A Valley of Darkness (A Shade of Vampire #52)(4)

“That’s nonsense!” I put on my most confident smirk. “None of us knew exactly what was in the Valley of Screams. The hostiles were invisible and ridiculously fast, and you did your best to protect the team. Don’t beat yourself up. It’s cool! We’re teammates. We help each other out. You would’ve done the same for me and the others. Well, technically speaking, you did, until you got injured.”

I should stop talking now. I was babbling.

The Iman girl we’d rescued moaned behind me. We both looked at her. She was pale, covered in sweat, and frowning with her eyes closed. She was probably having a nightmare and trying to wake up.

One of the Exiled Mara nurses came in with a bowl of water and fresh clothes. She smiled at us, then proceeded to check on the girl. She felt her pulse and put a palm on her forehead, then wet one of the cloths and used it to wipe the sweat off her face.

“Thank you for helping us… and her,” I said, watching the nurse as she wiped the Iman girl’s neck and bare arms, then pulled the bedcovers aside.

“It’s what we do, milady,” the nurse replied gently, then checked the bandages on the girl’s chest, abdomen, and legs. Blood had seeped through them, but it had already dried up.

“What do you think? How is she faring?” I asked.

“I think she’ll pull through. She’s a strong Iman,” the nurse said.

“Do you think she needs more blood to heal?” I wondered if my blood could help her heal faster. “I can offer mine, if you’d like. Earth vampire blood has healing properties, too—”

“Don’t worry, milady.” The nurse smiled. “We’ll use ours if she needs more. There’s no point taking the risk that she’ll reject your blood—you being from a different universe and all. For now, I think she’ll be fine. We’ll monitor her state throughout the day and make further assessments in the evening.”

I nodded, then glanced at Patrik. He watched the Iman girl quietly, and I could see his brows pull into a mild frown.

“What are you thinking?” I asked him once the nurse had left the room, having finished her checkup.

“Nothing in particular,” he replied. “Just wondering what she was doing in the Valley of Screams last night. Is she one of the missing victims? Or did she just wander through the gorge, despite all the warnings she must have been given?”

“I think she’s the only one who can tell us,” I muttered.

The door opened and the rest of our team entered, while two nurses opened the shutters from the outside, then re-entered the infirmary through one of the side entrances that they used to give us privacy in that part of the building. The awnings had been pulled all the way to the edge of the terrace, shielding us from direct sunlight.

Hansa and Jax stopped at the other side of Patrik’s bed, wearing broad smiles. Heron, Blaze, Caia, Avril, Fiona, and Harper gathered at the foot of the bed.

“There he is!” Hansa let out a sigh of relief. “You gave us a scare last night!”

“I’m sorry,” Patrik replied.

“Nothing to be sorry about.” Jax winked. “You did a damn good job out there. We would’ve been dead without your magic. We all underestimated the strength of our enemy in a direct confrontation.”

“How are you feeling?” Hansa put her hand on his arm.

“Much better,” Patrik said. “Still a bit groggy, though…”

I wondered if it had been said grogginess that had made him touch me a few minutes earlier. Had he been fully conscious and aware of what he was doing? My stomach dropped as I thought he might have confused me with Kyana somehow, in some dreamy state or something.

-The Iman girl moaned and finally opened her eyes.

I turned to face her, and Avril, Caia, and Harper moved to the foot of her bed.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” I said, gently squeezing her shoulder.

The girl glanced at me, fear imprinted on her pale face.

“You’re safe now,” I tried to reassure her.

“We rescued you from the Valley of Screams,” Hansa added, coming up next to me. “How are you feeling?”

She blinked several times, still trying to make sense of her surroundings. Her breathing was slow and shallow, her caramel-colored eyes wide.

“I… I don’t know… Weak,” she croaked. “Thirsty…”

I poured her a glass of water from the pitcher on her side table, and held her head up as I helped her drink some.

“Thank you,” she said, relaxing.

“What is your name?” Hansa asked.

“Minah…”

“Do you remember what happened?”

“I think so,” she replied. “I was out in the field. I was going to look for my father… He’s been missing for days… Something hit me in the head, and…”

Tears glazed her eyes as she tried to speak. She was in pain, and she’d lost a parent. I could only imagine what she was going through.

“Go on, Minah,” Hansa said gently, taking the girl’s hand in hers.

“I… I was taken by something, but I couldn’t see it… I woke up in a cage, a big iron cage inside a stone cave. There are many hidden caves all over the Valley of Screams, so… I figured I had to be somewhere in those gorges, but there was nobody there…”