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The witch picked up Chen’s sword with his left hand and slung Chen’s left arm across his shoulders. Leaning on Moon, Chen shuffled through the woods to the caves.

With each step, King Ash’s words repeated through his mind. They might escape the sun, but Chen could feel that the wound wasn’t healing. He was going to bleed to death.

The caves offered a final resting place and a chance to say good-bye to Moon.

Chapter 18

Moon Mullins

Each step forward was an agony for Chen, even if the vampire made almost no noise. Lines dug deep into his handsome face that glistened with sweat. What little color he’d had in his cheeks was gone now. Even his lips had turned white with the strain of moving, but Moon refused to let them stop.

The sky was growing lighter with every passing second, and the only way to keep the vampire from burning to death was to get him to shelter. There was no way around it. After Chen was safe from the rays of the sun, Moon could focus on the hole in his chest.

They stumbled over the uneven ground, falling twice, but they made it at last to a small cave that was really no more than a crevice between two towering rocks. But it was big enough for both of them to fit inside, sitting across from each other. And thanks to the angle of the opening, Moon felt certain Chen would be safe from the sun even as it progressed across the sky.

Moon sat with his head resting on the cool stone, panting hard while his arms and legs shook with exhaustion. He was thirsty and would have loved nothing more than to sleep for a while. Just catch a few minutes and then he’d be able to tackle the next problem.

But Chen didn’t have a few minutes.

“You said…you’re familiar…with this area,” Chen panted, each word tight and soft as if it were a struggle to speak.

“I am. There’s a trail that passes near here about half a mile away. From there, I think it’s two miles to a trailhead and a parking lot,” Moon replied, his eyes still closed.

“I need you…to go. Now. The elf king has pulled back. It’s likely his forces have too.” Chen swallowed hard and Moon opened his eyes to stare at the vampire. “If you go now, you should be able to reach the parking lot with…minimal problems.”

“And just leave you alone here? Is the wound healing?” Moon scooted across the rocky ground and pulled his cell phone from his pocket. As he turned on the flashlight, he reached for the hoodie that Chen was holding to his chest. Chen tried to bat his hands away, but it took no effort on Moon’s behalf to knock his hands aside and lift the hoodie.

A hiss escaped Moon’s lips. He wanted to hold even that in, but the hiss kept the scream of frustration at bay. A long cut looked as if it had gone through Chen’s heart or maybe alongside it. Either way, he had no idea how the vampire was still with him. Blood seeped from the wound, sliding down his chest.

The most disturbing thing was that the skin at the edges of the wound had blackened as if the metal had burned or poisoned him with the cut.

“Moon, the wound won’t close. It can’t,” Chen whispered.

“Shut up! You don’t know that!” Moon snapped, his voice bouncing off the stone wall to pummel his ears. He needed to think. There had to be something he could do if only he could get his brain to stop running around in panicked circles, to fucking focus.

“There are too many stories of the animosity between vampires and the fae. Our magics don’t work well together. King Ash did this, knowing I wouldn’t heal. He’s counting on me becoming a savage beast, lost to the hunger. He thinks I’m going to feed off you to save myself, but that’s never going to happen.”

“Too civilized to lose yourself like that?” Moon taunted while he trained all his attention on the blood, trying to figure out a way to keep it inside of Chen’s body.

“No. Too old.”

“Heh. That’s right. You’re an old man.”

“It’s been years since I last fed on another’s blood,” Chen admitted, drawing Moon’s wide-eyed gaze to his face. The vampire had closed his eyes and was resting his head against the stone wall, seeming to sleep. After several seconds, he continued, “The hunger doesn’t control me any longer.”

“Yeah, well. I guess that’s a good thing for me. We still gotta keep some blood in you and close this wound.” Moon placed the hoodie in Chen’s lap and turned off the flashlight on his phone, setting it aside. With his eyes closed, he held his right hand out in front of him. He called on the magical energy swirling around in Chen’s blood, even though it was oozing out of his body.