Chapter 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN

PIPER

" W hat the hell do you mean it'll be on my head?" I had one of Atlas' arms draped over my shoulders, and he leaned only a bit of his weight on me as we walked through the tunnels under the castle toward the lab.

"You need to stop being so bloody na?ve. The curse will take him. Face it," he gritted out between labored breaths. Blood misted from his lips and ran down from the corner of his mouth.

"You don't know that, and the fact you're willing to give up on your best friend says a lot about who you are as a person."

"I'm not a bloody person, I'm a sodding vampire, and I know what's in store for him." He hissed under his breath. "Death would be a kindness."

Blood seeped slowly from the jagged metal pieces jutting from his torso. It was dark and oozing as it soaked into his shirt and the top of his pants. When I kicked the doors open to the lab, everyone froze and stared at the two of us. Their jaws dropped.

Atlas groaned. "Generally, I'm not a patient here. I'm usually the reason they have patients."

"Right, you're the one bringing the others in on stretchers." I sighed and rolled my eyes. "He needs help, people!"

Three lab assistants rushed forward, and I handed Atlas over to them. The three of them nearly toppled under his weight. They stumbled and staggered as they directed him to one of the exam rooms. I followed behind him not really sure what to do, but I wasn't going to leave him alone until he explained and gave me his word he wouldn't try to kill Grayson. The doctor rushed in behind us, and I moved to the side watching as they hoisted Atlas onto the metal table. I was glad for once it wasn't me.

Atlas shoved the techs off him and growled at the doctor. He motioned to the metal jutting from his side. "Pull them out."

Doctor Stanbourn looked like he'd seen better days. He was a made-vampire, so there were only a few slight hints to his age when he was turned. But even now those looked more severe from the night. His salt and pepper hair stood on edge and the wrinkles around his eyes were accompanied by dark circles. Red stains marred what used to be his pristine white lab coat. His glasses were tucked into the pocket of his coat, and when he leaned over Atlas, he just appeared exhausted.

"What happened here?"

We shared a look and Atlas ground his teeth together. "Rogue vampire."

"I've never seen you injured before. Must've been a strong vampire." He hurried around the room, pulling supplies from the drawers and laying them on the portable tray that would wheel around the room.

He pushed it across the room and stood before Atlas. "Lie back."

Atlas relaxed his muscles and slapped away one of the techs who tried to ease his head down. "I'm not bloody dying."

The doctor cleared this throat. "I think I'll take it from here, lest one of you lose a limb."

Atlas hissed at them. "Right. Piss off, the lot of you."

The three techs scurried out of the room, leaving only me and the doctor alone with Atlas. The doctor picked up the medical scissors and cut away Atlas' shirt. He dropped the pieces onto the tray. With each strip, he revealed more of Atlas' skin. Dark tattoos covered his body along with a deep bruise that indicated he was bleeding internally. Those two metal pieces jutted from his torso, and rivets of blood ran down his sides. His muscles clenched and flexed in pain with every breath he took.

When the doctor picked up a needle and started to bring it toward Atlas' skin, he grabbed the doctor's wrist, stopping him. "Just pull them out."

"No need to put on a brave face here. The pain will be great." He hesitated with the needled poised.

The muscles in Atlas' neck tightened as he gritted his teeth together. "Be done with it so I can be on my way."

Sweat soaked his hair and had it sticking to his head. The doctor nodded to me. "Hold him down."

"I have command over myself." Atlas' face pulled into a hard sneer.

"And yet you need my assistance." The doctor didn't budge to help him. "You forget yourself. I've seen what you can do."

"And you think she can hold me down?" He glared in my direction.

The doctor scoffed. "And much more if she'd like."

"Do what you will." Atlas laid his head back and closed his eyes. "This is her fault. She best contribute in some way."

"My fault, huh?" I marched up to the table and grinned down at him. I pressed my forearm across his chest, pinning him down. When he tried to sit up, I easily pinned him there. I smirked down at him and gripped one of the metal pieces. "Ready, doc? On three . . . one . . ."

I yanked it from Atlas' side, and he let go of a deep grunt. He sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth and his nostrils flared. The tattoos on his body rippled as fine red mist seeped from him. He spoke through gritted teeth. "You said three ."

"I lied." I dropped the piece on the tray on top of the pieces of his shirt.

"I always knew you were a cruel woman." His breath came in panting heaves as his muscles tensed.

The doctor pressed a gauze pad over the deep wound and held it there. "Even immortals take a moment to heal from wounds such as these."

"I haven't got a moment," he snapped.

I reached for the other shard and yanked it. It didn't budge an inch. It stuck to a bone, and a growl erupted from Atlas as he tried to shove me from holding him down. "Bloody hell, woman. Have you no manners? A warning is required for such things."

"Then I require a warning next time you . . ." I glanced at the doctor and chose my next words carefully, ". . . hunt in such a way."

