Lissa! Where are you? His mindspeech was a near-shout.
Stay away, Tony! I was trying to shout back and move behind one of the vampires at the same time. I was slashed across the back when I took the second vampire's head; the third vampire had seen me partially turn. He'd taken the opportunity when it presented itself and now I was truly crippled. The remaining vampire was turning swiftly, looking for any sign of me while he backed out of the alley, going toward the crowd. If he made it to that mass of people, there was no telling what he might end up doing. Many scenarios flitted through my impaired brain and none of them had a happy ending. I had to get him before he got too far ahead or he'd get away. Or kill and get away. Plus, if he had friends and managed to escape, any cover I still had would be blown. I was almost on him, trying to find an opening to take him while I still had some strength left when Tony ran into the alley, gun in hand.
Run, Tony! I was desperately trying to get him to run toward the crowd and lose himself in it. But of course he didn't. There wasn't any way he could stand against a vampire and his gun would be worthless. He fired anyway as the vampire bore down on him and I, using up the last bit of strength I had, flew into the vampire as fast as I could. Bringing myself back to corporeality then, I allowed my momentum to hurl my body into his, knocking him to the ground just before he reached Tony. Snarling and clawing, he fought as he twisted beneath my weight. Dumb luck saved me, I think. I raised my hand to fend off his claws, slicing his hand off in the process with my own fully extended talons. He screamed as I drew my other hand across his throat, nearly decapitating him. Exhaustion claimed me then; I had nothing left and nearly collapsed across the vampire's body. Tony had the presence of mind to grasp my hand in his and finish the job with my claws—I didn't have the strength.
* * *
"Lissy, please wake up, baby," Tony begged. He held a bag of blood in his hand while I lay on the carpet I'd told him I didn't want to damage earlier. My body was sliced and bloody and now his carpet was bloody as well. "Lissy, drink this," he commanded as I blinked up at him. My eyes were closing again when he slapped my cheek. "Drink this," he was shouting now, holding the bag to my lips. I swallowed as best I could, although he was forcing more blood into my mouth than I could comfortably take. More blood dripped onto his carpet while he worked. When the second bag of blood was empty, I lost consciousness.
* * *
Tony cursed himself. He cursed Lawrence Frazier. He cursed the vampires that had attacked. Nobody was safe from him that night. Lissa was unconscious again. He should have insisted that she stay home. He hadn't known what the effects of taking so much of her blood might be. He knew now. He called Ken White and asked him what problems might arise if a vampire lost blood. The vampire agent explained that it needed to be replaced as soon as possible. Otherwise, the vampire could show the same effects that a human might if they suffered blood loss. When asked, Tony informed Ken that Lissa had been hit taking down three vampires and had huge claw marks all over her. A concerned agent White volunteered to come but Tony ordered him to stay where he was, asking him instead what to do.
"Wake her if at all possible and pour blood into her," White had said. "It'll replenish what she lost. Clean out the slashes; if there's any debris left inside, her skin will heal around it and it'll stay inside her body. That would be a shame; her skin is fine and beautiful."
Tony carried Lissa to the bathtub in his bedroom after getting as much blood into her as he could and proceeded to wash out all the cuts and gouges as carefully as possible in a tub full of water. The bleeding had stopped except when he reopened cuts and gashes to remove dirt and such. Lissa was wrapped in towels and laid on his bed while Tony made a call. He had people on his staff who were experts at cleaning nearly anything and he ordered them to come over. No questions were asked as they cleaned blood from the carpet in Lissa's bedroom—they knew better.
* * *
"She got hit last night," Tony explained to Bill, who'd come over to do guard duty during the day. Lissa was back in her bed and everything seemed to be healing up. "Took out three vampires. The last one was coming for me when she got him but he got her first."
"I'll keep an eye on her." Bill promised.
"Make sure she eats as much as she can when she wakes," Tony said before walking out the door. He had meetings all day and while he might have preferred to stay with Lissa and apologize to her because his guilt was nagging at him, he had to go.
Chapter 11
My mouth was dry and I felt horrible when I woke. Bill was sitting in a chair in the corner of my bedroom, waiting for me to wake. "You the welcoming committee?" I mumbled, slapping a hand over my face.
"Looks that way. Tony said you got hit last night and to make sure you ate as much as you could." He unlocked my cooler and took out a unit of blood. "Here, drink," he said, handing the bagged blood to me.
"You might not want to stick around for this," I said wearily, accepting the bag.
"Nah. They poured blood into my dad before he died," Bill said. "He got shot in the line of duty."
"I'm sorry," I sighed, struggling to sit up so I could drink. Eventually I managed, biting the top off the bag so I could drink. I nearly finished the thing, I was so thirsty.
"We'll try for more in a couple of hours," Bill said. "Director Hancock should be home around then." I blinked at Bill. The more I knew him, the warmer and more human he was, and I was beginning to see him as a friend. "Go back to sleep," he said. "I'll read." He held up a magazine. Bazookas and Bullets might not be my first pick in reading material, but Agent Bill was who he was, after all.
Taking Bill's advice, I just slept after I drank my dinner. There were still a few healing scratches and red lines across my ribs; I'd lifted my top to check. I was afraid to look at my back—Bill said the wound to my head was all right. More than likely, I should have called Merrill and Gavin but I was too tired. Tony came in after a while and woke me again.
"Lissy, try to drink some of this, baby." He held an opened bag of blood under my nose. I drank a little of it and he put the rest back in the cooler. "How do you feel, pretty girl?" he asked, sitting on the side of my bed.
"Go away." I pulled the sheet over my head; he'd turned on the bedside lamp and I found it annoying. I wanted to go back to sleep.
"Come on, baby," Tony lay down beside me, spooning a little. His arm was over me, hugging me close. I sure hoped Agent Bill had gone home; no way did I want him to see this.