Destined For a Vampire (27 page)

I had nothing to say to that. I let the tense silence stretch on as I stared numbly at the phone, searching for some other kind of explanation, but finding none.

Sebastian voice penetrated the quiet like a sharp arrow, finding its target in the center of my chest.

“Know this,” Sebastian said, his tone turning deadly serious. “I am more powerful than you can imagine. I have beings at my disposal that can bring you and Lilly pain that there is no description for, creatures much worse than Lars. This is the only warning you’ll get: don’t try to find me or you’ll spend the rest of eternity regretting it.”

He paused to drive his point home, his eyes boring holes first into Bo and then into me. Then, in a swirl of dust, he disappeared, taking Heather and Lilly with him.

A silence fell over the room, a silence filled with fears so loud I could barely hear myself think. The loud patter of Bo’s blood dripping into the puddles on the floor finally roused me from my dumbfounded state.

I hurried to his side, my hands flitting from knife handle to stake and back again. I had no idea how to help him, what to do first.

“The knife. Get the knife out,” he groaned weakly.

Wrapping my trembling fingers around the cool hilt, I pulled as hard as I could, but it didn’t budge. Inhaling, I held my breath and tried again. Nothing.

“Bo, I can’t get it out. What are we going to do?”

His chest heaved with his efforts just to breathe and remain conscious.

“We’ll try together,” he said, his cooling fingers brushing mine as they curled around the hilt, too. “On the count of three. One. Two. Three.”

I pulled as hard as I could, as Bo did and, thankfully, the dagger’s tip sprang free of the wood behind Bo’s back and slipped out. I pitched it onto the floor and turned my attention to the stakes that protruded from Bo like pins from a pin cushion.

I began with the one in his knee. I could see that it was not embedded in the support beam, so I grabbed it and yanked, pulling it easily from Bo’s body. Blood began to flow from the open wound.

Of the three remaining stakes, I was dismayed to learn that only one was not stuck in the wood behind Bo. The one at his shoulder had caught the edge of the beam, but I could see the tip sticking out of Bo’s body. It was clearly not embedded.

Bo’s wide shoulders had saved him from being further pinned to the thick column.

After I’d pulled that one out, I looked once more at the other two stakes. I was afraid that the one in his thigh had gone through Bo’s bone to stick into the wood. The one in his side was stuck as well.

I noticed that the skin of Bo’s side was becoming less apparent as his injuries, coupled with the stress of the whole ordeal, burned through the blood he’d fed upon.

The poisonous coloring had not receded either, and I knew that wasn’t helping his condition. I knew I had to hurry.

“Bo, you’re going to have to help me with these last two, ok?”

Bo nodded his head feebly. His fingers dropped to the stake at his side. “On three.”

On the count of three, we tried to remove the dense piece of wood, but it didn’t budge.

“Let’s try again,” I suggested.

Bo shook his head this time. “I can’t. I’m losing blood too fast.”

“Then drink from me.”

Again, he shook his head. “No. The more blood you lose, the faster you’ll turn.”

I couldn’t help the pause. I couldn’t help the fact that Drew’s tortured face flitted through my head as he begged for us to kill him. He would rather have died than live as a vampire.

I shook my head against the thoughts. They had no place here now. My fate was sealed. Fear and regret couldn’t matter. They no longer held any sway.

“I don’t care. We have to get you out of here.”

“No, Ridley. It’s too fast.”

To my way of thinking at that moment,
ever
was too fast.

“What difference does it make?” Even as I asked the question, I felt a pang of sickening dread.

“Loving me has cost you so much. The least I can do is give you a few more days,” Bo said miserably.

Having a few more days of humanity felt like a stay of execution to me, but I couldn’t tell Bo that. He needed me and that was all that mattered.

“A few more days doesn’t matter. Here,” I said, picking the long thin knife up off the floor.

I stared at the blade, slick with Bo’s blood.

Giving my flesh to Bo, my blood to Bo, was quite different than purposely slicing my arm open with a sharp knife. Reluctantly, I looked back up at him. He was watching me, his eyes already turning that milky green in his disappearing face.

“Ridley, you don’t have to do this.”

