Page 56 of A Love So Deadly
It’s music to my ears.
“Lucian.”
I glance up. Andrew is on the other side of Elliot now, peering down at her unmoving small frame.
“Lucian,” he says again. There’s something in his voice that rips me into shreds. “It…it hit her heart. She’s bleeding out.”
The words echo but don’t grab hold. I just stare.
“What do you want me to do?” he asks.
“I… I…” I’m paralyzed. This is too sudden. Too familiar.
My chest constricts.
“Pressure on the wound.” Vittoria snaps orders at him as she whizzes past and tears out the throat of another of Benicio’s henchmen. Blood coats her face and she licks her lips clean. “Keep her alive for him.”
Keep her alive.
For him.
Andrew rolls Elliot onto her back. Her eyes are closed, and her breathing is becoming more shallow. He presses his hand between her breasts to try and slow down the bleeding, but itkeeps oozing past his fingers. “Fuck, she’s slipping. Her pulse is irregular. I don’t…”
Panic blooms under the fury.
I’m going to lose her, too. Just like Nell.
I’m going toloseher.
No, I can’t. Not her, too.
I shove Andrew away. I respected Nell’s wishes not to turn her, and all that did was bring death. I refuse for Elliot to have the same fate. Refuse.
I brush her blood-soaked blonde curls from her throat. I do it. I sink my teeth into her flesh.
Oh, the taste… Her blood is euphoria distilled. It’s everything. It’s glory, it’s power, it’s the elixir of life that’s so honeyed and sweet that I’m compelled to drink every last drop.
Someone is shaking me, yelling—Vittoria—but I ignore her. I drink and drink until everything around me fades but this act.
“Stop, damn it. Fuck, Lucian,” Vittoria snarls. “You need to fucking stop. It’s too late. She’s gone?—”
No, she can’t be. She can’t… My love.
I love her.
Elliot’s heartbeat is only a throbbing beat, so soft, it would be unreadable if my fangs weren’t in her. I don’t know if this is going to work—I may be too late—but I rip open my wrist and tilt her head back.
I let my blood flow and drip onto her colorless lips. I watch it slide into her mouth.
“What are you doing? You aren’t—” Vittoria shouts, but again, I ignore her. Right now, I couldn’t care less about her jealousy.
Elliot needs more of my blood for this to work, so I press my thumb against the vein on my wrist and help the blood come faster. It trickles onto her tongue, but still, she doesn’t move.
She’s boneless in my hands, and I know, deep down, I’ve failed.
Her heart isn’t beating; it’s gone silent. And my own is shattering.
I’m out of time.
