It doesn't work.
We're still standing in the extravagant living room, my hand wrapped around Parker's throat, the stubble on his neck itching my palm, his gun pressed to my head. His lips pull into a slow grin, exposing his yellowing teeth.
"What's the plan now, sweetheart?" His breath is hot against my face, but I force myself to stand still. I won't give him what he wants. I won't flinch.
A second voice cuts in. A voice I don't recognize and when I spin around to see who's joined us, Jamie, John and Sophie are gone. It's only me, Parker, and...
"Andrew?"
Parker sounds like a different person. Gone from angry and demanding to trembling at the snap of one's fingers. At the snap of my fingers.
I take a step back and let him move towards the vision of Andrew, knowing that if... when he tries to embrace the hallucination, his arms will go through his body, and he'll know what I've done. He'll know I'm creating the world he's seeing. It's like I'm not here at all as he takes another hesitant step forward. Before he can get close enough, my legs go heavy. I can hardly hold my shoulders back. My body wants to collapse into a ball on the floor. The vision is draining me. Fast. And I can only hope that John and Sophie have things under control in the real world as things start to pop back to normal.
Everything shifts around us. The ground trembles like a faultline in a bad earthquake. If Parker notices, he doesn't care. Instead, he reaches out to touch Andrew but as his fingers reach for his cheek, we're spit back to reality.
Apparently, it was all the time John and Sophie needed to turn the tables. The newborn vampires are slumped against each other on the ground, blood trickling from their noses. I tell myself they're knocked out, but the sharp angle of their necks says otherwise.
Parker takes the scene in, his eyes wide and bloodshot. His moment of grief turns into unrivaled rage. Red creeps up his neck as he turns to me, his knuckles going white around the handle of his gun.
"Think this through, Parker," Sophie warns. "You can't run from us." John is blocking the front door with his body and Sophie is closing the space between her and Parker.
His lip curls over his teeth. "I have."
He lifts the gun.
I close my eyes tight and step in front of Jamie.
The gunshot claps loud. My brain hurts from the sudden noise. My eardrums ring and it's not until I clamp my hands over my ears that I feel it. Searing pain under my collarbone. Abnormal tightness in my skin.
Parker swings the gun toward Sophie and John, fires again, and runs somewhere deeper in the house but I can't chase him. Between the vision draining the life from my body and the gunshot wound pulsing in my shoulder, I can't keep myself up right. My knees buckle. My body hits the ground hard. Jamie's kneeling over me first, her face speckled with my dark blood but before she can say anything, Sophie's pushing her to the side.
"Get back. You've done enough already."
I shoot Sophie a look, or at least, I think I do but everything is fuzzy, a rim of darkness framing everywhere I look.
"Move," John shouts and I'm floating. I'm not sure how or what's going on and I'm too tired to care. My head is a bad case of vertigo, like I'm on a boat in a violent storm. I'm going to throw up. Sophie and Jamie are talking, arguing, until John tells them to relax and lowers me into the backseat of Sophie's car.
My head's in Jamie's lap and she's running her fingers through my hair but she's still arguing with Sophie. "Sorry I don't trust your rebel group nurse to perform surgery on Gwen's shoulder."
My body shifts in the seat as Sophie takes a sharp turn.
"What do you expect us to do? Take her to the hospital?" Sophie asks. "What will we do when night falls and the wound heals on its own?" She finishes her rant in Spanish but Jamie just rolls her eyes.
"You okay, girlie?" Sophie asks over her shoulder.
My lips pull into a broken smile. "Sophie, I'm bleeding on your Italian leather." It's the last thing I remember before everything goes black.
My sense of smell comes back first. The switch from new car and leather to rubbing alcohol and cold metal. I force my eyes open but the air stings them and it feels like if I blink too hard, my eye might shatter. Everything hurts. The room is all sharp angles and white light. A scratchy blanket is draped over my torso and there's a woman hovering over a counter, sorting through medical supplies.
I clear my throat and she turns quickly like she's surprised I'm awake. She isn't wearing scrubs. Just jeans and a t-shirt. Sophie must have won the argument with Jamie. This isn't a hospital. It's not until I blink the blur from my vision that I recognize the woman standing in front of me.
Aurora.
"Wasn't expecting you to wake up until nightfall," she explains, that famous warm smile spreading across her face. "How are you feeling, sweetie?" She sits on the edge of the hospital bed so she's facing me and takes my hand in hers.
"Where's everyone else?" I ask.
Aurora's smile grows. "It's just like you to worry about everyone else when you're the one with a hole in your shoulder." She shifts her weight uncomfortably. "John's with Jamie somewhere safer. You know, until we can get the rest of the blood suckers on board with a human being around."
My heart beats faster. John and Jamie are alone somewhere? My lips pull into a crooked smile. I can imagine John trying to make small talk and failing. So... You done any good... hunting lately? I almost laugh.
