"Damn it, Kyrian, you can't die like this and become a Shade. I won't let you."
The tender look in his eyes stole her breath. "I'm only sorry I failed you. I wish I could have been the hero you deserved."
Amanda took his face in her hands and made him look at her. Her hands shook as she wiped the blood away from his lips and nose. "Don't you dare give up. Do you hear me? If you die, who's to say Desiderius won't get Talon, too? Fight for me, Kyrian. Please!"
Kyrian grimaced. "It's all right, Amanda. I'm just glad you found me. I didn't want to die alone… again."
Her heart lurched at the words as tears fell down her face. No! The scream reverberated through her soul. She couldn't let him die. Not like this. Not after he had protected and cared for her. Not after he had come to mean so much to her. Over and over in her mind, she pictured her precious Dark-Hunter roaming the earth trapped between worlds. Forever hungry. Forever alone.
She couldn't allow that to happen. Nick returned with a crowbar in his hands.
"What are you doing?"
Nick gave her a hard stare. "I'm not going to let him die like this. I'm going to get him free." He tried to pry the nail out of Kyrian's hand. Kyrian drew rigid from the pain.
"No!" Amanda shouted.
Nick went flying. "What the hell?"
Before she knew what she was doing, she felt her powers well up inside her. They surged forward like a waterfall, out of her control. In that instant, the nails came free of Kyrian's body and he fell into her arms. "Help me, Nick," she breathed, trying to stay on her feet and hold him up.
Nick was aghast. Shaking off his stupor, Nick picked Kyrian up in his arms. He staggered from the weight of him, but made his way to the car as fast as he could. "We still don't have enough time to get him home before sunrise," he panted out in broken syllables.
"We can take him to my sister's. She only lives a block over."
"Which sister?"
"Esmeralda. You met her earlier, the one with the long black hair."
"The voodoo high priestess?"
"No, the midwife."
Without another word, Nick drove them to Essie's house in record time. It took some doing, but they managed to get Kyrian to the porch just as the sun started to rise over the roof opposite them.
Amanda pounded on the door to her sister's narrow Victorian home. "Esmeralda? Hurry! Open the door."
She saw her sister's shadow through the Victorian lace curtain an instant before the doorknob turned. Amanda shoved the door open and Nick carried Kyrian into the foyer without a second to spare.
"Pull the shades down," Nick ordered Esmeralda as he laid Kyrian on the dark green contemporary sofa.
"Excuse me?" Esmeralda asked. "What is this?" "Just do it, Essie, I'll explain in a minute."
Reluctantly, Essie followed Nick's orders. Amanda touched Kyrian's face. "They made a terrible mess of you."
"How's Tabitha?" Kyrian asked weakly. Amanda was touched by his concern for her sister when he was so hurt himself.
"I'm calling an ambulance," Esmeralda said, picking up the phone from the end table.
Nick grabbed the phone from her hands. "No."
The look on Esmeralda's face would have quelled most men. Nick just glared back at her without flinching.
"It's all right, Essie," Amanda assured her. "We can't take him to a hospital."
"He's going to die if you don't."
"No," Nick said, "he won't."
Esmeralda cocked a disbelieving brow. "He's not human," Amanda explained.
Esmeralda narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "What is he, then?"
"He's a vampire."
Rage suffused her face as she railed against them all. "You brought a vampire into my house? After what happened to Tabitha? My God, Amanda, where was your brain?"
"He's not going to hurt you," Amanda insisted.
"You're damned straight. I'm going to call—"
Nick stepped between Esmeralda and the phone. "You call anyone and I'll rip the phone out of the wall."
"Boy," Essie said in a warning tone, "don't think for two seconds you—"
"Stop it!" Amanda shouted.
"Kyrian needs your help, Esmeralda, and as your little sister, I'm begging you for it."
"Do you—"
"Essie, please."
She saw the indecision warring in Essie's eyes and knew the thoughts in her mind. On the one hand Esmeralda didn't want to help the evil undead; on the other, she couldn't really say no to her sister.
"Please, Es, I've never before asked a favor of you."
"Not true. You borrowed my favorite sweater in high school to wear to that game where Bobby Daniels was playing."
"Es!"
"All right," she relented, "but if he bites anyone in this house, I'm staking him."