Chapter 17 – Silas #2
I’m moving before the thought fully forms. The doors shatter as I crash through them, heat slamming into me like a wall.
Smoke chokes the air, thick and suffocating, and the smell of burning flesh, spilt alcohol, and charred wood hits me hard enough to stagger.
Bodies. There are bodies in the centre of the room.
Engulfed. Unrecognizable. My stomach twists violently.
“Lilith!” My voice breaks as it tears out of me, raw and desperate.
For a second, nothing. Then A sound. So faint I almost miss it.
A broken, fragile moan. I turn sharply, scanning, and then I see her on the floor.
Face down. Blood pooling beneath her like a dark halo.
“No, no, no, no!” I’m beside her in an instant, turning her over, gathering her into my arms. She’s so light.
Too light. Her skin is already cooling, her pulse fluttering weakly beneath my fingers like it’s trying to disappear.
“Stay with me,” I whisper, but it comes out shattered, useless.
“Lilith, stay with me.” Her lips part, but no words come; just a wet, choking breath.
She’s dying. I can feel it. Hear it. Every second slipping through my fingers.
I carry her out of the inferno just as something behind us explodes, flames roaring higher.
I don’t stop until we reach the edge of the forest, where the night air hits us cold and sharp.
I sink to my knees, cradling her against me, my hand trembling as it brushes her cheek.
She doesn’t respond. Her breaths are shallow now.
Fragile. Breaking. Gone, any second. The code screams in my head.
The law. The consequences, but none of it matters.
Not with her like this, not with her dying in my arms. A pain rips through me so violently, tears burning my eyes as they finally spill over.
“I’m sorry,” I choke, my voice collapsing under the weight of it.
“I’m so, so fucking sorry.” And then I make the choice that will damn me.
I press my mouth to her throat. Her blood is everywhere, hot, metallic, intoxicating and the moment my teeth break her skin, something dark and ravenous surges up inside me.
She gasps, her body jerking weakly beneath me as I drink.
Her blood. God, her blood. It’s everything.
Sweet. Powerful. Addictive in a way that makes my control splinter instantly.
The hunger claws at me, demanding more, more, until it’s all I can think about.
For one horrifying second, I forget why I’m doing this.
Forget her. If I don’t stop, I will kill her.
With a strangled sound, I tear myself away, my whole body shaking violently as I fight for control.
My eyes squeeze shut, my head tilting back as I drag in useless breaths, trying to cage the monster clawing its way out of me.
It takes everything. Everything I have left.
Slowly and painfully, I force it back. When I look down at her again, my lips still stained with her blood, something has changed.
The bleeding has stopped. The wound on her throat is closing, flesh knitting together, sealing as if it was never there.
Hope and horror twist together inside me.
There’s no going back now. I rise to my feet, holding her tightly against me, as if letting go would undo it all.
Sirens wail in the distance, too close, too late.
I turn toward the forest and run. Faster than before, faster than fear.
Faster than the consequences I know are coming.
Because whatever waits for me, whatever punishment, whatever judgment.
I’ll face it. I’ll face all of it as long as she survives.
I finish telling them what happened that night. “She thinks Morbius saved her,” Evelynn states. I nod. She frowns. “I don’t get it. Why wouldn’t you tell her?”
“When she woke, she was…” Lucian pauses. “Unstable. She woke to remember her entire family was dead. All she remembered was some figure in a long cloak was responsible. That Morbius was there, that she was now a vampire,” Lucian explains.
“Okay, that’s a lot. But there has to be more to it. You love her, right? If that were me, I would have told Lucian,” Evelynn says.
My jaw sets. “You didn’t see her. You didn’t see the torment in her eyes.
Her world had just imploded around her. If her believing I helped my brother leave, that I was hiding him, helped her, then I would take the hit.
I would take the hate, time and time again.
The hatred helped her heal, helped her focus, helped her get control of her life back.
The bar was salvageable; she could mourn her family, be angry at my brother for abandoning her, blame the Dominion for her family, and move on with her life.
I thought maybe in time I could explain, maybe talk to her about it, but she locked onto that hatred and never let go.
” I sigh, keeping some of the information back.
The brothers know this and only this, excluding the punishment I received for breaking the code.
But that remains with our club. My gaze fixes on Lucian, silent words exchanged in our look.
Evelynn clears her throat, catching my attention. Her gaze sharp and intuitive, I merely look away. Not willing to talk anymore, I stand and leave the room.