Page 82 of Bitten By Bloodmoon
“I’m going to do everything I can to try. Thank gods he’s part vampire or he’d already be dead.”
“All of those witches deserved to die for this,” I mutter under my breath.
All eyes shift to me for a second, but when I don’t say anything else, they return to Nyx.
His eyes are closed now. He’s barely breathing, and the jokes he made earlier have vanished. But he’s also not writhing inpain, so I’m not really sure how much pain he’s actually in at the moment.
We all stand around him on the bed. Riven standing on one side, with Brax and Talonis at his feet, and Sylara and me on the other.
Riven looks up at all of us, then back down at Nyx. “This is going to hurt.” He says as much to Nyx as to us to prepare us. Then Riven places his hands onto Nyx’s hand closest to him. The spot where there is still an open wound when Nyx offered his blood to them.
Agonizing, jolting pain rips through my body—like a thousand fireworks detonating inside me all at once. I scream, the sound torn from my throat as I collapse, folding in on myself beneath the weight of the torment. It’s blinding, all-consuming, as if every nerve has been set ablaze. My hands fly to my head—that’s where the epicenter is, where the agony pulses like a drumbeat of destruction.Was I shot? Am I dying?It feels like I am. No one could survive this. Not intact. Not whole.
The world tilts and spins, and a wave of darkness sweeps through my mind, cutting through the pain like a silent, shadowed knight. The agony ebbs, retreating beneath the cool, calming chill of night—and in that stillness, I know the presence that holds me—Nyx. It was his pain I felt. And he used all of his energy and power to take it away from me.
“Lumi, are you okay? Can I help you?” Brax asks as I open my eyes and find myself on the ground next to Nyx’s bed. He reaches his hand down to me, and I take it, letting him lift me.
“Yes, but Nyx isn’t,” I say, staring down at him.
“He seems so calm, like he passed out from the pain,” Talonis says.
“He’s not. He’s in there battling it, and it’s the most intense thing I’ve ever felt. He accidentally let it through the bond andthen had to slam it shut. It’s bad.” I look to Riven, who is focused. “Is there anything you can do to make it easier on him?”
“I can kill him and let his body slowly heal on its own, but honestly, with how bad this is, it could take months of him lying in this bed in a coma to fully heal, and I’m not sure if he’d stay passed out the entire time or not,” Riven says.
“Drugs? Booze?” Sylara asks.
Riven shakes his head.
“Blood?” Talonis asks, and the room stills.
“It could help him, but you know how he feels about drinking blood. Drinking it could bring the vampire curse on him faster,” Riven says.
I stare at Riven. “I have an idea. Just work as fast as you can.”
He nods, his power immediately flowing through Nyx again.
I take Nyx’s other hand in mine, close my eyes, and then concentrate on that door that Nyx has slammed shut to keep me from experiencing the pain again.
“It’s me, Nyx. Let me in.”
Silence greets me. But then again, Nyx is the most stubborn person I know. He was never going to let me in easily.
I find that cool, shadowed thread again in my mind, and I follow it, slowly, knowing that it will eventually lead me to another path around the door that he’s thrown up. He can try to focus as much as he wants, but he won’t be able to keep me out forever with the amount of pain he’s in.
“Let me in, Nyx. I want to help.”
“Leave,”a single word floats back.
I grin.Taunting him, that will work. “No, I want in.”
“Out.”
“I’m far too stubborn to leave you at this point, killer.”
“Humph.”
“Huh, you don’t like it when I call you, killer? Then let me in so you can do something about it.”
