Page 58 of A Love So Deadly

Thump, thump.

It comes again, low and muffled, as if the world itself is taunting me with an echo of what I’ve lost. I stagger a step closer, listening.

Thump, thump. Thump, thump. Thump, thump.

It’s gaining strength and tempo, stumbling but insistent, and the world seems to be tilting beneath me. My lungs burn with denial, with fear, with something so close to hope it threatens to split me apart.

Staring at her chest, I will the rise and fall that isn’t there. Until it is. A shallow breath stutters into her lungs, as if dragged from death itself.

I drop to my knees beside her. Her skin is rosier, her lips more pink.

“Elliot?”

I stroke the matted hair from her face.

Her eyes snap open.

Cornflower blue.

Unreadable. Soulless.

“Elliot,” I breathe out, relief instantly replacing all the anger and hate within me. “You’re alive.”

Gaze finding me, she sits up. Her head tilts as if she’s trying to remember my face, but when recognition flares, those summery blue eyes turn black.

“Lucy,” she says.

Then, she smiles, showing me her fangs.