"Why can't I feel him in my head?"
"I am blocking it. It is a fearful wound, and I am better practiced at dealing with such things."
I pulled the gag from Richard's mouth. I touched his lips gently. The thought of how I'd refused to kiss him earlier that day bit at me. "He's dying, isn't he?"
Jean-Claude broke Richard's chains, more carefully than his own. I helped him clear them from Richard's limp body. Richard lay on the ground in the bloodstained white T-shirt I'd last seen him in. He was just suddenly Richard again. I couldn't imagine the beast I'd seen. I suddenly didn't care. "I can't lose him, not like this."
"Richard is dying, ma petite. I feel his life slipping away."
I stared up at him. "You're still keeping me from feeling it, aren't you?"
"I am protecting you." There was a look on his face that I didn't like.
I touched his arm. His skin was cool to the touch. "Why?"
He turned away.
I jerked him hard, forced him to look at me. "Why?"
"Even with only two marks, Richard can try and drain us both to stay alive. I am preventing that."
"You're protecting us both?" I asked.
"When he dies, I can protect one of us, ma petite, but not both."
I stared at him. "You're saying that when he dies, you're both going to die?"
"I fear so."
I shook my head. "No. Not both of you. Not all at once. Dammit, you're not supposed to be able to die."
"I am sorry, ma petite."
"No, we can share power just like we did to raise the zombies, the vampires, like we did tonight."
Jean-Claude slumped suddenly downward, one hand on Richard's body. "I will not drag you to the grave with me, ma petite. I would rather think of you alive and well."
I dug my fingers into Jean-Claude's arm. I touched Richard's chest. A shuddering breath ran up my arm from him. "I'll be alive, but I won't be well. I'd rather die than lose you both."
He stared at me for a long second. "You do not know what you are asking."
"We are a triumvirate now. We can do this, Jean-Claude. We can do this, but you have to show me how."
"We are powerful beyond my wildest dreams, ma petite, but even we cannot cheat death."
"He owes me one."
Jean-Claude flinched as if in pain. "Who owes you?"
"Death. "
"Ma petite. . ."
"Do it, Jean-Claude, do it. Whatever it is, whatever it takes. Do it, please!"
He slumped on top of Richard, head barely raised. "The third mark. It will either bind us forever, or kill us all."
I offered him my wrist. "No, ma petite, if it is to be our only time, come to me." He lay half on Richard's body, arms open for me. I lay in the circle of his arms, and realized when I touched his chest there was no heartbeat. I turned and stared into his face from inches away. "Don't leave me."