Butch stared at Marissa. "I feel like this is happening so fast, all of a sudden."
The door opened and Beth walked in. She said a soft hello and went to Wrath, who put his arms around her and drew her close.
Butch glanced back at Marissa, whose prayers had increased in speed until they were a blur of words. "I love you," he said. Then he looked at V. "Do it."
Vishous lifted his hand. There was a scalpel in it, and before Butch could track the movement, the blade cut into one of his wrists deeply. Twice. Blood welled, a bright, glistening red, and he grew nauseous as he watched it drip down his forearm.
An identical pair of burning cuts were made in his other wrist.
"Oh... Jesus." As his heart rate shot through the roof, the blood ran faster.
Fear came on him hard and he had to open his mouth so he could breathe.
Off in the distance, he heard voices, but he couldn't track them. And the room seemed to be receding. As reality warped and twisted, his eyes latched on to Marissa's face and pale blue eyes and white-blond hair.
He did his best to swallow the panic so he didn't scare her. "It's okay," he said. "It's okay... it's okay, I'm okay..."
Someone grabbed his ankles and he jerked in surprise... but it was just Wrath. And the king held him as V
tilted the table even more so the blood ran out even faster. Then Vishous came around and gently eased Butch's arms off the table so they were hanging down. Closer to the drain.
"V?" Butch said. "Don't leave, okay?"
"Never." V brushed Butch's hair back with a gesture so tender it was out of place coming from a male.
Somehow everything got frightening. On some kind of survival reflex, Butch started to struggle, but V leaned on his shoulders, keeping him in place.
"Easy, cop. We're all right here with you. Just relax if you can..."
Page 255
J R Ward: Lover Revealed
Time stretched out. Time... God, time was passing, wasn't it? People kept talking to him, but Marissa's uneven voice was all he really heard... though as she was praying, he didn't know what she was saying.
He lifted his head and looked down, but he couldn't see his wrists anymore to track what was-All of a sudden he started to shiver uncontrollably. "I'm c-cold."
V nodded. "I know. Beth, turn the heat up some more, okay?"
Butch looked at Marissa, feeling helpless. "I'm getting c-colder."
Her prayers stopped. "Can you feel my hand on your arm?" He nodded. "You feel how warm it is? Good...
imagine it all over your body. I'm holding you... I'm hugging you. You're against me. I'm against you."
He smiled. He liked that.
But then his eyes fluttered, the sight of her flickering like she was a movie on a screen, and the projector was broken.
"Cold... turn heat up." His skin prickled all over. His stomach felt like a lead balloon. His heart seemed to be twinkling in his chest, not beating anymore.
"Cold..." His teeth chattered, so very loud in his ears, but then he couldn't hear anything. "Love... you..."
Marissa watched as the pool of Butch's brilliant red blood grew bigger and bigger around the drain until she was standing in some of it. Oh, God... all his color had left him, his skin going paper white. He didn't seem to be breathing anymore.
V came forward with a stethoscope and put it on Butch's chest. "He's close now. Beth, get over here. I need you." He handed the stethoscope to the queen. "You listen to that heart of his. I want you to tell me when you don't hear anything for ten seconds or more." He pointed at the clock on the wall. "Track it by that third hand up there. Marissa, you come hold your boy's ankles, true? Wrath is about to get busy."
When she hesitated, V shook his head. "We need someone to keep him on the table and Wrath and I have to go to work. You're still going to be with him, you can talk to him from there."
She leaned down, kissed Butch's lips and told him she loved him. Then she replaced Wrath, taking over the job of keeping Butch's heavy body from sliding off the gurney onto the floor.
"Butch?" she said. "I'm right here, nallum. Can you feel me?" She squeezed the cold skin of his ankles. "I'm right here."
She kept talking to him calmly, though she was terrified about what was going to