Biting Bad (Chicagoland Vampires 8)

"With me?"

"She's not sick," Ethan said. "This isn't a random illness. She could be the key. And that means she's ours to protect."

They looked at each other for a moment, something passing between them. Some unspoken exchange that had everything and nothing to do with me, and everything and nothing to do with Brooklyn.

After a moment, Jonah nodded. "Let's go," he said.

Chapter Nineteen

THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE VAMPIRE IN THE NIGHTTIME

We drove together in Jonah's car. I rode shotgun, and Ethan took the backseat. There was nothing symbolic in the seating choices, but it still felt weird to be in a vehicle with Ethan in the backseat.

This time, the hospital was on the north side of town. It was new and shiny, with a two-story lobby and a sculpture of colored glass that hung down from the ceiling like a frozen waterfall. As hospitals went, it was lovely, but it was my second time in a hospital in two days, and I was nearing my saturation point.

Brooklyn's room was on the third floor. Jonah paused at the threshold, taking a breath and steeling himself to walk inside. He finally walked in, and I followed, Ethan behind us.

The room was as nice as the lobby had been - a private suite with a sitting area and a bank of flower vases along the windowsill. A silver get-well balloon rotated in the draft in front of the window.

Brooklyn lay on the bed, undisturbed by the wires or tubes that I'd assumed - dreaded - would have invaded her frail body. She looked just as pale and thin as she had before; a blue sheet covered her body, but it couldn't hide the outline of her skeletal form.

"She's stable."

We all turned, finding Dr. Gianakous in the doorway behind us. He walked inside and grabbed a chart that hung at the end of Brooklyn's bed.

The Grey House doctor, I silently told Ethan. He nodded slightly to acknowledge me.

"That's an improvement, right?" Jonah asked.

"In a sense, yes," Gianakous said. "She hasn't worsened, which is great. But she's a vampire. She should be healing, at least theoretically. If this was a wound, or even one of the few illnesses to which we're susceptible, she would be. But that's not what this is."

"Do you know what it is?" Ethan asked.

"Mr. Sullivan," the doctor said with surprise, apparently just realizing a Master vampire had joined the conversation.

Ethan nodded regally.

"Unfortunately, we don't." Gianakous walked to Brooklyn's bed and checked the readings on a monitor beside her. "We tried to provide her with blood, but she wouldn't accept it."

"She wouldn't accept it?" Jonah asked. "What do you mean?"

"She had no interest in drinking." He pulled a small printout from the monitor and put it in the chart, then flipped it closed. He looked up at us again, concern in his expression. "And we have no idea why."

"Do you have a theory?" Ethan asked.

Dr. Gianakous crossed his arms. "We've ruled out anything bacterial, common parasites. There are no drugs in her system. No toxins. Could be a virus, but it certainly doesn't match any we've seen before."

"What about a weapon?" I asked.

His brows lifted. "What kind of weapon?"

"I don't know. Something created specifically to kill vampires. Something involving biochemistry. Something that could be injected."

"The syringe you found?" Gianakous asked.

I nodded.

"Once upon a time, with many years of medical training behind me, I'd have said magic and monsters and vampires were nonsense. And now I have fangs and a sunlight allergy. Far be it from me to say anything is truly impossible."

"Jonah?"

We all looked up. Brooklyn's eyes fluttered open; Jonah rushed to her side.

"Brooklyn? Are you all right?"

"I'm really sorry," she quietly said. Her lips were dry, and her words were rough.

"There's nothing to be sorry for. You're in the hospital because you're sick. Do you know what's happened to you? How we can fix it?"

I didn't expect she'd be able to identify the reason she was sick, or who might have caused it . . . but nor did I expect the guilty expression on her face.

"Brooklyn?" There was an edge of sadness in Jonah's voice that scoured my heart.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to go back."

"To go back?" Jonah asked, obviously flustered. "Go back to what?"

"To being - to being human."

The room went silent.

"What do you mean, 'to being human'? You aren't human, Brooklyn. You're a vampire."

"My father died," she said, looking back at Jonah again. "Three days ago. My father died, and my mother is gone. I don't want to be here alone forever. I'm not strong enough for that." She swallowed thickly. "I don't want to be a vampire anymore. I don't want to be an orphan, here when my entire family is gone. I made a mistake. And I thought I could fix it."

If the magic in the room was any indication, we all goggled at her confession. But Jonah was the only one who moved. He took a step back from the bed, eyes wide like he couldn't believe what she'd said, like it hurt him to his core.

As a vampire - and a vampire who'd been interested in dating her - maybe it did.

"I don't want to be alone," she said again.

Jonah didn't respond, but Ethan did. He stepped closer to the bed.

"Brooklyn, how did you mean to become human again?"

She shook her head.

"Was it the syringe, Brooklyn?" he asked. "Was there something in the syringe?"

For a moment, she didn't answer.

"Yes," she finally said, the word so soft it was barely more than an exhalation.

I looked at Dr. Gianakous, who was blinking back surprise. "Is that possible? And wouldn't you already know?"

He shook his head. "We didn't look at anything genetic, or even do a blood type. We just assumed she was a vampire. I'll have blood drawn. And tested. But as to your larger question - why wouldn't it be possible? If you can turn a human into a vampire, why couldn't you turn a vampire into a human?"

Why indeed? I thought. And while you were at it, perhaps you could invent an injectable serum that changed vampires into humans regardless of whether they consented to it. You could, quite literally, rid yourself of every vampire in the world.

I guessed that explained why Brooklyn hadn't wanted to drink blood.

"Where did you get it?" Ethan asked. "Where did you get the syringe to make you human again?"

"I don't know," she said, and began to cough violently. Dr. Gianakous moved to her, helping her sit up to ease the spell.