Then, beneath her hand, she felt the beautiful beat of a heart stilled years ago. A cry escaped her, and her eyes flew to Julian as his hand wrapped around her wrist. His dazed, beautiful, blue eyes blinked up at her. His heart beat five more times beneath her palm before going still again.
“What did you do, Dewdrop?”
Quinn’s eyes rolled up in her head. She passed out before she could answer his question.
CHAPTER 12
Julian paced the room from one side to the other. He felt like a caged animal. His hunger beat incessantly against him, but there was no way he would leave Quinn after the events of this day. He was starving, Zach was nothing but shrunken remains, and Quinn had yet to reawaken. He, on the other hand, felt more alive and powerful than anyone who had just died should.
When he’d died and became a vampire, he’d been out of his mind with thirst and weak with hunger. Now he felt as if he could tear this entire town apart with his bare hands, as if he could take on a thousand vamps at once, but then he’d been flooded with an influx of life to stave off this death.
Dead, he’d been dead again. However, this time he’d died with the belief he wouldn’t be coming back. He ran his hand through his hair, tugging at the ends of it as he recalled the feeling of his life slipping away from him. None of the dread that came with the knowledge had been for himself. It had all been for Quinn. He knew his death would tear her apart. He worried about what would become of her after he was gone. What she would do to herself and the others in her grief and rage.
The others all sat silently by. Luther leaned back in the chair he’d brought in from the kitchen; his eyes were focused on Quinn, his arms folded over his chest. Chris and Melissa sat beside each other on the floor; he had her hand wrapped in his as they watched Quinn’s unmoving form on the couch. Lou looked tempted to bolt as his eyes kept darting toward the door, but he remained seated beside Quinn’s bedroom door.
“If you’re scared, then leave!” Julian snapped at him.
Lou jumped. “I don’t want to leave.”
“Then why do you keep staring at the door?”
Lou glanced nervously at the others before looking at him again. “Because, if he got to Zach and took control of his mind, what if he got to someone else in this room too? What if he’s on his way here now, thinking you’re dead, that he has an ally in here, and that Quinn will be easy game?”
Julian had already considered the exact same thing, but he couldn’t do anything about it, not right now. If that vamp was on his way here, he’d be in for a rude awakening, but Julian had a feeling he would wait to see if Zach’s mission had been successful before making his move.
There was no way to know who that vamp may have gotten control of in this room, and the only way to break any kind of control the vampire may have over them was to make sure the vamp was dead, which was something he was going to do as soon as he got a chance.
He would take his sweet-ass time in meting out that death too. He’d savor every second of torture he was going to unleash on the asshole who had almost succeeded in ending his life. Julian cursed himself. He’d let his guard slip. He’d mistakenly believed they were safe here, amongst friends.
He didn’t know when their enemy had gotten to Zach. Ever since his presence in town became known, they’d been in groups of two or three to ensure no one was left vulnerable to his mind control. Which meant there were two possible situations playing out now. There could be someone else in this room under his spell, maybe two somebodies, or the vamp had been stalking Quinn before he’d stepped into the bar. It was possible that he’d gotten to Zach long before that night at Clint’s.
He didn’t like thinking about any of those scenarios, but he also didn’t want to consider his most trusted friends possible threats either.
“Anybody who thinks she’s easy game is going to get the rudest awakening of their life,” Chris muttered.
“That they will,” Lou agreed.
Melissa shuddered as she focused on the blood on his shirt. “I’ve seen Cassie turn into a ball of fire, but that… Well, that was impressive and terrifying.”
Julian recalled opening his eyes to find Quinn kneeling over him, her hair whipping around her as sparks of life shot from her fingertips and around her body. Her eyes had been their fiery red combination that never failed to amaze him with their unique beauty. They’d also been unseeing, as she’d stared at the wall. She’d been awesome and frightening, breathtaking in her wildness, and enticing in her power and ruthlessness.
