“But I thought you beasts already had that?”
“I do, but only because it’s part of my curse. Someone who has stolen the life of a Conduit, however, would have to keep replenishing their state of being with fresh Supplicant blood … unless they could find a permanent solution. You could be that solution.”
“Oh my God,” I said, and I started pacing. “Oh my God.”
“It’s all right,” Abram said, wrapping his arms around me and stopping me. “It’s a lot of power, but it doesn’t change who you are. You’re still you. You’re still—”
I shook my head against his chest. Listening to the steady beat of his heart, I continued. “If we can’t stop him—if he does get to me—then he’ll never die. Think of all the people he could hurt, all the people he could kill. Forever.”
Tears burned behind my eyes.
“I won’t—We won’t let that happen,” Abram answered. “I promise.”
“How do we stop it then?”
Abram rubbed his hand up and down my back and let out a long, soft breath. “For now, just try not to hurt yourself. No falling down steps or running through the woods with cut up feet. The blood will only draw him to you.”
I shuddered, pulling away. “So my blood acts like a beacon for demon monsters? Geeze, better hope I don’t knick myself shaving.”
Abram leveled his gaze at me. “This is no laughing matter, Ms. Bellamy. I’ve already chased it off several times thanks to your … injuries.”
“Then let’s do something about it,” I said. “I’m not going to wait for some accident to send this thing hurtling at me while I’m unprepared. I rather see it coming.”
“No, Charisse,” Abram said firmly. “This man killed a Conduit—something most would consider a suicide mission. That he actually accomplished that only speaks to how dangerous he is.”
“Which is all the more reason for us to stop him,” I said, “and it sounds like there’s only one way to call out something so single-minded.”
“Please, don’t.” Abram placed his hands on either of my shoulders. “I shudder to think of whatever it is you are considering.”
“There’s nothing to think about, Abram. I’m going to give him what he wants.” I slid his hands from my shoulders and scooted back. “I’m going to give him me.”
Chapter 21
The look on Abram’s face told me that I may as well have shot him as suggested what I had.
“Are you out of your mind?” He huffed, staring at me with bewildered eyes. “I’ve spent all of this time trying to keep you safe, keep you hidden, and now you just want to dangle yourself out there like a worm on a line?”
“A worm, Abram? I think as far as prey are concerned, I could at least pass for a rabbit in a fox’s den, or something less … slimy.”
“I’m being serious,” he responded without even a shadow of a smile. “This is deadly business.”
“I know that.” I spread my hands. “And I’m not the only one. I bet all those girls that bastard massacred knew it, too. I bet that was the last thought that went through any of their minds.” I looked down at my feet, suddenly ashamed that I’d ever thought the sort of shoe adorning them was in any way important. “I won’t let their deaths be for nothing, Abram.”
“God, you’re amazing,” he mumbled under his breath, and I couldn’t tell whether he was exasperated or impressed. “Don’t you see, Charisse? If you die, then all of it really would have been for nothing. He’ll get what he wants, and those girls will never be avenged.”
I shook my head. “That won’t happen.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because you’re here,” I said. I stuck my finger into his hard chest and let it sit there. At first, I’d only intended the gesture to hammer home my point, but soon, I found myself taking comfort in this small connection. Touching him, even like this, seemed to quiet my mind and steady my stance. “You’d never let anything happen to me.”
“Not in a hundred lifetimes.” His voice had dropped to nearly a whisper.
His hand traveled upward and encompassed mine. Sparks shot through me and, for an instant, I forgot about everything else. I wasn’t a Supplicant. He wasn’t some Conduit’s pet science project. He was just a man, and I was a woman. There was no danger, no pile of lookalike corpses for me to hang my guilt on. There was only this tenderness between us. Tenderness and heat.
He cleared his throat, and I realized he was feeling it, too.
“That doesn’t mean I want you to go spearheading into danger, though,” he said. “We need to go about this in an intelligent manner.”