Charlotte After Dark

Chapter 53: Promise Me

We burst into Andrew's apartment with a flourish. Andrew had a tight grasp around me as he held me in his arms closer than I had ever been to him before. It was so tight I swore I could see his knuckles blanche. My vision continued to blur in and out, and it was becoming harder and harder to focus on Andrew's face as time went on.

"Put her on the couch," Andrew's other brother, Ezra, commanded as he entered behind us. He had been called in on our ride back to Andrew's apartment and met us in the lobby. He was a doctor at one of the local emergency rooms and hadn't even had the chance to change out of his scrubs it seemed before being beckoned by his brother.

Andrew placed me down on his couch as gently as he could, propping a small pillow behind my head. I couldn't stop myself from wincing at even the slightest movement he made. Ezra took a seat next to me, eying the blood soaked shirt I was still wearing.

"I hate to say it, but this is probably something more aptly handled by her family. I'm not sure you are aware, but they don't quite cover treating vampires in medical school, Andrew," Ezra noted.

"I don't think that's going to be happening anytime soon," Andrew replied.

Ezra placed a small bag on the coffee table, but paused before opening it to look up at his younger brother. Ezra was similar in appearance to the other four brothers, except for the same emerald green eyes he shared with Andrew. He was clean shaven and his hair clean-cut, a far cry from his other brothers and their wild hair.

"Who is her family?" Ezra asked. There was a seriousness in his voice, much like a father about to chastise a child.

"Why does it matter?" Andrew deflected. He shifted his weight from one side to the other while trying to avert the gazes of both his brothers. He decided to focus his attention on me as I winced one more time.

"Who is her sire, Andrew?" Levi pressed.

Andrew stalled as long as he could. "Luca Acerbi." He said Luca's name as low as he could, just above a whisper, but it didn't seem to dull his brothers' reactions.

"That's the Luca she was on the phone with earlier? Are you serious right now?" Levi asked, incredulous, before he turned to his other brother. "Is he serious right now?"

"By the looks of it, dead serious," Ezra groaned.

"Would you rather deal with the Luca Acerbi whose daughter you saved, or the one that finds out you let his daughter bleed out in the middle of my living room?" Andrew countered.

"I would like to remind you all that I am sit—laying right here," I announced.

My comment was promptly ignored.

"Considering it's your living room, I'm sure his pursuit would be focused on you for bringing her to bleed out," Levi noted.

I was beginning to see how Levi and Logan may be related.

"Levi," Ezra warned. Levi backed away only slightly.

"Will you help her?" Andrew asked.

"It would seem that I don't have much of a choice," he uttered as he turned to the bag he had placed on the coffee table, beginning to rummage through it as he picked out a few supplies. He picked up a pair of scissors, and Andrew moved forward as if to shield me.

Ezra stopped him. "I just need to see what we're dealing with here."

Ezra cut what remained of the of the bottom portion of my tattered shirt, exposing most of my midsection. I should have been bothered by it, but if it meant he would stop the burning, I would have let him do anything.