“Essa, Essa, wake up.”
My shoulders shook, and I reluctantly opened my eyes, surprised that I still could. Lionel’s face swam into view.
I felt him on top of me, his body weight sealing off the wounds somewhat. “Essa, you have to heal.”
“It’s too late. You’re alive. That’s enough for me.” I had done one good thing, at least.
“My blood,” he said. “My life force. It’ll give you strength. Drink from me.” He lowered his neck toward my mouth.
“No.” I shook my head. “You don’t want to be a bloodbag.”
“I don’t want to be a bloodbag. But I’m willing to be your bloodbag.” Lionel used his fingers to claw at the wound in his neck. He broke it open and fresh blood trickled free.
“I can’t. Your life force is almost gone.”
“Take some, then. What you need.”
With his fingers, he dribbled blood onto my lips, and I was unable to stop myself from transforming.
I was ready for it all to end. More than ready. And I couldn’t let Lionel undo my sacrifice. “Look at me,” I said to him. “A skeletal face, sharp fangs, red eyes. This is the real me. I’m not someone to be loved. I have been in the world too long. I can’t undo all the horrible things I’ve done, but I can at least leave having done one good thing in saving you.”
“You haven’t saved me,” Lionel said. “If you have no strength left to keep living, then we shall die together. Do you really think the rest of the vampires will let me out of here with their queen and you dead?”
Damn it. I hadn’t thought of that. “Your life force is near critical. If I start, I won’t be able to stop in time.”
“I already accustomed myself to dying in that manner,” Lionel said. “You’re already forgiven if it goes wrong. I trust that it won’t, though.” He touched his neck to my lips.
As drops fell into my mouth, my instincts took me. My fangs bit into Lionel’s skin, and I sucked in a mouthful of glorious-tasting blood.
The single gulp shot through my whole body like a jolt of adrenaline. Blood always tasted fantastic, but in five centuries it had never tasted that good. Like a man dying of thirst finally reaching water, I gulped down mouthful after mouthful. Energy flowed through me, and I opened my mouth wider to draw on the last of the life force.
No. My mind realized what I was doing just in time. With a wrench, I pulled my mouth off his neck. I pushed him off me, and lifting myself out from under him. His face fell against the carpet. “Lionel.” I knelt beside him and turned him onto his back.
His head was bent back at an angle, his eyes were closed, and blood gushed from his neck. “No!” I shouted. I should have stopped earlier. Why hadn’t I managed to control myself better? “You have to be alive.” I cupped the back of his head. “Lionel, tell me you are alive.”
Even with the smell of fresh blood strong, my fangs retreated and the bloodlust left me. With my palm, I applied pressure to the side of his neck, stopping the blood flow. “Lionel,” I called again.
Nothing. I shook him. A bit too violently, because blood leaked from his neck once more. I reapplied pressure.
“Please,” I said. “You can’t be dead.” After many instances of wanton murder, this was the one time I had touched my fangs to a neck while desperately wanting not to kill. Was this time going to end up like the others as a punishment of fate? “You just can’t.”
I grabbed his wrist, seeking a pulse, but I was too frantic to feel anything. I opened an eyelid. Did his eye stir?
“Lionel,” I said. “I need you to wake up.”
Nothing. I exhaled a breath of pure despair. Had it been my imagination that his eye had moved?
I slumped into a sitting position beside him, glancing across at Mortissa’s corpse. Defeating her meant nothing now. Less than nothing. Better I died than he did. Better she killed him than I did.
Lionel’s eyelids fluttered.
I leaned forward again. “Lionel,” I called. Had it been my imagination again?
Then his eyes opened fully.
“You’re not dead,” I said, a stupid grin on my face.
“Are you...?” He stumbled over his words. “Did my blood help?”
“I’m feeling fantastic.” The wounds on my torso had closed up. “You?”
He shivered. “I feel like I should be dead.”
We both should be. “Let’s see if we can manage one more miracle.” I slid one arm under his neck, preparing to lift him. “Let’s get you out of here.”
“Where are you going to take me?”
I thought for a moment. “To your home. Cress House. They’ll take care of you there. Heal you.” I wouldn’t exactly be welcome. “I’ll have to drop you off at the gate and leave.”
“No.” Lionel shook his head. “I don’t want to return there. And I’m not being separated from you right now. Not like that.”
“We need someone to give you healing.” Life force couldn’t be renewed by magic, but the wound on his neck could be healed, as well as the other damage Mortissa had inflicted.
“Give me a phone,” he said.
I took my cell from my pocket and handed it across. As I did so, I noticed the time on the display. There wasn’t much night left in the night—we needed to get moving.
Lionel dialed. “What’s the address of this place?”
“Near Cherry and Fifteenth.”
For twenty long, drawn-out seconds, the phone rang unanswered. Then a woman spoke, “Hello?”
“Essa and I need your help. Can you collect us at the corner of Cherry and Fifteenth Street?” He waited for a response, then said, “We might be dead in twenty minutes. Can you make it ten?”
I couldn’t make out the reply.
“Good.” He hung up, and handed the phone back. I pocketed it, then tucked one arm under his shoulders and the other under his knees and lifted.
I staggered slightly as I took the full weight of him.
“Are you okay?” Lionel asked.
“Fine,” I said once the immediate wave of dizziness faded. I wasn’t bleeding badly anywhere, and with the help of Lionel’s life force, my healing powers meant I’d continue to improve. Still, I wouldn’t defeat the weakest vampire in a fight. “Maybe act unconscious for a while.” With Mortissa dead, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the other vampires. It was best that Lionel not draw attention to himself. “Or at least don’t say anything.”
“That won’t be hard,” Lionel said. “I don’t feel very awake. Or even alive.”
I turned my back to the door, and used my hip to twist the handle. Then I swung around to face forward again as I passed through the doorway. In the corridor beyond, the Colescu vampires and many of their fawns had begun to gather, attracted by the scent of blood.