Page 75 of Bite of Passage
Not good.
“If I had the power to grant life,” she continued.“I would’ve done the same.That doesn’t make it right.I never wanted to be a vampire.But maybe you saw in me what I see in you.I can’t judge you for that.”
“What do you see in me?”
“I’m not blinding myself to the reality that you’re good at fighting and killing, but you’re a protector.With you, I’m safe.You would never let something happen to me.”
He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it.“Never.”
She terrified him.She held so much power over him.When the prophecy came true and she turned evil, he’d wish for death rather than be faced with watching her be killed by Cade.
“You’re also lonely.”She fell into his chest and threw her arms around him.“I don’t know if that’s why you longed for death.I don’t want you to feel that way again.You have people.Me, Cade, and Serish.Maybe the Hunters count.Someday I’d like to meet them.Those are the start ofyourpeople.They’re the start ofmypeople too.”
“You forced Cade and me to talk.Both of us were too stubborn to face each other before.”
“Did you reconcile?”
“We’re in a better place, but I messed things up and didn’t know it.I killed the woman he turned, probably loved, when she became possessed by a demon.”
“Like VanFliet’s girlfriend?”
“Oddly similar.But that vampire wasn’t Fliet’s girlfriend.She was his brother’s woman.I’m starting to think demons prefer female vampires to possess.”
“If I become possessed and you can’t get rid of the evil, kill me.Given the prophecy…”
He scratched the back of his neck.“I don’t know if I could.”
She put a hand on either side of his face to force him to look at her.“You could.If not, you’ll have to save me using everything in your arsenal, most of which is up here.”She tapped the side of his head.
The fiery need to kiss her was more distressing than what she’d said.He was pretty sure he was starting to love her.This was a complicated emotion, one he wasn’t sure he liked.
So little scared him, but this… He needed to get out of here.To figure out where his head should be.To get some space, distance.
“I want you so much, but I’m also freaked out over what I’ve become.”She yawned.“I’m so tired.”
He swallowed his need to flee.“It still daylight.You can’t fight the need to sleep.We can deal with you learning to be a vampire tomorrow.”
“Will you stay here with me?Hold me?”She put her hand over his heart.“I want to hear your heartbeat as I drift off.To know you’re safe and not alone.”
He nodded, steadying his aching heart and stuffing his panic into the far corner of his mind.He gathered her in his arms and maneuvered so they both somehow fit on the cot.It wasn’t comfortable, but it didn’t matter.
“You give me too much credit, Gemma.I’m not good most of the time.I like killing.”
She kissed his jaw.“If you didn’t like killing, you’d be dead, and so would I.”
ChapterThirty-One
So many questions.Trying not to panic.
Maybe panicking a little bit.
Big bit.
Oh, no.It was getting harder to breathe.Gemma’s heart raced faster and faster until her pulse made huge thumping noises between her ears.
She focused on the field of purple flowers.The one that…was real.Fucking real.Just like how she was a genuine blood drinker.
Flowers…think of the purple flowers.Air moved more easily through her lungs.
