Just six hours? Oh is that all? This is exasperating. I follow him around the building until he finds the electrical closet. He kicks in the steel door because it was locked.
“Now the lock is broken. What if they try to come in?” I ask, petulantly.
“Well, I don’t think they would worry about a key, I didn’t.”
I cross my arms and roll my eyes. He gives me a mean look and shakes his head. This is a side of him I’ve never seen, and I don’t like it.
“Alexia, this is a side of you I’ve not seen. And I can’t say I like it,” he hisses.
I fight against the smile forming on my face. Luckily, he has turned away and is busy putting his sword through the handle of the door and behind some metal machine that is attached to the wall right next to the doorjamb. We head into the dark maze of electrical things. I follow, with a handful of his fur coat. After right turns and left turns and ducking we are finally able to stop and sit down behind something that hums loudly and throws off some serious heat.
He takes off the fur coat and lays it down. “I don’t think you’ll get cold next to the machines but it’ll be something soft for you to sleep on.”
I kick off my heels, finally. I smile and step onto his costume, amazed at how good the fur feels on my bare feet. “Thanks, Gabe.”
I sit down and he lays Shadow down between us, examining his wounds. He is unconscious, bleeding, and wheezing pretty badly but I try not to show the concern on my face. I know he needs blood to heal but I don’t think I can talk Gabriel into that. I doubt he would want me to do it either.
“I think if he was going as an angel he should have got rid of these stupid things,” he says while giving one nipple ring a flick, causing Shadow to flinch. “What a freak,” he says, disgusted.
“I wonder why angels aren’t supposed to get piercings or tattoos; I mean what makes them bad, Gabe? Have you ever asked yourself that question? We all have different traditions all made up by the stupid authorities,” I say.
“I just think it’s a crazy thing to do to pierce and tattoo your body, I mean we’re only here once, we’re supposed to take care of ourselves, not use our body as a pin-cushion and art exhibit.”
I can see that this conversation isn’t going to get me anywhere with Gabriel; he is biased and I’m not going to change his years of ingrained opinion about something like this. With this in mind I just chew on my lip to keep myself from saying anything disrespectful to my husband.
“He has some nasty looking scars, that’s for sure. How does that even happen? We aren’t supposed to scar. I have never seen anyone else with scars, only heard about them.”
“Hmm, I don’t know, maybe he’s been through something really bad, Gabe.” My tone of voice suggests that he is being an ass, and this is exactly what I want him to pick up on, because I can’t stand his inaccurate judgment of Shadow.
“He’s a demon, of course he’s been through something bad, it’s called his whole life.”
I roll my eyes. I’m about to be mad. Really mad, and it’s getting harder and harder to hide it.
“Yeah well, maybe he doesn’t heal like we do because these stab wounds aren’t healing either. They should have at least stopped bleeding by now. I mean for heaven’s sake, if it was me they would have already been closed up by now.”
Just then Shadow moans and the sound breaks my heart. My eyes go all watery and I widen them to keep from crying. Gabe helps him sit up and Shadow scoots back to lean against the wall. He’s sweating and trembling and looks sickly and pale. He’s obviously in some serious pain and still losing some blood from the five stab wounds in his chest. Blood runs in little rivers down his side and stomach, despite him doubling over and using each hand to staunch one wound’s blood flow.
“Look ah...dude, I don’t know why you aren’t healing but if you lose anymore blood you’re history,” Gabe says flippantly.
Shadow just keeps his red focus on the cold concrete floor and grunts, and then continues his controlled breathing.
“Whatever, it’s your funeral. If you won’t tell us, we can’t help you. And for some reason I can’t get my mind to grasp, my wife doesn’t want you to die. She’s bent on saving you and bringing you with us.” He throws his hands up in a questioningly manner.
Shadows gaze flicks up to me for a second and the side of his mouth tilts up just barely in a sweet expression. “She has a big heart,” he says, his voice full of gravel.
“Obviously,” Gabe retorts smugly.