She’d never killed for pleasure or spite, but she’d never hesitate to strike someone down in order to save the lives of the ones she loved.
And this time, it had been his life.
He didn’t know how she would feel about what she’d done when she woke, but he would deal with it then. Now, he just wanted her to wake so he could feel her arms wrap around him again and pull him close.
Shock was nowhere near big enough a word to describe what had gone through him when he’d felt that stake pierce his heart. His disbelief had swiftly been replaced with grief over the loss of her, the loss of all the things he desired for them, for the eternity he’d dreamed of with her. He’d grieved over leaving her behind to deal with his loss, for effectively ending her life too.
That had been the worst, most hideous realization of his life. Far worse than when he’d realized he’d lost Devon as his friend and kill mate, far worse than when he’d realized Cassie could never be his. Both of those life-changing events had been nothing compared to what would become of her in the wake of his death. He’d let her down. He’d left her behind to deal with something no vampire should ever have to face, especially not his Quinn.
He rushed back to her side when she stirred on the couch, but she settled down again. She looked so fragile and small, so drained. Looking at her, he realized she’d used some of her own life to bring him back too. Spinning on his heel, he ran a hand through his hair as he paced over to the kitchen doorway. Zach’s wasted body remained sprawled on the floor there.
He spun when he heard the sound of footsteps behind him. He’d heard Zach approach earlier too, but hadn’t paid him any attention, as he’d been more concerned with Melissa at the time and mistakenly believed they were safe. It could have been Quinn, instead of him, who’d died, and he wouldn’t have been able to bring her back.
“You know you can trust us, under ordinary circumstances,” Luther said to him when Julian eyed him.
“I do, but these circumstances aren’t normal.”
“No, they’re not.” Luther’s gaze lingered on the crumpled, shrunken form of the Hunter.
Julian still couldn’t believe she’d done this for him. He could only hope it didn’t change her too much, that she didn’t hate herself for it. When she woke, her anger and sorrow over his death would be gone, and she would realize why Zach had staked him. Julian could try to keep it hidden from her, but it would put her in danger if he did, and she would never forgive him if she ever discovered the truth.
“We should probably get him out of here,” Luther suggested. “Before she wakes up.”
“I’d like to,” Julian said. “But I think it’s better if none of us separate right now.”
Luther lifted his glasses and rubbed at the bridge of his nose before settling them into place again. “Then let’s at least cover his body. She shouldn’t see this when she wakes.”
“No, she shouldn’t,” Julian agreed. “There’s some extra sheets and maybe some blankets in her closet.”
“I’ll get them,” Lou offered and rose to his feet.
Lou glanced at Quinn before shuffling into her bedroom. He emerged a minute later with a gray sheet and a tattered blue blanket. Julian took the sheet from him and walked over to drape it over Zach’s form.
Zach looked as if he’d been decaying for a hundred years, not merely dead for an hour. At least he doesn’t stink yet, he thought to himself. Then again, he probably wouldn’t stink too badly
as there was very little left to Zach’s once strong body. Julian settled the sheet into place and turned back to Quinn.
“Are you sure he was under mind control?” Julian inquired. “I wasn’t exactly his favorite vampire in the world.”
“No, you weren’t,” Luther agreed, “but I’m sure. He never tried to move away from her. He stood there, staring at her as she unraveled. No one would have willingly stayed so close, never mind that he barely registered what was going on until she started to drain him.”
“His eyes were completely blank,” Melissa added. “There was absolutely nothing within them. He had no idea what he’d done.”
Julian actually felt a tug of remorse over the young man’s death. Zach had stabbed him through the back, but it was what his mind had been manipulated into doing. “Do you think he was told he had to kill you today?” Lou asked.
