Chapter Twenty-Seven
Utah roared in denial. Michelle couldn’t be gone. She just couldn’t.
“My baby!” Lani screamed, running to her daughter’s side. She still held the gun she’d used to kill her husband.
A blur of motion on the stairs caught Utah’s attention as Cassie and Malik suddenly appeared behind Michelle’s mother. “I got Michelle’s message…”
Cassie’s voice trailed off. She dropped to her knees and laid her head on Michelle’s chest. “She’s dying,” she bit out to no one in particular.
Utah stared in disbelief and horror at the woman he loved more than anything. Yet he couldn’t touch her.
Warmth enveloped him, lifting him from the dirt floor with almost a caress. He turned his head to see his sister standing in the brilliant beam of light surrounding the pit.
“Come, brother. It’s time for us to go.”
Tears spilled from Utah’s eyes. “Leanne. God, how I’ve missed you.”
“We’re free now,” she whispered, holding out her hand. “We’re finally free.”
His body continued to rise until he stood before his beautiful sister. “I love you, Leanne. I will always love you. But I can’t go with you.”
Leanne’s gaze moved to Michelle’s still form. “She won’t last much longer, brother. Bring her with us.”
More tears spilled forth. He wrapped his arms around his sister’s form and bid her goodbye. “I will see you again someday. But today is not that day.”
He watched in sorrow as she slowly faded from his sight.
Turning back to Michelle, Utah gathered every ounce of strength he had left and forced himself to her side.
“She’s not going to make it,” Cassie whispered, sorrow seeping from her pores.
Utah pulled himself closer, his hand going to Michelle’s one more. He could feel a tiny spark of her warmth. “Change her!”
Cassie jerked her head in his direction. “She would never forgive me for—”
“I don’t give a shit if she hates you for eternity! Change her,” Utah snarled.
“Please.”
All eyes swung toward Lani. “I don’t know what you are, Cassandra, nor do I care right now. But If you have the power to save my baby, you do it, or I will kill you myself!”
“I’m a vampire,” Cassie hissed, presenting Lani with her fangs. “Is this what you want for your daughter?”
Lani glanced down at Michelle’s still form and then shifted her gaze back to Cassie. No fear appeared in her eyes. “I don’t care what she is as long as she’s alive.”
Utah touched the blonde on the shoulder. “Cassie, please. I’m begging you…”
Without uttering a word, Cassie batted him away, jerked Michelle’s upper body up from the dirt floor, and sank her fangs into her neck.
Utah watched as Cassie’s eyes rolled back in her head. She drank so long that he was beginning to second-guess his decision to ask this of her. “Stop! You’re killing her!”
“She’s already dying,” Malik quietly informed him. “Cassie is attempting to save her.”
Cassie suddenly pulled back, bit into her wrist, and then placed the open vein over Michelle’s mouth.
Utah held his breath, wanting to pray but knowing he couldn’t. He glanced up at the last remnants of light that remained near the ceiling. He’d made his choice, and that choice lay on a dirt floor, fighting for her life.
Long moments ticked by with Cassandra feeding Michelle her blood.
Malik eventually rested his hand on his wife’s arm. “That’s enough, love. You don’t want to give too much. You’ll weaken yourself.”
Cassie remained where she sat for another ten minutes before finally pulling her wrist free from Michelle’s mouth.
Utah glanced between Cassie and Malik, reaching once more for Michelle’s hand.
Heat traveled up his arm, slamming into him with enough force his back bowed. He looked down at his body, relieved to find himself in solid form again.
“Michelle?” Utah scrambled closer. “Michelle, baby, can you hear me?”
Cassie blew out a shaky breath. “She’ll sleep for about two days, but she’ll survive.”
Lani threw herself into Cassie’s arms. “Thank you. Thank you for saving my baby.”
Cassie returned her hug. “I didn’t save her, Mrs. Collins. Your daughter died on this floor tonight. And when she wakes, she will never be the same. She very well might hate us all…”
“I’m taking her home,” Utah informed them, his strength returning with every second that passed. He slid his arms beneath Michelle’s limp body and stood, holding her high against his chest.
Lani hurried to his side, her eyes widening. “I can see you.”
“Probably because I’m holding Michelle in my arms.,” Utah offered. He sent Lani a pitying look. “I’m sorry for everything, Mrs. Collins. I know he was your husband.”
Lani glanced over to the place where Jack’s dead body lay. “He killed all those people, and shot my daughter. He can rot in hell.”