Shadow moans again. “Normally I would have healed by now too.” He looks down at his blood smeared chest and lifts one hand up off of his side wound to see it and blood gushes out. He shuts his eyes and tilts his head back against the wall, inhaling. “But I haven’t been able to feed since the Vow Ceremony...” He peeks out of one eye, looking at me for some reason, like he’s trying to tell me something. The day of the Vow Ceremony was the day he fed from me. Wow, he hasn’t fed from Lillith, his own mate yet! A warm feeling immediately spreads through my limbs and I come alive like a spark. He must see the minute realization dawns on my face because the red eye closes again and he continues struggling through his pain.
“Okay, is that normal?” Gabe asks, clueless.
“No!”
“No.”
We both reply at the same time. My reply may have been a little irritable, I admit. Oopsie. My temper is starting to show. Gabe gives me a strange look, like I slapped him or something, jeez.
“I can’t go anywhere like this, but I’m not going to die. I’ve been without blood for two weeks before,” Shadow says grimly.
I gasp. I’m not leaving him here, but I don’t think any of us are going anywhere so I tell him the plan. This big plan that is to stay here until morning and hope the Hell Horde has left. He agrees that it’s really our only option, but as the time passes on I grow more concerned that he will live. He keeps pouring out blood and the wounds aren’t closing at all. He sees the concern on my face because he winks at me and shakes his head when Gabe isn’t looking. He’s telling me not to worry, but fat chance of that!
A few hours pass and we have all stopped talking to each other. Three more hours until the first light of morning. Three long hours that Shadow has to hang in there. Three long hours that I have to worry myself sick about Shadow pulling through. If I needed any proof that I cared for him, here it is. It had to basically slap me in the face. Gabriel has fallen asleep on his stomach, head turned away from us. I’m sitting here on the other side of Shadow with my back up against the wall too. I scoot down to lie on the fur coat. I am deliriously tired but I refuse to let myself fall asleep. I’m too afraid that I will wake up and Shadow’s cold body will be next to me, lifeless. At least this way I can rest my aching body. Shadow doesn’t stir during the whole transition and I worry about that. I have been trying to keep him awake too, but he’s been struggling to stay awake the past hour or so. Nodding off every few minutes and then jolting awake. I reach under his blood stained, once stark white pants to grab his ankle and squeeze. “Shadow,” I hiss in a whisper, careful not to wake Gabriel up. His red eyes peek open barely and slowly at that. He’s really weak and he can’t even hide it anymore. “Lie down,” I say. I rub the soft fur where I want him to lie, right in the middle of me and Gabriel. It takes all the energy he has left to slide his back down the wall until it’s on the coat. Blood has pooled around where he was sitting and now it stains the coat and clumps the fur together. And it’s not the coat I care about. He’s on his left side, curled into himself and I am on my right side, facing him.
“Why haven’t you fed in so long?” I ask quietly. It’s almost been a week since the ceremony.
“Can’t,” he exhales.
I scrunch my face, confused. “Can’t?”
“My...my fangs, they...they disappear as soon as I bite...her,” he struggles to breathe and talk.
My eyes are as big as saucers. “Oh, that’s bad...very bad! What are you going to do? If you can’t feed, you’ll..
.you’ll...”
“-die?” he finishes for me.
I just shake me head, not willing to say yes.
“Well, you could feed from me four...well, five now, days ago...I want you to try.” I sweep my hair off of my neck and offer it to him.
He shakes his head. Stubborn boy!
“You,” I hiss. “Are not dying on me!” I bared my teeth on ‘not’ to emphasize my point.
“At this point, I think that’s out of your hands no matter if I feed from you or not. I...I’ve lost so...much blood. I am not risking...drinking from...you. Again,” he adds.
Oh, not this speech again. Am I having déjà vous? I slide feel for the sword that Gabe has somewhere in this coat. “You may not be willing to risk it, but I am. It’s not all about,” I find it and grit my teeth. I run my wrist across it, and damn that hurt! “You,” I finish.
His eyes go wide with shock and his nostrils flare. He has a truly horrified expression on his face. He doesn’t trust himself to resist, and good, because that is not what I’m aiming for here. He tries to scoot backward but he knows Gabe is behind him, and he doesn’t want to bump into him and wake him up.
