Page 46 of Immortal Unveiled

“No!” Kim screamed. “You can’t just turn him into a vampire!” Because by now she had accepted what Ryder was, even though she had no explanation for it. But if the common lore was true, then a vampire’s blood could turn a human into one.

She reached for Ryder’s arm, but the first drops were already dripping into Manus’s open wound. It was Leila who stopped her from interrupting Ryder by snatching her wrist.

“It won’t turn him. He’s not at the brink of death yet. But if we wait too long, if his heartbeat drops too low, he will turn. It has to be done now.”

Kim let out a shaky breath. “He’ll stay human? You promise?”

Leila’s eyes widened. “You don’t know? He hasn’t told you?”

Fear choked off her air supply. “Told me what?”

“Manus isn’t human. He’s an immortal Stealth Guardian.”

“Not human?” Kim shook her head. “But—” She pointed to him lying on the gurney, his chest barely moving. How could he be immortal when just a moment ago Leila had said that he could die?

Leila seemed to guess her next question without Kim having to voice it. “There are few weapons that can kill a Stealth Guardian,” Leila explained. “I believe that bullet is one of them. Where did you get it?”

“It was my mother’s,” Kim said automatically. “She kept the gun to protect herself. I took it when I…” Oh God, did it even matter now what she’d suspected Manus of? What were a few lies? Did whatever deception he’d used on her really matter now when his life hung in the balance? “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

Leila squeezed her shoulder, then looked back to Ryder and Manus. Kim followed her gaze. Ryder had stopped dripping blood into the wound and was now prying Manus’s mouth open to make him drink directly from his wrist.

When Kim saw Manus swallow, Ryder finally looked at her and Leila. “We need to wait now.”