"Good guess."
He handed her the towel and she pressed it to her neck.Damn . Hurt like hell.
She nodded over at her purse. "There's a tube of ointment in there. Can you grab it for me?"
He did as she asked and brought the small tube over to her. "What is that?"
"Healing balm. Should do the trick and get rid of these… wounds."
His lips were very tight, and he nodded. "Can I help?"
"Sure. Smear a little on my neck. I'll be good as new before you know it."
She saw his throat work. "You're very brave."
"It's in my job requirements."
Very gently, he dabbed some of the ointment on her neck. He was close enough that she could see that his eyes were red. She didn't ask him why. She already knew.
She was a vampire now. Just like Malcolm. Just like Quinn.
Simple. It was so simple. But just because something was simple didn't mean that it was easy. Her head hurt too much to go over what this meant for her. Not now. Not yet.
When he was done, he looked up at her. There was no humor in his expression. "I'm sorry, Janie."
"What?"
"I… I'm so sorry—" His voice caught on the words. "If there was another way—"
She shook her head. "Don't be sorry."
"Do you remember what happened?"
"Vaguely. The main parts." Her jaw clenched. "Malcolm was waiting for me in the dark. He used my own stun gun—myown stun gun —on me. I don't know why I didn't see that coming."
"I should have let you stake him at the museum."
"You think?"
He covered his face with his hands. "This is all my fault."
"Spilled milk, Quinn."
"This is hardly that simple."
"I don't have time for this to be complicated."
"Do you… do you feel okay?"
She slowly and carefully got up off the bed. "I've felt better, that's for damn sure." She eyed herself in the mirror and grimaced, glancing at the bite marks, which had, thanks to the healing balm, already started to heal with a tingling sensation. They still looked like she'd played the raw steak to Malcolm's pit bull, though.
"You should sit down."
She sighed at her reflection, which didn't include Quinn's. "I guess I better get used to not looking in mirrors anymore, huh?"
Quinn made a strangled noise.
She turned around and raised an eyebrow, feeling grim. "And when should I expect my fangs?
Tomorrow? Next week?"
He turned away and walked quickly toward the window to look outside without answering.
Okay. So she was a vampire. Which blew. But now that it was done, there wasn't much she could do about it, was there? Janie had always tried to roll with the punches, and this one… this was one of the heaviest hits she'd taken.
No, scratch that.The heaviest hit. She'd never had to reassess her species before.
Vampire. She shook her head.
Well, it beat dying, she supposed.
She glanced at Quinn. Looked like she was handling her new life status a little better than he was. By the looks of him, he was seconds away from throwing himself through the window.
Of course, he thought being a vampire was the equivalent to being a monster.
She honestly wasn't sure he was completely wrong about that, but for the time being she felt very normal. Very herself.
"That son of a bitch stole the Eye," she told him. Perhaps a slight change in subject would be a good thing.
He shook his head. "He won't go far. He can't."
"Why do you say that?"
"I still have the stone."
She noticed that he held his injured wrist tenderly and frowned at him. "Come here."
She grabbed the healing balm and applied some to his wound. She was almost out of the stuff. That meant she'd have to go see that witch inNew Orleans who made it. That bitch always made her lick a toad as part of the payment. The toad always seemed to enjoy it a bit too much.
Were-toad. Had to be.
"Thank you," he said when she finished, still refusing to look directly at her.
"How's your stake wound from last night?" she asked, then frowned.
"It's fine."