Vampire Babysitter (Camren)

Chapter 14

It was the inability to do anything that was most agonizing.

As a vampire, I was accustomed to stillness and enduring the passage of time. Never before had time crawled by at such an excruciating pace. Sitting inactive, unable to do anything to find my mate was as agonizing as physical torture. I would have traded places with Selena, who lay wrestling with the effects of venom, in an instant.

Though it had been only three hours since I'd found her, in those 180 minutes my world had collapsed. Everything I had known hours ago had been thrown into uncertainty. I restated what I knew on an endless loop, trying to make sense of what had happened.

Camila, Ari and Justin had been kidnapped, or worse.

We had no idea who had taken them, or for what purpose.

The same unknown enemy had attempted to murder Selena.

In Selena's final moments, she'd been turned into a vampire by Demi.

Without any other leads, we were stuck waiting for her to wake up.

No matter how I looked at the situation, it painted a horrific picture.

Demi clasped a comforting hand on my shoulder as we watched Selena endure the struggle of transformation. Her limbs twitched in an erratic rhythm. As if to repress her pain, her expression set itself in a permanent grimace.

"She's adapting well. The venom is taking hold."

Demi's words carried a hopeful note that had been missing from her usual demeanor. In the last few hours, her usual positivity had been extinguished for good reason.

We'd worked in tandem to clean up the grisly mess surrounding Selena and transferred her into her bedroom. If one didn't know better, it looked like she was aloft in restless dreams.

"That's good," I replied, my tone bland. I was too preoccupied with my own uselessness to offer a more insightful comment.

I wanted to be searching for Camila and the kids. Instead, I was stuck waiting for a woman who might not retain her human memories to wake up.

"I finally got in touch with Dinah," Demi added when I said nothing more. "She was with Mani. They're both on their way back. They're coming as fast as they can."

I nodded tightly. I knew I should ask if Dinah and Normani had solved their issues, but I couldn't muster up the will to care. They were safe. What was some insipid relationship drama when three people I loved had disappeared into thin air? My attention was better spent elsewhere.

"I'm going to take another look outside," I muttered, dismissing the topic. "Maybe I missed something."

Demi met my eyes. "We will find them. I swear to you, if it's the last thing I do, we'll find them."