Thanks for your reviews and I appreciate all of you who are still reading and following the story. Now Josef has been injured, will he be all right?

Chapter 21

Beth was a little nervous waiting for Mick and the team to get back from the raid on du Plessis. Simone and Megan were in the lounge but she excused herself, saying she wanted to check her email.

Up in their room, Beth tried to work, but really just stared at the computer screen. She heard footsteps moving quickly, and looked up as Simone flung open the door. "Josef has been hurt," she blurted out. Beth could feel her friend's emotional turmoil and went to her.

"What happened?" Beth asked.

Simone shook her head, "I don't know. Mick called and they're on the way here. All he said was to have plenty of blood ready."

"Do we have enough on hand?"

"Yes, we have some from local suppliers plus what the ladies have donated," Simone said. She paced the room, a habit she picked up from Josef. "I wish they would get here."

"Does Hale know?" Beth asked, referring to the invaluable majordomo of Josef's household.

Simone nodded. "I told him and he has the medical supplies and blood ready. Then Josef will need to be in the freezer."

Just then, the two women heard cars pulling up outside and they ran to the door. Megan joined them as they watched the men carry Josef in a stretcher. He seemed unconscious, and Simone tried to get to him. Mick came in and held her back. "Wait until we get him settled, okay?"

With her eyes on her husband, Simone asked, "What happened?"

"That jerk Duvall was firing a gun all around and one of the stray shots hit Josef in the neck." Mick didn't know if he should mention that his friend seemed to be paralyzed.

Simone gathered herself as she watched Josef carried into the other room. She knew Hale and the others would get him into a freezer, and there was nothing she could do for the moment. "Has he had any blood?" she asked.

"Yes, we got him to drink some before we left."

"Why is he still unconscious?"

"I'm not sure. We removed the bullet fragment."

Simone could tell Mick was hiding something. "What aren't you telling me?"

"I don't know exactly, but we think the bullet might have caused some problems with his spinal cord. Before we left he couldn't move," Mick said with reluctance.

Simone gasped, her eyes wide.

Beth came and hugged her, looking at Mick. "What can we do?"

"I don't know. We need to give him IV blood and keep him in the freezer. Sava said he'd never seen a vamp with this kind of injury, and neither have I."

Hale came into the room, looking grave and said, "You may see him now, Madam."

Simone rushed to follow Hale, and Beth asked Mick, "Do you think he'll be all right?"

"I don't know," Mick said, running his hand through his hair. Beth could feel his distress and put her arms around him. He pulled her close, getting comfort from her familiar scent. They stood there for a few minutes until Sava came into the room. He waited politely for Mick and Beth to acknowledge his presence and pull apart.

"Sorry to intrude, but I wanted to let you know that we have Duvall and du Plessis secured in the lower levels."

Beth said, "I forgot about them. You didn't kill them?"

"Not yet," Mick responded. "We were more concerned about Josef."

Sava smirked. Since the Israeli vampire hardly smiled, it was even more surprising. "I think they can wait. They're staked and my men will feed them at intervals while they're guarded. I think Josef should make the final decision."

"Then you think he'll be okay?" Beth asked eagerly.

"I hope so," Sava said.

Mick commented, "I have an idea, let's see what you think."

Beth nodded to Mick and sat down to wait, knowing Megan was with Ben and Simone was with Josef. She still hadn't heard all the details of the raid, but for once managed to be patient as she knew how concerned Mick was about his step-sire.

Beth sat in the quiet room when the door cracked open and she scented one of the freshies, Lucinda. The human was about to back out when Beth called, "You can come in, Lu."

The dark-haired woman came in and when she quickly saw the room was empty except for Beth, she couldn't keep her disappointment from showing. Beth had noticed Lucinda's preference for Sava, and kept a smile from her face.

"Were you looking for someone?" Beth asked.

"Uh—no," Lucinda stammered. 'I wondered if anyone needed some blood. It's my turn on the rotation."

"Well, I think Mick has already had something, but I'm not sure about Sava," Beth said as Lucinda brightened. "I'll send him to the library when he's done if you want to wait there."

"Yes, that will be fine," Lucinda smiled and closed the door quietly.

Beth shook her head to herself. She wasn't sure if she should encourage one of the donors to have hopes that a vampire might be interested personally, but she couldn't help herself. To her, Sava seemed as closed off as Mick once was. She'd noticed that Sava seemed to spend time with the young woman after he fed. If Sava was attracted to Lucinda, Beth wanted to encourage it. If not, they would soon being going back to Los Angeles and the freshie would have time to get over her interest in the vampire.

The freezer room was crowded with Sava, Simone and Mick ranged around Josef, who was in the freezer with the lid open.

