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I let out a long, slow breath, careful not to make too much noise as I did. He was right. My blood would only distract him for so long. I couldn’t wait it out. If I had any chance of beating this psychotic game, I had to strike while his senses were blurred.

With as much stealth as I could manage, I slowly slid up the back of the tree to a standing position, gripping the arrow tightly. I honed in on my auditory senses, listening for his every movement. He was closing in on my second spot.

How many places had I smeared my blood? I couldn’t even remember anymore. I didn’t want to wait for him to come to me. It was time to face him, but on my terms.

I flicked my gaze to the ground at my feet and quickly scanned the area until I found a decent sized pebble. I quietly bent over to pick it up, then tossed it just on the other side of the tree I leaned up against.

In a flash of motion so swift it caused the shrubs to rustle in the breeze it caused, the vampire was suddenly there.

“Where are you, you little bitch?” the vampire barked.

With the arrow raised in attack position, I swung around the tree as fast and forcefully as I could. His back was to me, and the tip of my arrow was coming down over his neck. My heart jumped with expectation as pre-emptive victory sang in my chest.

But far faster than I could ever hope to move, he spun around to face me, and his porcelain white hand was suddenly clutching my wrist.

“Ah, there you are,” he purred, a slow grin spreading his dark pink lips for a long moment as he held me there.

The next thing I knew, he had me pinned against the trunk of the tree, his teeth latched onto my neck. I tried to scratch him and pry at him, but his ironclad grip had both my arms completely immobilized. I bucked and squirmed, but his body was pressing so close against mine that there was no give anywhere. I couldn’t even slip my leg out from under his.

I was completely trapped, and completely at his mercy.

I shrieked in frustration as my every attempt to even budge proved futile. My grunts quickly turned into cries of desperation as tears blurred my vision. There was no escape. No one was going to come for me.

My senses began to dull, my vision closing in as my awareness ebbed further and further away from me. My pulse slowed against its will, making my limbs feel heavy and sluggish. I knew, somewhere in the haze of my fading consciousness, that he was draining me.

I had lost. This was game over.

Chapter 33

Arya

“Arya! Arya, wake up!” a familiar voice wafted through the thick fog of my fragile awareness. “Please, wake up!”

As if that voice were a tangible tether, I latched my mind onto it and let it pull me up and up, out of the sea of nothingness that had been my reality for what seemed like a very long time.

Almost instantly, I felt my body around me again, and I strained to open my eyes.

My vision was blurry and unfocused, but I could see Tobias’s handsome face hanging over me, his features etched with panic. Behind him, everything was starkly white, so bright it made me wince.

I wanted to close my eyes and fall back into my stupor, where everything was easy and fine. Here was too bright. Here, my body hurt in so many places, and I didn’t want to feel it.

“No, keep your eyes open,” Tobias encouraged. The desperate plea in his tone hooked into my heart and kept me from sinking, no matter what I wanted.

I felt him pull me up into his arms, and weak as I was, I let him cradle me against his chest. Despite the pain screaming inmy neck, being held by him like this felt so good, so comforting, that I could almost tolerate the pain. And it wasn’t like I had any strength or energy to pull away or seek help, so I was beyond content to just melt into his warm embrace.

He felt so strong, so safe. If I were to disappear back into the abyss now, here in his arms like this, would I be able to take his comfort with me? I’d have no reason to ever wake again.

I realized suddenly that he was talking as he patted a hand over the side of my head, but I couldn’t pay attention to what he was saying. The way he touched me made me feel so cared for. Precious, even. It was all I could focus on.

His fingers found my chin and tilted my head up to look at him.

“How badly hurt are you?” he asked.

I didn’t really understand his question. I knew my neck was killing me, and I felt weak, but I couldn’t remember why. I couldn’t really remember anything before the nothingness he’d pulled me from.

I opened my mouth, stuck for an answer for a moment.

“I… I don’t know,” I eventually mumbled.