Page 41 of Bloodbane

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

The Sound of Death

{ T H A Y N E }

Something wet drags over my side. Again. And again. The pain of the slow drag turns from sharp to dull before finally succumbing to blissful numbness.

I’m trembling, shivering, still so cold though the icy dampness below me is gone. The slight scratch of old blankets rough up my skin, their fresh pine scent supplying answers to unasked questions. The softness of my mattress comforts my aching body, but my mind is agitated, failing to remember how I’d come to be here. The memories swim out of reach, hazy and dark, bringing fragments of images in slow waves.

Ruby. Wolves. Draven. Eirik. Sunlight.

“Eirik!” My eyes fly open. I struggle to sit, pushing against the warm hands pressing down on my shoulders as a blurred shape hovers into view above me. It takes me a dozen attempts before I can blink the world into focus. It’s not Eirik, it’s… “Ruby? Are you okay? Are you hurt? Where’s Eirik?”

“Shh, it’s fine. Everything’s okay. Just keep your eyes open and keep talking to me, alright?” Ruby rasps, voice thick. She sweeps her hand through my hair, her focus sliding down to my side.

I strain, craning my neck to follow the gaze. Eirik is bent over me, dragging his tongue over the mess of my mangled flesh. He turns to meet my eyes, and I can’t stop the strangled noise tearing from my throat at the sight of the blackened, decaying skin of his face.

“Lie back, let me help you.” Eirik’s voice is a broken whisper. The sound of death hovering, biding its time.

Without waiting for me to comply, Eirik lowers his face, dragging his pierced tongue over my horrific wounds, lifting smears of red and leaving pools of black in their stead.

With the adrenaline spike, I manage to struggle to a sitting position. Blistered hands reach for my shoulders, but Eirik’s attempts are futile in his weakened state. “ Ash ,” I croak.

Ash is beside me in a second, face pinched tight as she forces me back down onto the bed and keeps me there easily.

“Stop fighting, Thayne. We’ve got you.”

“No.” The word screams through my mind but falls from my lips weakly. “He needs me... needs blood... to heal.”

“You don’t have blood to spare right now,” Ash says grimly. “Grayson is going to heal you, and then, when you’ve recovered, you can return the favor.”

There’s a strange tightness in my side, a tingling, burning sensation that feels somehow far away, like a memory flashing through my body. I want to fight against Ash’s hold, to make Eirik drink from me, but I feel like I’m melting back against the pillows, my limbs heavy and my mind going soft. Eirik’s saliva seeping into my veins is making my brain feel floaty, drugged almost, and I can’t—I can’t—

“Eirik, please…” I need to tell him I’m sorry for pushing him away, for punishing him, that it all seems so stupid and meaningless now. I’d almost lost him. Almost lost both of them. “Please… I need…”

“Shh, save your strength. You’re going to be alright, Thay. I promise. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”

It’s the last thing I hear before I disappear back into darkness.