Page 68 of Blood Ties
“We have to! Grayson…” I pleaded.
Sebastian placed his hands on my shoulders, like touching me would make me hear what he was about to say better. “Gaby, Grayson took a stake to the chest. You saw that.”
I shook my head. “No. He’s still alive. He has to be. We have to go back and save him,” I cried.
“Gaby!” Sebastian shook me trying to get me to understand what I saw.
“Please,” I looked up at him, implored him with my eyes as tears streamed down my face. “If you don’t take me, I’ll go by myself.”
Sebastian studied me trying to decipher if there was any truth to my words. Whatever he saw there had him hang his head before nodding. He pulled me tight before dissipating us back to the garage where we had stood only moments ago. I broke away from him and scanned the room for Grayson or the vampires who had captured us, but saw no sign of anyone. Sebastian stood ready by my side with a sword that appeared out of nowhere. There was no hint that they had even been there with the exception of their faint scent and the scent of blood. I looked back in the basement, I checked the floors above, but there was nothing.
I fell to my knees and buried my head in my hands before the tears started streaming down my face once more. I played the scene over and over in my head. Grayson standing there, his eyes on the stake coming out of his chest. I wanted to have hope, to believe that he could survive, but Sebastian was right. It was a stake to the chest and vampires didn’t survive getting hit in the heart.
I sat there waiting to feel the pain of our mating bond to dissolve, like it had when his human life ended, but instead I felt Sebastian’s warm arms wrap around me before darkness came as my grief became overwhelming.
EPILOGUE
Ava’s heels clicked with each step as she strolled across the grimy room. She was feeling overly giddy with the news her old friend had just delivered to her. It looked like she’d finally achieved her revenge on Gabriella. It had been months since Anton met his demise and Ava was glad to finally repay Persephone’s daughter.
The plan had been to capture both Gabriella and her mate to allow Ava to decide their fate. She had first become furious when she learned that Gabriella had escaped with the help of Damien’s angel friend. But her mood shifted when her friend explained the details of her escape.
When it became clear that the day walker and her mate weren’t as easy to subdue, the decision had been made to destroy her, but at the last moment, her mate had taken the sharp end of a stake that had been aimed at Gabriella’s heart.
Ava wanted to see Gabriella’s mate for herself. Wanted to see the proof her old friend had claimed.
“This way,” the vampire ushered her through the filthy room. Dirt covered the floor. The scent of mold and death filled the air, but nothing could stop the elated high she was on. Halting abruptly, rooted to the floor, Ava was in awe. There, lying on the concrete floor was the familiar form of Gabriella’s mate, a wood stake protruding from his chest.
She sneered. Vengeance was going to be sweet. She couldn’t wait to see Gabriella as grief stricken as Ava herself felt. She brought the pain on herself when she decided to take Anton away from Ava. This was simply an eye for an eye and Ava couldn’t have been more pleased.
The End