As Shadows Fade (The Gardella Vampire Hunters 5)
Page 100
It called to him. That siren song lulled and teased and pulled, and with one movement, it would be over. Pleasure coursing through him. The need sated-the need he’d fought.
Victoria heaved suddenly, powerfully beneath him, shoving him off balance. He slipped to one side, and she slammed him with a knee, in the side of the face, then followed with her other foot.
He tumbled onto the floor, and she scrambled on the bed, frantically working on the manacle. It fell away with a clink, and the stake was in her hand by the time he gained his footing.
Breathing hard, he looked at her: the face he would never forget, the woman he loved, the eyes, sharp but pleading.
“You’re strong, Sebastian. Don’t. ”
She sat there, unafraid, free now, waiting. Stake in her hand. A breath away.
He swallowed. Reached for her.
His fingers closed around her arm, her warm arm.
“I’ll kill you before I let you feed. I won’t let you damn yourself. But I want to know why. ” She beckoned, gave him a look that burned through him.
The desire bumped again, and he thought he might move, lunge toward her. Get one taste before…
His hand fell automatically to the vis bulla at his belly. He touched it, winced at the pain, but felt… something-power? relief?-mixed with the pain.
The need ebbed that little bit.
“Why did you do this? Let me help. ”
He could breathe now. Words floated through his mind, filtering through the haze.
The long promise. The new world. A savior.
Rosamunde’s words came back to him.
And in the new world shall be a savior who carries the deepest taint. A long promise shall the savior make and in the end those for whom he lives will be saved.
A long promise… and in the end those for whom he lives will be saved.
In the end. Was this the end?
The door burst open, and the next thing Sebastian knew, he was jerked from Victoria, thrown against the wall. Whipped, like a sack of flour. And Max Pesaro had him pinned there by the throat.
Twenty-six
Two Farewells, and a Shocking Instance in Which Victoria and Max Agree
“Max,” Victoria said, stepping toward them. He had Sebastian by the throat, his stake ready. “Release him. ”
Not only did she not need his help, but the imminent danger was past.
She’d seen Sebastian’s eyes fade from the burning, needy red into their normal amber color, and knew that his moment of weakness was past. Whether he would face that temptation again in the future remained to be seen, but for now, he controlled it.
And before she sent him to his rest, she wanted to learn why he’d done this, taken on this burden.
Max ignored her command, holding an unmoving Sebastian pinned. Instead, he asked, “Did he feed on you?” His words came out tight and more clipped than usual. “Or… anything else?”
“No. ” She took a moment-just a moment, now that the danger was past-to admire Max in all his dark fierceness. She was, after all, a woman. And she was completely besotted with the man.
Max adjusted his stake as though reluctant to put it away unused; then he dropped his hand and turned from Sebastian. He looked around the room, his gaze skipping over Victoria as if afraid to land there. The same as it had after he succeeded at the Trial, but this time she thought she understood why. “Lilith?”
“She’s dead,” Sebastian replied. True to form, he’d merely stepped away from the wall and adjusted his clothing, as though nothing more traumatic had occurred than an askew neck cloth.