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In the office, the scent of blood andmy stomach knotted Contrary to books and movies, hu blood, but Beast can She gathered herself and growled, low in my throat Troll sprawled on the leather love seat, blood clotted on his throat and T-shirt, his outer shirt ripped open His skin was grayish blue, his eyes rolled back in his bald head His chest rose with a shallow breath Beast settled to her haunches into see what I’d do
"I hurt him," Katie said, her voice astonished"II took too much" She looked at rave ers, which had for Katie in sight Kneeling, I checked Troll’s pulse Thready and weak, way too fast His skin was cold and ashen, shocky I inspected his neck The punctures were neatly constricted closed At least he wasn’t losing any htly to open his airway, hoping Katie hadn’t broken his neck while feeding, hoping I hadn’t just paralyzed hih school had been an eency medical technician class, but I didn’t have supplies to help hiht "He needs a transfusion," I said, "and fluids Call 911"
"No" Still raceful and wilting, and lay the back of her hand on Troll’s cheek The gesture looked tender and caring, in stark contrast to her refusing her e my tone steady
"They will arrest me" She looked at ht "I have supplies," she said "I know you are capable of inserting an intravenous needle You studied medicine Rachael and he share a blood type She can donate"
Katie had clearly studied my Web site well, and had discovered that I was a certified eh Beast sent e of vulnerability, a cat with belly exposed When I could speak without a challenge, which could sti e-less, but better than what I wanted to say "I’ave the wrong type I could kill hionna happen" I stood and looked down at Katie, at the desperation in her eyes
"Do you knohat happens to vampires in jail?" she asked "We are chained in a dark room, without blood, and left to rot"
"That’s just an Internet al protection of supernats was not soh Most of their constituents hadn’t exactly laid out the welcome mat to the vamps and witches when they’d been revealed a few decades back Trollshallow His carotid pulse fluttered like a dying bird "Call your doctor," I bargained, beginning to feel desperate
"He is too far away If you will not help with the transfusion," Katie said, "then at least start intravenous fluids" She stood and went to the bar
I swiveled so my back was never turned to her, and watched as she opened a door on the bar to reveal a well-stocked ht, feeling sarcash me This wasn’t the first time Katie had needed to treat a wound Who woulda thunk it I wondered how close to the killing edge Katie was Lore clai blood ue I was hunting Interesting In a maybe-deadly kinda way Beast didn’t like this And neither did I
Still keeping Katie away from my back, I checked the expiration dates on the saline and the sterile needles and went to work I tied on a tourniquet and found a vein, inserted an eighteen-gauge needle It was a large-bore needle, suitable for giving blood, and had to hurt, but Troll didn’t even flinch I attached the line of fluids to the Jelco valve and turned on the saline, open all the way Katie watched as I squeezed the bag to force fluid into Troll’s syste the near snarl in my voice
"Will you make the call?" she asked, plaintive
"Why don’t you?"
"I don’t kno," she said I looked up in surprise Katie handed me a cell phone "I know the correct number is in the phone book inside that but I do not kno to use it And I do not wish to leave hioback and find the nu it must be too far away to make the trip easily Yet she was here, on site, before the sun set That gave h I didn’t let her see me react I punched a few buttons on the phone and found the address book