!” Beth spat as she struggled to her feet.
“Find a better insult,” Ophelia swung the axe at her. Beth dodged to the side, her movement slower than Adam expected. Was it because she was injured? He crawled forward, trying to get back to the couch where his knife was still embedded. His ankle throbbed as he dragged it along the ground, but he couldn’t afford to stop moving.
As he reached for the weapon, he heard the chain rattle again. The child was on its feet, its face smeared with red tears and mouth agape, its chest heaving as it watched Opheliaswing the axe at Beth again. She missed, the axe burying itself in the plaster of the wall. She planted her foot on the wall, trying to yank it loose.
The child rushed at her, the jingling of the chain around its neck her only warning before it slammed her into the wall. Ophelia shouted a string of swears as it buried its face in her side and dragged her to the ground.
Adam barely had time to react before he heard banging at the front door. He looked towards it, his heart practically leaping out of his chest. Vincent was here. He was going to be okay. His whole body felt like someone rolled over him with a steam roller, but he was going to make it.
Then Beth punched him in the face.
Chapter Thirteen - Vincent
Vincent dabbed at the blood around Adam’s nose with a washcloth while trying to ignore the primal pull to get up and break something in his own house. His beast was just as angry as he was, but Adam sat hunched on his coffee table, shirtless and shaking as he stared down at his own bloody hands. Vincent was sure that more violence might shatter him completely. And finally, after all his agonizing over the last ten days, Vincent could admit to himself he didn’t want to break him.
That became crystal clear the moment he broke down his neighbor’s door and found the vampire he left for dead in a cornfield beating Adam’s face to a pulp. Vincent hadn’t experienced that kind of panic in years. Adam wasn’t a small human by any means, but in that moment, pinned to the ground and stabbing at Beth wildly, he looked so frail and weak. Vincent was barely able to stop himself from continuing to hack away at the former dancer’s body even after he cut her head off with Ophelia’s axe.
He didn’t want to break Adam. He just wanted him.
Luka pulled a chair up behind the injured man, setting down an old bank box filled with medical supplies. Adam peeked over his shoulder, eyeing the box. “What’s he going todo?” he asked quietly, as though his mind were somewhere else and only vaguely aware of what was happening.
«He needs stitches,» Luka signed quickly before continuing to pull vials out of the box.
“The injuries on your back need stitches,” Vincent said, continuing to wipe the blood from Adam’s face to get a better look at the damage. His right eye was swollen, the white of it blood red with burst vessels, and his lower lip was split in two places. The skin on the bridge of his nose had split, but when Vincent went to clean the wound, Adam didn’t flinch, so it probably wasn’t broken.
I’d kill that bitch again if I had the chance,Vincent thought. Luka snapped his fingers while holding up one of the vials, mouthing “OK?”
Lidocaine. That could at least make the stitching process less unpleasant for Adam. He already insisted the entire trip back that he just needed some vodka and ibuprofen and sleep. It surprised Vincent how quiet the man was despite how badly he was injured. He would have thought that an addict would jump on a legitimate excuse to go back to his drug of choice, but despite the impression Adam first gave him, it seemed he was serious about staying clean.
He was much stronger than he seemed.
Vincent nodded at Luka before looking back at the battered face. “He’s going to numb your back. It’s just lidocaine, nothing stronger.”
Adam nodded, his eyes still looking distant. He was definitely still in shock. It was understandable. Only ten days after knowing vampires existed, being attacked by two of them in a house more suited for a B-list movie set than a place where a nice old couple used to live. And then therewas the matter of the child…
Just thinking about it made his chest tight. Not the gruesome scene of Ophelia cutting the poor thing’s head off, thought that was more of a mercy, even if his niece was swearing under her breath about “no one being allowed to bite her” as she dealt the final blow. What twisted his gut was the fact that the poor boy had been turned in the first place. There were just some lines his people did not cross.
“Take my hands,” Vincent said as Luka filled a syringe with the lidocaine.
Adam hesitated, lips parting as if to speak, but a shadow seemed to fall over him as that distant look returned.
Hug him. Give him comfort.Vincent pushed the thought away. Even if he wanted to, the young man was in pain. In shock and vulnerable. It didn’t seem right.
The injured man grunted and grabbed Vincent’s hands, bowing his head as Luka began to work on his back. Vincent bit down on his lower lip, surprised by how strong Adam’s grip still was despite the recent exertion, but also to keep his transformed features from emerging. The air reeked of blood and sweat and adrenaline, and in any other circumstance, Vincent would have allowed himself to enjoy the heavy scent.
But the human whimpered, and the steel cage he had built around his heart was beginning to lose its integrity. “It’ll be okay, just give it a moment,” Vincent whispered while watching Luka press the tip of the syringe near the other gaping gash. Luka flashed him a gentle smile and held up two fingers. “Two more injections. Then it’ll start to go numb.”
Adam nodded, peering up through his bangs. “It’s like being stung by the biggest fucking bee on the planet,” he saidthrough clenched teeth.
“I’ve never been stung by a bee, so I’ll have to take your word for it.”
“How have you never been stung by a bee?” Adam winced as Luka poked at his back again. “You’re super old, aren’t you?”
Vincent smiled. “I’m not that old.”
Adam squeezed Vincent’s hands again as Luka delivered the final shot to his back. “Fucking hell, that hurts.” He took a moment, just breathing in and out of his nose before he seemed able to lift his head again. Some of the steel was back in his expression, his chin held high, like he was too proud to admit he was in pain. “Is she okay? Ophelia?”
“She’ll be fine, she’s tougher than she looks.”But her father is going to kick my ass the next time he sees me.He’d deserve it too, especially when Marcus inevitably discovered the bite wound on her side she had super-glued shut in an attempt to hide the scent of her blood before Petrov volunteered to take her back home. He shouldn’t have let her even spend the night, but it had been a while since she got to see all four of them outside of work, and as much as he hated admitting it, he missed her. She wasn’t an affectionate child, but she was good company and he had grown accustomed to having her around.
