Chapter Eleven

Maddie's Las Vegas bunker

Monday, 2:00 AM

Maddie wasn't sure what she could do about his injuries, but she started by getting him downstairs and safe from the inevitable sunrise. Once there she found this bunker wasn't nearly as well stocked as most of the others. The small bedroom was stark with only an old horse blanket to use on the bed. After she settled him there, she went to check what options she did have.

The air circulation was minimal, and she couldn't get the water running at all. The best she could do was throw all the windows open upstairs and leave the trapdoor ajar to allow for some fresh air. As for water, she had some stale gallons with the emergency supplies.

"I guess we'll make do. The sun will be up soon. Let's see what we can do about your injuries." She stripped away his jacket and shirt and left him lying face down so she could clean his wounds while he was still unconscious. She cleaned him off with a towel and water and then used alcohol to disinfect.

"Ah…" He trembled under the assault but didn't so much as growl in retaliation.

Just what kind of vampire was Quinn LaFontaine? He seemed to have completely tamed his own violently instinctive nature. Not that any of the stories she'd heard had painted him as a mindless blood thirsty killer, but this was even different than that. It was almost as if he were rejecting the most basic nature of a vampire.

After a couple hours of dosing and watching over his unmoving frame, she came to one conclusion. He was not going to heal himself anytime soon.

"Here, have some water." She turned him to his side, and he came awake enough to drink a few swallows.

"Thanks." His voice was quiet. Almost inaudible.

"You know this isn't working, right? You should be healing, and you are not."

He gave the barest of nods.

"Is there something especially toxic in that vampire's magic? Is that why you can't heal after taking a direct hit?"

"No…"

"Then all that's left is…" Yeah, she already knew what the problem was, she'd just been hesitating to bring it up because she was a selfish bitch who didn't want to feed her blood to a vampire even if it could save his life. She sighed. She really should be able to hold on to her beliefs. She'd always felt that she'd even take her own life before letting a vamp feed on her. And offering her blood up willingly to the monsters was just ridiculous.

Yet, something had changed. Bella and Quinn had changed the core of her belief system. Bella had broken it down around the edges and shown her other ways to see vampires. And then Quinn walked in and shattered every single personal code that had kept her alive and on the hunt all these years.

"Fine. I already know what you need. And it seems I'm not as big a bitch as I thought. Ironically, I'm not willing to stand by and watch you die when all it takes to turn our whole situation around is giving you a little bit of my blood."

He froze. His emerald gaze held her paralyzed, locked in place while he fought to make his will known.

Despite his current state, she was helplessly trapped within his power. She couldn't run, even if she changed her mind. She couldn't deny him even if he drained her dry.

Never once in all her days of hunting vampires had she ever been captured so completely. She'd never been truly bitten either. Although she had survived a few close calls from being grazed by deadly fangs that meant to pierce.

This power that Quinn had used was something else. It felt like a gentle hand at the nape of her neck, holding her still while he drew her in one slow breath at a time. And they were close, mere inches apart.

She had offered her blood. And the offer had been sincere.

Was this how it would be? Would he glide closer slowly, and perhaps brush his lips over the skin of her neck, like a prayer, worship, showing gratitude for the gift of life. And then only when he was ready, he'd bring them together, thrust his fangs deep, bind them to each other. They'd no longer be two individuals. He'd devour her and she'd belong to him.

But the moment of completion did not come. He didn't advance. Nor did he retreat.

His eyes closed and she was free.

Yet, she didn't move.

In spite of all her anger and past convictions, she had offered her blood in order to save a vampire. No, not just any vampire. Something about Quinn made him special.

And he'd refused her offer.

She sighed. "You know there are only two other options. The first is we wait it out and see if your body can somehow manage to pull through. The second is for me to use Valàfrn magic to heal you and hope that it doesn't kill you."

Did he even have the strength to make the choice?

"Madeline…"Her name was a whisper in her mind. Telepathy which shouldn't even be possible between them. Then again, he was a very old one. She had no way of knowing just what powers he'd honed over the centuries.

"I can hear you. Tell me which option you prefer, and we'll go with your decision."

"Magic."

"Okay. Healing magic it is." She'd used healing magic a few times over the years on rescued vampire victims, and for that reason she'd tried to train up her skills as best as she could. But in the end healing hadn't been something she had any particular talent for using. It was more or less on the level of first aid.

