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“Vidar?” Charlie needed to hear his voice.
“Quiet,” he hissed in her ear. She relaxed when she heard him, but there had been something in his voice, a tension she didn’t recognise. She could barely see anything as Vidar had her pinned to the floor, face down, and covered her b*dy with his. Through the gaps between his b*dy and the floor, she could see the members of the clan surrounding them, backs toward them, ready to face threats coming from the outside. The rest of the room was filled with people Charlie didn’t know and couldn’t see as anything but shapes. She was in an uncomfortable position with her left arm under her head and her right arm in an angle going down and out from her b*dy. But she didn’t dare to move while the chaos surrounded them. Something warm was dripping on her right wrist. She tried to twist in a way to let her see what it was. The moment her eyes connected to her wrist, she wished they hadn’t. The dark red trace ran from the top of her wrist, along the side, and the drops continued to fall down on the floor. They collected in a growing puddle of blood. It wasn’t large, maybe like an orange in diameter, but it was growing. Was she hurt? She didn’t feel any pain except from how she was laying. Then she noticed the colour of the blood was darker than she would have expected it to be. Vidar, she thought. If she wasn’t hurt, the blood had to be his. She had a moment of panic, then she focused on the feeling of him on top of her and she could still feel his ch*st rise and fall. He was breathing, she thought in relief. But he was hurt, and she understood the tension in his voice must have come from pain. He had told her to be quiet, but she managed to move her left hand to where she could take his hand in a firm gras
grasp. She felt him close his hand around hers. The chaos seemed to die down, and a stillness followed.
“All clear,” she heard someone call out. Again the room was sent into movement and people moved away and Charlie felt Vidar get up and lift her to her feet.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his hands gently moving over her arms and head and shoulders to make sure she was unharmed.
“I am, but you are hurt,” she told him. Her eyes flew over him to locate where he was bleeding from. She saw a dark trail on his suit leading from his back to his right arm. “Turn
around,” she told him.
“It’s nothing,” he told her as the other clan members gathered closer again. Charlie found herself surrounded by them.
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“Is she unharmed?” Adisa asked.
“I am, but Vidar is hurt,” Charlie told him. He nodded.
“You think it was the werewolves?” Millard asked.
“No, they wouldn’t use a gun,” Vidar said.
“Unless they wanted to throw us off the trail,” Henry pointed out.
“Vidar is hurt!” Charlie pointed out, a little more frantically.
“It’s okay, I just got shot in the shoulder,” he told her. Her anxiety skyrocketed. “I don’t want to linger here. I need to get her home, where she is safe,” Vidar said to the others. They all
nodded.
“Home? You need to see a doctor,” Charlie told him.
“Not now, lilla lo. Just do as I say for once.”
“But you are hurt, Vidar. You got shot!” Vida had pulled her in close to his left side and Caine. appeared on her other side. Both of them were so close they pressed into her b*dy as they moved. The three of them were surrounded by other people, all forming a solid mass around them. They hurriedly walked out of the restaurant and the group in front of them split down. the middle to let them walk up to the car that stood with its engine running. Vidar more or less pushed Charlie inside and followed her. Charlie saw Caine get into the front passenger seat and the second the doors closed, Malcom was driving away. Vidar took Charlie’s hand in his. She saw him flinch as he was using his right hand. “This is crazy, Vidar. You need someone to look at your injury,” she insisted.
1
“Charlie, I’m a vampire, it’s fine,” he told her. His voice had softened, and he cupped her face in his hands.
“You are bleeding,” she insisted.
“I know. It’s not bad enough to make a difference. I’m okay,” he told her. Charlie didn’t believe him. She knew he was a vampire and that it wouldn’t kill him. But her entire being
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rejected the thought that it was okay that he had an open wound that was bleeding. But she didn’t want to argue with him either. She would let him be the hard mafia boss that didn’t care about being shot. That would stop however, the moment they got to his apartment. “How about you? Any scratches or bruises?” he asked. She had to roll her eyes. So bruises on her were to be taken seriously as they ignored him bleeding?
“I’m fine,” she said. He reached for her right hand and looked at the brown–red stain of dried blood. “That is yours, because you are bleeding,” she pointedly told him. He gave her a smile and k*ssed her forehead.
“The cameras on the building and inside show no suspicious behaviour. Jones and Shepard reports everything has been quiet,” Caine told them from the front seat.
“Good. We’ll use the garage then,” Vidar said.
“Yes, Mr Grim,” Malcom confirmed.
