Blood Sacrament by Z.J. Cannon

Author:Z.J. Cannon [Cannon, Z.J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Z.J. Cannon
Published: 2022-10-22T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 28

By the time we got back to the office, Sullivan still wasn’t talking. Or looking at us, or moving under his own power, or doing much of anything besides blinking and breathing in shallow breaths.

I sat him down in Father Keller’s chair and checked him over. He still had a pulse. His breaths came fast and irregular, but he was still breathing. I went over every inch of his neck. No bite marks. Whatever they’d done to him to make him like this, they hadn’t drained him—or worse, turned him.

Father Keller checked his pulse and his pupils. “His heartbeat is a bit fast, but that’s to be expected,” he reported. “Other than that, I don’t see anything wrong with him. Not on the outside, at any rate.”

“But we know the vampire can get inside your head,” I said. “What we don’t know is what happened to Sullivan in the hours between when he walked into that trap and when we went in after him.”

Behind us, Juliana scoffed. “It’s not that hard to figure out. He got a look at what was out there and figured out he wasn’t as brave as he thought.” She shoved past me to shake Sullivan by the shoulders. “All right,” she said, leaning down to get in his face. “Freak-out time is over. There’s monsters to fight. You put us on the front lines of this thing, so you’re going to join us there.”

Father Keller tugged Juliana away with a frown. “We don’t know the nature of his affliction,” he said. “If we’re not careful, we could harm him further.”

Juliana shrugged off Father Keller’s touch. “Oh, I know exactly what’s wrong with him. He’s being a self-indulgent coward. He found out there are scary things in the dark, and now he thinks he can sit there staring off into space while we go out there and make it all better for him. Well, guess what, Sullivan? We don’t get to close our eyes and wish real hard until all the harsh truths of this world stop being true, and neither do you. So wake up, pick up a weapon, and get back out there with us.”

Father Keller cleared his throat. “I appreciate that you have personal issues you have yet to resolve, but this may not be the appropriate venue.”

“This isn’t about me. It’s about him. We don’t have the luxury of sitting there like a lump, and neither does he.”

Father Keller rested a gentle hand on her shoulder. “I don’t need my professional expertise to understand there are certain truths about the world you would have preferred not to face.”

“Can it, padre,” Juliana growled. “If I want a shrink, I’ll go to Valley Medical. We’ve got bigger problems, or have you forgotten?”

I winced at her volume. “You keep on being that loud, you’re going to scare the puppy. Do I need to remind you what happens when he gets scared? If he makes a mess, you’re cleaning it up this time.”

“Where is the little bugger, anyway?” asked Juliana.

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