Only when he’d drawn enough of her blood to weaken her seriously did he release her arm. Unable to stand on her own, his arms went around her, and she wished that she would at least fade into unconsciousness. Feeling him literally suck the very life from her was pure hell. Her mind raced as if seeking a way out still, though there was no escape for her now. Death was coming to claim Lyric, and it was coming fast.
The parking lot began to blur before her eyes. She knew it must almost be over now. Soon the pain would fade, wouldn’t it?
Oh Jade, she thought. I hope you never learn of this night. Go on as if I never existed.
Lyric’s thoughts began to scramble, becoming incoherent. The physical pain was easing as her body grew numb. Yet, the heartache was stronger than ever. Dying wasn’t so bad. It was far better than living without Jade.
A strangled sound came from Dexter, and he was suddenly yanked away from her as if he’d been plucked from the face of the earth. Weak and dizzy, Lyric hit the ground with a crash of sprawling limbs. She struggled to focus on the blurred shape that moved too fast for her eyes to follow.
It was too late. The darkness crept over Lyric, taking hold to draw her under. Her eyelids fluttered and then closed. She never saw Griffin kneeling over Dexter, smashing his skull against the concrete until it was covered in blood and brain matter. Nor did she feel him lift her battered body into his strong arms.
Kneeling on the hard pavement, Griffin held the woman that his dearest and only true friend in the world loved more than anything else. He muttered a curse aloud at Jade before feeling Lyric’s slowing pulse.
Lightly slapping the side of her face, he repeated her name until her eyes opened. They rolled back in her head almost immediately. She was as good as dead.
“Lyric, dammit! I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me.” Griffin all but shouted as he shook her. “Goddammit Jade, you owe me big time. Lyric! Honey, you have to answer me. Do you want me to keep you here or let you go?”
The voice that broke through the still fog clouding Lyric’s brain wasn’t the one she longed to hear, but something about it made her want to listen. Something familiar. Drowning in a sea of black, a sense of calm set in, encouraging her to just let go, to take that very last breath.
As she drew in that last shaky breath, a series of images flashed through her mind. Jade, that very first night when he saved her from the junkie on the street, the night she spotted him in the audience as she performed and that first night they made love. Jade. She couldn’t leave him, could she?
It was so easy to slip away, but Lyric heard her name spoken with an urgency that forced her to listen, and she knew she had to, for Jade. It was like breaking through the surface of a wave that had swallowed her whole. Her eyes opened, and she saw a vision of Griffin that seemed to blur and spin before her. Was it real?
“Lyric, you will die if I don’t do something.” Griffin was leaning in close, speaking clearly and slapping her face. “You have to make the choice. I cannot do it for you. Jade would kill me.”
“Jade,” she croaked, sapping her waning strength. It was hard to make sense of what Griffin was saying to her. She heard Jade’s name and she clung to it. “Jade.”
“Tell me you want me to do this, Lyric. Or else I can’t.” Griffin’s voice was pained.
Vaguely Lyric knew what he was saying, what he was offering. The darkness drew close again, blanketing her in warmth and comfort. It was so easy to turn away from him and cloak herself within it. And still, something was missing.
The echo of her heartbeat reverberated inside her head as it slowed. Every small, shallow breath was a fight that her body couldn’t afford to put up. An awareness settled into Lyric; she was being offered a way out, a way to join Jade forever without the human vulnerabilities that he feared so greatly in her. She nodded but the action didn’t translate physically. Lacking the strength to communicate with Griffin, she began to fight the black webs that smothered her.
Choking, she had to be choking. Lyric couldn’t breathe. The sound of her dying heart grew louder until it drowned out the sound of Griffin’s voice, her last link to this world. With one last desperate inner cry, Lyric reached for him. His cold hand touched the side of her face and though she heard him say her name, he sounded a world away.
“Please,” she murmured, unable to focus on Griffin’s face as it swam above her. “Don’t let me go.”
