“There are no hospitals for miles around,” Hendrik voiced. “We could take him to our nurse, she might be able to help him.”
“I could stich it up, but I think it’s too deep, and I’d only be stitching the surface skin. He might get sepsis and die unless his wound is properly treated,” she told them, sure that Raphael was barely able to hear her.
He kept opening and closing his eyes, his bloody hand in hers. She could almost feel his life oozing out of his body and she knew she’d do anything to keep him alive.
“There’s no time to take him anywhere,” Renwick shook his head nervously.
“Even if there was, I doubt they’d let us go anywhere,” Kellam suddenly interrupted, his gaze focused on something happening outside.
“Who?” Mina asked.
“Whoever killed Dante is here,” Kellam moved away from the window and pulled the curtains. “They’re just toying with us. Waiting for us to get cozy and then they’ll probably attack. What happened to the others?” he asked the guys.
“We’re the only ones left,” Hendrik shook his head solemnly.
“What do you mean?” Mina was shocked. “Everyone is dead? What happened?”
“We got attacked,” Hendrik explained. “I think someone betrayed us, someone on the inside. I just kept seeing people fall down, attacked out of nowhere, then they got Raphael, and we somehow managed to get to the house.”
Raphael coughed violently, interrupting him. Renwick turned him to the side but the blood on the floor was visible to everyone. Raphael was dying. If they were going to do anything, they needed to do it now. There was not a second to waste.
“We can’t go anywhere,” Mina was frantic, “so, we can’t get any help. Is there anything we could to do help him?”
“Actually…” Kellam started, at his wit’s end.
“What is it?” Mina shouted. “Tell me!”
“The guys can’t do anything,” Kellam shook his head, “but, you could.”
“What can I do?” Mina shot her question at him.
“You’re half witch, which means your blood is special. We could give him your blood to drink, it will help him regenerate faster,” Kellam explained.
“He’s too weak to bite her,” Renwick watched his friend.
“What do I need to do?” Mina asked, without the slightest doubt in her mind. “We could just pour it down his throat, would that work?”
“It should,” Kellam nodded. “But, Mina…”
He grabbed her by the elbow, to pull her close to him. What he was about to say to her wasn’t easy.
“He’ll need a lot,” his voice was almost down to a whisper, “I’d help, but my blood wouldn’t regenerate him fast enough, only yours would, and there is no time to waste, he might die any second.”
“How do I do it?” she asked, her voice confident and sure.
She wasn’t afraid of losing blood. She was more afraid of losing Raphael.
“You’ll have to cut your wrist, that’s the only way your blood will flow quickly enough.”
Instead of a reply, she rushed over to the kitchen and grabbed the biggest kitchen knife she could find. She ran back to the room and sat down by Raphael’s side. His eyes were half closed. His breathing was down to a barely audible wheezing. Time was running out. Her heart was beating like crazy but she felt no fear - only love.
She got a lighter out of her pocket and sterilized the knife with the flame. No one was speaking, just closely following her every action. They were all hoping that no one would attack them right now. Mina took a deep breath. She pressed the blade against her pale skin. She could see the outlines of dark blue and purple veins. She prepared herself for pain, lots of it.
Closing her eyes, she slit her veins horizontally and spurts of bright, red blood sprayed everywhere. She immediately turned her arm towards Raphael’s mouth, and the blood kept pouring into it, in time with her pulse. Straight away, she could feel her heart rate rocketing and droplets of sweat formed on her forehead. She felt too weak to hold her hand up after only a few seconds and it dropped down. Kellam quickly jumped to help, holding her arm up, so Raphael could drink the blood immediately, so that not a single drop of this precious liquid was lost. Mina’s head was in his lap. She was becoming paler and paler but as she was getting worse, Raphael was becoming visibly better.
“Mom?” Mina asked, looking somewhere into the distance.
“Shit, she’s losing consciousness!” Kellam shouted, pulling her arm back. “We need to stop the bleeding!”