She jumped up from the bed and gathered up a few things to create a bastard version of a healing ceremony. A few half-burned candles. A white paper plate which she stuck on the wall in the direction where the moon would be. It was well past sunrise. Would that be better or worse?

She arranged the three candles around the room. The addition of light confirmed what she'd already seen with her sharp wolf eyes.

Quinn was in bad shape. Maybe even bad enough to be fatal. Almost certainly would have been for any weaker being. Some of the cuts over his shoulder blades had been all the way to the bone.

If he had been feeding on blood regularly, she suspected he would have already healed. But he hadn't. He'd only been eating human food and not very much of that. But maybe considering what she was about to try, having his magic stunted might actually work in their favor. At least she'd hoped so, because the alternative might be… bad.

Once a long time ago she'd let a human help her during a hunt. It had gone badly, and he'd been captured and bitten. When she took down the nest and rescued him from his cage, she'd tried to heal his wounds. That was when she learned that using Valàfrn magic on a vampire was not a good idea. The two magics in conflict had been too much for his body. He'd literally been torn apart by the warring magics.

Just the memory of how horrific that attempt had ended was enough to make her hesitate.

"Are you sure about this? I think I'd rather feed you blood."

"Try magic. Test."

As an experiment? Was he that willing to prove his theory about his son's magic affecting him? "Okay then. But I'm going to go slow and stop if there is any sign of rejection."

With everything in place around the small room she helped him move to the center of the bed. Face down, but with his head turned so she could see some of his expression. Though if he continued to hide his pain, it might not help much. She positioned herself above him, astraddle his narrow hips. She rested her fingers on the torn skin of his back.

How did that ancient ceremony go… She ran the words over her mind a few times before putting power into them.

"Blessings of the gods, blessings of the earth, blessings of the moon. All these I call to. Connect the strength and power, connect the heart and soul, bring forth a bridge to bind this one to the flow of time."

The pooling power lingered at her fingertips before easing outward into his flesh. She repeated the healing prayer twice more before awakening the power she'd seen enveloping around his wounds.

As she called to the moon and filtered the blessing through her own body and into his she kept alert for any sign of reaction. Either positive or painful. She'd decide her next steps accordingly.

Quinn lay quietly under her hands. The stillness was calm and deep with no sign of breath or heartbeat. Most vampires didn't have either, but she'd noticed that he had both at a much-reduced rate.

There. His pulse fluttered under her fingers. He drew in a slow shallow breath.

The wounds were not healing noticeably faster, but they did have a slight pale glow. It was almost as if the Valàfrn magic flowed over him gently but didn't know how to settle more than skin deep.

But she was afraid to force the issue. His magic might not be rejecting hers, but that didn't mean the risk was any less. If her magic couldn't heal him, she still had the other option. She could give his magic a slap awake and force it to do its job properly.

He wasn't going to like that idea. The jerk would certainly refuse if she gave him the chance. Easy enough to avoid if she didn't bother asking him. She left the bed and its sleeping occupant.

She went upstairs and did a quick security check. Since the property was practically abandoned, there was little to worry about.

Now, how to go about this plan safely? She wasn't a fool. She knew exactly how dangerous feeding a vamp could be. Especially an injured one. The magic in the wolf blood was potent enough to inspire a cocaine-like reaction in a creature that was already designed to be a deadly killer. One mistake could take this mission from rescue to massacre in seconds. Ideally, she'd like to have Quinn restrained. Her little cords would have worked well. No such luck. The closest she found was a ratcheting tow strap. It was better than nothing.

Next was how to handle the blood. It wasn't as if she'd be willing to let him bite her neck. No way. Not even her arm. Nope, direct biting was out. Using a cup was the best bet.

It probably wouldn't take much blood. More than a thimble, maybe as much as a quarter cup? She wasn't planning to offer him a meal. She just wanted to offer enough to kickstart his own system. Just a swallow should do the trick.

She found the cracked coffee mug she'd used earlier for water. The handle was broken off and there was one heck of a chip on the top edge, but it was intact enough to do the job.

After securing him with the tow strap, she left the bedroom and went to the far side of the bunker. She didn't want him to react to the smell before she even got the chance to stick it in his face. One quick slash to her palm and she was able to squeeze her fist and let loose a few splatters of blood into the cup.

Unlike vamp boy she was in peak condition and her natural healing sealed even a deep cut within a few seconds. By the third cut, she had maybe a half inch of blood in the cup.

"That should do it." She returned to the room but paused at the doorway.

