Page 77 of Fire in My Blood

This is it. This is what’s going to change everything. I’m about to lose Lucas forever.

As Gerard tips the cup and pours the thick liquid into my mouth, I squeeze my eyes shut against the pain of my heartdisintegrating. All I want to do is lie down and die. But a sudden memory stops me. Markus told me to send Lucas my love instead of my pain.

As the liquid burns its way down my throat, I focus on my love for Lucas and push it toward him. I have no idea if it works, but I might never get another chance to try it. From now on I’ll be Gerard’s property, whatever that means.

The burning sensation in my throat just intensifies as the liquid approaches my stomach, and when the pain turns to agony and spreads to other parts of my body, my legs give out. I land in a heap on the floor gasping for breath. It seems Gerard’s confidence in my strength to survive might have been misplaced.

My lungs seize, and I can’t breathe, but all I can think of is Lucas and his amazing smile. All I can hope for is that Markus is wrong, and that Lucas will be relieved when I’m gone.

∞∞∞

Lucas

I’m on my knees, gasping for breath. Pain is spreading from my stomach to every part of my body. It feels like my insides are being shredded. Some of the pain I recognize as coming from Erica, but some of it is mine. My body is under attack the same as hers is.

It suddenly dawns on me what’s going on. “They’re attacking the bond.” I wheeze.

“They won’t be able to break it.” There’s a sliver of doubt in Markus’s voice, though, and my fear threatens to take over. But I don’t have time to panic right now.

Summoning all my willpower, I get to my feet. “We have to find her. The entrance is here somewhere, and we have to locate it before it’s too late.”

Just as the pain hit, a lightning bolt of love slammed into me, and I knew how wrong I’d been to doubt Erica and leave her without telling her how I felt about her. I never even gave her a chance.

I’ll make it up to her, though, but in order to do that, I have to save her before something truly horrible can happen to her. She might not die, but there are worse things than dying.

We cross a fence at the back of a large property, when a house comes into view. It’s smaller and much older than the other houses in the area.

After moving closer, I spot an old barn hidden between the trees behind the house. Both buildings are in desperate need of repair and don’t appear to be inhabited.

As soon as I round the corner of the house, I stop. Four black vehicles are parked beneath the trees by the barn, and they look much too expensive to belong in a place like this. There’s no doubt in my mind that we have come to the right place.

“Where do you think the entrance is located?” Lyn is standing beside me and has obviously come to the same conclusion.

I move closer to the front door of the house. The area is overgrown with grass and weeds, but the vegetation shows clear signs of recent foot traffic. “It’s inside the house.”

It’s dark and quiet inside, and no sign of any guards. Perhaps the group doesn’t think it necessary at such a remote location. But it shows a level of arrogance I don’t like.

After opening almost every door on the ground floor carefully, we find the winding stairs. We descend quickly and silently until we end up in a long corridor lit by wall-mounted oil lamps.

My heart is racing. Erica is close. I can feel her. But there’s something wrong with her.

Chapter 47

Erica

My body feels like a large animal has chewed on it and spat it out. I’m lying on the floor with my eyes closed next to a pool of my own bloody vomit, not even capable of lifting a finger. Thankfully, none of the vampires are bothering me. They have no interest in me now that I’m dying.

Even Gerard has finally given up on me. He went so far as to beg the master to do something to stop what was happening to me, but the old vampire laughed and told him it was a sign I wasn’t strong enough, and that he was being punished for not choosing a better slave.

If I wasn’t in so much pain at the time I would have laughed. I hate throwing up with a vengeance, but even as my stomach was cramping and turning inside out, I was happy knowing that my body rejected Gerard’s claim the same way my mind and heart did.

The floor is hard and cold beneath me, but the pain is almost gone. If I wasn’t so completely drained of energy, I might be able to move. But as it is, I barely have energy to breathe.

I wish I had Lucas’s ability to draw energy from fire. The fireplace is only about fifteen feet away, and if I was like him, I would have been able to use that energy for myself.

Taking a deep breath, I imagine the energy from the fire permeating my flesh and bones, sinking into the depths of me and pushing the cold out.

My lips curve into a small smile when the floor doesn’t feel quite as cold anymore. At least I’m blessed with a vivid imagination.