Vampires Among Us [Vampires Among Us 1] (Siren Publishing Classic)

Marshall, Alec, Kate, Joshua, Jordan, and Davidrick all made their way to her bedside, one by one. Joshua assured Erica that Jennifer was going to be fine. Dr. Carlson was setting her broken arm, and that she would be by later.
    Although Erica was happy to see everyone, it surprised her how quickly she tired. She was hardly able to keep her eyelids open as the last of her visitors headed out. Still, she had a few questions that she desperately needed answers to before she could rest easy.
    She felt Kevin sit down on the side of the bed after he had walked the last of her visitors out. With eyelids too heavy to open, she blindly reached for his hand. He clasped it tightly in his, and then leaned forward to press a kiss on her forehead.
    “Kevin, were you able to stop Shawn?” Erica whispered.
    The seconds of silence following her question was answer enough. Finally, she heard Kevin take a deep breath and reply, “No, he got away. When I saw how injured you were, I couldn’t leave you. Don’t worry about it though. Part of the team is out looking for him as we speak, as I have no intention of leaving your side.” He squeezed her hand lightly to back up his words.
    “There were gunshots at the school. Was anyone else injured other than Jennifer and me?” Erica mumbled, as sleep continued to drag her under.
    “No, everyone else is fine,” Kevin answered as he lightly stroked her forehead. “Go to sleep, love, I’ll be right here when you awake. We will talk more when you are feeling better.” As upset over Jennifer being injured as she was, Kevin refused to inform her that Alec had also taken a bullet to the leg.
    Erica slowly nodded her head, and then, knowing she couldn’t fight it any longer, allowed sleep to take over.
    When Erica awoke several hours later, it was to a bright light in her face. She immediately raised an arm to shield her eyes from the light as she tried to open her eyes slightly. A soothing voice a second later helped keep her from hitting the panic button.
    “Sorry, dear, I didn’t realize I would cause you to wake up. I am just checking on the swelling in your brain.” Dr. Carlson’s voice registered with her. She then heard him speaking to someone else, and presumed it was Kevin.
    “The swelling seems to have gone down a bit, but we will need to keep her overnight, just to be sure. If she is showing no other symptoms, I’ll release her tomorrow morning.” A loud rumble from Erica’s stomach brought Dr. Carlson’s attention back down to her. With a slight smile on his face, he glanced back over to Kevin. “You might want to get our girl some food. Her stomach sounds angry.”
    Kevin was on his cell phone a quick moment later. “Marshall will have something down here for you in about ten minutes.” He stated as he sat on the side of the bed and gently picked up her hand. “You look better, how are you feeling?”
    “I’m okay, my head doesn’t hurt as much,” Erica quickly answered him.
    Marshall showed up a short time later, carrying a large paper sack. As soon as he stepped into the room, the aroma had Erica’s stomach gurgling loudly. “Dang, girl, I don’t even need vampire hearing to hear that! I hope you like Chinese. I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I picked up a variety,” Marshall stated lightly as he began pulling out container after container and placing them on the table next to the bed.
    “Thanks, Marshall, but I am afraid you brought enough food to feed an army! There is no way I’ll be able to even put a dent into all of this!” Erica exclaimed as she continued watching him empty the sack.
    Marshall brushed her words away. “I’ll name what is in each of these containers, and you just tell me what you want,” he stated as he began dishing her food onto a disposable plate for her. Kevin, who was sitting on the other side of the bed, watched this entire scene in silent humor. He had never seen Marshall cater to anyone before. Watching him do it to Erica was a bit comical.
    “Is everything going smoothly at the office?” Kevin asked quietly, as Marshall continued piling food onto Erica’s plate.
    Marshall turned his head to answer Kevin, and suddenly realized what he was doing, and how it must look to Kevin. He stopped midstride as the color drained from his face.
    “Um, the office is fine. Did you want to…?” He stopped, as he slightly held Erica’s plate of food out for Kevin to take over.
    Kevin grinned as he shook his head,