Page 55 of Savage Blood (Den of Shadows #6)

Chapter

Thirty-Nine

Debilitating dread burrowed into me, stealing my breath and filling my ears with sirens.

No.

There were screams.

My screams.

I rolled Fane over, blood still spewing from the holes in his back and his chest. And those awful black veins radiated out of each wound.

“Fane!” I shook him as his eyes rolled into the back of his head. The color drained from his face, leaving him pale.

The silver wouldn’t hurt him.

But the Demise…?

He was only half demon, so I had no idea. When Dominic stabbed me with a blade soaked in it, Fane and the healers at Mohan Wilds saved me by draining my poisoned blood and filling it with Fane’s.

“A blood transfusion won’t help him,” Coltrane said, as if she knew where my thoughts had gone. “A gunshot will spread the toxin a lot faster than a stab, Tate. And a witch helped me create these bullets. Once it entered him, the Demise spread out almost like shrapnel.”

Shaking, I lifted my head. “Why kill Fane?”

My longing to crack her skull open and feast on her fears fought with the need to hold on to Fane as long as I could.

“You’re my real target.” She stepped closer, her gun trained on me. “I can’t let you live with that power inside of you, but I could never get near you with Fane alive.”

My heart caved in on itself as hot tears leaked down my cheeks, no doubt streaking the blood. “You could have used the bullets on Barric!”

“I could only create two bullets. If I killed Barric, there was still a good chance you would have taken the amulet. This was my backup plan, the only way to stop you once you reunited with the amulet.” Coltrane shrugged. “You can’t be allowed to live.”

“So you just gave up your fight for the amulet and decided to destroy it?” The hatred pouring through my veins was enough to blind me, turning my vision hazy red.

Coltrane sighed. “The amulet is gone. You are that power. And it’s my duty to stop the evil in this world, no matter what.”

“Open her up, twist her brain, eat her screams, and devour her pleas.” The frantic shake of my head sent my hair that had fallen out of my braid flying. “I don’t need to touch you to do it. I can pry you apart and suck out your innards from where I sit.”

Her lips thinned. “Do you not understand my motives? Listen to yourself, Tate. You sound mad already, and it will only worsen.”

“Don’t listen to her, Tate,” Fane sputtered, blood gliding down his chin. “You are in control now. And you aren’t evil. You’re the most beautiful creature in this entire fucking world. ”

My bottom lip quivered as I peered down at him. “I’ve done so much bad, though.”

He shook his head. “The good you’ve done outweighs any of the bad. You don’t need redeeming, fiera mika. You are the one always saving everyone else.”

“That will change now.” Coltrane’s finger rested on the trigger, poised to shoot me.

Could I stop her before she got off the shot?

As Fane trembled in my arms, coughing up blood, fucking dying, did I really want to stop her? I couldn’t live without him. How long would I even survive?

Something whizzed through the air. An arrow pierced Coltrane’s hand, forcing the gun to fall from her grasp.

“No!” she hissed.

Before she could scramble for the gun, another arrow sped across the room and sank into her chest.

Into her heart.

“I won’t allow you to hurt anyone else.” Hawk moved across the room, holding a crossbow, prepared to shoot his aunt again.

Coltrane collapsed, blood spurting from her mouth. “H-How could you choose them over family?”

“You might have raised me, Aunt Anna, but they are family.” The hard look in Hawk’s eyes sent frost down every vertebra. “Blood doesn’t matter.”

She gave him a scornful look. “They’re part demons. Did you forget demons killed your parents?”

“How many innocent ravens have you killed pursuing the amulet? How many times did you sacrifice their safety for your obsession?” His boots stopped a few inches from her. “ You are the evil one, Aunt Anna. Not them. ”

Coltrane’s hands fell away as the life drained out of her. “Your parents would be so disappointed.”

Hawk’s bitter laugh echoed. “They would be proud of me for climbing my way out of that dark hole and coming out on the right side.”

As he watched Hawk’s aunt take her last few breaths, I returned to Fane, his glassy gaze staring up at mine.

“I’m so glad I found you, fiera mika.” A faint smile curved his bloody mouth. “Warin would have liked you.”

And then his eyelids fluttered closed.

Panic gripped my heart. “Fane!”

I shook him. And shook him.

But he wouldn’t wake up.

“Help!” I screamed, my throat threatening to tear open. “Help!”

Voices sounded, and then Ruin and Roxie appeared, both clutching duffel bags as if they were making their escape, planning to vanish forever. Ruin’s smile dissolved when he saw me cradling and rocking Fane’s motionless form. He dropped the bag on the floor with a thud.

“What the fuck happened?” Ruin demanded.

“Demise.” The word burst between my clenched teeth like a vicious curse. “Coltrane shot him with some kind of magical bullet.”

