Page 96 of Destined for Shadows
All that was left was his face, which he’d ducked behind her back in a small show of self-preservation. It was that, or he wanted to hang on as long as possible to ensure she didn’t get away. How could he have become so demented that he was willing to take her down with him?
Something inside Cori broke. She deserved a lot, but she didn’t deserve to spend eternity with Griff, and she had no doubt Hell would choose that as her punishment if her life ended now. Whether or not she deserved happiness might have been debatable, but maybe she could at least try to make a difference in the world before she left it. All she had to do was choose to live and fight for that chance with all she had in her.
The sun was moments away from peeking over the horizon, and then surely her opportunity would be gone. Cori couldn’t wait a moment longer. Ignoring all the aches and pains of her injuries, as well as the fire starting to burn through her clothes, she lifted her leg and kicked back into Griff’s shin. Her heel broke through his melting skin to the bone. He cried out and tightened his grip on her.
“No, you won’t escape. We die together!” he shouted in a garbled voice, holding her struggling form.
Her clothing began falling away in ashes, and the flames licked along her skin. She screamed as pure agony ran through her. All Cori could think about was getting away from the pain, so she fought even harder. She kicked again and again until Griff’s arms slackened enough for her to twist around and face him. As the blaze crawled up between them, she pushed against his blackened chest, burning her palms. He finally let go, and she collapsed to the ground. Rolling back and forth and crying out in pain, she worked to put out the flames covering her body. They died on her chest and back, but her lower legs were still engulfed. It wasn’t enough. She needed help if she was going to survive this.
Cori rolled once more, and her gaze honed in on a black stone with silver veins. It must have fallen from Griff’s pocket after his pants started burning. He’d meant for it to burn with him so her friends would never know that was the relic that drained their powers. Scraping the flesh from her elbows and knees, she crawled several feet to reach it. Her scorched fingers grasped it tightly. She closed her eyes and dug deep to the center of her very being, pulling on the last bit of strength she had to throw the stone as far as she could toward her friends.
It sailed through the air as she cried out, “Get it away from here!”
She could only pray they would understand.
Crumpling onto her stomach and squishing her face into the dirt, she watched as it landed at the edge of the minefield. Tormod, being the closest to it, snatched the stone up and tossed it to one of the werewolves unaffected by its powers. Several of them had just finished shifting back to human form with the dawn and were still naked, but one of them grabbed the stone. The man wasted no time running away with it.
Cori expelled a breath. No one could say she didn’t try to save herself.
The flames crawled their way back up her body, sending scorching pain through her legs, buttocks, and finally her back. She let out a choked scream, unable to move. At any moment, they would reach her head, and she would lose all will to live. As it was, her vision was growing hazy.
Bartol appeared before her. “Hang on, Cori!”
He stretched his hands out and in a burst of power, extinguished the flames. Her friends appeared next, hovering in a circle around her. She overheard a few others run into the house to check it, but they wouldn’t find anyone in there. Griff had sent away his human minions.
Cori wanted to shout or scream as the pain overwhelmed her senses. She wanted to tell the people who’d come to help her that it was too late and not even Micah could heal this much damage, but she couldn’t force the words from her throat. It was so swollen and sore that she could barely breathe. Lying there in horrible agony, Cori hoped they’d have mercy and put her out of her misery.
“Most of her body is too badly burned,” Micah said, crouching somewhere off to her side. “This is far beyond what I can heal before she succumbs to the burns.”
“We could take her to Kariann,” Derrick suggested.
Melena moved close to Cori and ran a soothing hand through her hair, which had mostly survived the flames. “Bartol said Griff has been hurting her off and on since she was taken, so I’m guessing she’s already had too much vampire blood. If we give her any more, she will start to turn and die.”
“We have to do something!” Bartol insisted, kneeling next to Melena. “We can’t leave her like this.”
Cori coughed. First once and then her hacking progressed into a full fit so that she couldn’t breathe. Micah shouted at the others to move aside and put his hands on her throat and chest. A minute later, she could draw breath again. The only trouble with that was it returned full attention to the burns covering her. She curled into herself, feeling almost all of her skin was scorched black from her chest down. Her clothes were completely gone.
Micah sighed. “That’s the best I can do for her. If I start on her skin, the pain will intensify and send her into shock. She won’t survive it. Maybe in a human hospital…”
“No,” Melena said, emphatic. “She’ll only suffer more there.”
“Let me die,” Cori whispered, finally finding her voice.
Bartol kneeled over her and took her face into his hands. “I said you’re not dying on my watch. If it is the only way, I’ll give you my blood.”
Lucas grabbed his shoulder. “Don’t. The archangels will make you pay a high price for that, and you’re not in any shape to handle another stay in Purgatory this soon.”
“I don’t care,” Bartol growled. “You’d do the same for Melena.”
The nephilim clamped his lips shut and stepped away.
“Even if you don’t care about that,” Micah said, his gaze regretful. “No human has ever survived drinking nephilim blood. You will likely kill her or make her go mad.”
Melena’s voice rose above the others, “I can do it.”
“No,” Lucas barked. “You’ve pushed the archangels far enough lately.”
The sensor plopped down next to Bartol and stared at Cori. “She has the greatest chance of surviving with my blood, and I swear by all that is holy if you stop me I will shoot you.”