His shirt had been removed and he lay on his side so the wound on his neck was more easily accessible. An IV blood line was feeding blood into his arm, and Sava removed the temporary bandage. The wound had stopped bleeding, but hadn't closed very much.

"Why isn't it healing?" Simone asked softly.

Sava grimaced. "It's the silver so close to the arteries and the spine. Josef's body absorbed it in the wound and it's going to take time to flush it out of his system. Once he can drink I think that will help."

"Damn it. Until he wakes up we don't know about the paralysis, either," Mick paused. "Could we pour blood into the wound directly? Or, inject blood into the area?"

"It might work," Sava said thoughtfully. "Let's try the injections first." Simone stood back while Mick prepared a half dozen syringes of fresh blood, and handed them to Sava, who cautiously injected the contents around the injury. He was careful to avoid the spinal area and when he'd finished he noticed the wound had shrunk.

Looking at Mick, he said, "I think it's working. Let's wait a couple of hours and try again."

The next night, after four more rounds of injections, Josef finally stirred. Simone had been sitting in the room and popped the freezer lid. Josef was covered with frost, but opened his eyes. "Hi, doll," he whispered.

"Oh, Josef," she cried. "How are you feeling? Can you move?" She touched her fingers to his face.

Josef was on his back in the freezer, and Simone was thrilled when he took her hand. "What happened? I remember going to get du Plessis, but it's fuzzy after that."

"You got shot with silver, close to your spine. Last night you couldn't move and I was so worried."

Josef closed his eyes and shook his head. It was coming back in bits and pieces. A sudden jolt of fear hit him when he remembered his lack of mobility. He tried to sit up, but only made it part way before he lay back down. Next, he tried moving his feet and was relieved when he could feel them. It seemed most of his body was tingling but he hoped that was a good sign.

"I can feel some things, but I don't think I can sit up yet."

Relieved, Simone bent into the freezer to give Josef a lingering kiss. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be fine."

He looked at the needle in his arm. "Do I still need this?"

"I don't know, let me go get Mick and Sava. They've been taking care of you."

He smiled as she ran from the room. Josef quickly pulled the IV from his vein and waited for the other vampires.

Soon, Josef saw Mick and Sava looking down at him. He rolled his eyes and said, "So I suppose neither of you guys got shot."

Mick gave his friend a small grin. "No, we were smart enough to avoid the ricochets."

"How long have I been down?" Josef asked.

"Just a day," Sava answered. "We need to check your wound. Can you move?"

Josef nodded. "A little. I can feel my arms and legs. Where was I hit?"

"Near your spine. We've been injecting blood and it seems to be healing," Mick responded.

"Can you drink?" Sava asked.

Just then, Simone came in, her mood considerably lightened now that Josef was conscious. She brought a carafe of fresh blood. "Here's some freshly donated for Josef."

They helped him up and Josef was able to take in a large quantity of the life-giving liquid. The tingling stopped in his extremities and Josef found he could move his arms and legs. Sava checked the neck injury and it was mostly healed.

"I should probably get up," Josef said. In a moment Simone was at his side. "Not on your undead life, mister. You lie back down and get some rest, I mean it!"

Mick tried not to smile at the look on Josef's face as the older vampire growled a bit but settled back down in the freezer. "At least tell me what happen to du Plessis."

"We have him and that idiot Duvall staked in the basement, under guard," Mick responded.

"Why didn't you didn't kill him? Josef snarled.

"We thought we'd leave that to your discretion," Sava said.

Josef nodded and suddenly felt tired. Simone noted this, shooing Mick and Sava out of the room and closing the lid on the freezer.

Sava went to look for Lucinda, and Mick found Beth in the lounge.

"Did it work?" Beth asked.

Mick nodded, grinning. "Yeah, he's awake and can move a little. He drank a good quantity of blood and that helped. With a little more freezer time, he'll be all right."

"I'm so relieved," Beth said, coming to hug him. "Now we have to figure out what to do with du Plessis and Duvall."

"That's up to Josef. I know he made a deal with Henri Duvall not to kill the brother, but after getting shot, he might change his mind."

Mick pulled away from Beth, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "I better go let Megan and Ben know that Josef will be fine."

She put her hands on her hips, and said with mock severity, "Okay, but then you'd better come back. I want to hear about what happened at the raid. Otherwise, next time I'll have to go along."

Before he could answer, his cell phone rang. He didn't recognize the number, but answered, "St. John."

"This is Henri Duvall," a voice said in accented English. "I'm trying to find Josef Kostan. He was to contact me more than a day ago, but I've not heard from him."

