Chapter 260

Joseph’s POV

“What’s going on?” Tessa asked, breaking through the silence that consumed us.

“I didn’t know what else to do,” Carter whispered, staring down at his hands. “I can’t lose her…”

Tessa’s brows pinched together as she studied him carefully.

“The blood on your face… it’s not from Ruby…” she whispered; it wasn’t a question, but he nodded anyway.

“I sucked the blood from my wrist and poured it into her mouth,” he whispered, his voice breaking slightly.

She gasped at his words and stared up at me, her eyes wild.

“What does that mean?” She asked.

“It means…” Carter began, but I cut him off.

“We aren’t going to get her hopes up,” I barked, feeling pissed that Carter was stupid enough to pull this stunt.

“Get my hopes up?” Tessa asked. “What are you talking about?”

“I don’t know,” he answered weakly. “I tried everything I could…”

“What did you do,” Tessa demanded to know, and I knew she was getting annoyed with this back and forth, especially because we weren’t telling her what was happening.

“I gave Ruby my blood,” Carter repeated.

“And?” Tessa asked, folding her arms across her chest. “What does that even mean? What would that do?”

I sighed, rubbing the bridge of my nose between my thumb and pointer finger.

“It means Ruby could wake up as a vampire,” I finally told her.

Tessa gasped and covered her mouth with her hands.

“Are you saying she could live?”

“The chances are very slim,” I told her as I ran my fingers through my hair, feeling aggravated. “I told you before, it’s very hard to turn a human into a vampire without them dying in the process. Only the strongest vampires and able to do it successfully and even that’s not guaranteed.”

“I am strong,” Carter said with certainty. “I’ve been training as a warrior for centuries.”

I shot him a look.

“You know what I mean,” I said through my teeth. “You are holding onto something that might not happen.”

“But it might,” Carter said, folding his arms across his chest. “There’s still a chance.”

“A slim one—”

“A slim chance is still a chance,” Tessa cut in, stepping out of my embrace so she could peer up at me. “If Carter is right, there’s a chance she could wake up as a vampire. I’m aware it looks bad, and that Ruby could die… but if there’s a chance she could wake up and be a vampire, we must prepare for that scenario.”

“Exactly why I needed your help,” Carter said, staring down at Ruby. “If she wakes up as a vampire, it’s probably better if she didn’t do it in a hospital filled with blood and humans.”

I knew he was right; they were both right.

“We could get into huge shit with the vampire council,” I murmured, shaking my head.

“I’ll take full responsibility,” Carter said without hesitation.

I sighed, rubbing the bridge of my nose.

Cursing under my breath, I rushed to the large window across the room and peered outside. I could see my car in the parking lot. I memorized the exact location of this room from the outside.

I was aware of Tessa and Carter watching me, waiting for my answer.

“I’m going to get the car,” I finally told him after a long silence. “Unhook her from the machine and prepare to transport her. We need to bring her to the mountain village.”

I unlatched the windows and pulled them open, allowing the cool breeze to circulate throughout the room.

“If we unhook her, won’t that kill her?” Tessa asked.

I turned to face her, trying to ease her worried mind.

“In order for her to wake as a vampire, she has to die anyway,” I explained. “Trust me… unhook her and we will get her out of here undetected.”

Tessa nodded and gave me a faint smile.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

I managed a nod.

“Lock the door; I’ll be back.”

With that being said, I teleported to my car.

…..

Tessa’s POV

Carter ran back to the bed as I stared after Joseph, my mouth hanging open. I was never going to get used to seeing him teleport like that.

I was brought back to the present moment once Carter started to tug at the wires that were connected to Ruby.

“Once these are disconnected, we won’t have much time,” Carter told me over his shoulder. “When she codes, it’ll alert the doctors and nurses and they will be here within seconds.”

I nodded, my body still trembling.

I couldn’t believe we were breaking Ruby out of the hospital like this. I felt like such a criminal, but I knew it was for the best. If Ruby were to wake up as a vampire, it would put her and everyone else in this hospital in danger.

Carter started to disconnect different tubes from her; he was also undoing her body cast.

“What are you doing?” I gasped, staring wide-eyed at him.

“It’ll be easier to move her,” he explained. “If she wakes as a vampire, her body will heal itself.”

I stayed back, watching as he undid her body cast. Her body looked so broken and bruised when he finished. She was completely naked, and a sob escaped my lips. I had never seen her look so damaged before. I could see where the glass from the train windows sliced her flesh and the burns of the seatbelt across her waist.

It was the bones coming out of her flesh that caused my stomach to turn and I couldn’t help myself, I turned and lost the contents in my stomach.

Joseph was soon back at the window, startling the shit out of me.

“The car is ready; is she unhooked?” Joseph asked.

“Mostly,” Carter answered. “The machine that’s keeping her heart beating still needs to be undone.”

