Page 42 of The Secret of Pain

I blink and find the Dracul above me headless, and a very pissed-off Creek looks down at me.

"Shit, Remy. Colt, she's bleeding badly."

"Fuck!" Colt shouts and runs over to me. "All four are down. Grab her, I'll get the gate open and we'll get her to Fallon. She can help heal her."

"Can't I just heal?" I ask, wincing at the pain ripping through me as Creek pushes the Dracul off of me and scoops me up into his arms.

"Not this time, Rem. The Dracul around here have started coating their claws in a poison that seems to slow our healing. The knife wound, you could heal from easily, but the rest, we need a Witch."

"Fuck."

"Yeah, fuck." He jogs and I try to stay as still as I can, but the blood loss makes me feel dizzy, so I close my eyes.

"Hurry, Colt," I hear the sounds muffled, as if far away, and drift into a calm as the doors slam shut and we move.

* * *

Blood sputters from my lips as I try to breathe in, coughing the thick liquid up my throat.

"Fuck, no, Remy, you don't get to leave me like this. Not now." Creek’s face appears in front of mine, and I feel his arms wrap around me. He scoops me up from the ground, the warehouse where we just emptied a Dracul nest now silent as the cold seeps in.

"It was a lucky shot," I say, coughing.

"We're going to get you healed. You just need to hang on… The Witch's shop isn't far from here."

"Creek. It's too late." I sigh sadly, accepting my fate and rest my head on his shoulder as he runs with me, not listening to my words.

"Just hang on, Remy. We're so close."

"Creek," I say, my breath rattling. "Stop."

He halts, the night closing around us, the only light for miles from the moon above us. "It's too far," I say with a rueful smile. He looks down at me, tears on his face.

"I can't do this without you, Remy. It’s too soon. This is so fucked up. I'm not giving up." He starts to run again, as fast as his Hunter speed can carry us across the terrain back to the city where the Witches reside. I close my eyes, accepting my fate. This is not my first life, and it will not be my last, though I wish it hadn't been ripped from me so soon.

Not when we barely had a chance to explore what we finally discovered.

"Just a little longer, hold on, Remy." Creek’s voice filters through my ears, bringing me peace, and I smile. I have known love in many forms, but the love Creek gifted me with is possibly the purest I've ever felt. Unyielding, unfaltering, and all-encompassing.

"I love you, Creek." The words are breathy, only just audible as my heartbeat slows and the blade that sits in my heart destroys me with every second that passes.

"I love you too, Rem. In this life and all others that come. Please don't leave me," he pants, and his tears splash down onto my face. "It's not fair. I only just got you."

"I'm sorry. Tell my family I love them and that I'll see them soon."

"No, Remy, you'll see them soon enough. We're almost there. Just another minute." His movements grow faster and then we stop, a smash of glass filters through the air before Creek’s voice yells out.

"What on earth!" a woman's voice reaches my ears as the darkness starts to close in around me. "Quickly, bring her over here. There's not much time."

We move again, and I hear the sound of crashing around me before Creek's warmth leaves my back and I'm laid down. "We may be too late." The woman's hushed voice sounds afraid.

"Heal her," Creek growls, and takes my hand.

"I love you," I whisper. "It's okay."

"Shut the fuck up, Remy."

I scream as the blade is pulled from me and pressure applied. The darkness starts to close in further when a warmth floods me. Witch Light. The heat grows to the point of making me want to scream out again at the burning, but I have no voice as the magic holds me in place.

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