Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Lilith let out a guttural roar that shook the pits of Hell. She leaped to her feet and charged the blood-lusting vampire. Wrapping her arms around the vile fiend’s waist, she ripped him from Spencer’s body, tumbling over and over as the creature lashed and screamed.
She landed next to the metal stake, and she threw the vampire off her before clutching the rod and marching toward it. It hissed, baring its fangs, and Percival swooped down, pecking at its eyes before she plunged the hunk of metal into its heart, pinning it to the ground.
It flailed its arms and legs a final time before Lilith ripped off its head, ending its undead life for good.
“Lilith! Lilith, you have to help him!” Rebecca sat next to Spencer, her hands pressed against his neck, blood oozing between her fingers.
“Come on, buddy. Stay with us.” Alan rested one hand on Spencer's chest and patted his cheek with the other.
“Let me see the wound.” Lilith dropped to her knees.
Rebecca removed her hands, and blood spurted from Spencer’s neck in time with his decelerating heart. Lilith covered the gash, applying pressure to slow the bleeding, but he’d lost so much blood already. There was no way he would survive.
Her heart wrenched in her chest, and tears streamed down her cheeks as his life force seeped between her fingers. This was her fault. Once again, her brilliant plan ended in disaster, and this time, Spencer paid the price.
An agonizing ache clenched in her stomach, spiraling up to her throat, thickening it until she couldn’t speak, couldn’t breathe. Fate had to know this would happen. That Lilith would destroy the one good thing in her life because everything she touched turned to ruin.
Fate was a cruel bitch. And Lilith…
She’d been selfish. Her immortality had made her careless. She knew the dangers of awakening a vampire who hadn’t been staked properly, but she hadn’t stopped to think about the consequences of unearthing one.
Closing her eyes, she swallowed the lump of hot coal from her throat, but another one lodged in its place. A piece of her soul resided in Spencer, and when he died, he would take it with him. She would never recover. She could not live without him.
Spencer coughed, and blood spewed from his lips before he stilled. Lilith removed her hands from the wound. His heart ceased to beat. The world stopped turning.
“Damnit, Lilith. Turn him!” Alan shouted.
Lilith didn’t dare move. If she did, she would fall apart.
Rebecca put a firm hand on her shoulder. “You have to turn him.”
She forced a whisper from her raw throat. “He doesn’t want to be turned.”
“He’d rather be undead than really dead.” Alan stood and raked a hand through his hair. “You can’t let him die.”
“I cannot turn him into a creature he would detest.” She loved him too much to disregard his wishes, yet… Gazing into his unblinking eyes, she wiped the tears from her cheeks. She also loved him too much to let him go.
“He doesn’t detest you.” Tears welled in Alan’s eyes, making Lilith’s fall faster. He huffed, shaking his head as if he couldn’t believe her.
Rebecca moved to Spencer’s other side, looking Lilith in the eyes. “You’ve changed his mind about vampires, and I know you don’t want to live without him. Given the choice between being dead and being a vampire, he’d choose to be with you.”
Lilith nodded. “He would forgive me.” They were soulmates. How could he not?
“There’d be nothing to forgive. You have the power to save his life. Use it.”
The air shimmered next to her, the energy condensing and expanding until it pricked at her skin. No. This can’t be happening.
“What the hell?” Alan cocked his head, drawing his brow downward, and Azrael appeared before them, his wicked scythe clutched in both his hands.
“The Angel of Death.” Rebecca’s voice was barely a whisper.
Lilith ground her teeth, her face pinching as rage extinguished the sadness inside her. Rising to her knees, she leaned over Spencer protectively. “How dare you? I won’t let you take him.”
Azrael gave her a sympathetic look. “I don’t choose who lives or dies. Fate has decided it’s his time.”
“No! You can’t have him.” Her mind blanked, instinct taking over, and she plunged her fangs into Spencer’s shoulder. She took a single sip of his blood, just enough to form a magical connection, before biting her wrist and pressing it to his mouth.
“Drink, sweetheart, and we can be together forever.” She brushed the hair from his forehead and pressed a kiss to his clammy skin.
He didn’t move, didn’t accept her offering of eternal life, so she tugged on his chin with her thumb, parting his lips. Her blood dripped onto his tongue, slowly filling his mouth with her gift.
“Swallow, please. One little gulp is all it will take.”
Azrael lingered beside her, a solemn expression drawing his features down. Was she too late? Had her hesitation doomed the man she loved to the afterlife? Why the fuck can’t I do anything right? “Please, Spencer. I need you in my life. I love you.”
His lids fluttered, and he swallowed her blood.
The heavy weight in her chest dropped into her stomach before disintegrating into relief. Fresh tears gathered on her lower lids, spilling down her cheeks, and an ill-timed laugh bubbled up from somewhere deep inside her.
“That’s it.” She pressed her wrist harder against his lips. “Take some more. You’ve got a massive wound to heal.” She looked up at Azrael, who nodded once and disappeared.
Spencer’s eyes flew open, the deep brown of his irises holding her hostage as he drank from her vein.
Her stomach fluttered, and warmth spread through her core at the intensity of his gaze.
She would have let him drain her dry if that was what it would take to save his life, but his wound was already on the mend.
Gently, she pulled her wrist from his grasp. “That’s enough, my love. My blood is powerful; we don’t want to overwhelm your system.”
Spencer closed his eyes and let out a sigh. Whether it was from contentment, relief, or fatigue, it didn’t matter. He was healing. But she had turned him into a creature of the night. Her curse was now his burden.
She sat back on her heels, watching as the sleep of death pulled him under, beginning the transformation. Nausea churned in her gut, and she bit her bottom lip, the sharp sting of her fangs pressing into her flesh keeping her grounded.
“Is that it?” Rebecca asked. “He’ll be okay now?”
Good question. That was still to be determined. “I’m not sure I’ve done the right thing.”
“You saved his life.”
“And turned him into a creature he specifically stated he did not want to become. He just told me a second time a few hours ago.” Had she been selfish yet again? Gah! She’d never been so indecisive in her life.
“That was when he had a choice.” Rebecca moved to Lilith’s side and rested a hand on her shoulder. “You did the right thing. You’ll see.”
“What happens now?” Alan asked.
She looked at Spencer, wiping the blood from his lips with her thumb. “He will sleep for three days, possibly more. His wound was deep, and it may slow the transformation.”
“And this thing…?” He toed the corpse with his shoe. “It’s really dead now?”
“Yes, he is finally at peace.”
Rebecca’s face pinched. “Was he alive the whole time he was in the grave?”
“Undead and starving. His bloodlust was uncontrollable, and…” She sucked in a shaky breath. “I’m so sorry. I put all of you at risk.”
“Nobody forced us to come here,” Alan said. “And anyway, the footage we have is going to save us. You saved our show; I know it.”
Lilith nodded. Hopefully some good would come of this. “I need to take him inside before sunrise. I will clean him up, and if you don’t mind, I would like to take him to The Underworld. Being in The Underworld will help with the transformation.”
“Of course.” Rebecca rose to her feet. “Whatever you need to do. We can rebury the corpse and bring in the equipment, right Alan?”
“Yeah. Just take care of our boy. We all need him in our lives.”
“I will do my best.” Lilith scooped Spencer’s lifeless body into her arms and carried him to the castle.