TWENTY
Reed slipped through the door without making a sound. Muffled cries of his enemies wafted through the air and assailed his senses. His hearing was pristine, even more tuned than he remembered. He tilted his head and sniffed the air. Every scent slapped at him, giving him pause. He smelled everything. Denver’s aromatic aroma tickled his nose Fresh spilled blood prickled the hairs on the nape of his neck. He could even smell Angela. She was afraid. He briefly wondered why and hoped to God it was of him.
He ducked into the shadows and waited. More muffled sounds. This time he pinpointed their origins. A dark laugh fractured the air and raised his hackles.
Magnimus.
Only he could laugh at this night. “Don’t make me chase you and for pities sake, put down that knife.” Yes, it was him. Reed wondered who he had cornered.
He moved in the direction of the voices. Angela stood frozen. Her back pressed against the far wall. Magnimus’ hand fisted in her hair, holding her head at what must have been a very painful angle. Her eyes were bugged open and her mouth was gapped to a silent scream. Magnimus’ face was buried against her neck. Reed recognized the movement in the cords of his neck. He was feeding off of her.
Great.
“Don’t kill her.” He murmured, knowing Magnimus would hear him. “Let me.”
Magnimus straightened, released her body and allowed it to slide to the floor, the movements almost graceful if she didn’t look so dead like. But, she wasn’t. Her chest rose and fell erratically.
“I wouldn’t think of it. We’ll leave that to her husband.” Magnimus turned to face Reed.
“Are you aware you have a knife sticking out of your gut?” Reed motioned to the weapon.
“Oh, yeah. It stung a bit when she stabbed me.” Magnimus pulled the knife out, wiped his blood from the blade and dropped it on the floor. He rubbed his hand across his abdomen where the blood stained his shirt.
“You okay?”
“Fine.”
“Where’s Schemellie?”
Magnimus shook his head. “I haven’t seen him. When I cornered his wife, he took off like the coward he is. Is Denver safe?”
“As safe as I could--”
The warning yell came a second too late. Magnimus opened his mouth to yell something but it too was too late. Reed saw him dive toward him. He guessed it was his attempt to push him out of the way, however, he was too slow. Everything was just too damn late. Pain sliced through him and was gone in an instant.
Reed glanced down toward his chest where the pain originated. Now how the hell did that get there? He stared at the sword protruding out of his body. That’s really gonna hurt to take out, isn’t it? He searched the room for Magnimus. Shadows and blood clouded his vision. He wavered and dropped to his knees. “Ah, hell.”
Magnimus grabbed hold of his arms, steadied him before he toppled over onto his back. “Don’t you die on me!”
He blinked in an attempt to clear his visions. Was Maggie crying? Certainly not. Denver wouldn’t like it if he were crying.
“What happened?” He coughed and tasted copper on his tongue.
“Schemellie.” Magnimus’ gaze cut toward the corner where he’d left Angela’s body.
Reed turned his head and pain shot through every nerve ending. He caught a glimpse of Schemellie dragging Angela out of the room. “He’s getting away.” He coughed and then moaned as another wave of pain shot through him.
“He won’t get far.” Magnimus propped Reed against his chest. “I’m taking it out, okay.”
He tried to shake his head but the pain wouldn’t allow it. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth to the anguish.
“Arrrgh!”
“Don’t you die!”
A minute passed and he was able to open his eyes. “I don’t want to die.”
The room had grown dark, almost as if a blackened fog had crept through the floorboards and down the walls. He was cold. So cold. He reached up, tried to grab Magnimus’ collar. It was futile. His strength had left him. He swallowed the mouth full of blood, choked and moaned. His life was slipping away with each passing second. Each breath that left his lungs, nothing was replaced.
“Maggie,” he whispered.
Magnimus leaned down, placing his ear next to Reed’s mouth. “What is it you desire?”
“I—I don’t want to die.” He tried to suck in a breath but the band tightened around his chest even more. “No matter the outcome, don-- don’t let me die.” He felt his eyes roll to the back of his head and darkness closed in around him.
“I, we won’t let you.”
* * *
Denver rolled over onto hands and knees, pushed up to stand and grabbed the tree for stability when her body wavered. What happened? Where was Reed? She leaned against the tree and scanned the area. Everything slammed back into her mind and she gasped.
She closed her eyes, slid her tongue across her gums and didn’t care when the strangled cry left her throat when her tongue felt the tiny points of her incisors. What had they done to her? She vaguely remembered being bound and strung up like a pig. Visions floated across her field of memory.
Schemellie and his wife stood in front of her. The woman laughed as she stepped up to her. Denver couldn’t see what she held behind her back but she’d figured it was a weapon and she hoped they’d kill her quickly. But it wasn’t fast enough. Schemellie’s men restrained her while Schemellie held her mouth open so that sadistic evil woman could torture her. She’d had pain before, but nothing could compare to what they did to her. Her screams clogged her throat as they pulled her teeth out.
She slid her tongue across the new baby points again. She hoped Reed killed her slow. The cracking of a branch had her pressing her back against the tree. She knew in her state she couldn’t fight them off by herself.
“Denver.” His voice was a mere whisper but she recognized Maggie’s voice.
