Bad Vampire by Lauren Dawes (read aloud books txt) 📕

“You can’t come through the front like I did. The flames are getting more intense. Can you use it to cut open the roof? I think I can pull you out that way.”

Looking up, I studied the roof. It had been peeled open like a can at some point, just not over the front section of the truck. Lifting up the sword, I swore as my shoulder pinched. Shoving that pain aside, which was hard, FYI, I focused on the sword.

“Can you open the roof?” I asked Reaver softly. “Can you get us out of here?”

The sword began to glow with a pale blue light, and I touched the tip to the half-shredded roof. The sound of heat-buckled steel filled my little bubble of pain, and I watched as the metal literally melted where the sword touched it. I was starting to sweat now, as the heat from the fire in the hood intensified.

The sword stopped glowing, and then there was a Cat-sized hole in roof.

“Thank you,” I told Reaver, then more loudly, I shouted, “I’ve made a hole.”

Sawyer appeared in said hole, his eyes widening as he saw what a good job Reaver had done. Reaching inside, he grasped my good arm and started to pull. I bit my lip as each move sent daggers of pain through me. I think I may have passed out, because when I came back to, I was out of the car, lying on the cold asphalt thirty feet from my destroyed truck.

“There you are,” he said with a small smile. “You passed out from the pain.”

He was looking down at me as he cradled me in his lap. I tried not to think about how weird that was. And by weird, I meant I couldn’t wait to get my head in his lap again. You know, once my shoulder stopped throbbing.

“Noted,” I replied, my fingers curling involuntarily around the hilt of Reaver.

“You’ve got a big bump on your head. The EMTs want to take you to the hospital.”

That was when the world dumped awareness on me. I flinched as flashing lights and the sound of sirens and people shouting hit my senses like a sledgehammer

“How’s our patient?” someone asked above my head. I shifted my gaze to the EMT standing there. He was tall, muscled, and smiled like he genuinely cared. “Awake, I see.”

“What did I miss?” I rasped.

He crouched down beside me. “Oh you know, the explosion. The firemen with their hose.”

“I hope they were naked.” I shut my eyes. “But they kept it classy with bow ties and strategically placed Santa hats.”

The EMT laughed. “The drugs are working just fine, but that bump on the head is a concern. We’re going to take you to Buxton General.”

“But I don’t have a reservation,” I whined, earning me another good-natured chuckle.

“She’s a hoot,” he said, obviously to Sawyer.

I felt my partner brush his fingertips across my forehead. “She’s something alright.”

“They’re just bringing the gurney over now. She’ll be in safe hands with us.”

I shut them out at that point. They were talking about me like I wasn’t even there. I didn’t owe them my consciousness.

When I woke up, I was in hospital, wearing a thin gown and tucked into a bed with over-starched, too-thin sheets and blankets. I sucked in a deep breath through my nose and let it out through my mouth. Well, at least my nose wasn’t broken.

The door to my room opened, and Sawyer walked in. He was in clean clothes, his hair slightly damp from the shower he must’ve taken. The bastard. I was still covered in soot from the accident and subsequent fire.

“You’re awake,” he murmured, placing down the cup of coffee he’d gotten from a vending machine, if the cup and smell were anything to go by.

“Live and in color.”

“How do you feel?”

I tried to shuffle up in the bed, wincing when a dull throb in my shoulder told me to stay the fuck still. “Like I got hit by a semi?”

Sawyer shook his head ruefully. “You’re not far off it. We were hit by a semi.”

“Ha,” I replied dully. “I hope you got his insurance details.” His smile was warm, and I tried not to think about how that made my lady-parts feel. “What happened?”

Shaking his head, he took a seat on the side of my bed. “Someone ran us off the road. Whoever they were, they wanted us dead.”

I let that sink in. I was used to being disliked. With a mouth like mine, not many people did like me, but I’d never had anyone wanting to commit murder.

“What happened to the vamp?”

“Ashed. In the rising sun.”

“Damn it. She was our only lead.”

Sawyer shook his head. “She wasn’t worth losing your life over.”

I grunted and placed my hands down at my side… where I felt Reaver. Sawyer, seeing my expression, also looked.

“How did you convince the nurse to let Reaver in the room?”

“I didn’t.” He laughed and shrugged. “Magic?”

Heaving a sigh, I held back all my questions. This sword had a freaking mind of its own… Although, if I was being honest, I really liked its mind. It had saved my life on more than one occasion.

“When can I get out of here?”

“Well, the doc said your shoulder was only dislocated. He popped it back into the socket, but you’ll have to wear it in a sling for a day or two, and it’ll still be sore for a couple of weeks.”

“That’s why they invented drugs, right?”

“Right.”

“You also have a few deeper cuts on your hands and some shallow ones on your face and neck from the shattered windshield. Add that nasty bump on your head, and you’re all set to strap in for a drug-induced haze.”

He grinned.

I whimpered.

Reaching out, he tucked some of my hair behind my ear and exhaled. “Other than that, they think you’re okay.”

“Does that mean I can go?”

He shook his head. “As soon as you have something to eat and can keep it