Page 86 of Desired for Her Blood
I nod toward him. Yesterday, there was no chance I could swim even one length of this large pool, but I’ve already done things today that I never expected.
“Wish me luck.” I smile at Axe and Ryker, and then dive.
Once I’m under, my strokes propel me so quickly I feel like I’m flying; the water rushes in my ears and blurs my shockingly good vision. Seeing the far side of the pool, I stretch my arms out to absorb the impact, and then turn, pushing off to head back in the other direction.
But after my third stroke, my lungs start to burn.
Relax. Don’t think about it,I coach myself, but it’s no use.
I spot the pool’s edge in the distance, but my need for air is too great.
Surfacing, I gasp, and Axe and Ryker are by my side in an instant, supporting me in the water.
“Well, I guess we’ve got our answer,” Axe says.
“No.” Ryker shakes his head. “Let her try again.”
“There is no point in that,” Zuben says. “While her body has undergone changes, she is not yet a vampire, and no number of underwater laps will change that. She will never make it all the way to the well.”
“Do you always have to be so pessimistic?” Ryker splashes water in Zuben’s direction, and the latter jumps out of the way, missing the bulk of the massive spray.
Zuben brushes some stray droplets off his wool slacks. “I am arealist, not a pessimist.” He raises his chin. “In fact, it is my opinion that we should attempt the transition process again.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Ryker
What have I done?
Holding Ember’s limp and burned body, I want to sink to the bottom of this infernal pool. But even more than that, I want to get her out of the sunlight.
“Stay strong,” Zuben calls out, his words barely registering through my anguish. “Hold her under the sunlight as long as you dare.”
My body shakes as I hold her burned body in my arms, and then I turn and slowly kick to carry her toward shore.
When Zuben suggested that it be me who makes the second attempt to turn her, I didn’t hesitate for a second, but now I’m ashamed. Ashamed at how much I enjoyed the process that might have killed her, how much I relished the taste of her blood and, even worse, the undeniable rush as I detected the moment she became drained of her life giving fluid.
I’ve never even come close to taking that much blood from a human before, and I’m shocked at the surge of power I felt, sensing how I held her life in my hands.
I’m disgusted by my reaction, but that was nothing compared to the potent rush that came when I slashed open my wrist, put it to her mouth and felt the first faint tug from her lips on my vein.
Seeing her come back to life as she drank from me with more and more vigor, made me feel like a god. I was filled with both power and elation until she stopped drinking, yet did not wake.
We did not leave her in a coma for so long this time, and then over the objections of Axe, I swam her out to the sunlight and held her as she burned.
As I kick slowly forward, Axe and Zuben stand at the edge of the pool, ready to take her from my arms and lie her down on the furs, but I’m not ready to release her. Not even for a moment, so I stop moving forward.
Her skin’s healing even more quickly this time, I think, the worst of her burns gone already, so I tread water and watch as the last blisters disappear, as her hair fills in to its previous length and fullness, as her skin returns to its alabaster flawlessness.
Gasping, she opens her violet eyes—wide.
“Ember!” My voice echoes through the cave.
Axe and Zuben dive in, both in their clothes, and they’re at my side in a second.
“Is she dead?” Rising so his massive chest is fully out of the water, Axe flicks his damp hair to the side to get it out of his eyes. If the guy weren’t so damned down to earth, I’d think he was showing off.
“I’m fine,” she replies, her voice hoarse.