Her words lacked strength but Griffin heard her clearly. He acted quickly, cursing once more before pulling his best friend’s woman close and biting into her wounded throat.
Lyric’s heart didn’t have much to give, and he took only as much as was necessary. Using fangs to open a vein in his wrist, Griffin pressed the pumping crimson flow to her lips. “If you want to bat those pretty eyes at Jade again, drink.”
Griffin’s blood was hot and salty on her tongue. She would have recoiled from it if she’d had the strength to. As it filled her mouth steadily, she had no choice but to swallow. That very simple action took enormous effort, and she had to fight hard to make the muscles in her throat work.
The powerful vampire blood flowed into her, breathing new life throughout her dying body. A seed was planted, growing swiftly into a root that took hold to claim her for the undead. Lyric felt it then, the start of a spark that quickly grew into a flame. Yet even as the new life inside her struggled to take over, her heart slowed until each beat grew further apart. Her lungs grew heavy, and it became impossible to breathe.
Lyric cried out inside her mind, desperate to fight the abyss that threatened to suck her in. The sound of Griffin’s voice as he spoke soothingly to her disappeared entirely as she spiraled headlong into the black cloud that enveloped her. With one last labored beat, her heart seized and stopped.
Chapter Fifteen
As the Shelby Cobra raced down the highway in the dead of the night, Jade reached for the radio knob with a heartfelt curse. The Jimi Hendrix song that had just started was like salt in his wounds. He hadn’t been able to get Lyric off his mind since leaving town. The farther away he got, the stronger his need for her grew.
Slamming his fist against the steering wheel, he pressed the gas pedal to the floor, making the engine roar. It did little to appease him.
He’d been traveling in the same direction since leaving, stopping wherever it was safe during the day. He didn’t know where he was going or what he planned to do when he got there. It had occurred to him very early on how incredibly rash and stupid this had been. Still, he’d kept going.
If he went back to her, he would destroy her. And, he loved her too much to be the one to take everything away. She deserved to live the full human life that he had never had. He couldn’t give her children, walk beneath the sunshine or grow old with her. So despite the fact that every fiber of his being screamed for him to turn around, he stared straight ahead as the lines on the road flew by.
Another road sign lit up brilliantly as Jade blasted by. He didn’t bother to read it. He’d lost track of his location long ago.
Visions of Lyric filled his head. He could still see her that very first night, standing next to the bus stop in those sensational heels. From that first moment, she had stirred a piece of Jade that he had long forgotten existed.
Jade had done many things that he’d come to regret. Not only had he betrayed his wife with another woman, he had murdered her. And still, fate brought a gift as amazing as Lyric into his world. It just seemed too good to be true. Walking away before it all blew up in his face had to be for the best. It just had to be.
Bloodlust gnawed at him. He hadn’t been feeding, which did nothing but make him irritable and irrational. He couldn’t go much longer. Again, he was reminded of why he chose to leave the only woman he had loved so deeply.
A series of commercials followed the modern rock song on the station he’d switched to. Jade shoved a lock of hair out of his face. “Fuck sakes! Why her? Why now?” A twinge in his gut had him squirming in discomfort. So
mething didn’t feel right.
A sharp and sudden pang in his still heart filled him with dread. The strong sense of foreboding that gripped him was enough to make him question everything. He had to go back. Something was wrong. He knew it without a doubt.
Now he was regretting his rash decision to throw his cell phone out the window in a fit of rage a few hundred miles back. Removing the temptation to call Lyric had been his solution to the undying urge. What in the hell was wrong with him? When had he become such a blathering fool? Right about the time he’d first laid eyes on Lyric, that’s when.
He didn’t have to think twice about turning around. With a glance in the mirror to make sure everything was clear behind him, he hit the brakes and spun the car around. The tires squealed as they slid on the asphalt before regaining traction. Jade began a steady stream of cursing, this time directed at himself.
