Blood Relatives

38. A Less Than Perfect Execution

"What happened to you?" Carmine asked, hurrying across the courtyard. Zev was close on her heels.

"Your friend bit me." he said tersely.

"Sorry." Mia mumbled. She and Anna were hunched over someone laying motionless on the ground. Conner.

Zev went pale at the sight.

"Is he going to be ok?" Carmine asked quietly. She wasn't exactly sure what her friends had done, and she couldn't bear to ask.

"He'll be fine." Anna said, turning and looking up at Carmine. "He's just asleep."

"Asleep?" Zev seemed skeptical.

"Passed out, I guess." Anna corrected herself.

"How'd you do that?"

"Wanna see?" Mia asked.

"No, that's ok." Zev said quickly. He put his hands out in front of him and took a few steps back.

"It doesn't hurt." Anna told him.

"You sure?"

"Ask him when he wakes up."

"When will that be?"

"Five, maybe ten minutes." Anna shrugged.

"So what exactly happened?" Luke asked, taking his hand away from his neck. There was blood smeared down to his collar bone. Carmine couldn't help but notice it looked like a lot more had happened then just a quick, clean bite.

"I don't know." Carmine confessed. "Adam started talking and I just...didn't want anything to happen to him."

"Yeah, I couldn't let anyone hurt him." Anna said, looking down guiltily at Conner.

"Well, he did say he was irresistible." Zev gave a bland half smile.

"Which means we have no plan." Carmine said quietly. They'd been really lucky today. Except for Carmine and Luke, no one seemed hurt. And even the injuries she and Luke got weren't that bad – they'd heal in a day or two. This could have been so much worse.

Carmine wasn't sure what Adam had done, but she was glad it wore off when it did. She'd been more than willing to fight Zev to the death. And while she could probably take him while he was human, she figured the odds were definitely in his favor once he turned. Not that it even mattered – no matter what happened, one of them was bound to be seriously hurt. And that was a risk they couldn't afford to take again.

Everyone stood around, not making eye contact. Carmine just wanted to go home. The night really hadn't turned out like she'd planned at all. But she couldn't leave – not yet. She had to make sure Conner was alright.

It took about three minutes, but it seemed more like thirty. Finally, Carmine heard a low moan. Slowly, Conner opened his eyes.

"What happened?" he asked groggily. As his eyes regained focus, he noticed that everyone was staring intently at him. "Why're you all looking at me like that?"

"I'm sorry, I..." Anna trailed off, not sure exactly what to say.

"Do you remember what happened?" Luke asked him.

"Um...Yeah. I think so." He propped himself up on his elbow and screwed his face up in concentration. "Carmine started yelling at Zev. And I looked over – and Anna was standing there." He looked at Anna.

"You had this really weird look on your face. And your eyes were a kind of gold color. And then I was just so tired. I just closed my eyes for a second...And the next thing I know, I'm lying on the ground."

"You remember all that?" Mia asked, surprised.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Usually Anna's better than that." Mia shrugged.

"Well I wasn't exactly in my right mind." Anna told her. When she realized the boys were all staring at her, she dropped her eyes to the ground. "Sorry."

The group stood around awkwardly for a few minutes; there didn't seem to be anything to say. Carmine and the girls had been the reason they'd failed, she knew. But all the same, she didn't think it was completely their fault.

Since there was nothing more they could do that night, they walked silently to their cars. The parking lot somehow looked even more forlorn.

Carmine drove the girls to Anna's house, and Luke took Zev and Conner back to their own neighborhood. Carmine didn't know what they were going to do, and she didn't bother to ask. All she really wanted to do was get away from Zev for a bit.

They walked into Anna's apartment, and Anna locked the door behind them. When they were all safely in the bedroom, Carmine finally said what she'd been thinking for the past half hour.

"I can't believe that actually happened!" It came out as kind of a wail.

"Me either." Mia told her.

"I mean, not to underestimate Adam or anything, but he didn't exactly seem like the hardest thing we've been up against." Carmine said. Mia gave a short, humorless laugh, and Anna managed a bland half-smile.

"Looks like we were wrong." Anna said.

"That's for sure." Carmine told her. Slowly, she asked the question that had been bothering her the entire drive to Anna's. "Do you guys think we'll actually be able to stop him?"

"I don't know." Anna admitted finally.

"At least we know what to expect now." Mia told them.

"I thought I already knew what to expect." Carmine said. After all, she'd had him in her head before. "But that didn't stop me from attacking Zev."

Carmine rubbed the bridge of her nose, looking down at the carpet. She couldn't believe she'd actually done that! She was so embarrassed! And she was going to have to face him in school tomorrow. The thought was enough to make her seriously consider pretending to be sick.

"Sorry I tried to kill your boyfriend." she finally mumbled to Mia.

"At least you didn't actually bite him." Mia reminded her.

"It's not like I didn't try." If he hadn't pushed her like that, who knew what would've happened?

"Do you think Luke's going to hate me forever?" Mia asked Anna.

"He doesn't hate you." Anna told her. But she didn't sound quite as confident as she normally would have.

"Well, if he didn't before, he probably does now." Mia mumbled.

"I hope he's ok."

"Why wouldn't he be?" Carmine asked. Didn't the people they bite always recover in a few hours? "He didn't look too bad." She tried to say it reassuringly, but she wasn't sure she succeeded.

"How's your shoulder?" Anna asked suddenly.

Carmine just looked at her for a second.

"I saw you holding it funny on the drive home."

"It hurts." Carmine said honestly.

Carmine gingerly felt her shoulder and winced. It was still incredibly sore, but at least it felt better than it had earlier.

Mia told her it would heal a lot faster if she went out tonight. It'd probably feel fine in an hour or two. After what had happened earlier though, Carmine couldn't bare the idea of hunting. She figured she'd rather be sore for a few days.

After an hour or so of rehashing the whole night and assuring each other that they hadn't screwed up as bad as they all knew they had, Carmine and Mia left to go to their own houses. Carmine made the long drive home, doing everything in her power to avoid thinking about how awkward school would be tomorrow.