Blood Lust (4 page)

I still felt bad. Gram didn’t like the way Olivia interacted
with the customers, and that’s why she’d hired me in the first place.

Max was setting up a series of syringes on my nightstand,
and I gulped down my water, trying not to freak out. “Am I getting all those?”
I asked nervously. “Isn’t it supposed to be just one shot in the stomach?”

“Not anymore,” he said, flicking a syringe as he held it up
to the light. “Half the vaccination will go into the muscle closest to the bite
wounds. The other half will go right into the site of the bite.” He grabbed my
foot and lifted it into his lap so that my leg was elevated, and began
unwrapping the gauze. “Let’s get this cleaned up.”

“Can I take a shower?” I asked weakly. “I feel so gross from
sleeping in the barn.”

“Honey, we don’t have time. I’ve got to leave soon,” Gram
told me. “The shipment is coming in this morning.”

“You can go, Grandma Sam,” Max said, still unwinding the gauze
from my leg. “I’ll stay with her until I’m sure she’s all right.”

“Max, I couldn’t do that-“

“I don’t need a babysitter,” I protested. “And I can bandage
my own leg, too. After Max gets it cleaned up, he can give me the shots and you
both can leave. I’ll take a shower then.”

“You haven’t even eaten breakfast yet,” Gram said, and from
her tone I could tell she did not like the direction this conversation was
going. “You can’t go downstairs by yourself.”

“She just needs some rest. Her leg will be fine- and I’ll
make her breakfast,” Max said. He began slowly peeling away the gauze that was
stuck to my leg with dried blood, and grimaced sympathetically when I
whimpered. “Ouch. Bet that stings.”

I leaned back on my elbows, blinking furiously and trying to
keep from crying. “Gram, just go,” I said. “It’s bad enough this happened. I
don’t want you to lose sales at the bookstore, too.”

“You won’t be able to go anywhere today,” she said, still
unconvinced. “The battery in your car is dead.”

“I don’t want to go anywhere,” I groaned, and rubbed my
temple. “I feel terrible about- about being dumb and going into the barn by
myself last night. Please don’t make me feel even worse. Just go open the
bookstore.”

She stood, glancing at the alarm clock on my dresser. “If you
think so…I’ll just feed the horses before I go.”

“Okay.” I think she had expected me to argue with her,
because she pursed her lips when she heard my affirmative response.

“Here’s your phone.” She pulled it from her pocket and
handed it to me, and I took it, surprised to see that the screen hadn’t cracked
when I’d dropped it. “You call me if you need anything, you hear?”

“Yes, Gram,” I said at the same time that Max said, “I’ll
keep an eye on her, Gram.”

She sighed. “All right. I’m going. Max, there are eggs in
the fridge.”

“Bye,” Max and I both said as she left the room.

There was silence as she clomped down the stairs, and when
the front door slammed, Max and I looked at each other.

“I hate eggs,” I said.

“Me, too. Don’t worry, I’ll make us something else. I
haven’t eaten yet, either.”

“Gosh, I’m sorry.” I winced as he began swabbing the bites
on my leg with peroxide-soaked cotton pads. “I’m pretty sure you have better
things to do on your Saturday morning than doctor some idiotic city girl.”

He shook his head and picked up a syringe. “I fail to see
how fending off a wolf attack with your bare hands makes you an idiotic city
girl.”

I leaned back on the bed again, and grabbed a pillow,
putting it over my face. “Someone who grew up here would have called for help
instead of walking into the barn alone.”

I knew my voice was muffled, but Max seemed to understand me
just fine. He ignored my last comment and talked me through the injections, but
his last bit of advice- “Think of something else. Think of something funny,” he
said- didn’t help much when he was jabbing giant needles into my skin. “Here’s
something you probably don’t know. You know how Grandma Sam goes out on Tuesday
nights?”

“Yes.” I’d noticed that. Every Tuesday, like clockwork. She
never told me where she was going, and she got back after I was already asleep.

“She’s going to the hookah bar downtown.”

“What? Are you serious?” I smiled against the pillow,
despite myself. “Gram smokes hookah?”

“She’s a regular at Ifrit’s.” He jabbed a needle into my
skin, and I yelped. That ended the hookah conversation.