What had he been thinking when he thought leaving her alone and helpless was best for her? If something had happened to her, he’d never forgive himself.
* * * *
Dusk had settled like a thinly veiled backdrop to the city. The quiet neighborhood was disrupted by the angry growl of a Mustang engine pushed to the breaking point. Long, silken black tresses perfectly fanned out on the white pillow moved slightly as Lyric thrashed about, caught up in the throes of a dream she could not escape.
For a time, she had felt nothing, dreamed nothing. Then, everything came to life behind her closed eyes. Trapped in a slumber that would not free her, Lyric had been waiting for whatever was next, whatever really came after death. However, death had come and gone, leaving her changed but not alive. No longer human.
Her dreams were dominated by bloodlust and crimson rivers that flowed like waterfalls in paradise. She longed for death, longed to be the bringer of it as she drank down the life source of something whose heart continued to beat. The foreign thoughts and needs were frightening to Lyric, and she struggled to separate herself from them.
Try as she might to cling to pieces of her former human life, the only thing that kept coming back to her was Jade. And, with his memory came a swarm of tangled emotions. The ache that lingered had survived even death. He’d abandoned her. Left her alone to die.
A yearning for his loving touch was matched by the desire to hurt him, to make him die inside like he’d done to her. Such vehemence filled her that she lashed out in her sleep, connecting with the lamp at her bedside. It crashed to the floor with the sound of shattering glass, but she continued to dream deeply.
Images of the tall, dark and fantastically gorgeous man that she desperately loved never ceased their assault on her emotions. Why wouldn’t he leave her to mourn the loss of him in peace? As long as he continued to haunt her, even through death, she would never be free. If Jade didn’t want her, why could she not finally bring herself to believe that?
Her stomach began to hurt as it twisted and cramped with a painful wave of nausea. The craving was strong, taking over her focus. A hunger like none she’d ever experienced commanded her attention. It resonated throughout her until nothing else mattered but satisfying the torturous need.
An alarm seemed to go off inside her head at the sound of a door opening and then that voice that she would know anywhere. A snarl curled her lips up to reveal bared fangs, and her eyes snapped open.
* * * *
Seeing Griffin’s car in the driveway had caused Jade to all but run to the door. Lyric’s rental car hadn’t been at her apartment, and he was frantic with worry. He flung the front door open, Griffin’s name ready on his lips, when he sensed the energy of a newborn vampire.
His instinct was to tear through the house in search of the foreign creature. Before he’d even made it to the staircase, Griffin stepped out of the living room to intercept his path.
“Jade, wait!” He grabbed his friend’s shoulder in a friendly but firm manner. “We have to talk. About Lyric.”
“Lyric? You’ve seen her? Where is she?” Jade’s voice rose with panic. He reached out as if he would shake Griffin to get the answers out of him but stopped short of doing so.
“She’s here.” Griffin paused, allowing his words to sink in. “But, you have to calm down.” Looking Jade over carefully he added, “It’s about time you showed up.”
A hand to his forehead, Jade went cold inside as his intuition told him what he’d known all along. Whatever had happened in his absence, he was too late to save her. “Tell me, Griff. Whatever it is, just spit it out.”
Jade wanted to resist when Griffin guided him into the living room. He stood stiffly, only sitting when his friend insisted. The suspense was killing him. When he caught the concern etched in Griffin’s deep stare, he knew it was bad. The urge to shout at Griffin to start talking was quickly overcoming his resistance.
“Jade,” Griffin began slowly, as if selecting his choice of words. “Lyric was attacked at Cry. I’m not sure why she went there, but Dexter got his hands on her. I found them in the parking lot.”
Jade felt like he’d been kicked in the crotch. If his heart had still beat, it would have stopped right then. “Please, keep going.”
“It was too late. She was dying. So, I asked her what she wanted. She was almost too far gone to respond.” As Griffin spoke, Jade’s insides went cold. “When she finally mumbled something that made sense, she asked me not to let her go.”