“We’ll never know.” Julian walked back toward the doorway to look out at them. “I know a fair amount about the ability from watching Devon wield it over the years, but only the vampire or Hunter who is controlling the mind ever knows the full extent of that control or the commands they issue to the one under their control. Zach could have been told to do it today, or the command could have been to kill me the first chance he got. My guard was down earlier, and he seized the moment.”
Melissa bit her bottom lip as she glanced away from him. “I didn’t mean to distract you…” Her voice trailed off, but what could she say? She had no control over when her visions hit her, and she certainly hadn’t been responsible for what had happened.
“It’s not your fault,” Chris said.
“It’s not,” Julian assured her. It was one ugly vampire’s fault, and Julian was going to make him uglier by the time he was done with him.
Melissa thrust her shoulders back when she met his gaze again. “Wouldn’t we have seen a difference in Zach? I mean, something, anything.”
“No,” Julian replied. “He would have acted completely normal until he’d fulfilled his duty. Even then, I’ve seen Devon command people and vamps to do something and continue about their lives as if nothing happened afterward. They never remembered they’d killed their wife, mother, brother, sister, or someone else.”
Melissa shivered and Chris squeezed her hand. “Why wouldn’t he tell Zach to do the same thing after?” Lou asked.
Julian stared at the body and his blood staining the floor before pacing away. “I believe this vamp has been watching Quinn for a while.” The minute the words were out of his mouth, he realized how much he believed them. “He probably doesn’t know how deep the bond is between the two of us. Few vamps who murder and kill actually believe in mates, and some have never even heard of such a thing. However, he knows there is something between the two of us, and I think he wanted Quinn to be the one to kill Zach after he’d fulfilled his command.”
“Why?”
The croaked question caused him to spin around. Quinn sat up on the couch, her hair a tangled mess around her shoulders, her eyes bloodshot and swollen. The paleness and translucence of her skin would have made a ghost look solid. He could see all of the thin blue veins running through her cheeks and around her eyes and forehead. Her sunken cheeks had caused her cheekbones to stand out starkly under her skin, but she was still enchantingly beautiful to him.
He moved so fast, he was around the couch and at her side in less than a second. Falling before her, he clasped hold of her hands. Looking at her, he realized that funneling Zach’s and her life into him had caused her to lose a good fifteen pounds. Already slender with an athletic build, the weight loss had affected her greatly. He could feel the delicate bones of the backs of her hands in his grasp.
Earlier, before placing her on the couch to sleep off the aftereffects, he’d taken her into the bathroom, scrubbed his blood from her skin, and changed her into a t-shirt and shorts. She hadn’t been this thin then, he would have noticed. The impact of forcing her life into him had taken its time showing up on her.
The sleeve of her baggy tee slid off her shoulder to reveal the sharp edges of her collarbone. His fingers trembled as he stroked gently over the bone and the blue veins running beneath her skin. “Look at what you did to yourself.”
A single tear rolled down her cheek and fell on his hand, drawing his attention to her face once more. “You mean what I did to Zach.”
“No, I mean what you did to you. Zach doesn’t matter.”
“Of course he does,” she whispered.
“Not anymore.” He glanced at the others, wishing he could tell them to leave, but with night upon them, he didn’t dare send them out alone.
“Because of me.” Another tear slid free, she grasped his hands more firmly as her eyes closed. He didn’t know how to make it better, didn’t know how to ease this for her. Leaning closer to him, her eyes fluttered open to reveal their honey color. “I’d do it again, for you.”
His hand wrapped around the back of her head as he pulled her down for a tender kiss. He didn’t want to harm her by hauling her against him and kissing her senseless like he longed to do; she was too frail for that right now. He forced himself to pull away from her and sit back.
“You’ll never have to worry about something happening to me again,” he promised.
“You’d said that before this too.”
“I got overconfident. I won’t again,” he vowed. “Now, we have to get you some nourishment.”
Her hands were surprisingly strong when they took hold of his. “It can wait. Why do you think that monster wanted me to kill Zach?”
