Burned (Book1) The White Rose Vampire Series

Chapter Ten

My mind was against me as we drove to the hospital to save Izzie. Every horrible scenario moved through my mind, causing my heart to beat like a drum was pounding against my chest. Tears burned my eyes as I stared out the window, terrified that she would be harmed before we reached her.

When we arrived at the hospital, my panic became almost unbearable when we couldn't find her. The blood was rushing to my ears thrumming with each beat of my heart as I called her phone, once, then, twice both going to voice mail.

Jonathon's eyes moved around the entrance of the hospital, searching frantically before closing his eyes and inhaling. His eyes opened, narrowing before doing it again. Bastian's head turned toward him, taking in the action with a raised brow.

"I can find her," Jonathon whispered, causing Bastian to frown at him, taking him in before his eyes sparked with a knowledge I was ignorant to as Jonathon explained. "Her perfume...It's the scent of crushed apples. I can find her."

I frowned finding it odd that he knew Izzie's favorite perfume, but he had been around her recently and could have noticed because she wore the fragrance every day.

Bastian's mouth fell open as he peered into his brother's face. "You can track her?"

Jonathon nodded. "I noticed at the coffee shop that she has a specific scent...Crushed apples. It was strong enough I recognized it."

Bastian and Jonathon continued to stare at each other, something passed between them but my stomach knotted realizing we were wasting precious time. I didn't care how Jonathon found her as long as he did.

"Lead the way," I said impatiently.  He nodded before he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His eyes opened as he moved past the receptionist desk toward the stairs, inhaling again when the doors closed. His eyes narrowed.  He turned moving down the stairs to the bottom floor before opening a door that led into a hallway. We followed him past the morgue to a small door that had to be a janitor's closet pulling it open. For a moment, I didn't see Izzie but my eyes moved to the corner causing me to gasp. Sitting there with her arms wrapped around her knees and her head lowered upon them was my best friend. I released a breath and said her name but she didn't move. I swallowed when she didn't lift her head, after saying her name a second time, I moved toward her as my heart lurched.

"Izzie?" I whispered again and though I should have been relieved that she was alive, she moaned in a way that caused a shiver to slide down my spine.

"I think they've drugged her," Jonathon said, softly, moving me out of the way with a hand on my shoulder. "We have to get her out of here without anyone seeing.  She's not in any condition to walk."

Jonathon picked her up, gently cradling her against his chest. "Lanie," Izzie mumbled, flailing weakly in his arms, trying to put up a fight against any danger that may have come for her.

"It's okay, Iz," I said trying to calm her with tears in my eyes. "We're here. You're safe. We're going to get you out of here."

I glanced toward the door, wondering how we were going to do that when Bastian moved in front of me, grasping my shoulders.

"I know it seems impossible, but you are thinking like a mortal." He gave me a weak smile when I realized he had understood what I was thinking.

"What do you mean?" I asked, frowning as I glanced from Izzie to him.

"All superstitions aren't false," He said with a shrug. "Just most of them."

I frowned, "Which superstition will help us?"

"The one where vampires move quickly," Bastian said, gazing at me as he shifted on his feet. "That one is true. We'll still need to distract the nurses but if we can, Jonathon can get her to the car without a problem. All they'll see is a blur out of the corner of their eyes...If they see anything."

I couldn't wrap my mind around anything moving that quickly but if it helped Izzie escape the fates of our parents and my grandmother, I was willing to push away any doubt. "I'm sure we can do that," I said, glancing at my friend, my brows furrowing as I took in her pale face. "We need to get her out of here quickly. She doesn't look good."

Bastian reached out and grabbed my hand, comforting me with his presence. "Don't worry," he said, his blue eyes boring into mine. "She'll be okay. I promise."

As I glanced at my best friend, I nodded, because I believed that both Jonathon and Bastian would protect her as fiercely as they had me since arriving at White Rose Manor.

*********

Bastian and I made our way to the receptionist's station. He put on his best smile, capturing one of the nurse's gazes. She blinked, mesmerized as he spoke in a seductive deep voice lilting with humor.

"I'm looking for a friend. His name is Ryan Case," he said, his lips twitching as he said the name of one of the boys in our literature class. "I think they said he was here, but it may be at the other hospital in Royce."

The receptionist blushed as she glanced down at her computer, her hands shaking with nervousness. Wind rustled through the lobby as the automatic doors behind us opened. The receptionist shivered, glancing at the door with a frown.

"Hmmm," she said before turning back to the computer screen, her fingers flying over the keys before glancing at Bastian with a furrowed brow. "I'm sorry. I don't see a Ryan Case here."

"Must be the other hospital," Bastian said, smoothly and then, gripped my hand in his tugging me toward the door.

Once outside, we made our way to the hospital garage where Jonathon had parked his car. I frowned when I found Jonathon in the backseat with Izzie's head on his lap. His expression was dark as his fingertips moved across her forehead brushing her hair from her pale face with a gentleness that caused my heart to clench in my chest.

"Take the passenger seat," he said to me, snapping my eyes from Izzie to his face but his eyes remained on her as he continued to speak as he held out the keys to him. "Bastian, you drive."

I opened my mouth to argue but Jonathon stopped me when he spoke again without meeting my eyes. "I have to monitor her heart.  We don't know what drug they gave her."

Satisfied with his reason, I moved around the front of the car and slid into the passenger seat. Bastian started the car, glancing back at Jonathon as he rose his head to meet Bastian's gaze.

"Everything okay?" He asked, frowning as Jonathon's gaze darkened in worry.

Jonathon nodded but before he could say anything, Izzie's voice broke through the car, causing Jonathon to tense. "Lanie," she whispered, her voice oddly hoarse.

"I'm here, Iz," I said, my heart lurching as a single tear fell down her cheek. My lip trembled. In all the time I had known her, I had only witnessed her cry less than a dozen times. That single tear falling down her pale face made worry gnaw through my gut.

'They...killed...them," she whispered, her voice broken with fear.

"I know," I said, my heart in my throat.

"We won't let anyone hurt you," Jonathon said, softly, his voice choked with emotion.

Izzie's eyes opened, gazing into Jonathon's face, the knowledge within them turning to trust, "I...know," she breathed, as another tear fell down her cheek in a jagged line toward her hair. Then, her eyes closed, and Jonathon caressed her cheek in a way that caused my heart to clench because at that moment, I wondered if he loved her as much as I did.