Chapter 35 VULNERABLE
LIlian pov
“At the place where you had your first hunt… please be fast. This silver bullet is draining me!”
Her voice sounded so broken, was and vulnerable. The moment those words echoed in my head, my entire stomach dropped. Seraphine never sounded helpless ever. So for her to call me like this? Those hunters better thank every star in the sky that I wasn’t there. I would’ve smashed their skulls in without a second thought.
I didn’t waste another second.
I shoved past the crowd inside the party house, ignoring whoever asked “Where are you going?” and “Hey, Lilian, what’s wrong?”
I didn’t even bother calling Jonah, he’d figure his way home, or he’d crash at Mia’s place. He’d survive. Seraphine… I wasn’t sure she would.
The moment I stepped outside, I froze.
There was no cars.
Not. A. Single. Damn. One.
“Oh for fuck’s sake!” I dragged my fingers through my hair, nearly yanking it out. The world couldn’t pick a better time to piss me off?
People on the street walked calmly, minding their business like the universe wasn’t burning, fine. If the game wanted to be unfair, I’d change the rules.
I inhaled once, then the and then I took off.
My body blurred into the night as I ran at full vampire speed. No one would see me maybe just feel a sudden cold breeze slap their necks. I didn’t care. The world smeared into streaks of color as I pushed every drop of animal blood in my system to carry me faster.
“Hold on, Seraphine… I’m coming,” I muttered through my teeth.
When I finally reached the old hunting grounds, the moonlight hit a collapsed figure lying against the dirt, clutching her clothes, panting like her lungs were failing her.
That better be Seraphine or someone was getting punched.
I sprinted to her and skidded to a stop.
And when I saw the gaping wound on her side, raw and swollen with silver poisoning.
“Holy shit,” I breathed.
Seraphine forced a tiny smile. “Took you so long!”
She joked, she was actually joking with a hole in her body.
I was too stunned to even laugh. My eyes stayed glued on the damage. The skin around the bullet entry was charred black, trembling with every breath she dragged in. Anyone else would have died already.
“Who the fuck did this to you?” I demanded. “Jesus.. ”
“Told you the hunters were out.” She coughed a little, the sound weak. “I tried running. It wasn’t working. They… matched my speed.” She pressed a hand to the wound, hissing. “Impossible, I know. But they did. I tried fighting them off, but of course they had to include silver. I had to pretend to be dead before they left me.”
I shook my head. “This is insane. If they could do this to you, then I’m so done for when they get me.”
“Don’t be dramatic,” she whispered, but her voice cracked in pain.
I hooked my arm under hers and helped her stand. She leaned heavily on me, almost limp, and every time she groaned, guilt stabbed me like a blade. I murmured a small “Sorry…” and she nodded, barely.
Halfway through dragging her toward my house, I risked another glance at the wound.
Ugh. It was ugh .. No, No other word.
Eww. Just eww.
“You sure this is gonna heal anytime soon?” I asked.
“Yeah… but probably tomorrow. I’d need blood for it to heal faster.”
I blinked. “Where do you expect me to get that? I’m not in the right sense to go murder an innocent animal with a family.”
She shrugged, stumbling as we reached my door. “I mean… you can quietly go to a hospital and take from the blood donation room?”
I snorted. “Nope, that’s not happening.”
Then an idea hit me like a slap.
“Wait! hold on. Let me get something.”
Seraphine nodded weakly and practically collapsed onto my couch. I dashed to the cabinet and grabbed the first aid kit. It wasn’t much but doing something was better than letting her bleed out on my furniture.
When I came back, Seraphine raised an eyebrow at me.
“And what are you doing with that?”
I stared at her. “When you see a first aid kit, what comes to your mind…?”
She said nothing.
I groaned. “You have a wound. I’m going to clean it up. I’m not breaking into any hospital for a blood bag. So sit pretty and let me do what I do best.”
She exhaled and gave a tiny “Okay…”
I slid her jacket aside. She winced softly but I heard every vibration of pain.
“Sorry. I’m going gentle, okay?”
She nodded again. She’d been nodding a lot tonight way too much.
I grabbed cotton wool, poured some spirit on it, and gently pressed it to the corner of her wound. She clenched her jaw, lips flattening into a sharp line as she tried to stay strong but anyone could see the pain slicing through her.
When I moved toward the bullet itself, she snapped her head toward me.
“Can you take it out?”
I looked up. “You mean the bullet?”
She nodded again.
“Okay. On it.”
I grabbed the small medical scissors, slid the tip gently into the wound, and hooked it under the bullet. Seraphine stiffened instantly.
“Ahh!, easy… please…”
“I’m trying,” I whispered.
A final tug and the silver bullet dropped into my hand with a slick metallic sound.
“See? It’s out, Let me wipe the blood and put a bandage. You’ll be okay.”
I cleaned the wound, working slowly, wiping away the residue of silver and blood. Her eyelids drooped halfway through, exhaustion sinking into her bones. By the time I wrapped the bandage around her waist, she was half asleep.
I laid her down properly and brushed hair off her forehead. She didn’t respond. Her breathing softened, deepened and finally resting.
I started packing the tools back into the kit, stuffing bloody cotton into the trash bag, cleaning the scissors.
Then i heard a sound on the door! Knock Knock. Knock.
My whole body froze Immediately, The trash bag fell from my hand.
My eyes shot toward the door, panic tightening my throat instantly.
And that’s where it ended.