“Forgive me.” It’s not a question that I’m asking, it’s a demand. I cover his mouth with my arm and he still resists. Wow, this is not working. This is actually not working! A starved demon is bleeding to death and I am offering him my life’s blood and he can keep his lips tightly sealed with me smearing my bloody wrist on them! Unbelievable. This has to work, I won’t risk him dying, and when he goes unconscious I sure as hell can’t get him to drink. So it’s now or never. I muster up all my courage and think of something, anything that may get him to relax and give in. He’s got no choice but to breathe through his nose right now because if he opens his mouth I’m going in. That gives me an idea. But it seams so mean. So, before I do it and make myself feel like crap, I want to show him I care, and I’m sorry. So, I do what only a boy like him will believe. No, words won’t work for him. Only actions. I lean up on my good forearm and I kiss his forehead. I kiss his temple. I trail kisses down from there to his blood stained lips, lifting my wrist only enough to plant one sweet kiss there. His eyes are half-lidded now and I’m sure mine are wide with anticipation. Just as he catches onto me and the panicked expression starts to overcome his content one, I kick my leg up over his arm, locking it to his side and I pinch his nose shut. He struggles and I choke on a sob. I feel like I’m drowning him or something. What if I just end up suffocating him because he’s too stubborn to open his mouth and breathe? Or worse, what if he just passes out cold! What a stupid idea this was!
I decide to give up, loosing my leg and returning it to my side, freeing his arm. I let go of his nose and before I can drop my arm from his lips he grabs it tight with his free hand and strikes.
Ah man, I sigh, (after I jump from the startle). I never thought pain could feel so good. My heart hammers in my chest from the adrenaline. I feel like pumping my wrist into the air and yelling “Yes!”
After a couple minutes it gets uncomfortable holding myself up on my right forearm, with my left crossed in front of me pointing my wrist out for him to suck. This being said I position myself on my back and just rest it on my chest while he follows attached to my wrist. I’m starting to feel tired and my heart’s really speeding up, I know that’s a sign of blood loss, because my body’s trying to work twice as hard to pump all of my blood to my heart and make more. I am worried that he will take too much, but I’m also worried that he won’t take enough. It’s a war zone in my mind. Worry this, worry that. It’s really getting old.
I can see a red haze through my eyelids and realize he must be looking at me, so I open my eyes. Our eyes meet and I take this chance to try and reach him. “Don’t take too much,” I whisper. “But, don’t take too little either.” I smirk.
He barely nods his head, but I feel it. He’s really lucid right now. This surprises me because last time he was in a blood-crazed frenzy, far from himself. I’m just staring at him, shocked because of how much I admire him. I feel so proud of him for controlling his hunger instead of it controlling him. But then again, the outcome of this situation still remains to be seen.
He winks at me. The boy winks at me! While sucking my blood and healing a body filled with five deep stab wounds. Will he never cease to impress me?
I have to inhale deeply, because my head is starting to spin and my chest feels tight. I feel light and jittery so I close my eyes for a second, and boy was that a mistake. If it was possible, the room spun even faster. I open them immediately and he frowns at me, from the eyes of course. His eyes frown at me is what I’m saying. Anyways, so he knows I’m in distress here. He disengages his long, white fangs and licks my blood off of his lips. I try to lift my head to see better over my chest, but my head is filled with lead weights or something of equal value. I lie here, staring at the dark ceiling somewhere up there, sort of seeing little white spots wink in and out of my vision; but then they are replaced by his face. Then I feel his pleasant weight on top of me. Of course, he is holding himself up with his arms on either side of me, so I know his strength must be back. I smile. I start to tell him how I knew it would work, and I was right. That he should have just listened to me in the first place, but not to say ‘I told you so’, of course. But he will not hear any of it, because he shuts me up with his lips. And I show him how afraid I was that I might lose him, right there with Gabe asleep beside us.
