The grunt that cut off the word rose in volume to another scream.
"Get the drugs," he snapped at the healer.
"She won't take them - "
"Get them! You may need her consent, but I sure as shit don't - "
"Talk to her first - "
"No!" Autumn hollered.
All hell broke loose at that point, everyone shouting at each other until the next wave came and shut him and Autumn up, the two of them once again bowing under the pressure.
Lassiter's appearance registered in the heartbeat between the surge easing off and the next round of arguing: The angel stepped up to the bed and extended his palm.
Autumn calmed instantly, her eyes rolling back in her head, her limbs loosening. Tohr's relief, such that he had any, was that at least her suffering had eased off. He was still gripped by the need, but she was no longer killing herself.
"What are you doing to her?" Doc Jane asked.
"Just a trance. And it's not going to last. "
Still, that shit was impressive. Vampire minds were stronger than human ones, and the fact that the angel could pull this kind of reaction out of her in her condition suggested he had some special tricks up his sleeve.
Lassiter's eyes met Tohr's. "You sure?"
"About what," he snapped. Fucking hell, he was on the verge of losing his mind here -
"Servicing her. "
Tohr laughed in a cold burst. "Not in the cards. Ever. "
To prove the point, he lunged to the right, where a tray of syringes was on standby, clearly intended for Autumn. Nabbing two, he punched them into his thighs and shot himself up with whatever was in them.
Lots of shouting at this point, but it didn't last. The drug cocktail, whatever it was, took immediate effect and dropped him to the floor.
His last image before he passed the fuck out was of Autumn's fuzzy eyes watching him go down.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
As Qhuinn and John stared at her with studiously blank expressions, Layla straightened in the hard chair she was seated in.
Glancing around the restaurant, she saw only humans calmly enjoying little confections similar to what were on her plates - so it was hard to understand what was wrong.
"Is it something outside?" she whispered, leaning forward. Generally speaking, she found that humans were much the same as vampires - just trying to live their lives without interference. But these two males would know otherwise.
Qhuinn looked at her and smiled in a way that didn't reach his eyes. "After you fed the male, what did you do? What did they?"
She frowned, wishing they'd tell her what was wrong. "Ah. . . well, I tried to talk them into bringing him back to the training center. I figured since his comrade had been treated there, he could be as well. "
"Do you believe that his injuries could have been fatal?"
"If I hadn't gotten there in time? Yes, I do. But he was looking better when I left. His breathing was much improved. "
"Did you feed from him. "
Now the tone in Qhuinn's voice was dire. To the point that, had the boundaries of their relationship not been well set, she might have thought he was jealous.
"No, I did not. You're the only person I've done that with. "