Page 156 of Savage Blood
“Help!” I screamed, my throat threatening to tear open. “Help!”
Voices sounded, and then Ruin and Roxie appeared, both clutching duffel bags as if they were making their escape, planning to vanish forever. Ruin’s smile dissolved when he saw me cradling and rocking Fane’s motionless form. He dropped the bag on the floor with a thud.
“What the fuck happened?” Ruin demanded.
“Demise.” The word burst between my clenched teeth like a vicious curse. “Coltrane shot him with some kind of magical bullet.”
The blood drained from the high demon’s cheeks, and he staggered back. Roxie gripped his hand to get his attention.
“We have to go,” she hissed. “You’ll never be free if you stay.”
As Hawk lowered to my side, agony written on his face, Ruin looked from us to Roxie and then shook his head.
“I’ll never be free if I turn my back on them again.” Hepulled the bag off her shoulder and dropped it. “Stay here. I’ll be back.”
Lines creased Roxie’s forehead as if she couldn’t understand Ruin’s decision, but instead of bitching about it, she leaned against the wall, keeping her distance.
Ruin returned a few minutes later and knelt beside us, holding out a small black vial. “He needs to drink this.”
My lungs drew in a sharp breath, a small amount of hope blossoming in my chest. “I thought an antidote for Demise didn’t exist.”
His lips thinned into a grim line. “It doesn’t, Tate. Sanktum Draught will only keep him alive a little longer to give us time to think of our options.”
The hope shattered like delicate glass struck by a bullet. Still, I lifted Fane’s head so Ruin could pour the elixir into his mouth.
“Our only saving grace is that Fane isn’t a full demon,” Ruin said. “There might be a way.”
“There’sno fucking way I can do this,” Logan snarled, throwing a glass beaker across his lab, shattering it against the wall. “I’m an alchemist. Not a god.”
He’d said similar words to Fane the last time we were in this lab. I gripped Fane’s clammy hand as he lay on a metal table, maybe even the same one I’d woken up on years ago, so close to death he had to bite me to save me.
Too bad I couldn’t simply bite Fane now to save him.
After Ruin gave the Sanktum Draught to Fane, others swarmed the room and collected us. Everything was a blur, and I didn’t even remember how we ended up at Logan’s housein Vlehull. I was suddenly sitting by Fane on a stool, holding his hand as if my life depended on never letting him go.
Actually, it did.
If I let him go, I’d die right along with him.
I brushed the black strands of Fane’s hair away from his pale, sweaty cheeks. Logan placed a bandage on his wounds and dressed him in a pair of sweatpants. Fear clogged the lab and prodded at my craving for it, attempting to steal my sanity at the same time.
My fear, Logan’s fear, Ruin’s fear.
Fear, fear, fear…
Overwhelmed, I pulled my hand away from Fane’s and jumped from the stool, kicking it over.
“Tick, tock, the clock is running.” I marched across the lab and snatched Logan’s shirt, gritting my teeth. “Out. Shadows spread, and the world is fading. Oblivion waits on the other side. Better hurry, Dr. Frankenstein. The monster needs a storm.”
For fuck’s sake, I was back to spouting gibberish.
“I’m trying, Tate,” Logan whispered as if he understood my incoherent words.
Maybe he did.
“Try harder.” Once more, my bottom lip trembled. “I can’t lose him.”
The high demon gripped my hands and pried them from his shirt before I could shred it. “Just give me a minute to think before you break into my mind to find my fears. I know you’re angry and upset, but?—”
