Callie croaked out a scream when the steel pierced through her flesh, broke through her rib cage, and embedded itself deep in her heart. She blinked as from one beat to the next, her heart jerked like a zombie first learning to walk again.
And with the next beat, agony pierced through her as the shock faded. She felt something warm spread across her chest, but the bleeding wasn’t as bad as she’d thought it would be, and she realized it was because the blade was still in her heart.
When Yannis leaned closer, his breath warmed her face as his black eyes held hers.
“It’s nothing personal,” he said. “This is all about my brother.”
With that, he yanked the blade free, and Callie gasped as blood poured forth. She opened her mouth to scream, but the blood surging up her throat choked off any sound, as well as her air supply.
Weakness seeped into her body. The hand holding her let go, and her knees gave way as she sank to the ground. She tried to lift her hands to staunch the blood flowing from her chest. It wouldn’t do her much good as every beat of her heart pumped out more blood, but it was all she could think to do.
However, her hands wouldn’t rise, and though her mind commanded her body to do something, it did nothing. She was completely helpless, and she was dying.
That hit her hard, as well as the knowledge Lucien wouldn’t survive this either. That was when she realized the roar reverberating in her ears wasn’t the rush of her dwindling blood supply; it was coming from him.
The sound was primal, animalistic, and filled with so much fury and sorrow it caused her broken heart to twist in her chest as she slumped forward. She managed to turn her head before hitting the ground, and her cheek pressed into the dirt.
Dust clogged her nose with every inhalation. Warmth spread beneath her as coldness seeped into her bones and her eyes closed.
Lucien’s rage twisted and turned him into something he didn’t recognize. It was malevolent, cruel, and sadistic, and he released it on the world as Callie hit the ground.
He threw off the Savages cleaving to him as he focused on his brother. He’d tear Yannis apart limb from limb and beat him to death with his own extremities for this. He’d shred the skin from Yannis’s muscles before peeling them from his bones and battering those bones into dust.
More of the monsters leapt onto his back, but he dragged them across the rest area as he stalked toward where Yannis stood over Callie with the tip of his bloody sword digging into the ground. Lucien was almost to him when Killean crashed into Yannis’s side and tackled him to the ground.
A blow against Lucien’s temple staggered him to the side as Savages clawed into his flesh. The blood spilling from his wounds soaked his clothes and splashed across the ground. Still, he didn’t stop.
When one of them sank its fangs into his throat, the pain didn’t immobilize him or bring him to his knees. Instead, it fueled him.
Gripping the Savage by its nape, he squeezed until bone popped and cartilage shredded. He tore the bastard’s head from its shoulders, and hooking his fingers into its open neck, he used it to bash in the head of another one clinging to him.
He had to get to her!
If he could get to her, he could give her his blood and save her. But with every second, he felt that possibility slipping further away. She didn’t have much time left; she might not have any left already.
That thought spurred him onward even as a blow to his right knee caused his leg to bend in a way it should never go. He didn’t feel it when his knee went backward, but he did stagger beneath the weight of the bodies on him.
No! The word reverberated through his mind as his hands hit the ground, and he pushed himself back up.
But as he rose, more Savages piled on top of him. Buried beneath the pile of foul-smelling creatures, Lucien’s fingers remained hooked into the skull of the one he decapitated as he spun and used it to smash them in their faces. They fell back as cheeks and jaws shattered.
Hands jerked at Callie and flipped her over. She tried to blink the face hovering over her into focus, but she couldn’t blink anymore. Instead, her eyes remained half-open as they stared at the night sky.
She’d always loved the stars. Often, she and her dad would sit beneath them while he pointed out the constellations. She spotted the Big Dipper and thought she smiled, but she couldn’t be sure.
At least the pain was fading as coldness seeped in to replace it. She couldn’t feel her extremities anymore; she was floating. Maybe she was already dead and this was heaven.
Soon, she would see her dad again, or at least she hoped she would. She didn’t want to leave Lucien, she couldn’t think about what would become of him without her, but she would like to see her dad again.
“Callie. Callie, look at me,” a frantic voice commanded.
She couldn’t look at anything but the stars shining within the thick, black sky. They held endless possibilities as they shifted above her. They were beautiful, and she was glad they would be the last things she saw.
A hand gripped her face and turned it away from the beauty of the heavens. Something warm pressed against her mouth, and liquid pooled in her throat until she swallowed.
She couldn’t place what the liquid was. The taste was unfamiliar, and the thickness was unusual, but it didn’t matter. She was dying. It would all be over soon.
Her eyes drifted closed as the cold hand of death encased her.