Her heartbeat escalated and slammed against her ribs. He was alive. After all this, Maggie was alive. Why was he here? What had he been doing? Was he behind this evil? She shook her head, not wanting to believe it. She couldn’t.
“Help me.”
She stole a glance around the tree and toward the direction of his voice. Her heart stopped and all air left her lungs. He approached her with Reed’s lifeless body cradled in his arms. She opened her mouth to say something and nothing came out, not even air.
“His heartbeat falters.”
Denver shook her head. She didn’t remember slumping to the ground, but she blinked and she was pressed against the tree, her legs numb, stretched out in front of her. Maggie dropped to his knees, his hold on Reed didn’t change.
“He has asked not to let him die.”
She shook her head, rapidly. “No. I can’t.”
“Then he will surely die.” Maggie laid Reed on the ground. “He doesn’t have much time.
She didn’t move toward him. Her body was frozen. She stared at his face, life seeped out of every pore. She didn’t know if he was breathing. Why must it be so hard? Could she let him die? If he died, a part of her would be dead as well. She loved him and everything he was and wasn’t. Oh, God. Her heart hurt.
“Denver. Denver!” Maggie had said her name twice before she snapped her gaze away from Reed’s blood covered body. “Is this what you want? His death?”
She crawled over to him. She didn’t fight the tears streaming down her face. What would have been the use? Life as she’d known it was over. Denver dragged in a ragged breath and then another. Her gaze traveled to Maggie and where he kneeled beside Reed and his condemning eyes.
“Maggie, please!” She gulped air. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Then he will die. It is not my place to save your mate.” Maggie reached out, grabbed her wrist and tugged her to him. “He grabbed her shirt at the collar and ripped it away from her shoulder, exposing the healed wound Reed had only given her the night before.” He released it with such force she fell back. “You disgust me. I thought I taught you better. You are weak. You throw away your only one true love.” He released her with the snap of his hand and she toppled across Reed’s body. “He will die by your will, not his.”
She caressed her hand down Reed’s face, across his forehead. “Please forgive me for what I have to do.” She leaned down and pressed her mouth against his neck. Dread stabbed at her, ripping another fissure into her heart.
“No, no, no!” She sat back on her heels. “I don’t have enough to bite--.” She pulled her lips back so Maggie could see what they’d done to her. “—To feed.” She bowed her head and wept, her sobs loud.
Maggie touched her face, his hand gentle and warm. She looked up into his eyes. For the first time she saw understanding in his gaze.
“I will begin and you will have to finish it.”
She nodded, the motion jerky. She swiped at the tears falling from her eyes and watched Maggie as he pulled Reed to a sitting position. He pulled his head to the side and took another glance at Denver. She watched as Maggie’s incisors protracted and he sunk his teeth into Reed’s neck. She stared at Maggie’s mouth and the swallowing motions of his throat. Reed jerked, moaned. He clawed at Maggie’s arms. His fist pounded into his back but Maggie didn’t stop. Seconds passed, maybe a half-minute and Reed’s fighting settled, stilled. His arms went limp at his sides.
Maggie released his hold on Reed’s neck. He licked his lips and placed Reed’s head in Denver’s lap.
“It’s up to you now. Only you can save him.”
She hesitated and again looked up into Maggie’s face.
“Do not hesitate, Denver. He will die. He has but seconds left before his soul is too far gone to revive.”
She leaned down, latched her mouth over the puncture holes Maggie had made and drank Reed’s blood. It wasn’t the sweet robust ambrosia of before, hot to her palate, spicy to her tongue. Now, now it was cool and flat. Not the bitter taste of death ripened blood but it wasn’t what she remembered, what drew them together, bonded them to each other. Her lifeline and she knew his life was slipping away.
If she didn’t hurry, death would infiltrate his body and that would be the end. There would be no tomorrow. She gulped as if it were her life she was trying to save. In a sense it was. She was dead without him. If this didn’t work-- She closed her mind to the thought.
She had to save him. She felt Maggie move behind her. She turned her head, just slightly and jerked when his teeth punctured her skin. She released the hold her mouth had on Reed and pulled him up to her neck. She felt her blood run down her shoulder, her chest.
“Drink damn it!” It was as if he heard her. Even in death their bond was there.
Reed’s mouth latched onto her, his lips soft but cold against her neck. He swallowed in gulps as she rocked back and forth. Her hand cupped the back of his head, holding him to her. Tears streamed down her cheeks when the rush of life pulsed through her body, their bodies. Her body tightened to the sounds escaping his throat. Reed’s arm drew up, wrapped around her and held her to him. The sucking intensified.
It was the most glorious thing she’d ever felt. A rush of warmth flooded her body. This is how it’s supposed to be.
“Enough.” She’d almost forgotten Maggie was there. He pulled Reed from her, even when he didn’t want to let her go. “He’ll live now.”
“But to what extent?” Denver wiped Reed’s blood from her mouth and hers from his.
“He’ll live as you do, as I do.”
“But what of his Lycan?”
It was unprecedented. She’d never known of a Lycan-vamp. Would one overpower the other, or would they forge together and become a stronger, better species? She held Reed to her and rocked slowly back and forth.
“Only time will tell.”
She stared into Maggie’s eyes and nodded. Yes, only time would tell.