*~*~Chapter 16-The Message~*~*
I’m startled awake by a loud banging on the metal door that we had barred shut. I realize that my head is on a blood-smeared chest with nipple rings glinting in the light. Then I focus my sleep hazed eyes across the sexy chest to Gabe on the other side. He starts to rouse and I sit upright immediately. I check my cheek for blood and wipe it clean using my saliva. I do the same thing with my healed wrist. The banging keeps repeating every few seconds. My first thought is that it’s the Hell Horde, but they would just kick it in because they aren’t smart or civil enough to actually knock. I stand and dust myself off, glancing at the big male body at my feet. Mmm. My stare devours him from the waist up, trying to take a mental picture of every dip, muscle, line, tattoo, piercing, and scar. When I finally reach his face he surprises me. He’s been watching me slowly, oh so slowly, (and embarrassingly, might I add) mentally lick his body from waist up. It’s one thing to do it, but another to be seen doing it. His eyes are no longer throwing red lasers at me though, which must be why I didn’t notice him noticing me. I’ve gotten so used to them being red that I almost forget he has dark colored eyes. Are they really black? That’s so sexy. He smirks at me, probably proud of the fact that I find him drool worthy. Gabe coughs and I jerk my eyes away from Shadows.
Shadow sits up checking his body for wounds. He is wound free now, thanks to me.
“Looks like you’re all healed up,” Gabe says, making it sound more like a question and he’s waiting on an answer.
“Looks like,” Shadow says, tersely. If he doesn’t want to answer something, he won’t. This is Shadow for ya. Gabe may be waiting a long time for those answers.
“I guess you didn’t really need to feed? You just...” he flings his arm, disbelievingly, “healed in your sleep!” He laughs, sounding creepy.
“Yeah, and I guess you don’t really need to see who’s banging on the door?” Shadow asks sarcastically. The banging is still going on. Now I can hear some voices outside too. Muffled, of course.
“Yeah, I’ll go see who’s at the door, because we wouldn’t want someone to hurt you again, princess,” Gabe retorts. He gets up and heads over to un-bar the door, looking back at me over his shoulder. I give him my best guilt-free smile.
I glance over at Shadow and he’s got a murderous expression on his face, like he wants to punch Gabriel’s lights out.
Gabe finishes un-barring the door and glances over at us before he opens it. We all inhale expectantly. He puts his body behind the door and opens it a crack,
leaning just his head around to look through the small space. Then he steps aside and slings it open carelessly, stepping outside to embrace someone. Shadow and I share a look.
“Stay here, I’ll go check it out, just in case,” he tells me. He stands up and I do too.
“I’m not staying here a second longer,” I reply firmly. He looks back at me and dips his head. I’m glad that he’s not being stubborn about this too. Maybe last night he realized I’m usually right. At least, I sure hope so!
I follow him out the door to find Gabe talking to Wraith and Kaia standing next to them. When she notices me she gasps and runs toward me. A fleeting thought to step aside when she flings herself at me, tempts me, but I decide not to. At least I hope she won’t knock me over. Next thing I know, she jumps into my arms like a spider monkey.
“Oh Lexi!” she rejoices. “You’re okay.”
“I’m fine, Kaia. I was worried about you too,” I say, relieved.
“So what hap--,” she hushes me with her hand to my mouth.
“Look,” she bobs her head to the side and I look to see what she wants me to.
Oh. My heart just sinks to my stomach. Gabe and Shadow are kneeling beneath one of their fallen comrades. A Guard, one of about five or six by the looks of it, is hanging off of the side of the building, by his neck. He’s dead of course, and he’s not the only one. There are some girls too, and Mr. Cole.
“Why would they do this? What did we ever do to make them hate us so much,” I whisper in shock and sincerity.
“I was wondering the same thing.” She shakes her head, tears spilling over her eyes.
Gabe and Wraith finish paying respect to the fallen Guards and fellow citizens. Gabe spends a little more time knelt at Mr. Cole’s feet with his head bowed and fist to his chest. Shadow takes all of the bodies down from their nooses and lays them side by side, shutting their eyes with his fingers. Kaia and I still stand next to each other, shocked and silent. We haven’t moved from out previous spot, as if we are anchored. Gabe and Shadow have been pointing at some piece of paper for a few minutes, talking it over. I can’t tell if they are arguing about it or not but I can tell it’s important. Probably bad from the looks of it.
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