Page 9 of Chosen, Eternally
I can’t help the goofy smile on my face. “And I would’ve loved every second of it.”
He reaches out to take my hand and places a kiss on the back of it, his eyes closing as he inhales the scent of my skin. When he lowers my hand, his fingers twine with mine, and he never lets go.
Not until the doorbell rings, at least, with our dinner.
“It’s your turn now,” I say as I pull out our food from the delivery bag (two double bacon cheeseburgers and a large Coke for him—he wasravenous, he said—and a regular cheeseburger and Diet Coke for me). “Tell me what happened.”
He exhales before unwrapping his burger, the smell of the beef and cheese filling my small loft. “I’m not sure, to be honest. Like I said, the last thing I remember is the fight that broke out after telling you I loved you.Loveyou.” He shoots me a grin, and I can’t help mine.
My heart does cartwheels in my chest, but I’m terrified. For the past year, it’s been my job to fight off monsters and demons every day—but no fight or interaction with them has been as terrifying as this moment right now. What if it all goes away? What if it isn’t even happening?
“After that, I have vague memories of being knocked unconscious. Next thing I know, I’m waking up in this musty, damp room. No windows, no exit. No bathroom. They’d feed me every so often, but it was always under the door. I never so much as spoke or saw anyone until tonight, when those three vampires pulled me from my cell and told me I had somewhere to be. Then, right before you caught us, one of them said something like ‘We should do it here.’ Next thing I know, I’m being knocked on my ass by the edge of the trees. That’s when one of them bit my throat. It was so fucking painful, Cate. I tried to fight them off and, as you can see, got beaten to a pulp.” I wince when he points to his busted lip, his slightly bruised eye.
James’s facedoeslook like it’s been through a fight, but it doesn’t look as bad anymore.
Huh. The Healing potion works fast, but notthatfast.
“After that, they kept trying to feed me something. It was so weird. A red liquid from a vial one of them pulled from their pocket, and?—”
A metaphorical record scratch sounds over his voice.
“I’m sorry, what? Theyfedyou something?” My heart takes off faster than I’ve ever felt it, the adrenaline speeding through my veins at an impossible speed. It’s like my body knows what he’s going to confirm before my brain does and is making sure I have the strength and will to accept it. To endure it.
James’s nose scrunches in the most adorable way. “Yeah. And honestly? It tasted a little like blood.”
And there’s the other shoe dropping, I think. It lands like a damn anvil from the top of the Grand Canyon on my head, Wile E. Coyote style. For a second there, I very nearly pass out.
As soon as I can speak, I get to my feet, jelly-legged, and walk over to my loft window. The moon is high in the sky, the city is quiet, and no one knows just how badly I want to cry right now. To scream in frustration.
“Did you drink it?” I ask him, my eyes on my reflection in the window. I should win an Oscar for how calm I’m able to act, considering. “The blood, I mean?”
Mid-bite, James responds with a muffled “They forced it down my throat. Kinda had to.”
I suck in a breath and hold it in, feeling my lungs expand with every second that goes by. It won’t be long now before he changes. It happens over a period of twenty-four hours. Or at least that’s what The Society told me during training.
Almost in a trance, I wonder at what point in the transformation he will lose his soul. Wonder how much longer I have with my love before he’s not only gone, but I have to end his life hours after finding our way back to each other.
“Cate?” James says my name like it isn’t the first time he’s called me. “Cate, baby. What’s wrong?”
“How are you feeling?” I ask, finally turning to look at him. Toreallylook at him. I do my best to absorb every single detail of the man in front of me. To remember these last few moments together. The slightly overgrown haircut and beard, only naturalafter a year of isolation. The same sparkling blue eyes where I imagined myself swimming so many times. His broad shoulders, which I so yearned to run my hands over. Feel the strength of his body and heart beneath my fingertips.
And now I won’t have that.
“I—I told you. Good. Surprisingly not as sore as I thought I would be,” he says with a rueful laugh. “To be honest, I’m not in as much pain anymore. I think—Whoa, hey. Why are you crying?”
I didn’t even realize that I was. But then, a sob.
“James. I think you’re a vampire.”
James bursts out laughing. “What? I think I would know if I were a vampire, Cate.”
Devastated, I say, “Maybe you aren’t one now, but you’re in transition. I think that’s why you’re still able to eat human food and… Well, anyway, soon enough you’ll lose your soul, grow fangs, and only care for two things: human blood and the destruction of witches. You’ll be evil. Dangerous. And then…”
I can’t hold back my tears—they stream freely down my cheeks, my heart shattered into a million pieces almost making me wish he’d never come back. Especially since it’s my responsibility to rid this town of vampires, and now that will include him.
James takes a deep breath and wipes his hands on a napkin before walking over to me. When he reaches my side, he cups my face with his right and holds my hip tightly with his left—staking a claim, while trying to comfort me. And I want that. I want him to stake a claim. I want him to hold me, to love me. I need him to tell me everything will be alright because I’m not sure I’ll survive his death a second time. Not when it will be at my hands this time around.
“We don’t even know whether I’m truly changing into a vampire. Maybe it was something else. Maybe they gave me a weird potion like you did, or?—”