When he was finally finished jabbing me full of holes, I
pulled the pillow off my face and stared at the ceiling grumpily. “This is not
at all how I pictured our second meeting.”

“Well, I never pictured our first meeting taking place at a
carnival with a drunk girl hanging off my arm,” he replied.

I laughed, and immediately regretted it as the pounding in
my head intensified. “Ow. Why do I feel so lousy?”

“Sleeping in a barn will do that to you,” he said, and leaned
over to rest a cool hand on my forehead. “Your fever’s a little better, but
it’ll take a day or two to disappear completely. Do you want to take a shower
while I fix breakfast?”

“I don’t need stitches?” I rose up on my elbows again, grimacing
at the angry-looking gashes on my leg.

“I know they look bad, but they’ve already scabbed over. Most
of them are just puncture wounds, so there’s nothing to stitch. You’re just
going to have to make sure to keep it clean. If you think you feel terrible
now, wait till you’re fighting off a fever from infection.”

“No, thank you.” I sat up, easing my leg off his lap. “I’ll
take you up on that shower and breakfast offer. Am I okay to walk on my own?”

He stood, tossing a piece of gauze into the trash can beside
my bed. “If you feel up to it. Try not to get any soap or shampoo in your open
wounds. Wash around the bite marks, okay?” Max held out a hand, and I took it
so that he could help me to my feet. The same tingling sensation went through
my fingers when we touched, but it lacked the impact of the chemistry I’d felt
with Jericho.

I withdrew my hand from his and hobbled to my dresser. He
took the hint and left the room.

When he was gone, I leaned up against the dresser, staring
down at my leg. The past twenty-four hours had been crazy.

I looked at my phone and saw two texts from Mara. Both were
sent around 3AM.

Sorry didn’t respond,
left carnival early 2 hang out with friends,
the first one said. The second
text read,
If u want to hang sometime
this weekend txt me again. Promise I’ll answer this time. ;-)

I decided against texting back just yet, and put the phone
on my dresser before rummaging around for clean clothes.

While I was in the shower, I braced my hands against the
wall and let the water run down my face. I closed my eyes and tried to let the
heat of the water assuage my headache, which was becoming so persistent as to
be obnoxious.
Last time I’ll ever sleep
in a barn,
I thought darkly. I wondered if I would have been able to make
it to the house, or at least to my car. If I’d been thinking clearly, I would
have waited long enough to grab my cell phone and then called for help. Instead
I’d just hid out in the barn all night, and that wolf was still out there
somewhere.

I dressed in shorts and a t-shirt after my shower, and
pulled my wet hair into a ponytail. Although the headache hadn’t disappeared, I
did feel a lot better- and I didn’t smell like a horse, which was a huge bonus.
I limped back into my room to find Max sitting in my desk chair, his booted
foot propped up on my desk as he ate. One of Gram’s TV trays was set up next to
my bed. My mouth watered. He’d made biscuits and gravy- one of my favorites.

“Dang. My own personal doctor
and
gourmet chef,” I said, sitting down on my bed and propping up
my leg before I reached over to pick up my tray. I lifted the tray off its
stand and settled it on my lap.

“Doctor, yes. Chef, no. Gram had these biscuits and the
sausage in the fridge already, and the gravy was in a jar. But thank you, I do
know how to operate a stove burner and a microwave.”

“See, now you’ve ruined it,” I groused, picking up my fork.
“I was picturing you as the Native American Gordon Ramsay, and now it’s ruined.”

He grinned at me. “Guess I’m a little too honest.”

“Mmm.” I chewed for several moments on a bite of biscuit
before swallowing. “Lucky for you, I’m not a food snob. My mom can’t cook
either, so I don’t think I’ve ever had gravy that didn’t come out of a jar or
some kind of just-add-water packet.”

“I didn’t say I couldn’t cook,” Max replied, amused. “I just
didn’t cook today.”

“Oh, really? You’ll have to make something from scratch next
time.”

Neither of us said anything as he mopped up gravy with his
last piece of biscuit. My response had been a little awkward, like I was
assuming there would be a next time even though we were barely friends. Admittedly,
it had been a strange morning for both of us. We’d only just met, and yet he’d
carried me in his arms, had his hands all over my leg, and now he’d cooked us
breakfast.