The blood drained from the high demon’s cheeks, and he staggered back. Roxie gripped his hand to get his attention.

“We have to go,” she hissed. “You’ll never be free if you stay.”

As Hawk lowered to my side, agony written on his face, Ruin looked from us to Roxie and then shook his head.

“I’ll never be free if I turn my back on them again.” He pulled the bag off her shoulder and dropped it. “Stay here. I’ll be back.”

Lines creased Roxie’s forehead as if she couldn’t understand Ruin’s decision, but instead of bitching about it, she leaned against the wall, keeping her distance.

Ruin returned a few minutes later and knelt beside us, holding out a small black vial. “He needs to drink this.”

My lungs drew in a sharp breath, a small amount of hope blossoming in my chest. “I thought an antidote for Demise didn’t exist.”

His lips thinned into a grim line. “It doesn’t, Tate. Sanktum Draught will only keep him alive a little longer to give us time to think of our options.”

The hope shattered like delicate glass struck by a bullet. Still, I lifted Fane’s head so Ruin could pour the elixir into his mouth.

“Our only saving grace is that Fane isn’t a full demon,” Ruin said. “There might be a way.”

“There’s no fucking way I can do this,” Logan snarled, throwing a glass beaker across his lab, shattering it against the wall. “I’m an alchemist. Not a god.”

He’d said similar words to Fane the last time we were in this lab. I gripped Fane’s clammy hand as he lay on a metal table, maybe even the same one I’d woken up on years ago, so close to death he had to bite me to save me.

Too bad I couldn’t simply bite Fane now to save him.

After Ruin gave the Sanktum Draught to Fane, others swarmed the room and collected us. Everything was a blur, and I didn’t even remember how we ended up at Logan’s house in Vlehull. I was suddenly sitting by Fane on a stool, holding his hand as if my life depended on never letting him go.

Actually, it did.

If I let him go, I’d die right along with him.

I brushed the black strands of Fane’s hair away from his pale, sweaty cheeks. Logan placed a bandage on his wounds and dressed him in a pair of sweatpants. Fear clogged the lab and prodded at my craving for it, attempting to steal my sanity at the same time.

My fear, Logan’s fear, Ruin’s fear.

Fear, fear, fear…

Overwhelmed, I pulled my hand away from Fane’s and jumped from the stool, kicking it over.

“Tick, tock, the clock is running.” I marched across the lab and snatched Logan’s shirt, gritting my teeth. “Out. Shadows spread, and the world is fading. Oblivion waits on the other side. Better hurry, Dr. Frankenstein. The monster needs a storm.”

For fuck’s sake, I was back to spouting gibberish.

“I’m trying, Tate,” Logan whispered as if he understood my incoherent words.

Maybe he did.

“Try harder.” Once more, my bottom lip trembled. “I can’t lose him.”

The high demon gripped my hands and pried them from his shirt before I could shred it. “Just give me a minute to think before you break into my mind to find my fears. I know you’re angry and upset, but?—”

“I don’t need to breach your mind.” My eyelids fluttered shut, and I lifted my chin, inhaling. “Your fears float in the air, one already playing out on that table.”

Logan’s blue eyes watered, anguish rippling over his face. “He’s my dearest friend. I can’t lose him either.”

Kesa, Fane’s mother, moved to my side and rested her hand on my shoulder.

Oh, she was a brave one. Of course, her son got his courage from somewhere.

“Please, Tate, let Logan concentrate,” she said, gently drawing me away from the high demon.

I shuffled back to the table that held my mate—my whole fucking reason for existing now—trying to shake the madness off and force my thoughts into a linear path.

“We don’t have enough time to get a witch here,” Ruin said, dragging his hand through his tousled locks. “I’m not sure that would work.”

My jaw ticked, and the urge to destroy the entire lab, the entire fucking house, burned through my veins. I wanted to tap into everyone’s fear and drown my sorrow to forget the agony tearing me apart.

It wouldn’t work, though. Deep down, I knew that.

No amount of fear, souls, alcohol, or drugs would rid me of this pain. I’d drown in it.

Fane might not have been my fated mate, but he was my soul mate. We were destined. I felt it in my bones.

Saint, who’d come to the Underworld with Logan and Ruin to help despite my rejection of our bond, pushed off the wall and crossed the lab. He’d been keeping his distance from me, but something had him risking my wrath.

“Heal him.”

My brow furrowed as I stared at the alpha of Blackwater Falls. “I can’t. We aren’t fated.”

Saint scoffed. “You two are more fated than we ever were. ”

I shook my head, dragging in a ragged breath. “It won’t work. You couldn’t even heal me from the amulet’s sickness.”