Chapter 12

 

 

 

“No!”

No, no, no, no.

“Abigail! No! You bastard, Hollis! Why’d you do that?”

I dove, caught her limp body as it fell to the ground. A black stain spread across the bodice of her dress, blood already congealing on the cement beneath our feet.

“Him,” Hollis said, although I barely registered his words. “Cam sent me to be tortured by those fucking vampires in New York. Which sucked majorly, by the way. So this is my revenge.”

“You killed the woman I love to get back at Cam?” I glared up at him while I pulled Abigail’s body close, heedless of the blood. It was everywhere. So much blood. Vampires rarely wasted it like this; I wasn’t used to seeing it spilling out of a vein, pouring down a body in dark rivulets.

Hollis scoffed. “I don’t give a shit about her and what she means to you. She’s Anya’s sister and Cam loves Anya. That’s why I did it.”

The man needed to meet the true death. He’d been a menace since the moment Selina turned him.

A few decades later, she’d turned me, claiming she’d gotten bored with Hollis, although I’d always suspected it was because she hadn’t been able to control him. But the realization of what I’d lost hit me before she tired of me too, so, at Luther’s suggestion, I’d moved to Chicago with Cam to escape her. I could never be entirely free, of course, but I’d gone far enough that I’d been out of sight and mind, and it hadn’t taken her long to become distracted and find someone else to play with.

“What are you doing?” I demanded when the devil herself crouched next to me and tried to move my hand.

“Trying to determine if we can save her.”

I snorted. My maker had never, ever considered saving anyone—ever. She was as bad as Hollis.

“Let her try, Parnell,” Luther said, standing over us, what might possibly be a look of sympathy on his face. It was hard to judge, though, since I’d never witnessed him express such an emotion.

There were sounds behind us, a scuffle, maybe. Cam must be trying to subdue Hollis. I should be helping, but I didn’t want to let go of Abigail. I tried to free her so she could live her life, and instead I may have killed her.

“Please,” I croaked. “Help.”

Selina wrinkled her nose and touched the gaping hole in Abigail’s neck. When I glanced at her, I saw her fangs pressing into her bottom lip.

“No,” I said.

“You may not have any other choice if you want to save her.”

“No.”

“Oh stop it, Parnell. Quit acting like a baby. So I turned you without your permission or knowledge. So what? It’s done. We can’t take it back—you just need to learn to live with it. And if you want her to live along with you, we need to—”

“No.” I hugged Abigail close, clinging to her. I could feel her heartbeat. It was slow, too slow. She was knocking on death’s door. If we did not do something in the next few seconds, she would be gone. Forever.

But if Selina turned her… What if Abigail regretted it? What if she wished she were dead, every single day for eternity, like I often did? “I can’t…”

A hand landed on my shoulder and squeezed. “Parnell.” It wasn’t Selina’s voice. “Parnell, look at me.”

I glanced up at Anya. Something dark and slimy was splattered on the front of her shirt. My gaze darted around and landed on Cam. He was alive. I breathed a small sigh of relief. Until I looked down at Abigail’s limp body.

“I want to do it,” Anya said. “I’m her next of kin. If we were in a human hospital, I’m the one who would have to make this decision. I would rather have my sister with me. I don’t want to go to her funeral. And I don’t think you do either.”

“But I can’t…”

“Then I will.”

“No,” Cam said. “It’s too dangerous. You’re too young. You won’t know when to stop.”

Anya waved at Abigail’s body. “At this point, I just have to give her some of my blood, right? I mean, she’s lost pretty much all there is to lose.”

“Oh, there’s still a bit left,” Selina said, eyeing my love like she wanted a bite. I glared at her and she sighed. “Fine. But I personally think it would be adorable if we were all one big, happy family.”

“Absolutely not,” I said. If this was happening, I was not about to bring Abigail into my family, into the lifestyle I led for the first decade I was a vampire. “Cam?” I glanced up at my friend. Was I really making this decision?

He stepped up behind Anya and placed his hand on her shoulder. “We should do it. You’ll regret it more if you don’t.”

I squeezed Abigail, felt her heartbeat slow further. This wasn’t fair; I didn’t want to make this decision. I’d vowed for more than a hundred years ago to never, ever do this.

But I couldn’t let her die.

So I gently laid her out on the floor and stepped back. Anya and Cam knelt beside her, and I heard him whisper instructions to his mate. And then I turned away and walked out of the hangar.