Page 86 of Thicker than Water

How could I have let her go like that?

The wind whips through my hair and the lights of the city beam up at me, tauntingly.

In one direction, the hotel. The final opportunity to seek revenge against my brother. The bloodshed I’ve so desperately craved these long years.

In another, the mansion.

Amara.

She broke my trust, just like my brother.

I owe her nothing. Less than nothing. I should leave her to Lazarus. If I save her, surely she’ll stake me at the first opportunity she has. She’ll be loyal to her coven. Hecate witches don’t consort with vampires.

But I can feel the warm glow of her blood inside me…

And I don’t have time to think anymore.

A slow, ambling snow begins to fall over the city.

I make my choice. And I turn to my destination.

Amara

Over the course of my long life, I’ve broken fingers, toes, my left arm. I’ve twisted my ankle more times than I could count.

I’ve had concussions, been tied up, kidnapped, fallen twenty feet from my broom (into a thornbush, no less).

I’ve lost my fair share of blood in battle, had my magic bound, been knocked unconscious and off my feet countless times.

Before modern dentistry, I had to have two teeth pulled. I still remember the enormous pliers and the gushing of blood. The sting of whiskey in my throat.

That wasnotfun.

But this…

This is so much worse than anything I’ve ever experienced.

When Celine bit me, she glamoured me first. Enchanted me so that thepain was all mixed up with pleasure.

Lazarus Gray does no such thing. He finds a clean spot on the other side of my neck and sinks his long, venomous fangs deep into my artery. There’s no twisted pleasure in it, not for me at least.

I scream in agony as pain wracks my body. Although I know there’s no hope of escape, I use my last reserves of strength to try and disentangle myself from his grasp.

But he holds me like a vise as he sucks slowly from the bleeding wound on my neck. I know there’s no point in fighting, but when I hear his self-satisfied moans, my anger and desperation overcome me and I give it all that I have.

O Hecate, I think desperately.Please, please save me. I don’t want to die like this.

As anger turns to hopelessness, tears stream down my face.

And all thoughts vanish.

All thoughts except for one image…

Celine. Her dark brown hair flowing wildly around her shoulders, her blood-red lips set in a determined expression, her eyes…so fierce…

If I die, will I see her again? The thought of losing her is worse than anything else.

But the image in my mind is so powerful, it’s almost as though she’s here with me. Hovering beside the moon, surrounded by a hazy halo of snowflakes.