Page 74 of Desired for Her Blood

I drop back down to sit. The word stupid pulled me out of my self-pitying funk, kick starting my intellect. The pirate is right. I cannot be burned by the sunlight at the moment.

Also… he is right about another thing. I cannot give up hope. Another idea rushes into my mind.

“The ancient poem about Gullveig,” I say, trying to pull all the lines from my grief-stricken mind. “Gullveig is said to have died and then been reborn. Perhaps we just need to give her more time.”

“Died how?” Ryker asks and Axe lifts his head from where it’s been nestled next to Ember’s. “Was this Gullveig chick a vampire?”

I shake my head.

“Then do you mean she died—like this?” he asks, his voice full of tentative hope.

I shake my head. “She burned. The ancient poem refers to her burning before she is reborn. Some say that poem is the reason humans burned suspected witches, to test if they could be reborn.”

Ryker stands quickly, lifting Ember into his arms. Axe growls, his face distorting like he might turn into a bear.

“Then, I say we take her under the sunlight,” Ryker says. “After I fed from her, sunlight burned her.”

“No.” Leaping up, Axel plants himself in front of Ryker. “How does that help? If she burns? What then?”

“Then we fucking give her blood to heal her burns!” Ryker shouts at Axel. “It’s better than doing nothing.” He steps to move around the bear, but Axel is faster, blocking him.

“Okay, if you guys don’t want to burn her, I’ll give her some of my blood,” Ryker says. “Maybe robot blood doesn’t work.”

I join them. “I don’t think more blood will help her right now. She nearly drained me, and that is far more than any human should require for revival.”

“So we just quit trying?” Ryker glares at me. “Maybe I will take you up on that invitation to stake you.”

“I think your suggestion of sunlight exposure is intriguing.” I can’t believe I’m saying it, but at this point I’m out of ideas and willing to consider the pirate’s.

Ember still in his arms, Ryker tries to step around Axe again, but I grab his arm.

“I should be the one to take her.”

Ryker glares at me. “Why is it always you? You are so fucking selfish.”

I swallow, hard. “Perhaps I am selfish, but you are forgetting that, due to her blood flowing inside me, I should be able to withstand burns myself, plus…”

“Plus fucking what?” Ryker asks.

“Plus, if either of you two causes Ember’s demise, you will never forgive yourselves. You will not be able to carry on.”

The anger in Ryker’s expression crumples, and I turn toward Axel, who is staring at the ground.

“You two bothloveher,” I say.

“And you don’t?” Axel growls.

I shake my head in denial.

“Yeah,” Ryker adds. “I call bullshit on that one too. You’re already a wreck.”

I raise my chin. “If I seem emotional, it is because I do not take pleasure in the death of another creature.”

“It’s fucking more than that,” Ryker says. “And you know it. Ember’s not some randomcreature. Not to any of us—you included.”

My chest tightens, but I mask the turmoil inside of me. “If you are implying that I feelromanticlove for Ember, then you are mistaken. I do not even believe in that mythical emotion.”

Axel grunts. “Love isn’t a fucking myth.”