Panic welled hot and thick in Saeed’s chest. It stole the air from his lungs and stopped his heart mid-beat. Cerys doubled over in his grasp. Her body hung lifeless and limp like a ragdoll. Breanne stared straight ahead, her expression blank. She slid down the wall onto the floor and her jaw hung slack as gentle tremors shook her body. Saeed hung onto Cerys with his left arm and he clutched the bottle that contained Breanne’s soul in his right. He was literally the only body left standing in the aftermath of chaos. And his own shock and worry were so intense it damn near crippled him.
“You’re all right, Cerys. You’re all right. You’re all right. You’re all right.”
Saeed said the words over and again as though to convince himself. Her heart slowed to the point that he could barely discern its beat and a wave of nausea rolled over him. They were in hostile territory and their enemies wouldn’t be disabled for long. Saeed needed to get her out of here. Now.
He shoved the bottle into her jacket pocket and scooped Cerys up into his arms. She seemed so slight in his grasp, like a feather that could so easily float away. Bodies littered the floor but Saeed paid them little mind. The fae would heal in time. Cerys might not be so lucky. A sense of urgency welled in Saeed’s chest as he fled from the house and raced down the driveway to where Cerys had parked the Range Rover. He pulled open the passenger side back door and laid her gently into the backseat, careful not to jostle her even a little bit. Her chest barely moved with breath and her skin took on the pallor of death. Saeed saw no point in living if Cerys didn’t survive the night. He would gladly walk into the sun rather than face a lonely, soulless existence with only the Collective for company. He refused to let her die, damn it!
The engine roared to life and Saeed wasted no time in slamming the car into gear. Gravel sprayed out from under the tires as he hit the gas and tore out of the driveway. He had no idea what he was doing. No idea where he was going. He couldn’t take her to Rin. Through the Collective, Saeed had already seen what kind of care Cerys would receive from her master. He had no other point of reference, no one to go to for help. They were completely on their own and Cerys had no one to rely on but him. He wouldn’t fail her. He couldn’t. Not when there was so much at stake.
Saeed sped down the highway toward Seattle. Wet warmth accompanied a twinge of pain in his torso and he reached across his body with his right hand to find that the wound made by the fae’s silver blade had yet to heal. He’d been so concerned with Cerys’s safety, his own injuries had faded to the back of his mind. Saeed’s brain went fuzzy and his grip on the steering wheel loosened. The Range Rover swerved on the highway, and he jerked to attention, righting the vehicle before it went onto the shoulder. The silver prevented the wound from healing like it should. He had no idea how much blood he’d lost, but his lightheadedness wasn’t a good sign.
They were alone, injured, weak, and without allies to come to their aid. Saeed was hundreds of miles from L.A., disconnected from his coven, and far from the epicenter of the vampire race’s strength. He couldn’t pull over to the side of the road, couldn’t risk losing consciousness and being exposed once the sun rose. He had no choice but to keep it together long enough to get them back to his condo. Neither one of them was going to die tonight.
The minutes dragged by like days. By the time they reached his building, Saeed’s breathing became labored and sweat beaded his brow. The female who’d caught him off guard had known just where to aim when she drove her blade between his ribs. He was certain he’d sustained internal organ damage. And thanks to the silver, until he did something to fortify his strength, he’d continue to bleed out. Saeed pulled into the breezeway and came to an abrupt stop. He popped open the door and nearly tumbled out onto his ass. He steadied himself and retrieved Cerys from the backseat as the valet came around to the front of the car.
“Park it.”
Saeed didn’t wait for a response. With Cerys in his arms, he rushed through the turnstile and headed straight for the elevator. His finger stabbed down on the button repeatedly, his temper mounting with each second the doors didn’t slide open to let them in. By the time the elevator reached the lobby floor, Saeed’s legs felt as though they might give out from under him. He stepped inside and the second the doors slid closed and the elevator gave a lurch to take them to the penthouse, he slumped against the back wall to keep himself upright.
Saeed held Cerys close to his body. He didn’t dare look at her, couldn’t bring himself to face the possibility that she might not make it. She hadn’t so much as stirred since they left Bellevue. Hadn’t made a single sound. Her limbs hung limp in his grasp and he supported her head on his biceps to keep it from lolling back. Her heartbeat slowed to a beat or two every minute. The almost indiscernible thump made Saeed’s own chest ache with fear.
The elevator doors slid open to the foyer and for a moment, Saeed wasn’t sure he’d make it out of the elevator on his own steam. It took a sheer act of will for him to put one foot in front of the other. With Cerys in his arms, he made it through the foyer, past the front door, and into the condo. Thank the gods the blinds were all closed.
By the time Saeed made it to the bedroom, he had nothing left to give. He gently deposited Cerys on the bed before he went to his knees beside her. “Don’t leave me.” He spoke the words under his breath like a prayer. He’d never needed the tether to prove to him they were meant to be together. From the very first moment he’d seen her in the Collective, Saeed had known. He refused to give up. Refused to let her go. He brought his wrist to his mouth and bit down hard, tearing the flesh. With his fingertips, he urged Cerys’s mouth to open as he held his bleeding wrist over her mouth. Had they been tethered, the exchange of blood would have solidified their bond. He had no idea if his blood would heal her. If it would do a gods-damned thing to help her. But he was out of time, and out of options. The room swam out of focus in the periphery of his vision as he stared, transfixed, at the crimson smear of color across her pale lips.