“Caine, join us,” Vidar said as they drove into the garage. Caine gave one hard nod. The moment the car came to a stop, Vidar opened the door and got out, pulling Charlie with him. She found herself pulled into Vidar’s left side, with Caine close by her other once again. There was no talking. They stood silently inside the elevator during the ride up. As they got inside the apartment, Vidar stopped just inside the door. He had Charlie held to him. Caine set off towards the kitchen. He moved without making any sounds and too quickly to be a human. Vidar and she waited in silence until Caine came back.
“It’s clear,” he said. Vidar nodded. That was Charlie’s cue.
“Where is your first aid kit?” she asked Vidar.
“You said you weren’t hurt,” he growled. She rolled her eyes as she shook the leather jacket off.
“I’m not, but you are. I know you ignore it every time I point it out, but you are bleeding.” she told him.
“I’m fi…”
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“If you say you are fine one more time, I will personally make sure that statement won’t be true. Where is your first aid kit?” Charlie glared at Vidar. He shook his head and turned to Caine. Caine had been watching their exchange and looked amused.
“You know where it is. I’ll need your help. I think it lodged in the shoulder blade,” Vidar told Caine.
“I’ll meet you in the kitchen,” Caine said. Vidar took Charlie’s hand, and they walked to the kitchen. Charlie pointed at one of the stools and Vidar sat down without objecting.
“Let me help you out of this,” she told him and gently started to take off his jacket. She could see the hole in it and the dark fabric around it was stained even darker.
“You just want to get me n*ked,” Vidar joked. As Charlie had removed the jacket and she saw the red stain on the grey shirt, it was clear the wound was still bleeding.
“Not funny,” she told him and put his jacket on the stool next to him. “Unbutton the shirt,” she demanded. As he raised his hands, his shoulder flexed, and the wound started bleeding even more. “Stop! Turn around.” Vidar faced her, and she reached up and took his tie off him. and started to unbutton his shirt. He looked at her and caressed her cheek with his left hand.
“It really isn’t that bad,” he told her. She nodded and kept unbuttoning his shirt and then helped him to take it off. Caine came walking with what looked like a toolbox. He put it down on the counter and opened it to reveal something that looked more advanced than a first aid kit. It looked like something you would find in a hospital.
“Your tall ass needs to get down from that stool or I will have to get a ladder,” Caine told Vidar. He chuckled and got down.
“Hop up and I can lean on you,” Vidar told Charlie. She wouldn’t object and got up on the stool in his place. He walked in between her legs and leaned his head on her shoulder, Charlie let her hand run through Vidar’s hair, trying to make him relax as much as possible. She saw Caine pick up long tweezers and a scalpel. Charlie closed her eyes. She didn’t want to tense up at what she saw, letting Vidar know that something bad was about to happen. She heard Vidar’s quiet grunt and his b*dy tensing before he relaxed. There were other sounds, but she chose to ignore them as they summoned pictures in her mind she didn’t want.
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“You’re a lucky fucker,” Caine told Vidar. “Sorry Miss Maynard,” he added. Charlie giggled at the absurdity that she was in the middle of a surgery in the middle of a kitchen and Caine felt the need to apologise for bad language.
“It’s okay, Caine,” she told him. “And please, call me Charlie.”
“Boss?” Caine asked.
“Just do as she says,” Vidar said. Charlie turned her head a little and k*ssed the side of his head. There was the sound of metal hitting the counter.
“The bullet hit the shoulder blade and lodged in it. It’s out and…” There was a pause and Charlie heard something being cut with scissors. “… the wound is stitched closed,” Caine told them. He took a step back and walked over to the sink, and washed his hands. Vidar stood up
and gave Charlie a smile.
“All better,” he told her and gave her a k*ss.
“Vidar, you had to have stitches in your shoulder less than two minutes ago. That’s not all
better,” she objected.
“It will be healed when we wake up tomorrow. The only reason for the stitches is because it’s irritating to bleed all over the place,” he told her.
“Fine,” she said with a deep sigh. Caine walked back towards them, Vidar turned around to
face him and Charlie got a look at the wound. It didn’t look that bad, she had to admit.
“We need to talk,” Caine said to Vidar. Vidar nodded and turned to look at Charlie.
“We’ll head into my office. You are safe here. You can move around the apartment as usual,” Vidar told her. Charlie was not having it.
“Vidar, if you try to shut me out of this discussion, I’m calling Malcom and having him drive me to my brother’s house and I will be staying there until I feel you are miserable enough for me to take pity on you. That can be a month or a year, all depending on how pissed I am before Tyson calms me down. Do I make myself clear?” she told him.