I grabbed a map from the office, leaving the door unlocked. Grabbing a can of bug repellent, I coated my clothes, then the shirt I’d draped over my head. Getting my bearings with the small penlight from my purse, I began to walk. The mosquitoes were bad, whining and buzzing around my head, but the spray repelled most of them. At least, I wasn’t swatting them at every other step.
The ocean was calm to my left, the waves gently lapping. It was cloudy, and there was no moonlight to see by. Even the stars were concealed. The night was lighted only by the rest rooms, great concrete buildings that had clouds of mosquitoes near them, hunting for blood beneath the fluorescent lights.
Lash’s campsite was a ways from the park office. I walked for more than an hour, checking my bearings every so often to make sure I hadn’t wandered too far off the path in the dark. With every step my worry increased. What if I wasn’t in time?
Finally, I reached the edge of the campgrounds, and saw his truck, the familiar black Avalanche Danial had been driving that fateful night we met. Behind in on the grass was a large tent, a light glowing inside.
I stopped, suddenly hesitant. What if he wasn’t alone?
Screw it. I’d come too far to be shy now. Every minute counted. I ran to the door of the tent. “Lash?”
My utterance came out quiet, the sounds of crickets and other night insects loud in my ears.
The tent unzipped. Lash stood there, his face in shadow.
I was so relieved to find him alive that I hugged him, blinking back tears. He pulled me inside, and immediately zipped up the tent door behind me, before all the mosquitoes came in. Then he grabbed me roughly and kissed me hard, his forked tongue slipping between my lips, his arms going around me. My shirt that I had draped over my head fell off, dropping to the floor of the tent.
Lash tasted of hard alcohol. There was a mostly empty bottle of Laphroig sitting beside his inflatable bed. And he was stark naked. This wasn’t why I’d come here...
As I went to push him off me, my hands clasped his arms. They were cooler than a vampire’s, as cool as the night air. I took a sharp intake of air, breathing in his scent of earth, leaves, and musk. Underneath it now was the sweet scent of decay.
Lash broke the kiss, then paused, as if waiting for something. I rapidly blinked back tears, trying to get control of my voice enough to talk.
“Don’t cry,” he hissed softly, reaching up to wipe away my tears with his callused hand.
Tears streaming down my cheeks, I grabbed his face in my hands and kissed him. He groaned in satisfaction, then kissed me back, our tongues entwining as he guided me back beneath him down on his bed. Lash broke the kiss abruptly, his hands unfastening my jeans and stripping them off. He paused for a second when he saw the knife at my belt, then his actions became more hurried. Carefully, he lowered his body beside me on the bed. Rolling partly onto me, he kissed me again adamantly, his hands running up under my shirt to unfasten my bra. He pressed his hips to mine, his erection firm and unyielding against my lower belly. Letting out a hiss of longing, Lash kissed me again on my mouth, and then reared back to pull my sweatshirt off over my head, taking my bra with it. My hair caught in one of the straps, a few strands yanking free.
“Ouch!” I said involuntarily.
“Sorry,” he hissed, aligning my hips with his. Moving my left leg back, he pushed in with a loud hiss.
I let out a soft cry, then clasped him to me as he began to move. His thrusts were hard, his hisses almost continuous, his face buried in my neck. I could hear his heartbeat as if it were my own, the beats so fast and irregular they seemed to almost run together. I felt a slight prick as his fangs slid in, then the pressure of gentle sucking.
I stroked his back carefully with my hands, not sure where his wound was, not wanting to hurt him. A few minutes later, he shuddered once as he came, then relaxed against me, breathing hard.
I kissed his cheek gently. At once, he pushed up from me.
“No,” I said, holding him tightly. “Wait—”
“Sar,” he hissed in a low apologetic tone. “I can’t again. I wasn’t sure I was strong enough even to be able to have you once.” He looked down at me, his body still pressed to mine, and put his hand on my cheek. “I’d love to be able to be with you like that over and over, until I died. That’s got to be the best way I could think of to go. But that would be selfish to ask. Thank you for coming to me one last time. I know what we just did can’t have been very good for you. I’m too weak.”