Saeed swayed as a white hot flash of crippling pain stabbed once again into his torso. He felt himself fall but did nothing to cushion the landing. His head smacked sharply against the floor as darkness descended over him. Not even the Collective could offer him solace now. Saeed was truly lost and within minutes, he’d be dead.
* * *
The dark was impenetrable. It pressed in on Cerys from all sides, disorienting her until she couldn’t tell if she was right side up or upside down. Chills shook her at the same time sweat beaded her brow. The air around her became too thick to breathe and for a moment, she was convinced she lay hundreds of feet below the earth. Her mouth went dry and Cerys ran her tongue over her lips. Her nose wrinkled at the coppery tang that clung to her taste buds and she shuddered. She tried to open her eyes but her lids were so heavy they might as well have been glued shut. If she could only sleep for a thousand or so years, she’d be fine. If only she’d been given the peace and quiet necessary to replenish her depleted energy stores, she’d be okay. Gods, she was exhausted.
She tried first to wiggle a finger. Her brain seemed disconnected from simple motor function and anxious frustration formed as a knot in the center of her chest. Her toes were equally uncooperative, as were her head and limbs. She lay in a state of paralysis, her body dormant as it healed itself. Only her mind appeared ready to get the show on the road. But no matter how hard she tried, her body refused to obey its commands. She couldn’t remember a time she’d ever been so utterly spent.
Maybe she was dead. It would figure that the afterlife would be a cold, lonely, black and desolate space. Life had never done her any favors, so why should death be any different? Okay, so maybe that was a little too bitter. At least if she was dead, Cerys wouldn’t have to answer to that son of a bitch Rin anymore. Then again, maybe that’s why she was in this empty black place. Seemed pretty impossible to cross over into the afterlife without a soul to make the journey. It would just be her luck that Rin could fuck her over in death in the same way he’d fucked her over in life.
Seriously. The least fate could do was offer up a little lube.
If she was dead, Cerys supposed she’d better try to make the most of it. It didn’t look like she was going anywhere anytime soon. At least, not without her soul. This dark purgatory might be a nice place to take a breather. To get a little rest for once in a few thousand years. At any rate, she wouldn’t have to sit around and listen to Rin yammer on for hours on end. See? Life—and death—was all about finding that silver lining.
Cerys forgot about the dark. Forgot about her inability to move, the strange taste on her lips, and her own stupid disappointment. She forgot about when or where she might’ve been and how she’d gotten here. A single image invaded her thoughts. One of dark, intense eyes and full, soft lips. The eyes brightened to brilliant silver. And the lips spread into an indulgent smile that revealed the glinting tips of two sets of razor-sharp fangs.
Saeed.
He’d stayed by her side. Protected her. Risked his own life in an attempt to save hers. In the long run, he hadn’t been successful but that was hardly his fault. The odds had been stacked against him all along and Cerys had gone to Breanne’s knowing what the outcome would be. Honestly, it was sort of a relief. At least now, he could return to L.A., to his coven, and abandon his quest to free her soul.
Saeed deserved so much better than her.
That didn’t mean she didn’t still want him, though. Gods, she did. Funny, that even in this place between life and death, she could still yearn for something with such intensity. She could let the memories of her brief time with him keep her company in this lonely place. It might’ve only been a little over a month, but they’d been the best weeks of Cerys’s entire existence. Those memories were precious to her, and nothing could ever force her to let them go.
A flutter of movement drew Cerys’s attention. Her index finger moved to brush against soft flesh. She started with surprise, not only because she’d been able to move, but because it was apparent she wasn’t alone in this place. She seriously doubted purgatory was the sort of place one inhabited with a roommate. Which meant, she wasn’t dead. Not even close. Damn. And she’d been looking forward to a nice, long rest …
On the plus side, if she wasn’t dead, it meant that Breanne’s reluctant soul hadn’t managed to do her in. Pretty damned amazing considering how tough it’d been to get the sucker out of her body. Just because she wasn’t dead didn’t mean she wasn’t fucking exhausted. Aside from the slight shift of her body, Cerys still found it difficult to move. Her eyes remained closed and she could barely feel the breath enter and release from her lungs. She still sensed that disconnect from her body. Which, given her soulless state, was a little strange. Didn’t she always exist in a state of disconnect?
It wouldn’t do her any good to try and force her body to do what it wasn’t ready to do. That didn’t mean Cerys wasn’t anxious as hell to open her eyes and take in her surroundings. Where was she? How did she get here? She had no doubt that the skin she’d brushed her finger against belonged to Saeed. She would know him anywhere. Blind, deaf, barely conscious, and clinging to life by a single thread. The realization struck her with an impact that left her aching. In such a short amount of time, Saeed had come to mean something to her.
