"I'm so sorry, Cam. This never should have happened to you." Under the fall of his dark wool pea coat, Chase flipped off the Beretta's safety, slid the weapon out of the holster. "If it could be me instead, I swear... "
Behind him now, up at the house, Chase heard the metallic click of the front door opening, then Elise's sudden indrawn gasp. Time slowed at once. Everything spun out, reality descending into the thickness of a sluggish dream, a nightmare that began the instant Elise stepped outside. "Camden!" Her voice seemed oddly distant, slowed like the rest of the moment. "Oh... God... Camden!"
Chase swiveled his head toward her. He shouted for her to stay back, but she was already running, holding her arms wide, her white widow's garb fluttering around her like delicate moth's wings as she flew toward her son. Toward her certain and violent death, if Chase allowed her to get close enough to touch the Rogue vampire that had been her beloved son.
"Elise, stay back!"
But she ignored him. She kept coming, even when her tear-filled eyes focused on Camden's fearsome, hideous appearance. She choked on a sob, but her arms stayed open to him, her feet still moving across the lawn and down to the driveway.
In his peripheral vision, Chase saw the Rogue's savage amber gaze shift attention to Elise. Fixed on her now, the Bloodlusting vampire let out a terrible snarl, lowering into a crouch. Chase pivoted around and put himself squarely between mother and son. He had the pistol drawn and level before he even realized it.
Another second ticked by.
Elise was still coming, faster now, weeping and calling Camden's name.
Chase measured the distance with his gut, knowing that there were only seconds left before this confrontation would end in tragedy. He had no choice. He had to act. He couldn't stand by and risk her life--
The blast of gunfire cracked like thunder in the night.
Elise screamed. "No! Oh, God--nooo!"
Chase stood there, numb, his finger still squeezing the trigger down. The titanium-filled bullet had hit its target squarely in the center of the chest, dropping the Rogue to the ground. Already the sizzle of death had begun, erasing all doubt that there might have been a chance to save Camden from the Bloodlust that possessed him. The Crimson had turned him into the walking dead; now it was ended. Camden's suffering was over.
Elise's--and Chase's too--had only begun.
She raced up to him and beat her fists against him, making contact with his face, his shoulders, his chest, anywhere she could strike him. Her lavender eyes were swamped with tears, her beautiful face pale and stricken, her voice lost to the hitching sobs and wails that poured out of her throat.
Chase took the abuse in silence. What could he do? What was there to say?
He let her vent all of her hatred on him, and only when she finally stopped, pivoting around to collapse on the ground near the body of her son as the titanium quickly reduced his remains to ash, did Chase find the will to move. He stared at her hunched form trembling on the gravel driveway, his ears ringing with the mournful sounds of her grief. Then, in weary silence, he let the gun slip from his loose grasp.
He turned away from her, and from the Darkhaven sanctuary that had long been his home, and walked off into the darkness alone. Dante jolted awake, his eyelids flying open, breath sawing out of him. He'd been trapped by a wall of fire, blinded by the flames and ash. Unable to reach Tess. He sat up, panting, the vision still raw in his mind, scraping at his heart.
Oh, God, if he'd failed...
If he'd lost her...
"Dante?"
A profound relief swamped him at the sound of her voice, at the glorious realization that Tess was right there with him, seated at his bedside. He'd woken her from a drowsy sleep; she lifted her head from her arms, her hair in disarray, her gentle eyes shadowed with fatigue.
"Dante, you're awake." She brightened at once, coming up nearer to him and caressing his face and hair. "I've been so worried. How do you feel?"
He thought he should feel a hell of a lot worse than he did. But he was well enough to pull Tess into his arms. Strong enough to bring her onto his lap on the bed, where he kissed her soundly.
He was alive enough to know that what he needed more than anything right now was to feel her nude body pressed against his.
"I'm sorry," he murmured against her lips. "Tess, I am sorry for everything I've put you through--"
"Shh, we'll have time for that later. We can sort everything out later. Right now you need to rest."
"No," he said, too glad to be awake--to be with her--to think about wasting any more time on sleep.
"What I need to tell you can't wait. I saw something terrible today. I saw what it would be like to lose you. That's someplace I never want to go again. I need to know that you're protected, that you are safe --"
"I'm right here. You saved me, Dante."
He stroked the velvety skin of her cheek, so grateful that he could. "You're the one who saved me, Tess."
He wasn't talking about his injuries from the UV exposure, which she had healed with her amazing gift of touch. He wasn't talking about the first night he'd found her either, when her blood had fortified him when he was at his weakest. Tess had saved him in so many ways beyond any of that. This female owned him, heart and soul, and he wanted her to know that now.
"Everything makes sense when I'm with you, Tess. My life makes sense, after so many years of running scared in the dark. You are the light, the reason I live. I'm bonded to you deep, woman. For me, there will never be another."
"We're bonded by blood now," she said, but her faint smile wobbled on her lips. She glanced down, frowning. "What if you hadn't bitten me that night at my clinic? Without the blood bond, would you still... ?"