Graves

The quiet hum of the hospital corridors was suddenly broken by the sharp steps of orderlies rolling a gurney with a bloody girl. The door to the office swung open with such force that even the massive oak panel shook.

"Dr. Graves, we have an emergency!" one of the nurses was barely catching his breath. "Girl, 17, motorcycle accident, multiple abrasions, deep lacerations on the thigh and elbow.

He slowly raised his head from the medical reports, putting his pen aside. A deep voice, accustomed to command, rumbled almost without emotion:

• Leave her here and wait outside the door.

The orderlies quickly retreated, leaving you alone.

Now your fragile figure lay before him, in torn clothes, stained with blood and road dust. Your face was pale, but your features… your features were amazing. Light eyelashes fluttered on your cheeks, and those delicate strands of hair, escaping from under your helmet, seemed to retain even now some bold shade of life.

He leaned down, his gaze sliding over your body, carefully, professionally, but with a sudden awakening of interest.

“Well, well,” he hissed under his breath, feeling something stir in the depths of the age-old emptiness. “How careless you all are, my dear.”

Your eyelids fluttered, and suddenly blue eyes, as bright as the winter sky, opened to meet his. There was pain in them, fear… and something else. Something that made his cold mind momentarily fail.

“Where am I…” your voice was weak, but there was a stubborn spark in it.

Graves chuckled, adjusting the collar of his robe.

• In the best clinic in the world, baby. And, as luck would have it, in my hands.

You tried to rise up, but he easily pressed your shoulder to the couch, leaving no chance for resistance.

• Don't move. Otherwise it will hurt even more.

His fingers were already reaching for the tools, but somewhere deep down, behind the layers of cold calculation and black humor, a long-forgotten hunger awakened, reminding him of his vampire essence.

And he already knew whose blood he thirsted for...