Patience suddenly became much harder to maintain. Saeed had been injured during the fight. She’d seen one of Breanne’s bodyguards drive a silver dagger between his ribs where the vest had failed to protect him. She needed to see him with her own eyes, make sure he was okay. Silence pressed in on her ears until it grew almost unbearable. He didn’t speak, and as far as she could tell he hadn’t moved. She couldn’t even hear the sound of his breathing. She couldn’t quell the panic that threatened to overtake her. Her own physical state, her own crippling exhaustion didn’t matter. The only thing she gave a shit about was Saeed and whether or not he was okay.
Come on, body! Get with the fucking program!
Cerys centered her focus on snapping the hell out of whatever weird supernatural coma held her in its grip. She might’ve needed a little recuperation, but all of this was a serious waste of her time. A spark of power lit in the center of Cerys’s being, and she held on to it. Careful not to disrupt it, she allowed it to grow by small degrees until the spark became a flame, and the flame a fire. It burned bright in her center, warming her from the inside out. Little by little the sensation returned to her extremities down the length of her arms and legs and into her fingertips and toes. Her nose wrinkled and her eyelids twitched. One lid cracked and then the other, to reveal the dark interior of a bedroom.
She’d never been in this room, but she was certain they were in Saeed’s condo. Jesus, neither one of them had been in stellar shape at Breanne’s cottage. How in the hell had he gotten them both out of there? The vampire certainly put the “super” in supernatural. Was there anything he couldn’t do? Cerys was beginning to think she’d been a little too hasty in ever having doubted him.
“Saeed?” Her voice sounded foreign in her ears. Quiet and raspy as though it had gone weeks without use. Still a little too weak for a full range of motion, Cerys felt blindly on the bed for his hand, or any other part of his body for that matter. She was sure she’d felt his skin brush against hers, but he was nowhere to be found on the bed. Not lying beside her as she’d expected.
“Saeed?”
Again she was answered by silence, and the fear she’d tried to quell made an unwelcome appearance. Her body was stiff and sore, her muscles ached. Her arms, hands, and fingers refused to work right, as though they’d gone to sleep and she was still waiting for the circulation to return. Numb. Her frustration at her lack of motor skills did nothing but fuel her growing impatience. Where was he? Why didn’t he answer her? What in the gods-damned hell was going on?
Cerys flailed on the mattress like a fish out of water. Definitely not graceful, but right now she didn’t have a single fuck to give. Her arms flopped like cooked noodles at her sides as she wriggled and repositioned herself so she could look over the edge of the bed. A gasp of surprise caught in her sternum as she took in a dark, immobile form lying on the floor beside the bed.
“Oh my gods!” Saeed lay still as death and a dark crimson stain smeared the bamboo floor. She’d known his wound had been bad, but she never would’ve imagined it severe enough to put him down. In a less than graceful rush, Cerys slid off the mattress onto the floor with a loud thump. She willed her still numb arms to work as she braced her back against the bed frame and gathered Saeed’s head up into her lap. Tears stung at her eyes but she refused to let them fall. He’s okay. He’s fine. He’s strong. Did she really think lying to herself would somehow change the fact that he’d nearly bled out on the floor while she lay on that fucking bed, completely helpless and unable to do a damn thing to save him?
His heart didn’t beat. His lungs didn’t move with breath. His skin was cold to the touch.
Cerys released a breath that ended on a desperate sob. “No.” He couldn’t possibly be so frail. Not the strong, determined, fierce vampire who’d come to Seattle to steal her from Rinieri de Rege. He’d been cut with the silver blade which had weakened him and kept the wound from healing. The blood loss had taken a toll. That was all. Saeed needed blood, and Cerys was going to give it to him.
She reached for the short knife she’d hidden in her right boot. Her fingers still refused to work properly and it took several tries to get enough of the hilt to pull the blade free. It fumbled in her grasp and landed with the clank to the floor. “Fuck.” Cerys tried again, willing her damned digits to function as she managed to grip the hilt once again. She brought the blade to her left wrist and sliced down. The sharp bite of pain coaxed a gasp from between her lips as crimson flashed like a length of satin ribbon and welled over the incision to run in rivulets down her arm.
She’d cut a little deeper than she’d planned but that was okay. She didn’t want a few measly drops of blood, she wanted it to pour from her vein like water from a broken spigot. She brought her wrist to Saeed’s mouth and pressed it against his parted lips. Drink. He didn’t move. Didn’t so much as twitch. “Come on, Saeed. Damn you. Drink!”
Cerys tipped his head back. If he wouldn’t swallow, she’d make sure gravity did the work for him. Seconds passed and then minutes. Wet warmth tickled at Cerys’s cheek and she reached up with her free hand to angrily swipe it away. Another drop landed on her cheek, followed by another and Cerys looked up for the source of the annoying drip only to realize it was her own gods-damned tears that trailed down her face.
The soulless had no tears to shed, no emotions with which to feel pain or hurt. So why did her chest ache as though her heart had been smashed into a million irreparable pieces?