The eyes of the two vampires met, and Jade slowly shook his head from side to side. It was as bad as he’d feared, and it was all his fault.
“And?” He asked, fearing Griffin’s answer, already knowing what it was. Waiting for him to say the words was eating a hole in Jade’s insides.
Griffin’s dark gold eyes peered into Jade. His voice was low and steady. “I turned her, Jade.”
The silence that fell between them was strained as Jade absorbed what he was hearing. He was conflicted; his emotions, a mess. He owed everything to this man before him, and yet a jealous streak tore through him with a bitter sting.
Lyric … a vampire. He couldn’t imagine it. Suddenly afraid to see her, Jade glanced around nervously. “Where is she?”
“She hasn’t risen yet.” Griffin looked pained for a moment before saying, “If this isn’t what you want, if you’d rather I didn’t-,”
“No,” Jade interjected quickly. “She made the choice.” He knew Griffin had been about to offer to destroy her. It wasn’t that Griffin was so cold but that he was practical and realistic about the world he was a part of. Jade couldn’t fault him for that. He had sacrificed of himself by doing what he had.
Jade’s body almost vibrated with tension. He got to his feet and paced the length of the room once, then twice, before grabbing his friend in a typical guy hug. “Thank you, for being there when I wasn’t.”
Griffin gave him an affectionate clap on the back. “Are you ok, man?”
“I need to see her.” Jade’s eyes went to the hall by the stairs and back to Griffin. “Fuck, I’m terrified. What if she regrets everything? What if she wishes that you let her die instead? She may not even forgive me for leaving her the way I did. I feel like such a stupid shit.”
“You love her. You did what you felt was best because of that. She’ll understand.”
Jade wasn’t so sure. Waking as a newborn vampire would be confusing, a hurricane of feelings and emotions. The dominating factor was always the bloodlust. The thought of his beautiful Lyric lusting for blood and tearing into human flesh scared him. It just wasn’t her. Would she still feel for him the way she had before?
“You know what the change is like, Griff. It steals every thought but the blood hunger in the beginning. She could take one look at me and see only the asshole who got her into this situation in the first place. What if she never wants to see me again?”
The conflict of emotion and worry began to brew into a full-fledged storm. Jade hated himself right then, and he expected the same from Lyric. He could leave, now before she awoke. No! No leaving. He had already proven hims
elf a coward. Now, he would prove how much this woman meant to him by staying, whether she rejected him or not.
The air in the room seemed to shift around them as the atmosphere grew hot with the energy of a brand new vampire. Both men spun around to find Lyric framed in the doorway between the hallway and the living room.
Taking in the sight of her, Jade was enchanted all over again. His knees went weak, and he was at a loss for words. The transformation had subtly altered her appearance, making her even more beautiful, if that was possible.
Her eyes flashed with a brilliance that jolted his heart. Those stormy blue orbs glowed with an eerie translucence that was no longer human. Her ink black hair shone with an unnatural blue hue. Lyric’s alabaster skin was pale, like porcelain, and Jade knew it would feel just as smooth. She was clad in one of his silk bathrobes. Their eyes locked, and everything else faded away.
“I have spent every moment that we have been apart waiting to lay eyes on you again.” Her bell-like voice was soft, but it pierced his soul. “I thought I never would.”
Jade was enamored, frozen in place. His eyes were riveted to her cherry red lips and the two tiny points that protruded from beneath them. Looking at Lyric, seeing her as a vampiress, it was surreal. Jade couldn’t believe she stood there before him, her humanity gone. Dead.
He wanted to go to her but was unable to move. His feet felt heavy, and he feared that she would reject him. He didn’t dare take that chance.
The energy in the room lightened as Griffin quietly retreated from the room, leaving Jade and Lyric to stare at one another with shared uncertainty. Her lower lip trembled, and she took one shaky step towards him before stopping and holding her arms out to him.
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