Page 29 of Dallas

“That’s right, lass.”

“Right away? Will it be immediate?”

The hope in her voice threatened to crush my heart. I could barely stand it.

“I can’t be certain. To be honest, I’ve never shared blood with a witch before. I cannot say how quickly it will affect you.”

“It could harm you,” I whispered over his shoulder. She needed to know. She deserved to know. It all seemed so unfair. There was no choice to be had here, for the pain would be enough to convince her to do anything. She wasn’t thinking clearly. She was merely reacting.

I saw this truth in her eyes when she looked up at me. “It could harm me? Worse than I’ve already been harmed? It hurts everywhere. I cannot stand it.”

“I understand.” I placed a hand on her head and offered a silent prayer to our goddesses and ancestors that this was the right decision. That no harm would come to her and she would never regret this.

“You’ll take my blood?”

“I’ll do anything. Please,” she begged, clutching his arm until her nails dug into his skin. There was nothing I could do. I wanted her to be at peace, to feel no pain, to heal.

I did not, however, wish to be anywhere near my mother when she found out about this.

“How will you do it?” I asked, hovering over them.

“I suppose the easiest way would be for her to drink the blood from my vein.”

My stomach turned. Even Callie seemed to balk at this, though only momentarily. “That will do. I can do that.”

“Callie…” I groaned.

Dallas shot me a withering look. “It’s the fastest way. Unless you have a syringe somewhere and haven’t told me about it.”

I rolled my eyes but backed away. “Do what you must. So long as it helps her.” I sat off to the side, drawing my knees to my chest before feeding the fire more wood. She would need to be comfortable and warm. After that, I wrapped my arms around my legs and wished this was nothing worse than a terrible dream.

The storm in my brain had long since subsided, having broken when the connection between Callie and myself broke. In its place was a strange, new sensation. The feeling that I wasn’t alone in my head anymore.

All will be well, a foreign voice assured me.You need not fear.

“That’s very easy for you to say,” I muttered under my breath, watching in a mix of fascination and horror as Dallas used a flat, sharp stone to slice his wrist.

Blood instantly appeared there, dripping from his muscular forearm. He lowered it to Callie’s lips and to my further horror, she drank what he offered. I had to close my eyes. It was all too terrible to witness.

“How much does she need to drink?” I whispered, willing myself not to be sick.

“Not very much,” he murmured, sounding as though he was very far away. There was nothing in the world but the two of them, locked together, with him sharing his life essence and powers and her gratefully accepting.

“There, there,” he murmured. “It will all be better now.”

I opened my eyes in time to see him pull his wrist from her mouth. Suddenly, she began to tremble from head to toe.

“She doesn’t look better.” I crawled over to where she trembled, harder all the time, until she seemed to be seizing. “What’s happening to her?”

He looked as alarmed as I felt. “I don’t know. I’ve—”

“You’ve never done this before.” I grabbed his arm. “You’ve never done this before?”

“Everyone knows our blood heals—”

“But you’ve never healed anyone with your blood before?”

“No.” He looked down at her. “No, I haven’t.”

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