Page 47 of Resurrecting His Soul
“You need, ugh, need to go,” Allison choked on the words.
When he bent down to tend to her, he heard Melina coming up behind him. He pretended to be occupied with Allison until Melina was right behind him. He didn’t waste any time. If he drew things out any longer, he would be risking Lisandra and Allison’s lives again, and he would never make that mistake again. Before Melina had time to react, he was up. He spun around, grabbed her neck, and twisted so hard the break seemed to echo as the spine injury reverberated through every vertebra in her neck. Faster than her body could fall to the ground, he rammed his hand through her chest and relieved her of her cold, stone heart.
When he turned back to Allison, he expected her to be afraid of him after witnessing the heart removal he’d just performed on Melina, but what he found was much worse. Her eyes were drifting closed and listening to her heartbeat fading in and out, he knew she did not have much time. He desperately wanted to get back to Lisandra, but if he let Allison die, she would never recover. Then again, she might not forgive him for saving her, either, because at this stage in the game there was only one way he was going to be able to keep Allison from crossing over death’s doorway. He squatted beside her and bit into his wrist. Her eyes fluttered open when he moved to place his wrist to her mouth.
“It is the only way,” he said.
“Save Lis.” Her words were barely a whisper, but he nodded.
“I will, but you first.”
She hesitated when he pressed his wrist against her lips, but only for a second before she opened her mouth and allowed his blood to trickle over her tongue. He kept it there until he was sure she’d had enough to trigger the change. When he pulled his wrist away, he laid her head back softly.
“This is going to hurt,” he said as he wrapped his hands around the wood that had torn through her body. Her eyes fluttered, but she didn’t say anything, not that he had expected her to. The change was so much work on the body it usually put the person into a near coma-like state. Still, he wasn’t sure she was far enough into the change that she would not feel him pulling the wood from her body, but he couldn’t risk leaving it in. Vampirism could cure a lot, but it wouldn’t be able to do anything about the hole in her abdomen if the object that created it remained in its way.
He pulled the wood out quickly, hoping a fast removal would cause less pain, like ripping off a bandaid. Allison’s body jerked upright, and a scream tore from her lips, but he caught the back of her head before she fell back to the dirt, and once again eased her to the ground. Tears rolled down the sides of her face when he laid her down, and her eyebrows were drawn together, making wrinkles form in the center of her forehead, but she never opened her eyes. Having to leave her was not ideal, but he had to go back for Lisandra.
Leaving Allison was probably something he was going to have to answer to Lisandra for, but he couldn’t leave her to fight Jameson on her own. She was strong, stronger than she knew, but Jameson would not hesitate to kill Lisandra, and that wasn’t something he was sure she would be willing to do if it came down to killing or being killed. He’d seen the fear she still held in Jameson’s presence, and he worried her fear could make her vulnerable. He ran back to the shed as fast as he could, and he nearly ran straight into Lisandra. When he saw her his heart sank. Blood coated her mouth and ran down her neck, seeping into her shirt.
He reached for her. Placed his hands on her upper arms, trying to be gentle. She wasn’t moving like she was hurt, especially considering how fast she had been moving when they almost collided, but there was so much blood he could not be sure. One thing that was glaringly obvious was that Jameson had not come running out of the shed after her, and he did not hear any signs of movement from inside the dilapidated building.
“Love, are you alright?” he asked, bringing his hands up her neck to her face until they rested softly against her cheeks.
“Fine,” she said curtly. “Where’s Allison?”
“She is going to be fine. Is Jameson…”
She cut him off. “He will not be a problem anymore. How about Melina? She ran out after you.”
He watched her closely while she spoke. Her words were rushed, but there was a crack in her tone every couple of words, and he knew she was trying to hold on to the part of her that had helped her fight Jameson, and from the evidence had helped her to kill him. But her heart was too good for that, and that part of her was trying to break through. When it did, he knew she was going to need him, and he was going to be right there.
“You don’t have to worry anymore, Lisandra.” He ran his fingers over her hair, pushing the strands that were caught in the blood on her face back into place. “Nothing is going to happen to you or Allison. If she is your family, then she is also mine. I protect my family.”
Shaking her head, she began blinking rapidly before she roughly wiped away the tears that escaped with the back of her hands. “No. We can’t let Melina go, Ricardo. I know she’s your progeny, and that means you have some kind of vampire bond, but she isn’t like you. She doesn’t have any good in her. We cannot risk her coming back. I won’t keep putting Allison’s life in danger. And I won’t leave you either, so she has to die. It’s the only way.”
Her words were everything he needed to hear, but he tried to hold back his smile. She was going through so much, but hearing her say she didn’t ever want anything or anyone to take her away from him made him want to pull her into his arms, kiss her, and never let her go. He would get to that, but first he needed to offer her some assurance that they were all safe, and Melina was no longer a threat.
With a finger beneath her chin, he tilted her face up and waited until she met his eyes. “Melina will never hurt you or anyone again. This I promise you.”
“How can you promise that?” Her lip quivered, and he softly placed his thumb there.
“You were right. I’m sorry I didn’t act sooner and save you from all of this. I didn’t want to see it before, but the only way she was going to stop was if I stopped her, permanently. She won’t hurt you anymore because she is no longer living.”
“No,” she said. “You have nothing to be sorry for. You tried to give her the same chance that wasn’t given to you when you were a younger vampire, but it turns out some people enjoy being evil, and it doesn’t matter if they are human or vampire. You were right about me needing to come to terms with new aspects of my life as a vampire too. I am not human anymore and being a vampire comes with new challenges. Sometimes we have to fight for survival, and if we had not killed them, they never would have stopped until we were the ones dead. I won’t hesitate to protect the people I love or myself again.”
He bent his head and gave her a soft kiss. “I think we were both right. There is no reason we cannot survive without killing innocent humans, but we also should not allow other vampires to put us in danger and risk our lives. Killing should be a last resort as a means to protect ourselves and survive. I should have listened when you told me who Melina was. I will never allow someone the chance to hurt you again.”
Her eyes watered with unshed tears, but she offered him a small smile, and he would take it. Even after days of living through hell with Jameson, and taking him out in a fight, she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Pulling her in close, he wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on top of her hair, soaking in the feel of her. She had only been gone for a few days, but it felt like he had missed her for a lifetime. He didn’t realize he was crying until she pulled back to look at him, and cupped his face, wiping his tears away with her thumb.
“I’m sorry,” he said, and he wiped his other cheek. “I was so afraid I was going to lose you and now holding you in my arms again is just… it’s hard to explain how happy I am when I’m with you. You have brought me back to life in more ways than you know. I love you so much.”
She moved and stood on her tip-toes, then wrapped her arms around his neck. When she pressed her lips to his, his whole body came to life, and he groaned into her mouth, wishing there was some way they could remain connected completely, forever. She moved her hands down his chest, and her breathing became faster and harder against his lips, and he had to fight himself internally to keep from ripping her clothes off and making love to her right there. After a few minutes or hours, he really wasn’t sure how long it was, an eternity maybe. She pulled her head back and looked up at him with an arched brow. He immediately missed her kiss, but when he tipped his head down and attempted to reconnect with her lips, she held a finger between their mouths.
“Gah, I wasn’t done with you,” he said.
She laughed. “Don’t worry, we’re not done, but,” she lifted his chin so he was looking at her face full on, “what did you mean when you said Allisonwouldbe fine? Where is she?”
He turned his head, rubbing the back of his neck, and chewed on his lip. She’d been okay with him changing her when Melina almost killed her, but Allison might be different.