Mick wasn't going to say anything about the younger Duvall. That was the only reason Mick tamped down his temper and answered, "You haven't heard from him because he was injured when we went in to get du Plessis."

"Oh. Is he all right?" Henri asked.

"He will be. Your brother shot him in the neck with silver and it will take another day or two for him to recover."

"Gaston shot him?" Henri replied in disbelief. "He doesn't know how to use a firearm. He doesn't even have one."

"Well he had one and hit Josef, almost paralyzing him."

"Where is he?"

"We have him and du Plessis locked down."

Henri growled. "I had a deal with Kostan. I let him use Gaston to find du Plessis, and my brother was to be unharmed."

"That was before your brother shot Josef. When he's healed, he'll tell us what to do with him."

"I know where you are, St. John, I can bring my men over there and get Gaston myself."

Mick snarled, and any veneer of politeness was ripped away. He was sick of dealing with the Duvall's. He remembered Henri had backed up Lance before the New York Council when they had tried to have he and Beth killed. "Unless you want to have a war in front of the humans, you won't come anywhere near this compound. If you start something, we'll finish it. We have weapons, too. I don't think the British Council would appreciate that kind of exposure while they're in charge here."

There was a pause, then Henri growled, "I want my brother."

Megan and Ben had come into the room, and both heard the exchange with Henri. Megan's temper flared, and her eyes flashed silver. She took the cell phone from Mick and said, "Monsieur Duvall. This is Megan Donnelly. Until Josef is recovered, I am Elder here," her voice was ice. "My seven hundred years may not mean much to you but I assure you, the British Council will listen to me. If they knew how much your family was involved with du Plessis, they would hold you accountable and you wouldn't want that."

On the other end, Henri gritted his teeth in frustration. He knew she was right, even though it was only Gaston who had committed treason. He'd just gotten the family finances back on an even footing. He had no desire to run afoul of the detested British vampires who were in temporary charge of the region.

Taking an unneeded breath, he responded, "I understand, mademoiselle, but I am concerned about my brother."

"He is safe for the moment, monsieur. We have been focused on Josef's recovery. Your brother is in no danger, and is being cared for." Megan spoke a little more kindly. "When Josef is fully healed I'm sure he will be in contact with you. That is all I can tell you for the present."

Henri knew that was all he could expect. It had been a fool's plan to trust Gaston not to cause trouble. Still, Gaston was his younger brother and it was his responsibility to keep him safe. He hung up, frustrated that he could get no answers. Stalking from the room, he headed upstairs to relieve himself with Suzanne, a new donor who enjoyed giving her blood along with sexual favors.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Coraline sat back and sighed as Cynthia cleaned up from their last experiment.

"Do you think this one will work?" Coraline asked.

"It will, and it's the best we can do," Cynthia said. "If we increase the strength, it will degrade the cell structure. The most we can get is a temporary remission, about six to eight hours. So we have to settle for a short-term solution."

The two vampires had been working on the formula that Coraline had found among Lance's papers. The Swiss vampire who had died in Geneva had been working on a formula to block the UV rays from the sun so vampires could walk in the day without harm.

Cynthia had always been good with chemistry and she had been looking at several ideas to make the sunblock a reality. It seemed like they were on their way to having a formula that would be wanted by every vampire in the world, especially those in sunny climates.

Her friend, Coraline, was less scientific, however, she knew of vampire solicitors in London and had called them for advice. Now she replied, "It might be to our advantage that it's short-term."

"Why?" Cynthia asked

"Think of it—if vamps buy the formula just once, that will be all. If they have to keep buying it as they need it, we'll have a captive market."

Cynthia considered a moment. "That makes sense." She had been frustrated that she couldn't make it permanent, but she could see the financial benefit of a temporary cure.

"According to the lawyer in London, we will be rich. And with money, comes power," Coraline said with a wicked smile.

"But don't you have money from your family now, cheri?"

"Bah," Coraline spat. "They still treat me like a nuisance, and I'm the one who saved us."

Cynthia nodded sympathetically. Coraline had confided about the treasure that had been turned over to the Duvall's to restore their fortunes. She studied her notes and said, "Before we celebrate, cheri, let us make sure the formula works."

"I'll test it. We know there's nothing harmful in it. It either works or it doesn't."

"Good. We'll both test it. And if it is successful, then we'll talk about taking over Europe with our wealth and power."

"Shall we fly to the Riviera? I've never been sunbathing on a beach," Coraline grinned.

TBC

Glad that Josef is healing, but what will he want to do with Gaston? Henri needs to learn to be patient, and it looks like Coraline is on her way to being a major player in the vampire world. Thanks for reading and reviewing!