I put my hand over his. “No. It doesn’t have to be like that—”
He kissed me very gently. “You know why I came here. It won’t be much longer. You feel the coolness of my skin?”
No. It wasn’t too late. It couldn’t be! “Yes, but—”
The emotion in Lash’s words silenced me. “You came to me when you knew, so you must care for me a little,” he hissed softly. “Will you stay with me until it’s done? You don’t have to kiss me or anything like that. Just hold me in your arms, until I’m gone?”
I wiped at my eyes, which were too blurry to see. “I’ll do better than that. You have another choice. You don’t have to die—”
“Sar, I’m hurting bad, even with having taken your blood. It’s time.”
“No! Keep drinking my blood,” I said, my hands slipping up from his shoulders to touch his face. “It can save you, renew your body, if you take enough.”
Lash went still, then drew himself out of me, and sat on the edge of the mattress. I sat up as well, pulling the bed blanket around me.
“How do you know this?” he hissed, uncertain. “Titus said nothing.”
“He didn’t want to tell you! He didn’t want me to come to you. But I had to try—”
“Why?” Lash hissed, putting his hand on my arm. “You got what you needed from me, and I liked giving it to you. Our deal is done, nothing owed. There is no love between us, Sar. I know what you did for Danial those years ago, but—”
“Because Dev’s going to be devastated if you die, and so will I. You’re my friend. I may not love you, but you did what I needed you to do, even when you had to risk your life to do it. I’m here to do what you need now.”
“You don’t owe me, Sar,” Lash hissed, his flat eyes staring into mine. “I didn’t do what I did for you, I did it for Devlin—”
“For a creature who loves quiet, you sure can’t seem to shut the hell up!” I hissed back at him. “Take it, before you are so far gone it won’t work!”
“It’ll kill you to take that much all at once,” Lash said softly, rubbing his eyes. “I’m not going to kill the woman my best friend loves so I can go on living.”
“I brought blood replenishment packets,” I said, showing him the box. “Take it slowly, and give them to me, but don’t stop for long—”
“No,” Lash said sadly. “Those will only work for a while until I take about half your blood. Then they won’t work anymore. You’ll still die.”
“Titus knows I’m with you,” I said, thinking quickly. “He knows what I came to do. Call him, when I don’t respond, and he’ll come. He said he could heal me.”
“You are lying, Sar,” Lash hissed gently, giving me a faint smile. “I know him, and he said no such thing. If he knew you were coming to save me, risking yourself for me, he would have stopped you. There is no love lost between he and I, no matter that we’ve worked together for many years.”
I wanted to cry, because I’d done so much to come to him in time. I let out a breath I’d been holding.
“You can’t save me,” Lash hissed, pulling me into his arms. “Let me go.”
There was only one more thing to dangle in front of him for temptation. Lash had only shown me one weakness, save his devotion and love for Devlin, in all the time I’d known him. I preyed on that weakness now. “Take the blood and then bite me. If you make me weresnake like you, I won’t die. You’ll be strong enough to save me, if it works—”
Lash started, then looked down at me
in shock. “You don’t want to be what I am.”
“I’m asking you to try with me to save yourself. I’m not pregnant now, and Devlin can still have me the same if I’m were. He would probably enjoy it if my tongue was forked.”
“It will change your blood,” Lash hissed. “You’ll be weresnake. There’s no going back, Sar. You won’t taste of summer ever again. Dev would never forgive me.”
“Don’t you think it’s a small price to pay for your life? If you told Dev you were dying, had given him the choice, don’t you think he would have tied you down and made you try with me? You know how he feels about you, what he’s done to keep you alive this long.” I paused. “Will you do it? Or were you lying to me when you said you wanted to make me like you, that given half a chance, you would?”
Lash stared back at me, unblinking.
I faced him. “You will never get another chance, Lash. And the clock is ticking.”
