Page 13 of Crimson Mourning

CASSIE

I was unsure of how much time had passed. Minutes? Hours? I bit my lip to hold back the scream as I rotated my head to glance out the window. The pain in my body was intense. The moon still hung high in the sky and sent beams of light down through the window as if extending a hand to welcome me back. I shut my eyes to brace myself and eased my hand up to my neck. The puncture wounds were still there, and the blood was wet. Lawrence said he’d send a human healer. Was it a lie? Did he go through all this trouble of kidnapping me only to have me experience final death in a slow, agonizing way?

I was as weak as a newborn awakened a few hours after birth. I hadn’t the chance to take in my surroundings before I passed out when Lawrence first brought me in. The place was smaller than a house, and free-standing, but bigger than a shed or cabana. There was a door off to my right which I could only assume was a bath. The floors were a mixture of natural stone and concrete. The walls were gray-blue and gave off a cottage vibe. Linen curtains adorned the windows and I laid on the couch. There were some chairs and a coffee table. There was onlyone door, with a large glass pane in the center. It led out to a path covered in darkness.

Every muscle in my body ached as I attempted to push myself into a seated position. Even with my slow movements, my head began to spin. Lawrence had said Damon was dead, which I didn’t believe. My heart would tell me if it were true. But if it was true, then I would be joining him soon in final death if I didn’t patch up my wounds. I eased my feet to the floor, grimacing as I went, and attempted to stand. The moment I raised up, lights flashed in my eyes, and my head grew light. I came crashing down onto the coffee table where I purposed to stay. This would be my final resting place. I hadn’t the strength to move, or cry out for help.

I heard the door creak a second later and footsteps as someone entered the room, but I hadn’t the strength to turn my head to see who it was. A few more footsteps and then a set of powerful legs dressed in denim jeans moved into my line of sight. The legs bent and brought the owner’s head into view. Lawrence had had come into the room and carried with him a tray of food and drink.

“Ah, Cassie,” he sighed.

I’d had dealings with Lawrence in the past, but there was something striking about the way he looked tonight. His hair had a red hue to it, and his eyes bore into me. His intense amber eyes. They were so different from Damon’s.

He placed the food tray off to the side, and used his powerful arms to lift me back into position on the couch. He left me in a seated position, and then sat opposite me on the coffee table.

“Where’s…where’s your healer?” I whispered. It was the loudest I could get.

“He didn’t come?” Lawrence answered and looked over his left, then his right shoulder. “How irresponsible of him.”

“You never sent for him, did you?”

I was surprised at the rasp in my voice. I’d never heard a death rattle right before someone died, but I could imagine my voice came close to the sound of it. Vampires like him didn’t need to eat much food, they could last a day or two without it. They mostly drank human blood as needed, so the food tray must’ve been for me.

What kind of sick torture is this?I asked myself.

Why prepare a food tray for me, if he never sent for a human to heal me?

“Listen, Cassie,” Lawrence said, as if on cue. “Let’s be real for a second here, okay? Your injuries are too vast, too grave for you to last long enough for my healer to get here.”

“You could speed me to him,” I squeaked.

“No,” he said in a quiet voice.

I lifted my chin to look at him. He was rubbing his hands together, and his complexion had gone pale.

“I’m not going to make it, am I?” The realization of the moment hit me like a truck speeding down the highway.

“There is a way.”

“You,” I gasped and pointed a finger at him. It trembled as I spoke. “You want to turn me.”

Damon was sexy as hell, and had been from the time I met him fifteen years ago to tonight. We met when I had found myself in a dire situation with a former boyfriend. Damon came in and made the problem go away, and we’d been together ever since. Damon had watched me before things went cattywampus. He knew everything about me. My schedule, my likes, dislikes, where I frequented. He rescued me once, I was waiting for him to rescue me again.

“You did this to me,” I said.

The look Lawrence gave me would have killed me on the spot.

"Come on, Cassie!” He said and stood from the table. “What do you think I do? Kill humans for sport?”

I shut my eyes.

Lawrence sat next to me on the couch. He reached up and brushed strands of hair from my face. I pulled back out of pure instinct. He was not Damon. He should not be touching me.

“You’re still waiting on Damon to come for you. Open your eyes and look around, Cassie. You’re in my pool house, on my estate. Clearly, I’m not running from Damon. If he was coming to rescue you, shouldn’t he have been here already?”

Lawrence did have a point. What the hell was taking Damon so bloody long? Surely, he had the resources by now. Why hadn’t he come for me?

“Okay,” I whispered.

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