Page 160 of Vampire so Virtuous

“Just the shoulder. Looks like two rounds.” Noah gunned the engine, pulling the vehicle around in a wide loop, driving over the neighbor’s lawn without a care.

“Are they still in?”

Noah hesitated. “Shit, good point. Yeah, they are.”

Zoey pulled a knife, flicking open the blade with her thumb.

Cally pressed back against her door. “What are you going to do with that?”

“We have to get the bullets out before you heal over them.”

“You have towhat?”

Behind them, a massive explosion erupted, rocking the vehicle with a wave of sound. A fireball leaped up into the sky through the rear window, followed by the clatter of shrapnel as metal rained down.

“At least Antoine won’t have to collect the Lambo now,” Noah said, watching in the rearview mirror.

“Hold still, please,” Zoey said, sliding across the seat with the knife in hand. It had a large, jagged gray blade with a wicked point.

“Now wait a minute,” Cally began, “can’t we go to a hospital?”

“No need,” Zoey said. “You’ll be mostly healed by the time we get out of the waiting room.”

“What about infection?” Cally tried.

“You’re practically immune,” Zoey said with exasperation. “Now, do you want to heal with the bullets in you or out of you?”

Cally rolled her eyes. “My life is so fucking weird these days.”

Zoey grinned and leaned forward, cutting away her hoodie around her shoulder.

“Favorite hoodie,” Cally protested.

“Hold still, please,” Zoey said. “You too, Noah.”

“Sure.”

The knife sliced into her flesh, and Cally hissed in pain, gritting her teeth.She could feel the tip of the blade working deeper into her, and she scrunched her eyes up, trying to hold still.

“Braking, left turn,” Noah warned.

The car slowed and swung around a corner, and Zoey waited until the maneuver was finished before she probed again. “I’ve almost got the first one,” she said.

Cally clenched her jaw, tears in her eyes, but at last the knife slid out and the worst of the pain faded.

“One down,” Zoey said. “I think the other one is deeper.”

“Oh joy.”

She dug with the knife again, just as the car was struck from the side. “Shit!” Zoey shouted as the knife skidded across Cally’s shoulder, slicing into her arm. Cally cried out.

Zoey grabbed her by the head, forcing her down. She was a lot stronger than her five-foot-four frame suggested. “Noah?”

“Two cars,” he grunted.

Cally couldn’t see much—just the top of the windscreen and the side of Noah’s head as he drove. The car sprang forward as he stamped on the gas, pushing her back into the seat.

“Get your seatbelt on,” Zoey said, reaching over the rear seats into the trunk.