Lifting my head, I gazed around and saw the shovel resting next to the unfinished grave. I scrambled to it, got the tool properly in hand and started slamming the metal end against the silver hinges holding the lock in place. When the top one came loose, I tossed the shovel aside and flipped it around, until I could open the coffin. I grasped the lid, sinking my fingers into the metal, and threw it open.
My heart sank when I saw the silver all over my lover—the way it melted into his skin—and the dried tears of blood on his face. I started ripping the metal away from his arms and throat, tossing them over my back, before I worked on the cuffs on his wrists and ankles and slid the silver ball from his blistered lips. I couldn’t believe he’d managed to display such power earlier in this condition. Since he hadn’t opened his eyes or spoken, I knew he was weaker than he had led me to believe.
Once he was free of silver, I brought my wrist to his mouth. “Drink,” I whispered, pushing my skin against his lips. “Drink, Gabriel.”
Although he didn’t open his eyes, he parted his lips. His tongue stroked the surface of my flesh, wetting it before he struck. I bit my lip, trying not to think about how much it hurt. His first swallow was small, barely a sip, and his eyes opened. I gazed into the blue depths, so fucking grateful I was seeing them again, realizing that Paine had been right and I wouldn’t survive losing Disco a second time.
“I love you so much.” The words were actually weak when I thought about it. I didn’t just love this man, I breathed him like oxygen.
“I love you. More than anyone or anything I’ve ever held dear.”
“Sweet talker.” I couldn’t prevent a smile from spreading across my face. I caressed his hair as he fed, combing my fingers through the silken strands. He started to draw hard on my wrist when I heard a faint whisper, so light I almost didn’t catch it.
“Rhiannon?”
I whipped my head around, recognizing the voice, my smile vanishing.
“Jenny?”
Then I saw her, at the end of the room in one of the silver cells. She was standing, looking at me with a combination of curiosity and confusion. Disco needed more blood, but I still found myself pulling away.
Jennifer was alive. I’d found her.
“Don’t,” Disco murmured and tried to reach for me.
I felt his fingers brush my back before I jumped to my feet and ran toward my sister, longing to touch her, to tell myself she wasn’t a figment of my imagination. When I made it to her cell, I lifted the latch keeping her inside and opened the door. She didn’t move, remaining where she stood.
“Get away from her.” Disco’s voice was a snarl in my head. “Now.”
I didn’t understand why he wanted me to stay away from Jenny. For the first time, she appeared lucid. She was looking at me, not through me. She took a step in my direction, then another. I mirrored her actions, bringing us closer to each other. For years I’d hoped this moment would arrive, that we would be given a second chance to make amends and leave the past behind us.
“Listen to me. Walk out of that cell and close the door.” Disco sounded stronger and angry as hell. “She’s no longer your sister. I have listened to her mind and there is only madness. She has partial memories, but her thoughts are broken. She can’t piece the past and present together. The vampire within is all she knows. She’s gone, Rhiannon. Your sister is gone.”
I didn’t want to believe him. I couldn’t. Jenny was right in front of me—she was fucking looking at me. She’d even called me by name. That had to count for something. Perhaps becoming a vampire was the reason her thoughts were scrambled, or the fact that she was in a fucking prison in the basement of a murderer’s home. Either excuse worked for me. I’d be a mental mess, too.