Chapter 255: Undetected
Her nails clawed into my skin, dragging through my flesh as it created four deep indents in my arm. I hissed in reflex, staggering back but unwilling to give up my position. Bringing the rod forward, I smashed it against her head length-wise, pushing her back a couple of steps as she held her face in agony.
Unfortunately, her wounds healed in a matter of seconds. Mine were still wide open. Blood was starting to pour from my arm, dripping down my skin and onto the floor. Never had I been more unbothered by an injury, however― there were other, more pressing things to worry about.
"They wanted you alive," the woman said, laughing softly. Her shoulders began to quake as she chuckled to herself, her once-pristine hairstyle now scraggly and tangled. "In fact, if you can’t be retrieved alive, then it is better to retreat entirely."
When she looked up again, her eyes were filled with mad fury. She resembled a hungered lioness, frantic for a kill. The edge of her lips was pulled into a jester-like smile, alarmingly wide as she flashed her sharp fangs at me.
"But from what I see, you’re useless," she said. "You’re nothing more than a blood bag―!"
I didn’t wait for her to speak another word. As she was too engrossed in her speech, I raised my weapon above my head and quickly brought it down. A crisp, loud thunk reverberated across the room as it smashed against the top of her skull. Her eyes instantly rolled back and her lips remained parted. Even her shoulders went slumped, all energy lost in a second.
A brief silence filled the room as I watched her sway on the spot. She had lost consciousness, that much was obvious, but she impressively remained on her feet for a couple more seconds.
"Harper?" Nicole’s voice streamed into the room, and within seconds, her head poked through the doorway.
She stared at me and the woman before her eyes landed on Kyle, who was still on the floor, his eyes half-hooded over.
"Oh my goddess, what is going on?!"
She hurried into the room, and at the same time, the vampire went weak in the knees. Her kneecaps hit the floor first with a resounding thud, and her body rocked to and fro a few times before she dropped to the floor, knocked out cold.
"Kyle..." I gasped out, dropping the rod as well before collapsing to my knees. All at once, a rush of lethargy and pain flooded my body. Every inch of my body felt like it was on fire, burning me from the inside out. "He’s been poisoned," I gasped out.
Nicole harshly tapped Kyle’s cheeks before pulling his eyelids open. She checked his pulse by pressing her fingers against his neck, then placed her hand on his forehead.
"Wolfsbane," she confirmed. "We need to get him to the infirmary as soon as po― Harper, your arm! You’re bleeding!"
"I am?" I asked.
I turned my gaze to my arm where the vampire had left me four long scratches. For some reason, even though I knew I had been injured, it had completely slipped my mind. The pain that came from the rest of my body rivaled the piercing sensation that prickled at my wound, somehow eradicating it from my mind entirely.
"Oh," I murmured, "I guess I am. I forgot."
My head hit the ground right after.
***
"―just stressed out. Her wound is fine, but it might scar in the future. We’re unsure yet how her body works, since it seems to be showing properties of a werewolf’s body as well, but not all the time."
"Why isn’t she awake yet then?"
"Her body needs rest! She can’t heal like we can, Alpha. It’s only reasonable that she’s sleeping to conserve energy so that she can recover."
"For fuck’s sake..."
There came some crashing sounds in the background and I winced, groaning. My throat was impossibly dry and my head felt as though it had been filled with lead. It had been a peaceful nap, but that was disrupted by the sound of arguing that rang around me.
"Alpha, if you’re planning to tear apart my infirmary, then please do so somewhere else." Nicole. "My patients need rest and you’re certainly not helping Harper’s recovery by destroying all the equipment needed to nurse her back to health."
"Where is that fucker?" I recognized that as Damon’s voice― the string of profanities that came with his words could only be from him.
"You’ll have to be a little more specific," Nicole said, her voice oddly monotonous. "Which? As far as I know, Beta Blaise is with the vampire right now―"
"I know, and I don’t care about that! Blaise will squeeze out all necessary information from her. I meant Kyle! How the fuck did he not figure out there was a vampire in the room? What’s his damned nose for?!"
"He is still recovering from wolfsbane poisoning," Nicole replied. "As for the scent, the vampire did not smell like one. Her scent is oddly faint."
"Are your noses for naught?" Damon growled in reply. "How can you not smell a vampire? They stink! They smell as though someone had dipped them into molten metal and paraded it under the rain for years. The stench of blood is so strong that―"
Nicole cleared her throat, interrupting him mid-rant. "It is precisely the smell of blood that kept her hidden," she said. "The vampire smelled like blood― human blood. Kyle could’ve mistaken it for Harper’s blood instead."
"How could he not be able to differentiate it?!" Damon yelled in fury. "They smell nothing alike!"
"Harper isn’t Kyle’s mate, Alpha," Nicole reprimanded. I could already imagine her eye twitching. "He wouldn’t be as familiar with her scent as you are."
I had heard enough. All thoughts of sleep had been wiped from my mind by how noisy they were. I groaned, trying my hardest to pry my eyes open to have a look at what was going on.
I croaked, "W-What’s with all the noise?"