"And Sophie." Aurora lets out a long breath. "She's watching the development of things."
The air in the room changes; becomes stiffer. "Watching the development of what?"
Aurora's nodding as she squeezes my hand. "It'll be better coming from Sophie." She pushes to her feet. "I'll go get her."
"Aurora," I call after her.
She turns, still standing in the doorway.
"I'm sorry for storming out of your home when I found out Gunner killed my parents." My chest is tight, and I can't tell if it's from the bullet wound or the amount of effort it takes to hold back tears. "It wasn't your fault. I shouldn't have treated you that way."
Aurora's smile trembles. "Thank you, Gwen. I'm sorry I didn't tell you the truth sooner."
We exchange apologetic smiles and Aurora leaves. It doesn't take long for Sophie to join me in the makeshift hospital room. Her lips pull into an involuntary smile when she sees me.
"Good to see you, girlie." She pulls the blanket down and moves the hospital gown to the side so my shoulder is exposed. Normally, I'd flinch but Sophie's seen me in worse condition before. Cowering in her shower completely naked when I was convinced Leah was in my head again.
I smile in response.
Sophie checks the bandage over my wound. Her fingers linger on my shoulder as she pulls the blanket up and sits so her thigh is pressed against mine. Something is off. Her mascara is smudged under her eyes and strands of brown hair are loose from her ponytail.
"What's going on, Sophie?" I finally ask.
Sophie lets out a long sigh and hands me a bag of blood. "You should drink it before Jamie comes back." She motions to my shoulder. "Sometimes an injury will make you..." She shakes her head.
I rip the bag open and suck the contents back in one gulp. "What? What were you going to say?"
"I was going to tell you that being injured can make you lose control, but you don't fit in most vampire standards." She chuckles to herself. "Parker ran off after he shot you," she changes the subject. "I should have gone after him, but I couldn't pull myself away from you. I had to know you were okay. John too." She's shaking her head. "You don't realize how much you've changed things."
I place the empty blood bag on the table next to me and try to sit up higher in bed but hot pain rips through my shoulder and Sophie motions for me to lie back down.
"Don't move yet." She checks her watch. "It'll heal soon."
"How did I change things?" I pull her focus back to our conversation.
Sophie shrugs one shoulder. "Vampires are supposed to be these bloodthirsty apathetic monsters. We're supposed to be... Logical. Scientific. Community-based. Never supposed to place an individual over the wellbeing of the whole. And then you came along and showed everyone we don't have to be so cold." She scoffs. "Now me and John are torn to pieces when you get shot instead of doing the logical thing... Chasing Parker down." She plays with the button on her shirt. "We were too focused on you. On the people we love." She says the last part without looking at me.
"You make it sound like a bad thing."
Sophie shakes her head with more determination. "No... No, it doesn't feel like it." She swipes at her cheek, but she won't look at me.
"Sophie? Are you..." Crying?
She looks at me, her eyes rimmed red, but it could be from the lack of sleep. Sophie doesn't cry. "What's up, girlie?"
I shake my head, change my question. "What was Parker talking about earlier? Who's... Melanie?" I keep my tone light, trying not to trigger her like Parker had when he'd said the same name earlier.
She waves the question away. "That's just Parker being Parker." She pushes to her feet. "Don't listen to him. He's trying to start fights within our group. Tear us down from the inside." She's walking to the door now, refusing to face me. She's lying. I know she is. I remember Parker saying something about Sophie's big secret. I remember the look on Sophie's face too. "I'll go get John and Jamie," Sophie tells me.
I decide to drop the Melanie subject for now. I want to see Jamie more than anything. I want her to crawl into the hospital bed with me where I know I can protect her. From Parker, from the elders, from everyone.
"Is it safe for her?"
Sophie hesitates, her hand resting on the doorknob, her back to me. Finally, she nods. "I'll escort her. Besides, most of the blood suckers are gone now." She leaves before I can ask where everyone went. Before I can ask what Aurora meant about 'the development of things.'
I can't keep my brain quiet. Sophie's being too vague. She's keeping something from me. More than something. She's keeping everything from me.
The door opens slowly, and I have to remind myself not to move when my eyes lock with Jamie's. Sophie stays back this time as Jamie rushes toward me and takes my hand in hers. I want so badly to pull her into a hug, to kiss her again, to have a moment alone. By the way she squeezes my hand, I can tell she feels it too.
"You're okay." Her voice shakes.
My lips pull into a smile.
"What are you smiling about now?" Jamie giggles.
"I bet none of your other dates have ever taken a bullet for you."
Jamie laughs and covers her face with her free hand. "Gwen."
John's lips pull into a smile. He wraps his arm around Sophie's shoulders to escort her out of the room. "We'll give you two a second."
Jamie waits for the door to click closed before she lets her guard down. Her lip quivers as she squeezes my hand. "Gwen," she says again but it's different this time; serious. My heart is already lodged in my throat before she says, "Can we talk?"