The food had alleviated my headache somewhat, and when I
finished, he took both our plates downstairs to wash up. I took another drink
of water and settled back against my pillows, feeling drowsy. Maybe it was a
side effect of the vaccination? I wasn’t sure.

When Max came back in, he immediately walked over and felt
my forehead again. “Much better,” he said. “Are you tired?”

I opened my mouth to say yes, but ended up yawning instead.
Max chuckled. “I figured. You should probably stay in bed today. I’m going to
leave you with everything you need to clean the bite wounds. Leave them
unwrapped as often as you can, okay? They need to breathe if they’re going to
heal.”

“You mean I have to look at them all the time?” I wrinkled my
nose, and a thought occurred to me. “Hey, should we call Animal Control? That
wolf might have a taste for human blood now.”

“I’ll take care of it, but I don’t think it’s anything you
should concern yourself with.”

“Did you forget that I work at Books, Lore & More? Every
customer who comes in has some story about the wolves of the Black Hills. A
girl last night actually ordered a new book about it. I can’t escape hearing
about these wolves. Attacks must be pretty common around here.”

Max’s eyes shifted away from me, and after a pause he sat
down on the edge of my bed. “You can’t let the conspiracy theorists get to you,
Eve. I’ve lived here my entire life, and yes, there are wolves, but it would be
irrational to expect anything different. These are the Black Hills- there are
bears, foxes, coyotes, and mountain lions, too. People just like to focus on
the wolves because of the mystical implications.”

I toyed with the edge of the quilt on my bed. “You didn’t
see that wolf last night. It was huge. I’ve never seen a wolf that big outside
of the
Twilight
movies.”

“I don’t doubt that. But try not to let this one incident
affect your opinion of Rapid City, or South Dakota, in general.” Max lifted his
black bag as he stood up. “I’ve got to go. I’m going to be out of town for the
next few days, but I’ll be back Monday morning. If you start seeing signs of
infection, go straight to Urgent Care. Otherwise I’ll stop by on Monday to
check up on you.”

“Okay.” I was starting to feel awkward. First he’d chastised
me for buying into the wolf stories, and now he was treating me like a little
kid who couldn’t take care of herself for a couple of days. I knew he had to be
at least ten years older than me, but up until this moment, I hadn’t noticed
the age gap at all, and I’d thought he hadn’t, either.

He must have noticed my irritation, because when I lifted my
eyes to meet his, he had a bemused expression. “You have a terrible poker
face.”

“I’m just tired.”

He took that as his cue to leave. “I’ll see you Monday.”

“Thanks for everything,” I said as he walked out the door,
but he didn’t answer. I heard him descending the stairs, and a few moments
later, the front door opened and closed.

I tossed and turned for a while, trying to find a
comfortable position for my leg. I finally elevated my knee with a rolled
pillow, which meant my calf was slightly suspended and my bite wounds weren’t
touching anything. It wasn’t an ideal position, but eventually I managed to
fall asleep.

Chapter Three

I woke up only once the whole day, when Gram came home from
the bookstore and offered to make me soup. I declined, rolled over and went
back to sleep.

I didn’t sleep well after that, and when the sun went down,
my fitful dreams dissolved into full-blown nightmares. In my nightmare, the
wolf was back, except I didn’t have the rake to defend myself, and no shadowy
blur emerged from the darkness to save me. I fought the wolf off, kicking and
screaming, tearing at his throat with my teeth, but nothing seemed to work-
until suddenly the wolf backed away of its own accord. Its ears were flattened
to its head, and a low whine came from its throat.

I sat up in bed, drenched in sweat and haunted by the fear
I’d seen in the wolf’s eyes.

What had it been scared of? Me?

I reached for the water glass on my nightstand, but it was
empty. The pitcher Gram had brought me earlier was dry, too. My throat still
felt sandpapery, so I switched on my bedside lamp, planning to go downstairs to
the kitchen. When I looked down at my leg, I paused.

The bite marks looked healed. Some of them had disappeared
entirely. I leaned forward and ran my fingers over one of the long grooves
where the wolf’s teeth had torn through my skin. It was completely healed over
with new, pink skin.

“What the hell?” I muttered. What had been in those shots
that Max had given me? I’d never healed so quickly before in my life. My head
felt heavy, though. The medication must come with some side effects.