“We need to hurry,” Joseph said as he helped Carter unhook the rest of her tubes. As expected, the long steady beep of the heart monitor sounded throughout the room and a small light on the ceiling began to flash blue.

“We have a code blue!” I heard a doctor yelling from the hallway.

Carter scooped Ruby into his arms and then within a second, he was gone before my eyes. Joseph grabbed me and lifted me into his arms as well, noticing my vomit on the ground his brows pinched together.

“Are you okay?”

I managed a weak nod. He kissed my forehead and then teleported us to his car. My heart was racing with adrenaline as Carter placed Ruby into the backseat of Joseph’s car and then got in beside her.

I quickly got into the passenger seat while Joseph got into the driver’s seat. We were soon on the road and driving far away from the hospital. I let out a sob as my adrenaline started to come down, my body trembling violently.

I turned to look at Carter who was holding onto Ruby like his life depended on it. His face was buried in her hair, and I saw how distraught he was looking. It broke my heart to see him like this but most importantly, it broke my heart to see Ruby like this.

We drove mostly in silence; I was too tired and heartbroken to ask any more questions.

Joseph had called Bernard at some point on the way and told him what had happened. I knew Bernard wasn’t happy and Joseph got into an argument with him about it. Eventually, the conversation ended, and Joseph hung up the phone, leaving the ride silent again.

I swallowed the lump in my throat as the mountains came into view.

By the time Joseph parked the car, Bernard, Nathan, and Anna were already waiting for us.

“What the fuck,” Bernard said through his teeth when Carter carried Ruby out of the car.

“We need to get her to the infirmary,” Carter said without a single look in Bernard’s direction.

I followed Carter while Bernard stayed behind with Joseph. They started to argue more, but I drowned them out, my focus was on Ruby alone.

I hadn’t realized Anna had followed us until we were in the infirmary. The infirmary nurses were already prepared for Ruby it seemed, along with the tribe doctor.

I wanted to stay with her and Carter, but they thought it was best for me to stay in the small waiting area outside of the room. Carter was allowed to stay because he refused to leave; instead of arguing with him, the doctor agreed.

Anna bounced in and out of the room; half comforting me and providing me with information about what was happening, and half assisting with Ruby.

Apparently, they cleaned up her wounds and bandaged her, despite her technically being dead. Her heart was no longer beating, and it was true that her brain was showing no activity. But she had Carter’s blood in her which meant she had a chance of waking up as a vampire. We won’t know until her heart starts to beep again.

“How long does it usually take for new vampires to wake?” I asked after what felt like an eternity.

“It depends,” she told me. “Sometimes hours, sometimes days.”

“Days?” I croaked. “Won’t her body decay?”

“Carter’s blood should keep her body from decaying for a short while,” Anna explained.

Joseph and Bernard finally joined us, Bernard looked less pissed and went to check on everything in the infirmary. Joseph sat beside me and wrapped me in his arms.

“Is everything okay?” I asked him. “With Benard I mean.”

Joseph nodded.

“Yeah, we talked. He’s mainly worried about the vampire council,” Joseph told me. “We can talk more about it later.”

“They’ll be upset?” I asked.

Joseph nodded.

“It’s illegal to turn a human into a vampire without the council’s permission,” he admitted. “If she wakes, Carter could face serious consequences, and as his Overseer… so could Bernard.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat, wanting to ask more questions but was interrupted when Bernard walked into the room.

“If you want to sit with her, you can,” he told me.

I jumped to my feet and rushed into the room with Ruby and Carter.

Carter was curled up in bed beside her, holding her tightly. She looked a lot better; cleaner and less broken. But no less dead.

I sat beside her and held onto her hand, tears falling from my eyes.

“I’m so sorry, Ruby,” I whispered, shaking my head.

I’m not sure how long we stayed like that. But minutes turned into hours and hours turned into days. I refused to leave the infirmary, as did Carter. The nurses came in and cleaned Ruby periodically while the doctor continued to monitor her.

Joseph went to get us food a few times. Not that any of us could eat. I only left once to take a shower, but Carter refused to leave her side in the days we waited.

Joseph finally convinced Carter to leave and shower because he smelled. It was like pulling teeth, but he eventually left to shower. While he was gone, I curled up next to Ruby and snuggled against her.

I’m not sure when I fell asleep, but I was woken when I heard the light beeping of the heart monitor sounding beside me. I felt a pair of hands on my wrist as my eyes flew open and soon, I was flying off the bed and pressed against Joseph’s chest as he wrapped his arms around me protectively. but I was startled awake when someone grabbed my arm and yanked me off the bed.

“What the—” I started to murmur, but when my eyes found Ruby, my entire body stilled.

Her chest rose and fell, and a small groan escaped her lips.

Ruby was waking up.