“I know.”

Closing my eyes, I drew the razor-sharp edge across the tender skin of my wrist. I bit my lip against the sting of pain.

I opened my eyes to Bo’s pale ones watching me closely, hungrily. But behind the hunger was pain—the pain of what was to become of me, the pain of what he felt like his love had cost me, the pain of having little choice other than to drink from me, to take from me.

I straightened my spine and smiled. “Besides, this is the last time you’ll get to taste
this
human blood,” I said pluckily, determined to hide my distress from him.

I held my wrist to his lips. “Here, for old times’ sake.”

The battle waging inside Bo was plain to see. It was there in his tormented eyes, in his forlorn expression. But in the end, his thirst won out. His need. As his teeth pierced my skin, holding me tightly to him, I realized that I would soon know what that overwhelming hunger felt like. Soon, I’d require blood to live, too.

For the first time since she’d bitten me, I felt the fiery burn of Heather’s venom radiating from my neck down into my chest. It was killing off all that made me human, changing me forever, and now, forever had a much different meaning.

Pushing those thoughts aside, I closed my eyes on the world around me and concentrated on the feel of Bo’s soft lips and cool tongue as they moved against my skin.

Time does this funny thing where it sort of disappears when Bo’s feeding from me, so I don’t know how much had elapsed when he released my wrist. I felt myself sway and his hand slide around my waist to steady me. I felt my lips curve with the pleasure of being wrapped in his strong arms. For all of eternity, there was no place I’d rather be. But if Bo fulfilled his destiny, it was the one place eternity couldn’t offer.

********

That was the last memory I had before I ended up in the woods, running for my life, fleeing from the vampires. Now I was stuck in a hole in the forest with no one around to help me out.

All my senses reached out and took in my surroundings. I could still smell the dankness of the earth that enveloped me. I opened eyes I didn’t even remember closing and looked around. The darkness was almost complete. I could barely make out the mouth of the shaft into which I’d fallen.

I was cold and achy and I knew I was hurt. Probably very badly. Everything was throbbing dully, as if to the beat of my heart. But strangely, considering that it was my legs that had taken the brunt of my fall, it was my chest that hurt the worst.

It felt like everything behind my sternum was shriveling up and dying. It was excruciating, so painful in fact that I was amazed I was still conscious.

And my throat hurt, too. It burned like I’d sipped acid. My mouth was dry as cotton, but I swallowed what little saliva I had. It did nothing to relieve the discomfort. The fire persisted.

A familiar sound teased my ears. I stilled, listening as closely as I could. It was Bo’s voice, pouring over my raw senses like warm honey. He was calling my name, over and over. But he sounded far away, too far to be coming for me.

I tried to open my mouth to call out to him, but no words left my tongue. I felt something warm on my cheek and the walls of the shaft began to shake, dirt crumbling from the sides and sprinkling my face and hair. I felt the panic of the world falling in all around me as bigger chunks of earth started to come away from the sides of the tube.

Again, I heard Bo’s voice and the warmth at my cheek became an annoying tap. I reached up to brush at my face and I felt something there. It was a hand.

A terrified scream gurgled in my burning throat as I flailed my arms, slapping at the air around me, at whatever was touching me.

“Ridley,” I heard Bo say. I stopped moving, reaching out for his voice and holding on tight.

“Bo?” I managed, my tongue sticking to the roof of my mouth.

“I’m here,” he whispered.

“Where? Where are you?” I squinted into the darkness, searching desperately for his face in the tiny circle that was the mouth of the hole, far above me.

“Right here, Ridley.”

I felt the hand at my cheek again. When I reached out, I could feel Bo’s fingers, his wrist, his arm. But still, I saw nothing.

“It’s ok. You’re ok,” he said softly, his voice right at my ear.

I reached out with my other hand and I could feel Bo’s chest in front of me, where he leaned in to speak to me.

“Bo, I can’t see you.” I felt an irrational fear tremble in my gut.

“Open your eyes, baby.”

“They’re open.”

“No, they’re not, Ridley. Just open your eyes.”

“I’m trying. I can’t see you.”

My voice quivered with emotion, my chin drawing up, tears wetting my lashes.

