“Quickly, grab on to his arms and legs,” Naomi ordered.
This was a werewolf we were talking about, not a toddler. “Tyler,” I screamed. “We need help!” Nothing else but to trust her now, because Danny was bucking beneath us. The cross was clearly doing something. I just prayed it wasn’t killing him.
I chose to trust her.
Tyler raced through the trees toward us. “What are you doing to him?” he shouted.
“Naomi put some kind of charmed silver cross in Danny’s chest. She says it will cure him. Without it he dies from the venom.”
Tyler roared and lunged for the cross. Before he could reach it, I jumped up and knocked him out of the way. “Tyler, stop!”
He stumbled backward, but recovered himself in an instant, coming at me. “What do you think you’re doing, Jess?” he raged. “This is insanity! I can’t watch this vamp kill my best friend without doing anything to stop it. Wake up and take a look around. They have the full advantage here, and putting silver into a werewolf this weak means death. Danny’s as good as gone, and this was probably their plan all along. Don’t you see? You’re playing right into it!”
“Tyler,” I ground out. “I don’t have time to argue with you now, but I’ve chosen to trust Naomi on this. Time is wasting and we need your help. Like I told you before, not everyone is out to kill everyone else. I want Danny to live, and if you do too, grab his goddamn legs so that thing stays in!”
“And what if he dies?” Tyler demanded, his eyes swirling amber. “What then?”
“Then I will KILL HER MYSELF,” I bellowed with as much power as I could infuse into the words.
Tyler dove to the ground and snatched up Danny’s bucking legs. I wasn’t sure if I had manipulated him with power or if he’d gotten it on his own, and I didn’t really want to know. Tyler kept his head down. I knelt back down and grabbed Danny’s shoulder and torso on one side. Naomi had the other.
“I am not murdering your friend,” Naomi whispered as we all did our best to keep him still. Danny groaned and snarled in our grasps. “My memory is slowly returning. Your friend was selfless to come to my aid when he was not forced to do so. I will return the favor, as is common among our kind. This was his only chance. It was the cross or his certain death. There is no other way to exorcise the venom.”
Tyler did not respond. Danny continued to buck and yell. I glanced down the length of his body. His wounds were starting to fester in earnest. Yellow muck began to bubble out.
“What the hell is that stuff?” Tyler growled.
“That is the poison,” Naomi answered. “Stay away from it. The venom is born of the Underworld and still very potent. The silver is reacting to it and forcing it to flee his system.”
“Why didn’t we see it come out of your body then?” I questioned, running my eyes over Naomi’s almost fully healed body. There’d been no hint of yellow anywhere.
Naomi wouldn’t meet my eyes for a moment. When she did, she looked slightly abashed. “I believe your blood neutralized the venom on its own.”
“What? How can you be sure? Does that mean that my blood is immune to the little bastards?” I asked.
“I do not know for sure if you are immune.” She shook her head. “But I do know that vampires are very sensitive to blood types of all kinds. We can detect even the most subtle textures and tastes of any blood. Without a shadow of a doubt, your blood has cleansed me. As I drank, it was like nothing I’d ever tasted before, even in my unconscious state. It was dangerous and wild, sweet and powerful. I believe your blood seared the poison inside me, eradicating it the instant it mingled with the venom.”
I grimaced. Just talking about drinking blood gave me the willies. Plus, she just reminded me I’d broken every code and rule the wolves had about sharing anything with a different Sect—especially giving my blood. My father would be furious with me when he found out. There would be repercussions, there was no doubt. “If that means I’m immune, can I give my blood to Danny? Will it work the same way?”
“It won’t be necessary,” Naomi said. “He is almost clean. Look for yourself.”
The yellow had finished festering out. Now only bright red blood leaked from wounds, which thankfully were starting to close on their own. Danny had stopped thrashing once the poison had finished ejecting, but he was still out cold.
There was a noise in the woods to my left. Ray was coming through the trees. It seemed he’d found his way back from wherever he’d hidden himself when the devils had attacked. I’m not sure how much he’d seen of them in the dark, but thankfully it had been enough to keep him away. “Ray, the threat might not be fully gone,” I called. “But for now I think it’s okay to stay. Just make sure you don’t step out past the trees to my right. Unless, of course, you want to be eaten alive by supernatural devil bats.”
“I’m not going anywhere near there,” Ray grumbled. “I saw those things. I just spent the last hour huddled under a downed tree convincing myself I wasn’t dreaming. Every time I turn around there’s another freaking creature coming out of the woodwork. When does it end?”
“To be fair, I’ve never seen anything like them either. There are a lot supernaturals on this earth that I’ve never heard about.” Witches might know about demons—and horrid demon pets—because they were natural enemies, but wolves had never bothered with the Underworld to my knowledge. The standing philosophy was: we stayed away from them and they stayed away from us. Demons could raise seventy-five different types of killer bats and we would be none the wiser. “Ray, as long as you’re back, make yourself useful. Can you be a sport and get us some water?”
I’d been hoping for Eamon to return, but this would have to do.
“How am I supposed to find water in the dark, Hannon?” Ray said. “I could barely find my way back here in one piece. My eyes don’t spark up every time I need to see.”
I smiled in spite of the situation. “Our eyes don’t spark so we can see. They light because of the magic manifesting behind them. Eyes really are a portal into the soul, Ray. As for the water, it can be found in any of the packs. Just feel around.”
“Fine,” Ray grumbled, as he shuffled his way around the area.
“Water will be good,” Naomi agreed.
“Do you think the venom will rinse off his skin?”