Ami tossed her phone on the bed.
Darnell took one look at her face and said, “Oh shit. What happened? What’s wrong?”
Her breath hitched in a sob. “I’m infected,” she announced, then burst into tears.
If Darnell’s face could have blanched, it would have. “What?”
“I’m infected with the virus. I’m transforming,” Ami cried.
Swearing again, he hurried across the room and drew her into his arms. “Are you sure?”
She nodded. Because she was neither human nor gifted one, none of them knew whether she would become vampire or immortal if infected. Or if she would survive the transformation at all.
“Does Marcus know?”
She shook her head, sobbing too hard to speak. She couldn’t bare to tell Marcus. He would blame himself and . . . if she died or turned vampire . . .
She just couldn’t tell him yet.
Darnell shifted and withdrew one arm. She heard him dial his cell phone. “Yeah, it’s me. We have a situation. Ami needs you in the quiet room stat. Bring David.”
There was a hardness to his voice that she had never heard before. Darnell was a happy-go-lucky kind of guy. One who did not anger easily. Even Bastien couldn’t piss him off, which always succeeded in pissing Bastien off whenever he tried and failed.
A ripple of energy filled the room. Seth and David appeared just inside the door. Ami drew back enough to meet their concerned gazes.
“What happened?” Seth asked without preamble.
“Marcus fucking bit her and now she’s infected,” Darnell growled with such venom Ami was shocked speechless.
Seth’s eyes flashed a bright gold. David’s flashed amber. A rumbling sound arose as floor, wall, and ceiling began to vibrate.
“I’ll kill him,” Seth snarled.
“No!” Ami shouted above the racket. “It isn’t what you think!”
“You would lie for him? You would protect him?” he demanded furiously.
“Because he didn’t bite me! Darnell misunderstood. He didn’t bite me.” She looked to David. “Marcus didn’t bite me!”
Eyes still glowing with anger, David placed a restraining hand on Seth’s shoulder and looked to Darnell.
Darnell frowned down at Ami. “You said you were infected, that you’re transforming.”
“I am,” she said. “But—”
Seth shrugged off David’s hand with a roar and vanished. The rumbling and quaking ceased.
Panic ripped through Ami. “Where is he going?”
“To find Marcus would be my guess,” David said, voice tight.
“Well, call him back!” she pleaded. “He’ll kill him!” When David merely stared back, she looked up at Darnell. “Marcus didn’t bite me, Darnell. Please! You can’t let Seth kill him!”
Uncertainty entered Darnell’s deep brown eyes. “How the hell am I supposed to stop him?”
“I don’t know! Get on your damned phone and—”
Seth reappeared, one hand closed around Marcus’s throat, holding him a foot above the ground. The house once more began to shake with Seth’s fury.
Marcus’s hands pried futilely at Seth’s fingers. Face reddening, he looked with wide eyes at Ami, silently asking her what the hell was going on.
He thinks you bit me, she told him telepathically.
What? He looked at Seth. I didn’t bite her! I swear it to you! I love her! I would give my life to protect her! Why the hell would I infect her with the virus when I know what it might do to her? That it might hurt her? That it might take her from me?
Seth’s brows drew down into a deep V. Opening his fingers, he let Marcus drop.
Seth could read one’s thoughts, feel one’s emotions, see one’s past. All would have confirmed that Marcus had never bitten her.
Marcus stumbled when his boots hit the ground, but managed to remain upright. He did not, however, begin to breathe again. Seth’s grip had wrought too much damage.
“David,” Ami begged, “please.”
David didn’t look at Seth as he wrapped midnight fingers around Marcus’s throat to heal him.
Air whooshed into Marcus’s mouth and filled his lungs.
When David withdrew his touch, Marcus bent over and breathed deeply for a long moment. In and out. In and out.
The bedroom’s doorbell rang.
Darnell crossed to the door and opened it a crack.
Étienne, Lisette, Tracy, Sheldon, Yuri, Stanislov, Ethan, and Edward all stood out in the hallway, expressions uncertain.
Étienne cleared his throat. “Everything all right in there?”
“Yes,” Darnell said, deadpan. “Why do you ask?”
Étienne pointed to the ceiling. “Because the house is about to collapse around us.”
Everyone in the quiet room looked to Seth.
Seth closed his eyes and drew in several deep, calming breaths.
The rumbling quieted. The quaking ceased.
Darnell addressed the others. “We’re fine. Thanks.”
Étienne was opening his mouth to speak when Darnell closed the door in their faces and leaned back against it.
“Would someone please tell me what the hell is going on?” Marcus demanded and turned to Seth. “Who told you I bit Ami?”
“I did,” Darnell said.
“It was a misunderstanding,” she interjected, her body beginning to tremble. Marcus would be devastated when she told him.
Marcus looked around, face full of confusion. “A misunderstanding? What kind of misunderstanding?” He drew in another deep breath. “And what the hell is that smell? Did someone vomit in here or something?”
“I did,” Ami admitted.
Brow furrowing, Marcus moved to stand in front of her and cupped her face in his big hands. “I knew something was off earlier. What’s the matter, honey? Are you sick?”
“Ami doesn’t get sick,” David pronounced.
Marcus gave him an irritated glance. “Clearly, she does.”
“No,” Seth added, “she doesn’t.”
Marcus met Ami’s gaze, not yet understanding.
“Tell him,” Darnell murmured.
“I’m infected,” she whispered, tears again welling and spilling over her lashes.
Marcus stilled, his face draining of color. “What?”
“I’m transforming.”
“That’s impossible. You can’t be. I’ve never bitten you.”
“Was it a vampire?” Darnell asked.
Marcus’s eyes flashed amber. “A vampire bit you? When?”
“No. No vampire bit me.”
“Then who infected you?”
Ami stared up at him, saying nothing.
David suddenly swore, then Seth.
“What?” Darnell asked, frowning at them.
Seth dragged a hand down over his face. “Please tell me you use condoms, Marcus.”
“Of course I don’t,” he said, confusion crinkling his forehead. “Why would I need to? Our sperm die as soon as we ejaculate and the virus dies with them.”
“In a human female, yes,” David said. “But Ami isn’t human and her body possesses remarkable regenerative properties. If her body kept the sperm from dying, then . . .”
“I infected her?” Marcus concluded, his horrified gaze returning to Ami. “I infected you?”
She bit her lip. “It was an accident.”
“Do you think that matters to me?” he nearly shouted. Yanking her to him, he wrapped his arms around her in a crushing embrace fraught with fear. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I just put it together today and—”
“You knew when I left.”
“I wasn’t completely sure until I threw up. I’ve never done that before. And I’m running a fever and . . . I didn’t know my sense of smell had become so acute until you told me you were surprised I could smell Tracy’s deodorant,” she told him, hugging him back. “I didn’t want to believe it.”