“I wasn’t lying,” Lash hissed softly, hugging me. “I do want that, for you to be weresnake like me. I’ve wanted it since the second time we were together, when you raised The Lust on purpose because you saw how badly I needed you. I never expected that kindness, not from you. Not for me.”
I felt a rush of feeling for him, hearing his raw disbelief mixed with affection.
He drew back and studied me. “But are you sure this is what you want? I’ll have to bite you in the throat, Sar, as snake. I’ve turned other women, so I know what I’m doing, but you’ll feel yourself dying before it’s done. And when it’s done, you’ll have more to face. My snake form is frightening to most everyone. Yours will be, too. You’ve seen how I’m loathed for what I am. It can be very lonely, being outcast by most other weres, not to mention humans. I’ll be with you, but you’re going to lose a lot by doing this.”
I drew back from him, settling myself on the bed. His face shifted, almost certain I’d reconsidered.
“I’m afraid,” I said, touching his hand gently. “But I’m sure.”
Lash squeezed my hand, then got out his cell phone and checked the battery. Like mine, his was charged with a strong signal. He put it within reach, and then opened all eight of the packets, placing them upwards in their plastic container.
I lay back down on the bed. Lash lay down beside me. Then he leaned over me, his upper body on mine, moving very carefully. In the dim light, there was something glistening on his left side. Blood?
“Don’t touch my left side, if you can help it,” Lash whispered. “I have a wound there, Sar.”
“I won’t.” I turned my head away from him, bracing myself.
Lash settled back beside me, then took my hand in his. “You squeeze my hand,” he said. “Keep a constant pressure, okay?”
I nodded. Lash kissed my throat, then gingerly sank his fangs back into the partially scabbed holes and began to drink.
His fangs might have been long, but they were small compared to a vampire’s; I barely felt him drawing out my blood. While there was no sudden shock of blood loss, getting a substantial amount required Lash’s continuous exertion. At first, it didn’t hurt. But as time went on, my neck began to feel sore and then to throb in pain.
After about fifteen minutes, I felt lightheaded, my grip on his hand slackening. Lash stopped drinking and gave me one of the packets. Once I swallowed it down, he resumed drinking. We continued this way until we had gone through six packets and an hour and a half had passed. Lash improved steadily as he took my blood, warmth returning to his body when we reached the hour point, and with it, his strength.
I didn’t feel like Lash had taken too much of my blood. The packets were doing their job, keeping me conscious and my heart beating. I just hoped they weren’t diluting my blood or anything, because then he might need to take more. I cursed myself then for never asking Dr. Camlyn exactly how they worked, or how many I could take in a few hours without poisoning myself. But neither had seemed important then...
“Are you doing okay?” he hissed softly in my ear. “I’m being as gentle as I can, but I have to be hurting you. I can’t give you anything for the pain, I have no magic—”
I tried to be brave. “I’m okay,” I croaked out.
“Sar, you’re not. Let me do what I can to ease it for you.” He gently wiped my tears away, then moved onto his back, carefully pulling me atop him. With a shift of his hips, he pushed smoothly into me, then lowered my upper body down onto his. With one arm he steadied me, then his head nuzzled my throat, his fangs again finding their mark. He began thrusting very gently, almost imperceptibly, his free hand caressing and sliding over my bare skin, rubbing my breasts gently, stroking my hair and face. His other hand was in mine, still clasped securely.
I almost stopped him. But he was right in one thing: we might both die attempting this. And what did it matter, anyway? My tubes were tied, I couldn’t get pregnant. And if this was the end, I wanted to go out being loved, not just bitten.
By the time we reached the eighth and last packet, I was clinging to consciousness and him with both hands. We’d come several times, both of our pleasures expressed in soft groans. Most important, it was working. From his increasing vigor and body heat, Lash was getting stronger. What I didn’t know was if I had enough blood and will to finish the job. Lash had taken far more than Devlin or Danial had ever taken, even when they’d bitten me together the first time those years ago. I had never felt so weakened and depleted.
What would happen if I didn’t give him enough? He’d still die. I had to keep going, to finish it, or none of what we’d done would mean anything.