“How is it that Utah was able to stay here and not forced to go with the other souls?” Cassie asked Lani.
A far-off look entered Lani’s eyes. “I don’t know, but I know someone who might.”
At everyone’s questioning look, she continued. “He’s a shaman who lives on the Shoal River. He’s the reason for Michelle’s vision, and why we ended up here tonight.”
“Michelle’s vision?” Utah studied Lani’s eyes.
Lani sent him a gentle smile. “I’ll let her tell you about that when she wakes. Malik and Cassandra can give you a lift back to Michelle’s. I’m going to call the police and tell them where they can find the bodies buried in that pit.” She met the gazes of everyone in that room apart from Michelle’s. “None of you were ever here.”
* * * *
It had been over forty-eight hours since Michelle had been shot in that basement. Two days since she’d ingested the blood of a vampire. Utah was beyond worried.
“You’re going to drive yourself crazy, hovering over her bed like that. She’ll wake up when she’s ready, and not a minute before.”
Utah turned and faced Cassandra. “How long did it take you to wake?”
“Not long.” Cassie sent him a reassuring smile. “But I knew what I wanted. I knew I wanted Malik to change me, and I was more than prepared for those changes.”
She nodded toward Michelle. “She, on the other hand, was shot and killed. Her body has gone through so many changes at once, her mind is probably in denial. Not to mention she was shot by her own father, and probably thinks you went on to another plane and she’ll never see you again.”
Utah’s heart squeezed. “What can I do?”
“Unfortunately, nothing but stay by her side and wait for her to come back to you.”
A moan came from the bed, and Utah’s gaze shot to Michelle. “Michelle, honey?”
Malik and Lani entered the room, both with expectant looks on their faces.
“I think she’s coming around,” Utah breathed, bending to kiss her beautiful lips.
Michelle’s eyes fluttered open, and panic entered their pale blue depths. She jerked her head to the side, staring at Utah as if he’d grown two heads. “Am I dead?”
“In a manner of speaking,” Cassie whispered, drawing Michelle’s attention to the foot of the bed.
Michelle sat up faster than Utah’s eyes could track.
“Whoa,” he breathed, grabbing onto her shoulders. “I need you to lie back, take deep breaths, and we’ll try to explain everything. Okay?”
Tears entered her eyes as she stared back at him in wonder. “You’re really here. I’m not dead or dreaming?”
“I’m really here, love. And I’m never leaving your side again.”
Michelle lifted her hand, turning it left and right in front of her face. “What’s happening to me?”
“I changed you,” Cassie blurted, dropping the mother of all bombs in the room.
Michelle stilled, her hand frozen in front of her and her eyes glued on Cassandra. “Changed me as in how?”
Lani stepped forward, moving to stand next to Cassie. “I told her to do it. I wasn’t about to let you lay there and die. I couldn’t lose you.”
Utah saw the second that realization dawned. Michelle shifted her gaze back to Cassie. “You made me like you? I’m a vampire?”
Everyone in the room froze in dread, each probably wondering who Michelle would attack first.
With tears sparkling in her beautiful eyes, Michelle opened her mouth…and laughed. The sound echoed through the room, warming Utah’s heart in a way it hadn’t been warmed since he lived.
“Thank you, Cassandra Devain,” Michelle whispered through her tears. “I’ll never be able to thank you enough.”
Cassie looked as shocked as Utah felt. “You’re not angry with me?”
Michelle threw back the covers, kissed Utah on the lips, and turned to face one of her closest friends. “How could I be angry at the one person who made it possible for me to spend eternity with Utah Baines?”
More laughter erupted as everyone joined in the merriment.
Michelle suddenly sobered, taking Utah by the hand. “Your sister?”
“Is free now, thanks to you. They all are. The screams I’d been hearing for the last three years? They weren’t from the ones in that fire. They came from the ones in that pit. That’s why I was still here. Meeting you was meant to be. It was fate.”
Michelle tilted her head to the side. “But I saw you in the light. Why didn’t you go into the light?”
Utah realized every person in the room waited for his answer. “I think each of us has a destiny, a reason for being here. I know in my heart that your destiny wasn’t to leave by the light that night, Michelle. And since you are my destiny…”
Michelle’s lips sealing over his, cut off the rest of his thought.
Utah kissed her back with everything inside him, noticing the room’s occupants swiftly clear out.
Michelle suddenly pulled back, her hands going to either side of his face. “I love you, Utah Baines.”
“I love you too, Michelle. For the next thousand years and beyond…”