Page 125 of Filthy Rich Vampires: For Eternity

Julian nodded grimly.

“Listen to me,” he hissed. His bloody fingers gripped my chin and forced me to look at him. “I need you to be still. We can’t risk the blade hitting your heart.”

I couldn’t manage more than a blink.

“Stay with me,” he ordered, his voice full of dark magic as if he was trying to find the end of the tether he’d once held.

I wished it was still there, because I would have obeyed him. I would stay with him. I wanted that more than anything.

But the world was fading at the edges and it was so hard to stay awake.

“I’m cold.” I wasn’t sure if he could understand me.

Julian’s face contorted, despair ravaging him. Did he feel it, too? Could he see that endless night before us? Was he slipping toward that oblivion?

“Fuck.” Lysander cursed. Metal clanged as it hit the ground.

“I need you to drink, pet,” Julian begged, bringing his wrist to my mouth. Blood welled from an open vein as he smashed it against my lips.

But I couldn’t. Too cold. Too tired.

Then everything went black.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

JULIAN

“Thea, open your eyes.” I touched her face but she didn’t move. “Thea!”

Her mouth was slack, her body limp as her heart thumped once. Twice. Then nothing.

No heartbeat. No pulse.

“No, no.” I gathered her in my arms, cradling her lifeless form against mine. “You can’t leave me here.” I closed my eyes, drinking in her scent, pressing my lips to her hair. “I’m supposed to go with you.”

Our lives were bound, our souls forged together when she sang the song of life. I was not supposed to be without her. I would not. I could not live without her.

“Julian,” Lysander said softly. “We should get out of here.”

“I’m not leaving her.” My eyes snapped open and I crushed her against me.

“We won’t,” he promised. “But we can’t stay here. There may be others. The Council will be waiting for the team to report back...”

But I couldn’t move. I’d failed her. Minutes ago, I’d vowed to protect her. I told her that no one would touch her. No one would touch...

My eyes scattered across the floor, searching, searching, searching until they found the pregnancy test. Jacqueline moved into view, dropping down to pick the object of my sudden interest up. She gasped, her hand covering her mouth as if to hold back reality.

“She was,” I mumbled as I started to grow cold. Numb. Just like her blood now cooling against my skin.

I’d lost them both. In the blink of the eyes, in one unguarded, preoccupied moment, I’d lost them.

Jacqueline shoved the test in her pocket and moved to me. “Let me help you.”

And I almost couldn’t bear the sorrow I found staring back at me. The grief. The sadness. The evidence that my worst fucking nightmare had finally come true.

Thea was gone.

I’d spent nine hundred years restless, purposeless, until she’d stumbled into my life and given me a reason to live. And now she was gone. The baby was gone. It was all gone.

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