But this only spurs him on. He flashes me his lethal canines. “I don’t think so, breather. You and I have some unfinished business, don’t we?”
I open my mouth to scream for help, but he’s too quick. With his other hand, he grabs me by the throat, his fist tightening against my windpipe. I splutter and try to catch my breath. Instinctively, my other hand reaches out, scratching and clawing at his arm, desperately trying to free myself.
He laughs cruelly as he holds me up in the air. My legs flail under me.
“It’s too late to call for her. I do admire your spunk, though. It’s such a pity I’ll have to drain you, but Iamgoing to enjoy it. Don’t worry, I’ll draw it out for as long as I can. Watch you suffer the way I suffered, locked in that coffin. I’ll make sure it’s as agonizing for you as it was for me. I want Crimson to know that I put you through that. To know your last moments on this earth were your most miserable…”
Tears fill my eyes.Whydidn’t I listen to the driver, when he warned me to leave?
But I knew I couldn’t have gone. I couldn’t have left without seeing her again.
And for some reason, even though it makes no sense, it’s her face I picture in my mind. Her touch I feel on my skin. If these are my last moments, I want them to be filled with the thought of her. The thought of the pleasure we shared, the way she made me feel like the most precious thing in the world, the way she cared for me like no one else ever has…the way sheknewme…knew the real me, wild and unrestrained, pure and complete in my desire for her…
I can see her face in my mind, hear the sound of her name…it floats through my mind as my thoughts become incohesive…
Roslyn Night, Roslyn Night, Roslyn Night…
And I fall to the ground, sharply, my hip hitting the hard cobblestoned path.
My eyes fly open, my hands rubbing my aching throat.
Like an angel of the night, Crimson bears down on Waylan, her stake in one fist, his shirt in another. Her eyes are wide, frenzied with fury.
“Iwarnedyou,” she snarls. “You bastard, I evenwarnedyou…why couldn’t youlistento me…”
“I’ll never bow down to you, Roslyn Night!” Waylan declares.
“So be it,” Crimson hisses. In a swift, decision gesture, she plunges her pointed stake into his chest, burying it deep to the hilt. Blood gushes out from the wound, staining her white shirt and pouring over her fist. Waylan’s body immediately lurches, then goes horribly still.
With a twist, she pulls her stake back out, then tosses his body to the ground. Red drips down the smooth, ebony wood.
She grimaces at me. “That’swhy they call me the Crimson Stake,” she says, mirthlessly.
But I have no voice to reply. I stare, wide-eyed, at the lifeless - orstaked, I guess - form of the other vampire, slumped on the cobbled path. I’m trembling all over again.
Crimson rubs the back of her neck, closing her eyes. I expect her to give me a smirk, or to make some sort of cheeky quip. But she looks…not quite shaken, but…a littlerattled. She puts her stake back in its place at her hip, not bothering to wipe it down first.
“Are you…are you all right?” I whisper, my voice raspy from being winded.
But she doesn’t respond. Her eyes look red around the edges. Shakily, I get to my feet, and step toward her…
Before I can reach her, another vampire appears. He has lanky, blond hair and wears dark clothes. I remember that he interrupted us before.
“Is everything ok?” he asks. “I thought I heard…”
Then he sees Waylan’s body, and he tenses.
“Five minutes, Alin,” Crimson snaps, not looking at him. “Five minutes, then…then go tell the others.”
Alin nods anxiously, then disappears silently back down the path, like a shadow into the night.
There’s something dark in Crimson’s eyes. Something heavy. I can’t imagine what she must feel, after having to end the vampire who attacked me. But…there’s something else in her reaction. Something more complicated.
What’s she carrying?
“You had no choice,” I whisper to her, although I’m not sure if she’s listening. “Thankyou…you saved my life…”
“Go back to the mansion,” she says, her voice flat and hard. Her eyes are trained down, at Waylan’s body.
