Warriors of Poseidon 04 - Atlantis Unmasked

making sure not to slow down as he passed the entrance to the courtyard. She didn‟t need to see the grisly sight again in order to have it burned into her mind. He should know. He had many such scenes burned into his own.
     
    “Kitchen,” she said. “We keep the first-aid kit in the kitchen.”
     
    He made a sharp left toward the space Grace‟s crew had set up as a temporary kitchen.
    Sam had told him earlier about how much work it had taken to refit the space so that it was usable but still complied with historical society regulations. Basically, there was a temporary shell fitted into the room that would be removed when the „theater troupe‟
    vacated the premises.
     
    There was almost no way such a thing would have been allowed before. BV, as Sam called it. Before Vamps. But since the vampires hated the fort and its anti-vampire history, they cared nothing for activities that might damage the historical site.
     
    He gently lowered Grace to sit on the sturdy wooden table and started to peel her blood-soaked shirt up from the hem. She caught his hands in hers and stopped him. “I can do that,” she said, her voice husky.
     
    “I know you can do it. But I‟m going to do it. You‟re pale, and your skin is cold and a little clammy. You‟re probably going into shock, and I can‟t reach Alaric. You won‟t let me take you to see the doctor or to the hospital, so unless I throw you over my shoulder and drag you out of here, which seems counterproductive, you‟re going to let me help you.” He hadn‟t meant to make a speech, and from the surprised expression on her Atlantis Unmasked - Warriors of Poseidon 04
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    face, she hadn‟t expected one. But, by Poseidon‟s balls, he was going to take care of her. Right now.
     
    “I wasn‟t careful enough, or watchful enough, or wary enough. You got hurt and it was my fault. So I am, by all the gods, going to see how bad it is.” By the time he finished speaking, his jaw was clenched so tightly that it ached.
     
    Grace narrowed her eyes and lifted her chin, defiance in every line of her pale, strained face. But then, because she was Grace, she did the unexpected. She laughed and raised her arms, wincing a little as she did. “There are so many things wrong with what you just said that I don‟t have the energy to even begin to deal with it,” she said. “So how about you just help me out of this shirt and let‟s get the scratch cleaned up?”
     
    Alexios unsheathed one of his daggers and shook his head. “Put your arms down. I don‟t want to hurt you any more by wrestling this T-shirt over your head. It‟s not like you‟re ever going to want to wear it again.”
     
    As she slowly lowered her arms, grimacing with the pain from her side, he pulled the bottom of her shirt a little ways out from her body and sliced the fabric right up the middle and then pulled the two sides apart, exposing the best and worst things he‟d seen all night. Her lovely breasts, curved in white lace, and an ugly gouge that ran a jagged eight inches or so down her side.
     
    The drums tried to open their persistent percussion in his skull again, but he pushed them away. Slammed an internal door on the berserker rage. He had no time to lose control. He had to clench his hands into fists for a moment, though, to stop them from trembling. A few inches‟ difference in where those claws had landed, and Grace wouldn‟t be sitting on the table in front of him.
     
    She‟d be lying on the cold, hard ground of the courtyard with the other two who had lost their lives for no good reason at all this night.
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    “It‟s clotted. That‟s good. If it were deeper, it would still be bleeding. We just need to keep this cleaned up and bandaged,” he finally managed to say with some measure of calm.
     
    “At least I don‟t need rabies shots,” she said, attempting a smile. “ The New England Journal of Medicineran a report of a study where it was definitively proved that shifters cannot carry rabies.”
     
    He turned to the sink, yanking drawers open and pulling out clean dishtowels. Then he ran the water until it was hot, and wet two of the towels, leaving the others dry for the moment.
     
    “ The New England Journal of Medicine? Is that required reading, then, for rebel commanders? Take a deep breath. This is going to sting a little bit.” He placed the hot, wet towel against her wound and held