Page 56 of Shadow Hunter

He tossed her his stake, watching her eyes go wide as he offered her the kill.

To Tiffany’s credit, she didn’t miss a beat.

“Do it,” he said, urging her on. “For Mark.”

Nodding, Tiffany turned toward Caius, a loud battle cry ripping from her throat. Running forward, she lifted his weapon over her head and stabbed the stake straight through Caius’s heart.

The ancient vampire burst to pieces, blood splattering in all directions, and coating her in the thick crimson liquid.

For a moment, Tiffany simply stood there, her chest rising and falling as she panted.

Damon felt his knees buckle.

“Damon!” Tiffany’s eyes widened, and she ran to his side as he crumpled to his knees.

Tiffany fell to the floor beside him, kneeling at his side. Blood covered her face and her sparkling dress as dots of black clouded his vision.

But to him, she’d never looked more capable, more fierce.

His spitfire of a Shortcake.

She examined his wound. “Shit.” She pressed her hand onto the hole to gauge its depth.

He let out a low hiss from the pain.

“What were you thinking risking giving me the kill like that?” She grabbed her now blood-covered shawl from the chair and wrapped the material tight around his shoulder to slow the bleeding. Man, she looked like an angel as she cared for him, even with all the blood.

His heart thudded against his rib cage. He couldn’t be sure whether it was Tiffany or the blood he’d lost that was making him delirious.

“Wanted you to forgive me,” he rasped.

Her jaw dropped open as she shook her head at him. “So, you gifted me the death of an ancient vampire?!” she practically shrieked, her voice rising on the end note.

He coughed. “Didn’t figure you…cared for roses, Shortcake.”

Despite her panic at his bleeding, she laughed, pulling him closer. “I would have forgiven you from the start, you fool. All you had to do was ask.”

She gripped his face in her hands then, kissing him, quickly, deeply.

Far too quickly if you asked him.

“Damon, we have to get out of here,” she said, pulling away from his lips. “All you have to do is make it to the car. All right?”

He clenched his teeth and nodded. With her help, he stumbled to his feet and hobbled from the room as fast as he could, though he was teetering on the brink of passing out. Loud screams and shrieks had already filled the restaurant, their exitlost in the chaos. Tiffany led him out the front door, holding his arm around her shoulder to help steady him.

The smells of restaurant’s food faded from his nose, replaced by the tang of blood coating them both and the cold Rochester night air. He coughed once more, fighting to breathe. “S-s- sorry I ruined your dinner.” He was trying to joke even as his vision spun. He wanted to be strong for her, show her he was okay.

Tiffany joked back. “Oh, yeah, I was really looking forward to some of that pink Himalayan crap.” She forced a small smile.

But hard as she tried, even in his fading consciousness, she couldn’t fool him. Her eyes told him everything. He knew how she felt even as his name on her lips became a distant echo, and for once in her life...she was terrified.

12

Alarge mountain of sailor-level profanities wouldn’t have been enough to express the deep shit Tiffany was in. Damon slumped against her shoulders more heavily each minute, quickly losing blood. He needed to get to a hospital as soon as possible. The bleeding wasn’t slowing, despite the makeshift pressure bandage she’d placed on it.

As if that wasn’t enough, pure horror clutched her hard as she stared at the familiar face looking at her from inside Caius’s Bugatti Veyron, the metallic finish of the limited-edition Pur Sang glaring beneath the orange streetlights. Damn it all to hell.

Caius had brought his chauffeur.

---