All Souls' Night - Renee Rose Page 0,191

these earrings!” I tilt my head. “See? I know they’re worth money. You can have them. I’ll give you my ATM card and the pin. Please.”

My voice trembles and my vision goes weak. He’s laughing. He’s going to take all that, and rape me, and then kill me anyway, because of Eddie. Because of stupid, lazy Eddie, who clearly got caught up in something horrible.

“Ah, I think we’ll have a little fun first.” He grabs my arm and yanks so viciously that I think he’s dislocated my shoulder. “Get into my car, bitch.”

If I go with him, I’m dead—I know that for sure.

I scream and twist. “NO! Help! 911, help, 911!” I keep screaming. Surely someone will hear me. Someone will see us; someone will call the police. Oh, how I want them here now, the assholes from the other night. Please let them come and save me from this madman.

Eddie shouts and lurches at Cesar. “Let her go!” he yells, and punches.

“I’ll kill you both.” Cesar’s voice is high and insane.

Eddie hits again—with a grunt, Cesar lets me go, and the gun goes off.

There’s a shot that echoes sharp and fierce around the street. And then there’s a flash, and a sudden artic chill.

I’m on the ground and my chest has turned to ice and fire, and everything in front of me is blurry, because I’m looking through a waterfall. When did we get a waterfall here?

Eddie shouts something, but the sound stretches out and reverberates, like a kid’s toy when the batteries are almost done.

The asphalt is cold under my sweatshirt, but warmer than my chest. Why is it snowing? I’m buried in snow. I can see it all around me, flurries, blocking my vision.

My mouth is full of tangy water. I spit it out and it keeps coming. “I need…” What do I need? I close my eyes. Force them open. “I…”

The snow is coming faster, harder. It’s so quiet now. There are screams, maybe sirens in the distance, but they’re winding down. The amusement park is closing for the night, the rides slowing, the lights blinking off.

And suddenly Locke is there, looming above me, a blur of motion—but I know it’s him because of the purple eyes.

“It’s almost too late. But I can save her.” It’s the last thing I hear before everything goes black.

Chapter 15

Temi is cold and weak; there’s so much blood. It has her delicious smell but tonight it horrifies me because she’s lost too much.

“I’ll take her.” I nod to my companions. “Slash, you clean up the rest of this. Alain, come with me.”

I blur away, travelling as fast as I can. There’s no time for an ER, because she’ll be dead by the time they get to her. It’s up to me now.

When I get her to my house, I lay her limp body down on the floor and gesture to Alain.

“The bullet glanced off the brooch she’s wearing. Lucky thing, or it would have gone straight through and shredded her heart instantly.”

“What did it hit instead?”

“An artery. She’s bleeding out.”

“What are you going to do?”

I look at her face. There are two options: I can try to heal her, or I can try to turn her. Both carry risks; neither are a guarantee.

Temi’s face has a bluish cast and her breathing is so shallow, so far in between, that I know she has less than a minute to live. “I have to do this now. I’m going to turn her. It’s too late to heal her.”

“I’m here.” Alain comes closer. “Tell me what you need.”

I take a breath. “Call Lucius, and ask him to come as soon as he can.” Then I add, “I don’t believe in prayers. But if you’re inclined, say one anyway.” I bend over her body. “Wish us luck.”

Have I timed it right? Am I doing this correctly? I’m working on instinct and lore. The instant that Temi’s life starts to fade—when I sense it begin to lift from her body like a morning mist drying in the heat of the rising sun—I must act. There is a split second to deliver her enough of my own blood, my life-saving essence, to stop her from evaporating away.

It can go wrong, and usually does. It’s not a thing to be done lightly, but as there is no alternative, I focus and wait.

Lucius has arrived and stands behind my shoulder, ready to assist. He watches intently as her chest rises and falls—and doesn’t rise again.

“Now,” he orders, and