“Come to me, Ridley. Wherever you’re at, come back here to me.”

Bo’s lips brushed mine and a calm stole over me.

“Bo, what’s happening?”

“You’re turning too fast, baby. You’re hallucinating. You need to wake up.”

“Turning? What?”

The dirt walls finally fell, giving way to reality as it rushed in. My lids fluttered against the bright, white light that blinded me. Holding my hand up to shield my face, I squinted. A sob clogged my throat when I was able to make out the glorious sight of Bo hovering over me.

He pulled me up into his arms and buried his face in my neck. I inhaled, the odor of damp earth replaced by Bo’s fresh, tangy scent.

Gingerly, I opened my eyes wider. The ceiling of Sebastian’s den hung above me, the same one I’d awakened to the night I’d lost time. Bo’s hair tickled my cheek and I could hear the steady thump of his heart.

A gushing, flowing sound interrupted my cataloging of my surroundings. It seemed to be punctuated by Bo’s heartbeat. I listened more closely, but couldn’t identify it as something familiar, as something I’d heard before. And then Bo’s words came back to me, words he’d just spoken.

You’re turning too fast, baby.

The pain in my chest worsened, nearly stealing my breath, and the swishing noise grew louder and louder. My throat seemed to seize around a knot of dry dust lodged there and I leaned back to look at Bo. Something was wrong.

I pushed at Bo’s shoulders and he obliged by pulling away from me. My fingers were still twisted in his hair, which meant that my arms were stretched out in front of me. Only they weren’t. I fisted my hands, feeling the undeniable tickle of Bo’s hair against my palms. That’s when it all hit home.

My arms were invisible. I was invisible. Because I was turning into a vampire.

TO BE CONTINUED IN BOOK 3

BLOOD LIKE POISON: TO KILL AN ANGEL

COMING SOON

WINTER 2011

Other books by M. Leighton

Blood Like Poison: For the Love of a Vampire

Caterpillar

The Reaping

Wiccan

Follow me

Blog: http://mleightonbooks.blogspot.com

Facebook: M. Leighton Author Page

Twitter: mleightonbooks

Goodreads: M. Leighton, Author

Contact me

[email protected]

Every Last Kiss

by Courtney Cole

Pasadena, California

Present Day

The country music singer’s spunky voice ripped through the silence in my room as she began singing loudly from my nightstand, causing my phone to vibrate against the espresso colored wood. I smiled. The lyrics about demolishing a cheating ex-boyfriend’s car with a baseball bat was tempting. Too tempting. I answered my phone before I got any more ideas.

“Stop obsessing.”

Jessa’s voice was authoritative and bossy. And so on the money that it was ridiculous, not that she needed to know that. Even as she spoke, my eyes were glued to my computer screen where Derek’s face grinned at me. His perfectly mussed blonde hair draped just-so over his green eyes, and I shuddered. Cheater.

“I don’t know what you mean,” I sniffed, trying my best to sound both innocent and offended at the same time.

I could practically hear my best friend roll her eyes through the phone.

“Macy.” One word, perfectly conveyed disbelief. I sighed.

“Okay, fine. There might be a small amount of obsessive behavior going on.

How did you know?”

“Because I’ve known you since kindergarten, that’s how. Mace, seriously.

Anyone who would do what he did isn’t worth the time that it takes to obsess over him. Instead of wasting your time going over every detail, and yes, I know that’s what you are doing, you should be plotting your revenge. And I mean, in a big way.”

Apparently, she hadn’t heard my new ringtone. I was way ahead of her on that one.

“Yeah, I should totally get on that.” I tried to sound innocent again.

“Have you showered yet?”

I looked down at my unwashed body clad in old sweats and nodded.

“Yep. Why?”

Loud sigh, long pause.

“Macy, jump in the shower. I’ll be over in two.”

And she was gone. And since she only lived two streets over, I knew that I literally only had two minutes to shower before she arrived and saw for herself that I had lied. I dropped the phone and ran for the bathroom.

2.5 minutes later, I was still rinsing the conditioning balm out of my hair when her smug voice drifted through the steam.

“So, how’s that shower coming along?”