Once Colt left, Gillian and Elissa moved toward Dana at inhuman speed, and she heartbreakingly tried to hide her injuries from them. It took less than a second for Gillian to realize why Dana wrote with her right hand as she noticed the bandaged stump of her wrist.

Her left leg ended below the knee. Her lips were tinged a deep blue, and purplish stains bloomed under her eyes. Bruises stained the porcelain translucency of her skin, cuts and grazes spattered like red ink all over her body, while stab wounds gaped open like pouty lips in at least a dozen places on her exposed skin, and silver chains kept her in place, preventing her from healing.

Every second counted as they seared their hands on the precious metal, breaking the locks apart and casting the chains aside with disgust as death hovered nearer to Dana than they dared admit.

"He..." Dana gasped, a sob rocking her fragile form.

"Shh, you don't have to talk; there will be time enough later," Gillian soothed, but Dana must have sensed the darkness closing in on her.

"He made me... torture her... and f-f-f-orced me to cut..."

She couldn't finish the sentence, distraught beyond words.

"Do not waste your strength."

Gillian offered her wrist, but Dana jerked her head away almost violently.

"I cannot," her broken admission stopped Gillian short when instinct prodded her to insist.

Dana drew back her lips in a painful grimace, and horror slammed through Gillian's gut as she stared at the empty holes where her friend's fangs used to reside.

She hissed angrily, making her patient shrink from her, and it took a moment to control the searing emotions boiling through her blood as she sank her teeth into her own wrist and held the wound before her friend's mouth.

She had to concentrate on keeping the wound from healing without Dana's venom to prevent it from doing so.

***

A loud crash rocked the ground beneath her feet, and only Elissa's quick action saved them from being crushed by a massive block of masonry dislodged by the explosion as she dove them out of the way.

Dana whined like a dog, her injuries jostled by the impact.

"It's okay, come on, drink a little more," Gillian said, shaking the dust off her and tending to her patient without even bothering to check if she had gotten hurt herself, refusing to admit that her blood could do only so much.

"Allow me, sister, you have given enough," Elissa said, gently pulling her arm away. With a sigh, Gillian obliged, fatigue dragging at her limbs as she licked the wound, sealing it and shuddering in distaste. Vampires were not designed to like the taste of their own blood.

***

"What the hell are you doing?" Colt demanded, freezing all of them in mid-motion.

Dana almost let go, but Elissa prevented it with a gentle touch.

The detective pointed her gun at them with wide eyes, pupils dilated, revulsion etched into every line of her face, and tension coming off her like a live wire.

"We're saving Dana's life," Elissa's said, and the gun edged in her direction a fraction of an inch.

"That's why you sent me away," Colt's eyes were glued to Dana's slowly healing wounds in horrified fascination, the gun trembling ever so slightly. "She's not human, Gillian; get away from her!"

Elissa sighed.

"We're not human," Gillian admitted, and Colt glanced at her as anger and hurt vied with something darker and more primal.

"Why did you have to come back?" Elissa murmured, and Colt eyed her defiantly.

"He rigged the corridor to collapse and bury anyone who tried to rescue her," Colt nodded, hostility creeping into her tone.

"Dana needs more blood than we can safely give, and your gun can do me no harm. Put it away," Elissa suggested, her words slightly slurred, but the detective didn't budge.

Under normal circumstances, a vampire could consume only a tiny amount of blood, but when hurt, just like human thirst, the ability to drink matched the body's need.

***

Elissa pulled her arm from Dana's reach, and the vampire barely whined. Gillian watched with growing worry as her sister pulled a knife from her pocket, flipped it open, and stared directly into Colt's eyes.

What did she intend to do? Would she kill the detective? Her muscles tensed, but her sibling stabbed the blade right through the soft tissue of her own hand with unerring precision, barely flinching, even though it had to hurt like hell.

She pulled it out, and before the blood dripped to the ground, the wound had already closed. Colt flinched, slow to react, and took an instinctive step back.

"What do you think a gun would do to me? Look at Dana. No human could survive what she had," Elissa reasoned. "Put the gun away; we pose no danger to you."

"How do I know you won't kill me to save her?" Colt asked, nodding at Dana, and Elissa hissed, startling the human.

"Seriously?" Exasperation laced Elissa's tone. "If we wanted to kill you, nothing would stop us." She licked the wound on her arm, and it sealed even faster than the one she had inflicted a moment ago, and Gillian faced Colt from her position on the ground.

"You know me, Colt. I would never harm you."

"What would you do if I told anyone?" Colt asked, and Gillian shrugged.

"Who would believe you?" Her reasonable answer made Colt frown as the gun slowly lowered until its muzzle pointed to the ground.

"Is this killer human, or is he one of you?" Colt asked unexpectedly.

She didn't immediately answer, not knowing how her friend would react.

"He's one of us, but he's nuts. This type of thing isn't what we do, and it isn't right."

***

Gillian looked at Dana with such compassion that Colt could not miss or misunderstand it. Like a mother with her child. She wanted to cling to the gun, but the image of that wound closing like magic made her slip it back into its holster as she slowly sank to her haunches before sitting down, her legs unsteady and her heart hammering like a drum.

"Will she remain... maimed?" she asked, curious despite herself, and Gillian nodded.

"He burned them and made Dana watch, just like he forced her to cut Louise apart piece by piece," Gillian admitted, and Colt struggled to assimilate the information. "We can heal but not regrow what is lost."

"She told you this?" she asked, and Gillian shook her head.

"She showed me, and don't ask how. Not now."

Her friend sounded so tired, but not just physically. The weight of the world seemed to press down on her shoulders and threatened to crush her.

Why did she not enjoy seeing Gillian like this? And why couldn't she see her as a monster?

"Any more secrets?" she asked wearily, and Elissa snorted.

"Many, our human friend. Most of it is too dangerous for you to know," Elissa checked Dana's pulse, holding her as a mother would a sick child.

"She doesn't have fangs. Why?" Colt asked, noticing the gaps.

"He cut them out, but they will grow back," Elissa shifted Dana into a more comfortable position. Already, the other woman had fallen into a deep sleep.

***

"So why did he bother?" Colt wanted to know, and Elissa regarded her calmly—the human took this better than expected.

"To humiliate her and to prevent her from feeding on her own. If it were not for our blood, she would not live. Her attacker either didn't know that or intended for her to die," she shrugged, and a frown furrowed the detective's forehead.

"What makes your blood so unique?" Colt asked, and Elissa raised a dark brow at the continued questioning.

"We were born vampires, and our line is ancient and powerful. Someone made Dana a vampire, and even if she lived a thousand years, she would not be as strong as us. She is capable of much more than most made creatures, which is a sign of her sire's strength," Elissa explained, trying to hold on to her patience for Gillian's sake.

"So, this vampire is much stronger than her?"

"It would appear so."

"But he's not as strong as you?" Colt wanted to know, and Elissa realized that the questions were her way of coping and processing.

"I f##king hope not," she said, and suddenly Colt went silent, even more afraid now that she understood what they faced.

In all honesty, Elissa was far beyond the point of mere unease, and one look at her sister's face told her she wasn't alone.