Page 78 of Cursed Lifeline

I can’t take it. The blood, the gore, the building tension and fear as Caelum screams out in horror and his life borders on fae and vampire.

“Not quite sure,” I clear my throat and focus on anything else but the bite mark on Caelum’s neck. Rounding the table he’s laid out on, I stand by Evangeline’s side to offer her any assistance she might need. “One second, he was laughing with me at the bar; the next, he was gone. I didn’t think much about it until I heard the screaming.”

“Screaming?” Esme looks up, startled, as Evangeline adds more antidote to the rag, and Caelum howls out in pain.

“Yeah, just like that,” I swallow down the bile that rises in my throat. Glancing up at the door, hopeful no one hears him, I use the time my gaze is fixated elsewhere to clear my head.

God, it’s hot in here.

The air isn’t moving. It’s stifling. And the smell of blood is… God, it’s fucking awful.

“It’s not working.” Evangeline sighs, discouraged, drawing my attention back to the red plasma covering the front of her lovely evening gown.

“It would work if we could immobilize the bite and keep it lower than his heart,” Felix growls.

“How do you keep your neck below your heart?” Evangeline asks sarcastically.

Caelum curses, his eyes roll back in his head. He seems to lose consciousness for a moment before he wails, “God, if a vampire doesn’t know what to do for a bite from one of his kind, then I’m really fucking screwed.”

Esme hushes him like a mother to her child, and Felix growls in annoyance. Evangeline bites her lip, worry etches its panicked path across her stunning features. Placing a comforting hand on the small of her back, I force myself to focus on helping her. Maybe it will take away the woozy feeling growing, and spreading across my skin like the flu. Speechless, she looks up at me as I step closer.

“There must be something,” I start to say, “Anything you can think of that’ll...”

“What if you suck out the venom?” she blurts out, swinging Felix’s way.

“I don’t trust myself to stop,” he grits through clenched teeth. Esme looks up at him, alarmed. But Felix’s eyes stay trained on the bite at Caelum’s neck. “It’s been too long since I’ve fed on human flesh.” He swallows harshly; temptation floods his eyes. “I, uh...”

One glance at Esme though, and he snaps out of it. She looks at him with disappointment, and he shrinks back, reprimanded for his intrusive thoughts. A tense moment later, our friend screams out in pain again and starts to writhe on the table between us.

“Oh, Caelum,” Esme cries. “How did this happen?”

“When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul lends the tongues vows,” Felix growls, hinting that in times of passion, souls make promises that are not sincere or lasting, ultimately leading to the situation Caelum has found himself in.

“I read that in a book once,” Esme says in awe, glancing up at Felix.

“She was so beautiful,” he smiles through his pain like a love-sick fool. “Perfect. Carved from a dream. Made just for me.”

‘We’re all made like that you idiot,” Felix seethes. Esme flashes him an angered look.

“She asked me to come back to her room. I’ve never been with a vam... a vamp,” Caelum trails off. Embarrassment colors his cheeks.

“Let me guess,” Felix growls, “You were stupid enough to think you’d live to tell the tale?”

Esme swallows hard. Felix shakes his head. I remove my hand, which was tenderly pressed at the small of Evangeline’s back, and start to speak, but the queasy feeling takes hold again, and I choke back more vomit.

“After tonight,” Caelum cries, “I won’t let myself be tempted ever again by a...”

Suddenly, the train comes to an abrupt stop. Screeching wheels on iron catapult us all forward. I grab hold of Evangeline as she tumbles into my arms. Reaching out quickly, I steady us against a nearby table. Felix cocoons Esme just the same as Caelum barely escapes tumbling off the table. Arms spread wide, knuckles white as they grip the wood, his quick reflexes keep him anchored to the surface he’s lying on.

Brow furrowed, head cocked to the side, I glance at Felix, who only shrugs and says, “Picking up a last-minute passenger. Slipped my mind to tell you earlier.”

“Is it another breathtaking siren that’ll somehow manage to take this god-forsaken pain away,” Caelum howls. “I’d sell my soul if it meant…”

Releasing my hold on Evangeline, I take a heated step forward having had enough of Caelum’s rambling. Enough, that is, to clear the hurling feeling in my gut. For now, at least.

“Temptation is their number one trick,” I growl. Catching Felix’s sharp glare, I ask, “Or haven’t you learned anything in your pitiful immortal life?”

“Immortal?” Esme breathes out aghast as Felix reluctantly lets her slip from his embrace. “You failed to mention that little tidbit earlier.”

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