Crave - Teresa Mummert Page 0,72

was a vampire who would soon be dead unless they killed Elijah or me.

“No,” I said under my breath.

“Eva?” he asked as I struggled to control my breathing. I was on the verge of exploding.

“No! It will not be okay,” I screamed. He leaned back from me, but his hand remained on my hair. “We can’t fix this! We can’t make it better! Everyone around me will keep dying until they get what they want.” I felt defeated. I didn’t know if I had any strength left in me to fight. I wanted to give up. I buried my head in my hands and began to cry harder.

“Eva, look at me,” Elijah demanded as he took his fingers and turned my chin toward him. “You are the strongest human I know.” I wanted to roll my eyes but his expression was serious and I knew he believed what he was saying. “I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe.” His eyes darkened and I knew there was something more to what he was saying. I nodded my head and he took my hand pulling me to my feet.

“Let’s get this over with,” I said as I made my way through the maze of headstones. Elijah trailed behind me.

Chapter thirty-three

Never Forget

I was thankful Elijah didn’t complain about the detour to my brother’s grave. I needed a chance to say goodbye to him. I didn’t know if I would ever get the opportunity to do it again. He turned the knob on the radio and an old rock love ballad filled the silent void between us. I had to get my head in the game. If I showed up at the club with tears streaming down my face, I would undoubtedly become a vampire snack.

I leaned over and fumbled with the radio knob until I found a good song to get me in the mood to fight. I settled on Let the Bodies Hit the Floor and cranked up the volume so I could no longer hear my own thoughts. Since we had lost the element of surprise with an early attack, we didn’t need to rush to get to the club. I wanted to get this over with, but I also knew this could be the last moments I got to spend with Elijah. I glanced over at him, and his eyes caught my gaze. He reached over and laced his fingers in mine. I smiled as I took in the absolute perfection that he was.

“I won’t let anything happen to you,” he repeated, as he had many times before. I knew he meant it. He would die trying to save me and I would do the same for him. I squeezed his hand to let him know I trusted him. I didn’t like having to choose between two people that I cared about. Who was I to say which should live and which should die?

We drove around the club before finding a suitable place to park. People milled around the front door, but the crowd didn’t seem overly impressive. We pulled into a closed business right down the road and prepared for war.

Elijah went through the uses of each weapon one more time to make sure I knew how to use everything correctly. We went back to the trunk of the car and loaded up with a few extra things because the vampire crowd would be larger here than just Reid’s Sector. I hoped I wouldn’t have to run or I would surely be overcome with all the extra weight I was now carrying.

“Do you think they know we are here?” I asked, scared to hear his response.

“It is hard to say how heightened Grayson’s senses are with the blood concoction. This is new territory for all of us. We can only hope he knows you are in the area, but doesn’t anticipate us coming for them.” Elijah was visibly worried but his confidence radiated through the air and my panic dissipated. “We are lucky that we waited until later. Perhaps if things get too bad you can escape into the daylight,” he added, thinking aloud.

“What about you? You will be stuck inside with the Sector.” It suddenly dawned on me that Elijah had never expected to make it out of this alive. His plan only went as far as to save me. I could feel my own fear pushing back against Elijah’s confidence that hung in the air. I was leading him to his death and the