"Of course I do." What kind of question was that?
"Then why don't you fight me?"
Abigail didn't answer. She had to hold on to Jess's face or she would be fighting him with everything she had.
"Why don't you fight?"
She opened her eyes to glare at him. "Don't you understand? I am saving my life."
"I don't follow. You're doing this to save the world?"
She shook her head. "I'm doing this to save Jess."
"For him I can cut your throat?" He laid the knife across her neck. So close, she couldn't swallow without cutting herself. She kept her eyes open this time.
Screw it. If he was going to kill her, he could do it looking at her.
"Yes."
His gaze softened immediately as a slow smile spread across his face. "That's the right answer." He pulled the knife away.
Completely confused, she scowled at him. "What are you doing?"
"You made your sacrifice. You can get up now."
She still didn't understand. "I have to die. Don't I?"
"Not all sacrifices involve death, child. As the Enapay used to say, the noblest sacrifice of all is to open your heart up completely to another person and give them the dagger with which to slay you.... You were willing to die for Jess. Bravely. You proved it. That's enough for the Spirit to see and be appeased."
Incredulous, she gaped at him. "Get out." Could it really be that easy?
"No getting out, I'm afraid, my dear. All we need to do now is make your offering and then locate those jars to protect them."
She bolted upright. "I really don't have to die?"
"Are we going to be doing this all night? Should I book us a reservation at Redundancy?"
She laughed. Until her gaze went past his shoulder to ...
It took a moment for her eyes to see it again and then to realize what it was....
That familiar shadow she'd seen on her wall as a child. The one that had whispered to Buffalo.
And before she could make a single sound of warning, it attacked.
Jess paced back and forth like a caged cougar on steroids. Every time he started to go after Abigail, Ren grabbed his arm and stopped him.
The bastard was about to get a boot kicked so far up his ass, he'd be burping shoe leather for the rest of his immortal life.
Jess started for the cave again.
Ren cut him off. "You can't."
"Bull. Shit. What I can't do is leave her. Don't you understand?"
Ren laughed bitterly. "Yeah, I understand better than you can ever imagine. I know exactly what it's like to want something so bad, you can taste it and to have to watch as it voluntarily goes to someone else and then wish them both the best and try to mean it. I know the bitter taste of gall as they sit down at your table and you have to smile while inside you die every time they touch or exchange love-saturated glances. Don't talk to me about torment, Jess. I wrote the fucking book on it."
Now, that was something Ren had never shared with him before. He had no idea his friend had been through an experience like that. Ren never talked about his past. Hell, Jess didn't even know why Ren was a Dark-Hunter.