Julian ran his thumbs over her lip before taking hold of her hands and resting them in her lap. “To push you over the edge. To have you go after him so he could catch you.”
The words caused his fangs to lengthen; he tried to keep it hidden from her, but her gaze fell to his lips. She’d had enough happen today without having to deal with the wrath mounting steadily within him. That vampire wanted her, and not only for the prophecy, which he had to know about now, if he hadn’t before. If he’d had the chance to get to Zach and bend him to his will, he would have taken some time to question Zach about Quinn and the others too. The sick prick planned to keep Quinn as his own.
It would never happen.
“And you believe he got to Zach before he ever walked into the bar,” she murmured.
His brow furrowed as he studied her. “How long were you awake?”
“Not really awake. Trying to wake. I was caught in a strange in-between I couldn’t quite escape from. I could hear you all speaking, but couldn’t respond to you.” Her eyes were haunted when she lifted her head to him. “It was horrible, but I deserved to know the fear and uncertainty of possibly being trapped like that forever after what I did.”
“Oh, love,” he murmured before pulling her into his arms and off the couch. “You deserved no such thing.”
He rocked her as he pressed her close and kissed her forehead. Her slender arms slid around his neck, and her mouth rested against his throat. He felt the press of her fangs before she turned her head away. She tried to hide it, but her hunger beat against him. It didn’t matter how hungry he was, or that they had things to discuss, her needs came first.
Rising, he didn’t glance at the others as he carried her into her bedroom. “Don’t leave,” he commanded before kicking the door shut with his heel. Carrying her over to the bed, he placed her on the edge of it before settling beside her. “You have to feed from me.”
“Julian…”
“Quinn, not only did you force Zach’s life into me, but also some of your own. You need blood and life, and I am the most powerful being here.” Red bled into the whites of her eyes before she closed them. “Don’t punish yourself for what happened today. You were pushed into it.”
“I chose your life over Zach’s.”
“I would have done the same. I would choose your life over my own. When Zach killed me, he also signed your death certificate. Recall what you were feeling before you
grabbed hold of Zach. That feeling never would have gone away. You would have had to be destroyed if you didn’t walk into the sun yourself. You very likely would have gone after the others too in your insanity. You killed one today. You could have killed countless others before you were stopped. One life is small in comparison.”
“One life is never small in comparison to anything else. Sacrifices may be made for the greater good in some cases, but a life is never small. I know all of those things you said are true,” she whispered. “I realize what I could have done. I felt the need to destroy and kill shaking my entire being, and I wouldn’t have been satisfied with just Zach if you hadn’t returned to me.” Her gaze slid away as she nervously licked her lips before focusing on him again. “I regret what I did to Zach, but I would do it again. What does that say about me?”
“That you’re a survivor, and all survivors do what is necessary to live. Now, drink from me and take from me the life force you need to grow stronger.”
“The others, they didn’t sound like they hated me…”
“They don’t.”
“But they’re afraid of me, what I was, what I became.”
“I saw you, in the end; it was a sight to behold for sure. They are afraid of what is to come, of what this vampire is willing to do, and of you.” There was no reason to deny it. She’d scared them today, and she knew it. “But they know you wouldn’t injure them under normal circumstances.”
“If it had been one of them who staked you, I would have done the same thing.”
“I know and so do they, but I can guarantee none of them would want to live under his control. Just as you wouldn’t.”
“No, kill me yourself if that ever happens.”
Wrapping his hand around her neck, he pulled her closer to him as he lifted her up and settled her on his lap. “We’ll kill him in order to ensure it doesn’t ever happen, and to break whatever control he may have over someone else. Now, stop talking and drink,” he commanded brusquely.
She fought him for a second more before easing in his grasp. Her lips pressed against his neck, heating his flesh. His hand clasped her thigh as he willed her to take the nourishment she required. Finally, after what felt like endless seconds, her lips pulled back and he felt the press of her fangs against his throat.