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I had to pull over ten minutes ago. If I hadn’t, she would have caused us to crash.
“I fuckin hate you. I hate you!” Again she pounds on my chest, clawing her nails deep into the skin on my arms.
If my vampire soul was to experience hell, this would be it. I have had to deal with a new blood’s awakening, many times before. But this, this is something different. Elizabeth’s awakening is damn near impossible to cope with. I’ve never seen such pain, hate, and bloodlust before.
I catch her wrists in my hands, using all my strength. My eyes blacken upon her writhing body, as I pin her down in the backseat of the truck.
“Elizabeth,” I roar down at her. “Stop!”
We are only ten miles away from the house. Ten fucking miles. But if this continues, we’ll never make it.
I stare down into her eyes, panting, offering her my bloody torn wrist once more. It’s the only way I will get a free moment, to grab a blood bag from the cool box in the foot well.
“It’s okay,” I wince as her fangs nearly touch my bone.
I reach down and feel around the cool box. There’s one bag of blood left. I need it to heal, but Elizabeth needs it more.
She unlatches her fangs, snatching the blood bag from me, moaning as she tears it open with her teeth.
I slam my body into the back rest, gasping, watching my arm bleeding out through her fang marks.
“I... I need more.” She slurps up the last drop of blood.
Feeling completely defeated, I gaze into her darkened eyes. “There isn’t any more. Not until we get to the house.”
She screws up the empty bag, licking the blood from the side of her hand. “Then give me yours,” she says in a breath. “I know you like it really. You always wanted me to be more dominant.” Her ill-timed flirting makes me uneasy. She’s behaving as Selene would, demanding, vicious, and selfish.
“Elizabeth.” I lower my head, feeling the weakest I’ve ever been. “I can’t.”
I hear her fingernails dig into the backseat, scratching and piercing through the leather and foam. If I allow her to drink from me again, I’ll never be able to get her to the house. She will end up drinking me dry.
“I can’t do this,” she whispers feebly, her distant human side coming through.
I elevate my eyes to see her fraught emotions, bringing her back to earth with a bang. She’s exhausted, weeping as her vampire thankfully returns to a dormant state... for now.
I shuffle across to her and take her in my arms, pressing her head against my chest.
“Shush.” I brush my hand down her knotty hair. “You can Elizabeth. You do it for us.”
“I want to die,” she sobs. “I never thought it would be so hard.”
“It will get better, Elizabeth.” My arms tense around her as my lips kiss her hair.
“I’m sorry. I can’t control it. It wants me to hurt you. It wants me to kill. I can smell all the fresh blood, and hear the beating hearts of everything. It hurts so much. I... I need more Adrien. Let me out. Let me feed. Please.”
I lean back, placing my hands on her cheeks. “We are nearly there. Look Elizabeth.” I turn her head so she’s looking out of the windscreen. “Just passed the gas station and down that road.” I feel her cold sweat on the palm of my hands as her face trembles. “Daniel is waiting for you.” I still can’t accept that I’m a Father, but for her, I will pretend. “Do it for him.”
She snivels closing her eyes, nodding yes. I guess Gwen was right. Her love for that child is powerful. More powerful than awakening.
“Okay.” She shuffles away from me into the corner, holding her knees into her chest.
“I love you.” I glance down at my arm to see the healing process has begun. It’s so slow, and I desperately need blood myself.
“Here.” I look up to see Elizabeth holding out her arm, wanting me to feed from her. I guess it’s a big step, her showing some concern for me.
“No.” I shake my head at her, stepping out of the back to take position in the driver’s seat. “I’ll heal, eventually.”
***
MY EYES CONSTANTLY check on Elizabeth in the rear-view mirror. I have my foot down, determined to get to the house as fast as possible.
I drive through the forest at seventy miles an hour. It’s so silent and dark, and I have to use my heightened senses to stay focused. For now Elizabeth seems calm, extremely fidgety, but calm. If she experiences one more violent outburst, I’ll have to give her the blood sedative Dom created. It’s all we have left. But doing that will only amplify her hunger when she wakes, and our blood supply at the house is short.
My view rises once again to look in the mirror. She’s now grinning at me. A twisted smile I’ve never seen her display before.
“Elizabeth?” My brow creases, knowing any second she’s going to turn malevolent again.
“I’m fine. You said I had to be a good girl.”
“Yes, something along those lines.” I can’t concentrate on the road when she’s like this. “What are you doing?” I watch as she turns her body round to the back door, and lifts her knees to her chest.
“That I had to do this for Daniel,” she continues.
“Elizabeth!” I bark as the truck veers into the middle of the road, having just lost control for a second.
“So this counts as me being good.” In one movement she kicks the truck door clean off with both feet, so it ricochets down the road behind us.
I swerve a harsh left onto the verge, and slam on the brakes. She suddenly leaps out of the back and escapes into the night.
I see the flitting bodies of two new bloods closing in on Elizabeth. She’s standing in the middle of the road with her arms out, welcoming them, like she knew they were coming for us.
“FUCK.” I leap out of the truck and flit right up to her. But dammit, I’m too late.
I’ve never seen such darkness and strength. I never thought my Elizabeth could do such magnificent work. Her speed and precision are a match for mine right now. One new blood has had his throat torn out. Dead and gone permanently, within a second. But the other, she’s taking her time on, clawing him, ripping off his flesh, and lapping up his blood. I have to stop her. There’s killing for survival, and then there is this. She’s crazed, covered in blood, enjoying the kill too much.
I grab her shoulder and look down at the new blood. Immediately my awe in her vanishes, and my mercy comes to light. I cannot let her become like I once was. She’s keeping this new blood alive so she can see him suffer as she consumes him. Vampires are dark, but we have to contain our bloodlust. If we allow ourselves to murder and feast like beasts, the world would become a living hell. And regardless of the fact that these new bloods are probably Selene’s spies, I have to try and save some of Elizabeth’s light.
“Shit, Elizabeth, stop!”
She thrusts me away and continues to feed.
Unwilling to watch her, I flit to the back of the truck and take the syringe out from the trailer. I rip the cap off with my teeth as I arrive at her stooped back. She hums and slurps, working her fangs up the new bloods body.
“Sorry, Elizabeth.” I quickly plunge the needle into the side of her neck.
She moans and shudders, dropping down to the side of the new bloods body, unconscious.
Bubbles of blood spurt out from his mouth as I kneel down next to him. What Elizabeth has done to him, is one of the most vicious acts I’ve ever seen from a vampire.
“Selene... Selene wants... she wants...” he chokes.
I rest my hands on his shoulders and lean closer. “What does she want?” He can’t tell me. His mouth, throat, and lungs are drowning. “Last chance, what does Selene want?” I ask him again.
It’s no good, he can’t speak through the shredded flesh on his throat, and I won’t watch him suffer any longer. I move to the top of his head, closing my eyes as I set my hands down on the sides of his face.
“You made a mistake trusting Selene,” I say the final words he will hear.
I twist his neck to hear the loud snap of his spinal cord, and pull his head from his shoulders. Immediately his struggle to survive, turns into a calm hush. I stay on my knees, needing a moment, wiping my head with my wrist.
I turn to Elizabeth as I stand up. I thread my hands beneath her legs and around her back, to lift her up into my arms. I carried her like this after we were married, but the sight of her now is not loving or innocent. I’ll be haunted by this bloody vision of her always. But it will never stop my commitment to keep her safe. She has to come back to me.