Page 25 of To Love a Vampire
“How the hell did you get that?” Asher asks, his eyes never leaving it.
I pause not wanting to discuss that topic. I busy myself picking up the paper and plastic that surround my feet and stuffing them into the box.
“Declan got this for you, didn’t he?”
“What is it? Can someone spare a moment for the blind? Anyone?”
Asher’s jaw clenches, a look of vacantness filling his smooth features when I offer him a tense smile in reply. I ignore him, not letting the excitement slip away from me. He doesn’t trust Declan but he doesn’t know him either.
I stand and walk slowly toward Gabriel. My palm slips over his arm, he tenses under my touch. His limb is smooth, the tissue nicely healed. A good sign. Asher was careful with his work even if it was rushed.
“You know if you wanted to get me alone, I’d be happy to tell Asher to get lost,” Gabriel whispers loudly to me, leaning his body intentionally closer.
He’s nervous, I can hear it in his uneven voice even if his face doesn’t show it. Hybrids don’t seem short on confidence even if they can’t see the world around them.
“Don’t ruin this, Gabe,” Asher says laughing, pushing his friend’s shoulder lightly.
I settle the metal carefully against his limb. It aligns perfectly. The strap slips over his wrist, I fasten it a little tight, making sure everything is in place before activating it. It hums quietly to life at his new metal fingertips.
“What – What the hell is this?” he asks harshly as the tendons in his arms shift beneath the skin and the fingers wave slowly.
“It’s a bionic prosthetic,” I say quietly, my eyes mystified by the fluid bionic actions.
I’ve never had access to anything so medically perfect. Things like this aren’t made for lower class mortals. It especially isn’t made for a mystic. Just like Ky, we’ve fumbled around with supplies that aren’t making anyone’s lives any easier. Ky was lucky to have been approved for a prosthetic at all. If Gabriel was mortal they’d never waste a prosthetic on him. Not when he still has one other good hand.
Flawlessly it moves without any tics or pauses, as if the hybrid was born with it. My heart booms and an enormous smile consumes me with a feeling of achievement. Without sound or struggle, he waves his new hand at us. He brings his other hand up to meet it and steeples his fingers together, the hard metal pressing against smooth flesh.
Asher’s dimples appear as a wide smile slowly crosses his face, all thoughts of Declan are gone. I’m captivated by every small move he makes with it. When I look to Luca, I expect the same reaction to the bionic hand but she isn’t looking at it at all. She’s watching Gabriel’s face, a small smile pulling at her parted lips.
“What’s it feel like?” Asher asks, his silver eyes catching the glare off the sleek metal.
Gabriel touches the wall with his new hand, brushing over the concrete, his nimble fingers effortlessly open the blinds. Then he bends to unlace and re-lace his shoes with quick fluid gestures.
“It feels like a memory,” he says, standing still now turning his hand back and forth before us all. “It feels simple and easy and taken for granted and,” he pauses, his eyebrows arching, “normal.”
A mixture of pain and happiness pushes into my chest, Asher reaches out without looking at me and takes my hand in his, his warm fingers fitting perfectly against mine. I can feel his simple happiness spread into me from the small touch.
“So, you like it?” I ask, trying to contain the smile that threatens to consume my whole face.
“Itisbetter than a band-aid.”
He swallows and looks away from us, his white eyes shining in the sunlight that he let in from the open blinds.
It’s that easy. The government has this technology laying around and millions of people all over the world need it, but only thedeservingreceive it.
Gabriel deserves it and more. He’s survived so much. So much that he’s no longer living. Just surviving. Taking each day with the expectancy that it might be his last. He smiles freely, he laughs loudly, he talks candidly. Because he knows there isn’t time to wait. Time doesn’t wait. It presses you forward whether you’re ready or not.
Gabriel’s been there, to the place time took him against his will. He lost so much.
But I can give him this. The best medical technology the world has to offer and it’s now at his fingertips, a gift of power and love offered between a human and hybrid.
* * *
“What you did today, for Gabriel. That was amazing,” Asher says, breathing me in as his hands hold me tightly to his chest.
His head rests in the nook of my neck, his breath fanning down my back, sending a tingling sensation across my skin. Another perfect night in his arms.
“Just be prepared for an endless stream ofFallon lent me a hand oncejokes.” I laugh quietly at his words. “No seriously, I already heard it three times today and he doesn’t show any signs of stopping anytime soon.”
