74
I sit propped up against the tree trunk she’s pulled me behind, hidden from view from potential snipers planning on finishing the job they’d started, and shake my head weakly at her urgent question.
“No, I can’t fully heal until I’ve drunk the blood of at least three men.”
“What? You said if I removed the bullets, you’d heal.”
“The silver almost reached my heart, Cat. It was in my body for longer than it should have been, poisoning my system. You saved my life, but I need to drink to heal.”
“We’re halfway up the side of a fucking mountain in the middle of Vietnam,” she huffs. “Where am I going to find three men?”
“The crew on the island,” I groan as a wave of pain sweeps through me. “You’ll have to get me there and I’ll slaughter some camera men. A pity the director isn’t there; I’d happily drain Mr Dott.”
“Great,” she nods as she considers what I’ve suggested, her expression hardening.
“You want me to drag you up a mountainside and back down a mountainside, a mountainside that I’ll remind you still harbors an assassin.
Assuming I can get you there before you die or we both get shot, you then want me to tow you through a fast-flowing aquatic cave system that I only barely survived the first time when I was just hampered with a baby, not an adult invalid.
Then,” she shakes her head as I open my mouth to interrupt, “then you want me to drag your ass to the island and catch three men for you to suck. Have I missed anything?”
“No,” I arch an eyebrow at her sarcasm, “that about sounds right. All except the dying part. I need blood to recover fully, but I won’t die now that the silver is removed.”
“There’s another alternative,” she says quietly, rocking back on her heels where she squats beside me, meeting my eyes.
I see her resolve and immediately suspect what she’s thinking.
“No.”
“Yes. You can drink from me, enough at least to get some strength back. I can’t see us getting over this mountain any other way.”
“I told you I’d never bite you again, and I meant it.” I scowl at her, the very offer of her blood making my mouth water.
“Believe me, I’d go a long way to never feel your fangs pierce my skin again.
But I’m looking at this from all angles.
I know you don’t trust that my people didn’t do this to you,” she says quietly, “even though I know they didn’t.
But you have to trust me when I say I don’t think we’ll make it back your way. You need to take some of my blood.”
“You’ll be weakened,” I shake my head, “both of us will only be operating at half capacity.”
“But together we’ll make a whole,” she says quietly.
“Cat, it’s not just the fact that I find it hard to stop once I’ve tasted you. There’s a level of intimacy involved in the bite…”
“I know,” she whispers, “I felt it.”
“Then why would you offer this? You couldn’t stand being kissed by me, yet what you’re suggesting is something far more profound.”
“I didn’t want to kiss you because I didn’t know how,” she whispers, “and I don’t want that anyway. I don’t want, ah, that kind of thing.”
“Didn’t know how? Are you telling me you’d never been kissed?”
“What does it matter?” She raises her chin and looks me in the eye, her cheeks red and heartbeat racing. “We’ve both agreed we don’t need to be together in that way once we’re married.”
“It matters,” I murmur, “because if I’d known that was your first kiss, I would never have touched you.”
‘It matters because now you, a girl who trusts no one, is trusting me not just with your lips and your body, but with your life.’
Unaware that she’s moved me with her trust and her sacrifice, she shrugs and removes the ribbon from her throat.
“We can argue about bullshit all night,” she says quietly, “or you can sip from me, and we can get the hell off this mountainside. I don’t need to remind you that if I’m last in this challenge I’m going to be bitten by Starlen. Personally, I’d much rather you fanged me here and now.”
“Starlen will never taste you,” I snarl as I pull her onto my lap and sink my teeth into her neck.