Nocturnal Urges (Nocturnal Urges, Book One) by Elizabeth Donald Page A

neck.
    “It’s all right,” she heard herself say, as much to herself as to Ryan.
    Ryan was calling out something, and she didn’t understand the words. They seemed to be in some other language. But someone must have understood him, because there were suddenly other people in the room. There were voices, and shadows, but the room was so dark…

Chapter Three
     
    Voices. Angry but hushed, intense, as though afraid to wake her. Murmuring to each other beyond the darkness that still held her eyes closed.
    “Do you need money?” A woman’s voice, cool and crisp.
    Ryan’s voice responded. Even in a whisper, she would know his deep tones. “I don’t want your money.”
    “You’ve got to get out of here, Ryan,” the woman said. “If they catch you, they will fucking kill you.”
    “I’m not going anywhere,” he replied.
    “Ryan, it’s your life,” the woman argued. “Attacking a human is an automatic death sentence.”
    “I didn’t… I mean, I didn’t mean to…” Ryan’s voice was unsure, hesitant. Isabel struggled to speak, but it was as though her voice wasn’t listening to her brain.
    “You think they care?” The woman’s voice was rising. “They’ll kill you whether you meant to do it or not.”
    The voices hushed as somewhere a door opened and impatient footsteps approached Isabel. “Has there been any change?” a new voice asked, a lightly accented male.
    “No,” said Ryan in a normal tone. “No movement.”
    A harsh fluorescent light pierced through the darkness that surrounded Isabel. Somewhere, she heard bleeps and muted voices that told her she was in a hospital. She struggled to blink, and moved her lips a little. “Hello,” said the accented voice, and she focused for a moment on a vague face hovering above her. “There you are.”
    Ryan appeared next to the other man, and for some reason Ryan seemed clearer, more real to her. His eyes were their normal blue again, full of concern. “Are you okay?” he asked.
    “Of course she’s not,” snapped the other man, whom Isabel now saw wore the white coat of a doctor. “Miss, you’re suffering from moderate exsanguinations, otherwise known as blood loss, from a vampire bite gone too far.”
    “I’m so sorry,” Ryan stammered, his face pale even for a vampire. “I didn’t…”
    Isabel tried to speak, but her voice was still not cooperating.
    The doctor shot a glare at Ryan. “Miss, do you want me to send these…people away? Blink once for yes, twice for no.”
    Isabel carefully blinked twice. The doctor shrugged. “All right,” he said. “But I’m leaving the door open.” He vanished from Isabel’s sight.
    The woman’s voice came again, cool and controlled. “There, she’s alive, you can go now,” she said.
    “Shut up,” Ryan said, turning to the woman. Isabel still couldn’t see her. But in a swish of fabric, she sensed the woman leaving.
    Ryan turned back to look at her. “I beg your forgiveness,” he said formally. “That has never happened to me before. I cannot understand it.”
    “Neither can I,” snapped a new voice, one Isabel recognized as Fiona’s. “I cannot fucking believe you, Ryan.”
    Ryan turned away, and Isabel couldn’t see what was happening. She concentrated on lifting her hand, but it wasn’t cooperating.
    “I lost control,” Ryan admitted.
    “Damn right you did and I don’t need to tell you you’re fired,” Fiona snapped, all the matronly madam tones gone from her voice. “I haven’t had a vampire go ape-shit like this since the sixties! For that matter, if she presses assault charges your ass is grass, so I suggest you hightail it to your little penthouse flat and clear out of town fast.”
    Ryan’s voice was flat and dejected. “I’m sorry, Fiona,” he said. “I don’t know what happened. It just…got away from me.”
    “And at the end of the day, she’s gonna end up owning my place, so I’m not crying for your problems,” Fiona returned.
    “She’s awake,