Quinn's body had barely moved if at all, but his eyes… They were open and focused, like red coals tracking his prey. Unconsciously, her free hand latched onto the hilt of her knife.

She considered trying to calm him with her voice. But such a thing was pointless. She'd wanted to awaken the dark predatory part of him that had driven him forward through the centuries of his life. She'd wanted him to feel that demand, the urge to fight to survive. To kill or be killed.

Well, it looked like she was getting what she wanted.

She flat out ignored the instinct to run. Instead, she moved to his side and tipped the cup up to his lips. "Drink."

His eyes flashed back to green. Several seconds passed before he turned his attention to the cup and its life blessing. Adjusting to the angle he took three swallows and emptied the cup.

"Feel any better?"

The seconds ticked by. His tongue darted out to swipe over his lower lip. Other than the one small movement he was as still as a stone. "You shouldn't have."

"Too bad. I was strong enough to make the call. You weren't."

He didn't argue with her logic. He also didn't look at all comfortable tied up with a three-inch-wide dirty yellow truck strap.

"This is where you say thank you, hurry up and heal yourself and we can get on with our plans." She knelt beside him so she could get a better look at his back. If she was right the healing should be vastly improved from the blood. "Let me look."

The raw wounds from earlier were steadily closing. If they kept at this rate, he should be back in one piece in just a few more minutes.

He seemed to be in control so there wasn't much point in leaving him tied up. She slid her hands around to find the ratchet release.

The strap fell away and then he was all movement. Capturing her in his arms and rolling her beneath his body. His unexpectedly hot breath hit her neck only a moment before the press of his fangs.

All in a fraction of a second. Even her wolf magic couldn't help her move like that. Of course, she still had her knife in hand, but his body weight had pinned her arm to the side.

The press of his mouth and fangs, but there was no sharpness to the connection. Instead, his mouth eased to her temple. A hesitation, a temptation. "You shouldn't have given me the blood." Those whispered words teased her ear.

And pissed her off. She'd dealt with blood mad vampires before, even a few who had grown addicted to wolf blood. He was not under that spell. Which meant he was just being a dick about her decision.

"Madeline…"

"Knock it off, before I get angry for real."

His body trembled.

With a lithe twist, she flipped free of his embrace. "You're in complete control of yourself. You can stop the act."

He rolled to his back and folded his arms across his chest. "Yeah, sorry."

"You'd better be. I don't need a lesson to know how dangerous that could have been. I knew it was a risk but did the math and figured it was worth it."

Was he pouting? Had the big, bad vampire actually been proud of his terrible acting?

She pulled the strap out from under him and carried it from the room. Her step faltered at the doorway. The tow strap had been partially burned through in several places. Her pulse lurched at the implications. His magic had flared out of his control. He'd come close to getting loose and since the Quinn she knew wouldn't even have tried to burn the straps… the side of him that had done it… Shit. Just how powerful, how dangerous was he? How close to killing her had he been? Where had the line been between his act and the real danger?

She turned to study him more seriously. His brow was slightly pinched in irritation. Did he think she was making light of the danger? Or perhaps overestimating her own strength?

She might have been a little overconfident but she sure as hell would never take their situation too lightly.

But how would he know that? He'd been the next thing to unconscious when she'd been talking to herself earlier.

"My whole family, almost all of my clan were murdered by a coven of blood mad vampires. I wasn't offering to feed you my blood because I think it's a good idea, or fun or whatever it is that you were thinking. The thought of being drained makes me physically ill and then significantly violent. I have never let a vampire feed on me. Not once in more than eight hundred years."

His gaze locked on hers and narrowed. About a thousand questions flashed across his face but not a single one passed his lips.

"That's why I spent my whole life hunting down and killing your kind. Until I met Bella, I firmly believed that the world would be better if I managed to personally drive your race to extinction."

"But you don't feel that way any longer."

She sat back down on the bed beside him. "No, Bella forced me to look deeper and doing so made me doubt my convictions. There may have been… no, there certainly had been some vampires that I took down that did not deserve my hatred or their violent end."

"Yet, you…" He shook his head slightly. "Even in a situation like this, it's not worth the risk. That said, you do have my gratitude. But you've done enough. I'm almost back to full power with just a sip of your blood."

She reached across the inches that separated them, clasping his hand gently in her own. His fingers were slightly cooler than hers, but the place where their skin connected warmed with a tingle of power. "Quinn, I'm glad you're alive. I'm glad that my blood could help you survive."