“Give it up. Why do you still have to pretend? It’s me, Maya, I’m a doctor, I can help you.”

“No you can’t!”

“Obviously not.” She looked back at the girl, picked up her stethoscope again and listened to her heart. When she tucked it away again, she continued, “Since we don’t know what she remembers, I’m not interested in having to explain to her why her arm healed miraculously, so I’m going to bandage her the regular way. No licking. And certainly not by you. You’ve had enough of her blood already, don’t you think?”

Oliver let out a curse. “Ah, screw it! You’ve obviously decided not to believe me, so why do I even bother? Once she’s awake—”

“Yes, yes, I know. She’ll tell us it was some other big bad vampire,” Maya mocked.

“Before the night is over, you’re going to have to apologize to me,” Oliver prophesized.

“Don’t count on it.” Then she pointed at the bottle. “Time for the next one.”

Again Maya turned the valve, cutting off the blood supply to the needle in the girl’s arm. Oliver helped her exchange the bottles. Within a minute, the second bottle of O-Neg was being transfused into the beautiful Asian girl he couldn’t keep his eyes off.

Had she really offered him sex for his help?

He stretched his hand toward her face, stroking tenderly over her cheek when Maya loudly cleared her throat. Immediately he pulled his hand back.

“Just wanted to see if she feels warmer than earlier,” he lied. “She was shaking with the chills when I called you.” Well, at least that part was the truth, even though his reason for touching her wasn’t. He’d simply wanted to feel her soft skin and be reminded of the kiss they had shared for such a brief moment.

“A side effect of the blood loss,” Maya commented and went about cleaning her patient’s arm wound. It wasn’t deep; rather it appeared to be only a superficial cut. She cleaned it out with rubbing alcohol, then placed Steri-strips over it before covering up the area with gauze and affixing it with tape.

When the second bottle was fully drained a short while later, Maya removed the needle and put pressure on the puncture wound, until the small opening stopped bleeding, then put a band-aid over it.

Oliver felt impatience grow in him. “And now?”

“Let’s see if she responds.”

Maya placed her hand on the girl’s good arm and shook her gently. “Wake up. Come, I know you can hear me. Wake up.”

The strange girl stirred, her head falling to the side, prominently exposing the puncture wounds on her neck once more. Oliver pointed to them, giving Maya a questioning look.

She quickly took a piece of gauze and saturated it with rubbing alcohol, then swabbed the area with it.

“Ouch!”

It was the first word from the girl since she’d collapsed in his arms. Relief washed through him. She would be all right.

Her hand reached for her neck as she opened her eyes at the same time.

7

Ursula felt a stinging pain as something wet brushed over her neck and raised her hand to slap it over the source of the pain: the puncture wounds. Darn, why did they sting? They’d never stung before when a vampire had licked them to close them.

Her eyes shot open in the same instant, and within a second everything came rushing back to her. She wasn’t reclined on the couch in the blue room of her prison anymore, even though she lay on a soft surface. She had escaped the blue room and the vampire on top of her. She’d outsmarted Dirk. That thought almost made her smile. Almost.

If only she knew where she was and who the two people standing over her were. She tried to focus her eyes, but it took her a few seconds to truly be able to see the two in front of her clearly. The woman’s white coat became less fuzzy and she read the stitching over the breast pocket. Dr. Maya Giles it said. Long dark hair cascaded over her shoulders.

Thank God, she’d made it to a hospital! Somehow, she’d escaped and managed to reach a safe place. Now everything would be good, and she would be going home to see her parents again.

As she shifted, her arm slid against a cushion, sending another wave of pain through her body—not strong, but nevertheless noticeable. She bit back a curse. It was all worth it. Her wounds would heal quickly, much quicker than the ones she carried inside her.

Her gaze drifted away from the white doctor’s coat to the man who stood next to the doctor. She instantly realized that she’d seen him before. Out there somewhere. On the streets. Taking a deep breath, she collected her thoughts. It finally came to her. He was the young man she’d asked for help. Seeing him together with the doctor confirmed that he’d helped her in the end. He looked at her, apprehension in his eyes.