Page 103 of Marked
He grabs my face in both hands, fingers digging in. “Am I not attractive enough for you?” he demands, blistered skin on his face stretching morbidly. “Because I can change. Just like all the times before, you pick the face, dove, and I’ll wear it.”
“Do you like accents, Lilah? I know hundreds.” I remain silent, heart pounding. He seethes above me. “No. You’d rather spread your thighs for the bastard vampire.”
He shoves off from the coffin and his steps recede.
“I’ve been patient. I’ve tried to play the game, to entice you.” Something clatters, like metal on a tray. “But you ignored my advances, dismissed them. Like a discarded act.”
He reappears over the edge of the coffin, hypodermic needle in his hand. “I just wanted to fuck you. To bleed you out on my pillows maybe.” He sighs. “But now you reek too much of the bastard for me to even get a hard-on. So killing you will have to do.”
The needle glints in the bright stage lights, and sweat beads all along my brows as time seems to slow to a crawl.
Or maybe he is just that fast.
Everything seems poised, unmoving and unwavering as I watch him press the needlepoint into the crook of my arm with a pinching pain. His thumb rests over the plunger and the sickly yellow drug slowly lowers down the tube.
Time returns and I buck and strain, arching frantically to get away. But I can’t. The bonds are too tight, there is no way to get free. My heart pummels my ribs, beating like a jackhammer.
He smiles and tosses the syringe. “All you’re doing is speeding the inevitable.” He leans over me, watching.
Heat fills my body, replacing the icy terror of my current situation. My spine bows. I jerk back down.
The tremors start in my hands, rising through my body until my teeth chatter and I clamp my jaws to try and stop them. My vision floats in and out. Draven’s face grows distorted. Oblong.
His fangs flash. I scream as a new wave of terror replaces the one before. His laughter echoes in my ears. “Ah, music.”
Darkness crouches just above him, blocked by the too bright lights. But I know it is death. My death.
“Can you see it, Lilah?” Draven breathes as the darkness gets closer. “The end?”
I try to breathe, to inhale. There is no air left.
There is nothing actually. Just a vast stretch of emptiness and light. Fatigue crashes over me and my eyes flutter closed.
Distantly, there is a boom, like the final beat of my heart. And then there is nothing at all.
Chapter 46
Ruin
I roar as I fall from the rafters, taking Draven to the old dais with me. “Get her out,” I bellow, slamming my fist into the other vamp’s jaw. He reels back.
Gage and T rush behind him. Horan circles out of my peripheral, sword in his hands.
Draven climbs to his feet, spitting, and blood flies. “You’re too late,” he sneers. “Forty ccs of Brightex right into the vein.”
My world narrows to his glowing gold eyes and I flit.
I slam into him, arms going around his midsection. We slide backward on the old carpet. Leaning back, I pummel his new, burnt face, splitting the blisters on his tan skin until his blood coats my knuckles. But it’s not enough.
My fingers clamp around his throat, squeezing and squeezing as my fangs pierce my lip and the world fades away around me.
His elbow plows into my temple. I shake my head and squeeze harder. His eyes bug and his face turns a vivid shade of red.
He jerks beneath me, legs thrashing and arms flailing. I lean over him.
Strong hands close over me from behind, hauling me back. “Ruin. Ruin, stop.”
I wrench away and drop back over Draven. My fist crunches against his nose and more blood pours from his face.
