Chapter 45
Chapter forty-five
Tressa
Tressa braced herself for the final push. The final thrust that would lodge the stake into Ethan’s heart and tear him away from her forever.
But it never came.
“What…?” Renata choked out, gaping at her hand that was sizzling and slowly turning black. “What is this?” She released her hold on the stake and stumbled back from Ethan.
Tressa blinked at her, then glanced at her mate who was staring at Renata, seemingly just as shocked as she was.
She let out a cry of pure gratitude when the realization struck her. Ethan’s mom and her friends really had been honest-to-Lilith witches.
And she was really fucking glad Ethan hadn’t drank that potion.
Renata fell away from the group, flailing wildly as if she could dislodge whatever dark magic was ravaging her body.
Her skin cracked, smoked, and began to burn.
Ragged screams filled the air as she clawed at her seared flesh, only managing to knock off loose hunks of black char that crumbled to dust before they even hit the sand.
Saiden and Derrick rushed over to help Tressa to her feet, and all four of them watched, stunned, as the blackness crawled up Renata’s arm, across her neck, and down the other side, rapidly devouring her entire body.
Nobody moved for what felt like an eternity. Then Tressa’s brain kicked back on, and she turned to Ethan.
Who still had a stake lodged in his chest.
She raced forward and pulled him into her arms just as he collapsed. She carefully lowered him to the sand, her fingers wrapping around the sharp piece of wood, ready to yank it out of him.
“This isn’t over,” a raspy voice wheezed, and Tressa whipped her head up in time to see Renata fall to the ground, her disintegrating legs unable to hold her upright.
“She will come for you. She will restore balance.” Renata’s eyes locked on Tressa’s, the only part of her body left that wasn’t flaking away in the breeze.
“The world is changing, Loloma. Enjoy your happiness… while… you…”
Her final words were lost as her body slumped forward and crumbled into a smoldering pile of ash.
For a fraction of a second, there was no sound save for the perpetual thundering of the waves.
And then the world exploded back into action as Saiden and Derrick blurred over to her side, and Tressa turned her attention back to her mate who was still bleeding in her arms. She closed her eyes for a second, and when they flew open, relief filled her.
“You’re going to be okay,” she told him. “Your heart is beating fast, but it’s steady. She didn’t pierce it.”
Saiden crouched down next to Ethan while Derrick plopped his ass in the sand and slapped Ethan on the thigh. “Guess you’re stuck with us.”
Ethan’s head lolled back. “Well, that’s… good to hear.”
Tressa gawked at him. “It’s ‘good to hear?’ You defeated the rogue who murdered your best friend without getting yourself killed in the process, and that’s the best you’ve got?”
Ethan dragged his head up and gave her a wry grin. “Sunflower, I’m a vampire with a wooden stake embedded in my chest. Do you really expect me to be eloquent right now?”
Tressa burst out laughing and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “Fair enough. Okay, I’m going to pull this out, and you’re going to use your fancy new Gift to heal yourself, okay?”
When he nodded, she yanked the stake out and flung it into the ocean. She pressed her hand to the wound on his chest as his blood oozed between her fingers and dripped onto the pale sand. “Okay, Doc. Your turn,” she told him.
Ethan closed his eyes, and Tressa waited for the violet light to appear.
But nothing happened.
“Why aren’t you healing?” she demanded. “Ethan, use your Gift. Heal yourself.”
His eyes flew open. “I… I can’t,” he said, staring at her wide-eyed.
He reached over and plucked out a piece of driftwood that had become embedded in her calf during the fight.
A thin stream of blood spilled out, and his hand instantly became wreathed in a purple glow.
He grazed his fingers over the small gash, and it sealed shut.
But when he brought his hand to his chest, the light faded away.
“I guess my power doesn’t work on myself,” he told them.
In a flash, Derrick had his shirt off and pressed to Ethan’s wound. “It’s okay, new cousin. You still have vampiric healing. We just need to get you a couple bags of blood, a bottle of Hennessey, and a comfy bed to lie in for a few days, and you’ll be back on your feet in no time.”
Ethan groaned, and Tressa gently pushed Derrick aside so she could be the one to help patch up her mate.
Most of the tension had eased out of her when she’d heard his heartbeat holding steady, but the amount of blood soaking through the shirt still had her worried.
Until she could run her hands over smooth, unblemished skin, she wasn’t leaving his side.
Holding pressure with one hand, she used the other to wipe away the blood on his chin that had spilled from his mouth. She gazed into his eyes and sighed. “Oh, Ethan. What kind of doctor can’t fix himself?”
“The undead kind, apparently,” he said with a chuckle, and the last bit of tension in Tressa faded away. If he was able to find the humor in the situation, he was going to be okay.
They were all going to be okay.
“She will come for you. She will restore balance.”
For now.