Beeping—a low, steady beeping. Her eyes were closed, and flashes of memory darted through her mind. A rumbling sound and the taste of blood in her mouth. Dark eyes turning toward hers in horrified surprise. Panic. He was shouting her name.
Natalie!
Hurt. She ached all over; her body was stiff with pain, and she somehow knew she had not moved in days. At the very edge of her senses, there he was. A cool hand stroking along her fingers, running up and down each one before he traced her palm. She could feel the brush of his hair along her arm as he lifted her hand to kiss the knuckles. And more, his buzzing energy, his amnis. Spreading over her skin and warming her, coaxing her toward consciousness.
Magic, she thought again. His touch was magic. He could explain it away with whatever science he chose, but he was magic. His love. His devotion. The fullness of who he was and all that they could be together washed over her as she focused on the feeling of his fingers tracing her skin. Magic.
Voices joined the beeping.
“Her lips moved. Did you see? I’m sure of it. Natalie?”
She didn’t want to wake. She knew it was going to hurt more. Some instinct told her that wherever she was, it was safe. She didn’t want to mess that up. But the magic that coursed over her skin spread upward, teasing deeper into her mind.
Wake up. You need to wake up.
No. Waking up was going to hurt.
Wake. Open your eyes.
She didn’t hear the words, but the press of his influence pushed against her mind. There was a sense of urgency behind it.
Wake. Wake. Wake.
“You’re so bossy,” she croaked.
With that, the floodgates seemed to break. Natalie forced her eyes open when she heard the relieved laughter around the room. Beatrice and Dez started talking, but she didn’t really listen. Carwyn was at the foot of her bed, grinning like a madman. Natalie forced her head to the left.
There he was.
She felt the corners of her mouth turn up when she saw him, her lips cracked a little as she smiled.
“There you are,” he whispered through the cacophony of joyful chatter that had begun to fill the room. More voices joined in. Giovanni, Ben, even Tenzin’s low voice could be heard asking questions, laughing, trying to get her attention. But she couldn’t take her eyes off him.
He was sitting in a chair to her left. He wore a black T-shirt and his hair looked like he’d been running his hands through it for hours. It stuck out at odd angles, telling her he hadn’t looked in a mirror in a while. And his eyes were so tired. Baojia let out a long breath and squeezed her hand a little. Then he took another breath and brought his other hand up to his face, covering his eyes for a few moments before he shook his head and let out another shaky breath.
She whispered, “Nothing but trouble, right?”
He leaned forward, taking her hand in both of his and bending over, placing his forehead to her wrist and kissing the palm of her hand before he looked back up. What do you know? Vampires cried pink. He blinked his red-rimmed eyes at her and managed a small smile.
“Nothing but trouble,” he whispered back.
“Where am I? I had a really bad dream. I’m sorry.” The voices were beginning to irritate her, but she focused on the feel of his hand holding hers.
“Why are you sorry? You’re alive. Don’t be sorry.”
He couldn’t seem to stop touching her. He brushed the hair back from her face and kissed her cheek. He ran his hands over her arms and pressed another kiss to her forehead. The look in his eyes was fierce, almost desperate.
“How do you feel? Are you in pain? What’s the last thing you remember?” Then he looked around the room. “Is the doctor on the way? Where’s the nurse?”
Dez rushed to reassure him as the monitors went wild. He must have gotten too close to the equipment.
“Chill, Baojia. You’re stressing her out. They’re coming right now.”
Natalie tugged at the thing on her arm, but a nurse was suddenly tas suddehere, pushing her hands away.
“What is all this?” she said. “I want to go home. Baojia, take me home.”
“Not quite yet.” He brushed her hair back again, coaxing her head to the side so he could put her hair in a ponytail. “Let the nurse check you. You’re in the hospital in San Diego.”
Dez said, “You scared us to death, Nat. They stopped the medication for the coma hours ago, and you were supposed to wake up and then you didn’t. They told us not to worry, but—”
“I want to go home,” she rasped. “I want…” She didn’t know what she wanted. The nurse was poking at her and tugging on things. She hurt everywhere. And there were tubes and wires and beeping and too many people who were all happy, but she wanted to go home, and she wasn’t quite sure where home was, or where she was, or why she was even here.
Baojia suddenly let go of her hand and stood up. “Okay, everyone out. It’s too much. Thank you all for being here, but you need to leave now.”
The cacophony stopped in seconds. Natalie closed her eyes and took a deep breath as murmuring well-wishers fled the room.
“Sorry, Natalie.”
“We’ll wait outside.”
“She smells very strange. It must be all the chemicals.” That had to be Tenzin.
When all the voices were gone, she opened her eyes again and it was just her and Baojia with a nurse smiling and making notes on a chart.
“The doctor will be here in just a second, hon,” she said. “Everything looks good, but he’ll want to examine you. I’m going to get you some water and something for your lips. Is there anything else you need right now?”