Page 98 of Vampire's Hearth

Jade handed me the vial, my fingers fumbling as I took it. I had to keep going, keep it together for a few more minutes. I concentrated on the wood as much as possible, focusing my will on the blood, the blood my coven held dominion over. I could see Cormac’s body out of the corner of my eye as I focused on his sacrifice, pushing it out of the stake with my mind, watching it cascade into the vial, filling it. When the weapon was clean, I handed the vial to Jade.

“Protect this. I can’t kill again,” I said, my voice breaking as I finished the words, a tear sliding down my cheek. Pain and regret crept into my heart now that the ritual was over. What had I done?

Conall laid a hand on my shoulder, his voice strained from grief. “Rory, this is what Cormac wanted. He’s always protected our family—always took any burden on himself. He wouldn’t have let anyone but him do it, and he wouldn’t have wanted anyone but you to hold the stake.” His gaze shifted to his brother’s body.

My eyes fell on my love, and something told me Conall was right. A small smile seemed to play on Cormac’s lips. I wiped away a tear as the muscles around my eyes and jaw relaxed. Suddenly, his name and his family didn’t matter. He had shown me who he was, showing me his soul. My lips tingled as I remembered the feeling of our first kiss.

Conall’s hand rested on my arm. “Would you like a few minutes with him?”

My heart beat furiously as I tried to ignore the emotions inside me, tried not to think about who it was that I had just staked. I clenched my fists, relishing the pain of my nails digging into my palms. How was I ever going to forgive myself? My vision blurred with tears just before they fell. I had just killed the man I loved, the one I had sworn to protect just days ago as we fought side by side. Guilt and sorrow crashed over me like a tidal wave.

He was gone. Because of me. It was my hand that held the stake. A scream tore from my lips before I pressed my palms to my face, my shoulders shaking with uncontrollable sobs. This curse had taken everything from me—my mother, my aunt, my love. I was certain the pain was ripping me in two. I folded my legs to my chest, shaking as the sobs wracked my body.

Jade wrapped her arms around me, pulling my back close to her front as I stared at Cormac’s body. “What did I do? How did I do this? How could I have done this?” My words tumbled from my mouth, my lips trembling uncontrollably.

“We had no choice,” she said, holding me tightly. “And now we know how to find the Cure. Mac wanted for us to end this.”

I gritted my teeth. I lifted my chin, turning my face toward hers, forcing the words from my mouth. “His name is Cormac.”

Jade blinked as though I had struck her before she gave me a small, knowing nod. “Why don’t Conall and I wait outside for you?”

I wiped the tears from my cheeks, not ready to apologize. “I won’t be long,” I mumbled, my eyes returning to Cormac’s face.

I shifted closer to him as Jade and Conall left and took his hand. It was even colder than usual, unmoving. My fingers trailed along his, a small part of me hoping to feel a movement, a twitch. That there was nothing tore a hole in my chest. I closed my eyes, another tear escaping down my cheek, rememberinghis touch—the feeling of his hands caressing and pleasing me the last time we were in this cave. Memories washed over me in waves: his arms around me, his lips, his hands as they wrapped my ankle, the taste of his blood when he healed me. My breath left my body as though I were drowning, regret filling me. I had never given him my blood.

I let out a bitter laugh, my hand tightening around his. How much had changed in such a small period of time? I reached down to my belt for my athame. There was one last thing I could do, although I knew it wouldn’t be anything like if he had still been alive. My fingers hesitated as they hovered over the handle, uncertainty washing over me, knowing there was no genuine power in what I did.

Hopelessness consumed me as I leaned down over him and kissed his lips, my tears falling on his face.

My breath hitched in my throat. “I’m so sorry, Cormac. But I will finish what we started.”

In a fluid motion, I seized the athame and ran it over my wrist, the blade slicing into my skin. I didn’t care whether I lived or died from the action as I watched the blood fall. I held it over Cormac’s mouth, slightly open after his last breath. My blood fell past his lips, tears engulfing me, my emotions drowning out my physical pain. I wasn’t sure which was flowing more, my blood or my tears.

Mac was gone—the love of my life, the one who had changed me, my life. There was nothing I could do, no way to bring him back. My chest tightened, a stabbing pain engulfing me. If only I had given him my blood before, so I could see the look on his face. If I could only have one more moment to share every part of myself with him.

I rested my hand on his cheek, my wrist over his mouth. I leaned down to his shoulder, curling into his lifeless body, wanting to join him wherever he was. It was my fault that he wasgone, even if I was going to continue doing the work he wanted me to do.And I will find the Cure,I vowed to myself.

My breath caught as a new sensation hit me: lips pulling on my wrist. I gasped and pulled myself away from Cormac’s body, a trail of blood following me. A soft moan came from Cormac’s throat. My heart pounded in my chest, the impossible sound stealing my ability or desire to move.

How is this possible?My hand flew to my chest as though to hold my heart inside, ice radiating from my spine, fearful that I heard the sound and more fearful that I hadn’t. Aiden was the unkillable vampire. It didn’t matter now, what mattered was Cormac.

I looked at his chest. His shirt still had a hole, but his skin had closed beneath it. He moaned again and rolled on his side. A gasp fell from my lips, my heart lurching and more tears rose to my eyes.

“I need more.” It was the voice of a starving man begging for nourishment, begging for something that would save him.

I looked at my wrist, disoriented as it seemed to grow larger and smaller before my eyes, the blood seeping, a dark red trailing from my vein. My lips parted as he moaned again, a cool sensation flowing through my arms and legs, the guilt I had put him in this position hitting me while my heart warmed. There was only one thing he could be asking for.

I returned to his side and laid my arm across his mouth, my hand trembling from pain and relief. There was no movement, no feeling, as my heart squeezed, afraid hearing his voice had been in my head, a lover’s passionate plea to have reality change. “Please,” I forced through my throat as fresh tears blurred my vision. His lips sealed around my wound, and I felt him pull my blood into his mouth, his eyes fluttering beneath the lids.

He drank deeply, his eyes closed as he held my wrist to his mouth. Every pump of my heart was met with a pull fromhis lips, drawing more of my essence into him. The cave spun around me as I became lightheaded from the blood loss. I dropped my head next to his, finding it hard to continue to sit. But I refused to remove my wrist—refused to take away what was giving him life, bringing him back to me.

With a sudden yank, he pulled my arm from him and gasped, panting as though he had just surfaced from the bottom of a dark, endless sea. His fingers laced in my hair. “Rory.” His voice was weak and broken, full of disbelief.

My body shook with renewed sobs, this time of joy and uncertainty, as the warmth of relief flooded through my veins. How was he here? He moved his upper body away from me as he turned his head to look at me. My hair fell haphazardly in front of my eyes, soaked by my tears as our gazes met.

His words were raw. “You need to finish the spell.”

A sob escaped from me, my shoulders shaking. “But I did. We know where the Cure is.” My heart pounded in my chest as I ran my fingers along his jaw, blood falling onto his neck.

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