I couldn't tell him I deserved to know how he planned on hunting down Grayson and whether or not he was going to try to kill him. Because from where I was standing, that was exactly what happened. And I couldn't let him kill Grayson, not now, not when we'd found our love and lost it only moments later. I held the metal shard even tighter, and it started to cut into my hand.

"I only answer to the crown, and you are not it." The breath hissed through his teeth. "No dea?—"

I yanked even harder this time. The metal came loose from his rib and slid from his skin. A bellow ripped from Atlas' throat, and his back arched in pain. Doctor Stanbourn leapt on top of him, trying to put pressure on the wound, but blood spilled from the opening. I dropped the piece onto the tray and noticed a tiny chunk of bone stuck to the end of it. I tried not to gag and nearly failed.

Atlas growled in my direction. "Don't you dare get sick over this. I'm the one on a sodding table."

I shoved my arm down and he slammed back into the table with a loud thunk . "Sit still so the man can work."

"In case it's escaped your attention, this bloody well hurts." Yet he let his body slump there, forcing his muscles to go limp while the doctor worked.

"I seem to recall pain meds were an option and you refused," I snapped back at him.

"Now that it's out, we no longer have need of you. Do we, doc?"

The doctor glanced from him to me and back again. He grabbed a thick bandage off the tray and pressed it to the wound. Blood seeped through, nearly soaking it instantly. "She's been of assistance."

Atlas glared at me. "Leave!"

"No!" I raised my voice to match his.

"NOW!"

"What the devil is going on in here?" King Titus boomed as he walked into the room. The doctor's eyes went round for a movement as he stared at the King who seemed to take up the whole room.

"I no longer need her assistance, Your Majesty." Atlas lowered his voice to a respectable volume.

The doctor handed me another gauze pack, and I pressed it to the wound. "And I respectfully decline his dismissal."

He hung his head, then gave it a shake. "You're fighting like petulant children on this night. Of all nights? The castle has been attacked, half the Blood Borns have been poisoned, half the Night Spawn have betrayed us, most of them are in our dungeons as we speak, and to top it all off, Grayson . . ."

He let his words trail off when Doctor Stanbourn began to stare at him. Titus waved his hand at him. "Leave us."

Without a word, the doctor handed me another pad to hold to the other wound in Atlas' side. I pressed and held it as tight as I could. Atlas flinched. "Not so hard. You're like a snake squeezing the life out of me. I don't fancy cracked ribs on top of this."

"You should be so lucky." I loosened my hold.

Titus gave a heavy sigh and lowered his voice to a deep whisper. "What of Grayson?"

"He is lost," Atlas said before I could even take a breath.

"He's not lost. He's still in there, I know it. We need to get him home."

Atlas looked down at himself. "One limb at a time then? He is too strong."

I scoffed and muttered, "Maybe for you."

"Audacity is not a good look for you."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Neither is being a big old pus?—"

"—enough," Titus broke in. "You will find him, and you will bring him home by any means necessary. Understood?"

I nodded, feeling satisfaction run through my body. It was good to have Titus on my side, even if no one else would be. Atlas gave a hesitant nod. "Understood."

Titus gave a simple nod. "You see to my nephew. And Atlas?"

"Yes, Your Majesty?" Atlas tried to perk up.

"No hunting until you're properly healed." He turned and was gone in a moment, leaving the two of us there to stare at each other with all the annoyance both of us could muster.

"Why did it look like you tried to kill him?" I barely whispered.

"Because I gave him my word I would if he fell to the curse." He closed his eyes and let his head fall back. "And I have never let him down, not once. I will not start now."

I tried to swallow around the ball in my throat. Everyone knew if Atlas wanted someone dead, they were as good as dead. But this was Gray, and we both loved him. "But he's your only friend."

"I know."

"How long?"

"How long for what?" He sighed and flexed his fingers as if sitting here waiting was the most painful thing that'd happened to him tonight.

"For you to keep your word?" If I knew how much longer I had, then I might be able to do . . . something.

No answer.

The doctor walked back into the room and checked under the gauze pads. "This is going to take some time. The wounds are deep. I fear there's organ damage."

"Get me up and going," Atlas demanded.

"I require more help and some supplies. I'll return shortly." He glanced from Atlas to me and back again. "Do try not to kill each other."

"If he behaves, he has nothing to worry about."

Atlas scoffed as the doctor left the room. I faced him once more, ready to question everything that transpired between him and Grayson. A glimmer of hope sparked in my chest. "So, he made you promise to kill him should he ever fall to the curse?"

He and I were gonna have words about that later. The list of things we were going to have words about kept growing and growing.

Atlas gave a single nod.

"Good."

"What do you mean, good?" His eyebrows rose up in shock.

I met his eye and held my chin up even though all I wanted to do was give myself a moment to freak out. But Grayson didn't have a moment, which meant neither did I. "It means now you can stop fucking around and help me. He may have made you promise to kill him . . . but he never made you promise to do it quickly."