I took the eighth packet from him with shaking fingers, swallowed it, and went limp against him. Lash took the empty package, set it with the rest, and slipped his fangs in, sucking gently, his hand holding mine firmly.
Ten minutes passed, then I felt myself starting to drift. I tried to hold on, but I didn’t want to. I wanted to let go. All of my nerve endings were screaming in fear, Lash’s efforts to distract me drowned out in pain.
But I didn’t stop him. It was he who stopped himself.
“I can’t take anymore,” he said, moving back off of me. “You’re getting cold, Sar. I’ve never had this much before from a woman and not had her die.”
I squeezed his hand, unsure if he could actually feel any pressure.
Lash let go of my hand, and hugged me. “It doesn’t matter to me if you gave me enough to save me. It’s enough you took away my pain, and you’re with me here at the end—”
I looked at him in shock, ignoring his words. Even in the weak candlelight, he’d changed. I reached up my hand weakly towards him.
Lash took my hand in his. “What is it?”
“Your scar...is gone...”
“You brought me back,” he whispered, his words drawling, sounding faintly Southern. The hiss that had always been present in his words was gone. Yet his voice was somehow still him. “My fangs are gone.”
He ran his hands up over his face, letting out an intake of breath when he felt that his scar was gone. His wound looked healed, too. It was no longer glistening. The blood had dried, falling off in places to reveal new skin underneath.
I had done it. I had saved him.
“I told you...it would work,” I whispered, then let my eyes close. Now I could relax completely, knowing that whatever else happened, I’d done what I came here to do. And I wanted to drift more than anything.
“No! You stay here with me, you hear me Sar?” Lash said urgently, pulling me close with one hand, and speed dialing his cell with the other. “You are not dying now, not now!”
Everything began to grey around the edges.
“Titus? It worked, yes. Come to the Everglades, Campsite 89. Hurry!” Lash hung up, and hugged me.
“Stay with me,” he whispered gently. “Titus is coming, Sar. If he can’t heal you, I’ll turn you. You aren’t going to die, no matter what we need to do to save you. I swear it.”
Wondering if he was trying to convince me or himse
lf, I passed out in his arms.
Chapter Six
I awoke to find Titus on his knees next to me, supporting my back as he tried to pour some bitter liquid down my throat. I coughed, and he drew back the container from my lips.
“What is this stuff? It’s awful!” I said, moving my mouth, trying to get the taste out. “Worse than drinking those blood-fixing packets!”
“Sar, you’re insane,” he said angrily, yet with an odd note that resembled pride. “You’re insane, but you did it. And you are lucky as hell I came down here with Lash back in ’74, so I knew where to teleport to.”
I saw the dawn sky through the open tent door. The sun was just rising. “When did the night end?” I said in wonder.
“A few minutes ago,” Titus said, worried. “Drink a little more. Your life depends on it, Sar. This should be enough to heal you, if you can get it down.”
I took the container from him, and downed the rest of it. There was no point drawing it out. The concoction was awful and burned my throat, but I felt an immediate flash of warmth, then a building strength from within that both calmed and sustained me.
“Rest,” Titus said, easing me back onto the bed.
While I still felt weak, I was nowhere as weak as I had felt before I passed out. I yawned hugely, looked around for Lash, and saw he was missing. “Where is—?”
Lash came in the tent door.
My mouth stayed open. “You’re so young,” I said, awed.
Lash had regained his youth. He looked about Theo’s age now, maybe even younger. His face was unlined, and his scar was gone. Then I looked into his eyes. They were no longer flat snake eyes, though they were still a little reserved and dangerous-looking. They were human eyes, a dark, dark brown that was almost black, and they were filled with joy.
I’d not have said Lash was attractive when I’d met him for the first time, or even in the time I had known him. Some of that was because of the scar and his flat eyes, and some was his violent nature, the coldness that was always present in his actions and thoughts, that coldness he had said came from the snake side of him. But he was striking now, even dirty as he was; muddy almost to his waist, his boots covered in sludge.
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