Page 113 of Bloodlust

"I feel very...very tired," I whisper, my heartbeat slowing down as my vision blurs. "Hay...Hayden?"

"Hang in there, Mils," Leo says as he rushes me toward the SUV. "Hang in there."

"Over here." Frankie hops out, helping Leo place me in the back seat. He peers down at me, distraught as he puts two fingers on my pulse point, eyeing the wound in my chest. "Leo, she's fading."

"Shut up!" Leo cries, teeth gritted. "She's fine! Shehasto be fine!"

"Can you hear me, Camilla?" Hayden whispers as Leo and Frankie hop in the front seats. "Listen to my voice. I'm right here."

"Is this..." I swallow, my body shutting down. "Is this what dying feels like?"

"You're not dying, Cami," he says in a calm, soothing voice.

"Feels like dying," I hum, police sirens blaring in the background as Frankie speeds off the port. A sense of serenity washes over me, my body light, eyes closing. "It's... It's kind of nice."

"I'm here, Cami," he says again. "You're not dying."

"It's okay," I hum, all sense of time and space melting into nothingness. "I..." I try to catch my shallow breath. "I..."

"Camilla."

I wasn't lying when I said Death was a friend.

I've seen it many times.

Snippets of the good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful.

Somehow this friend makes even the worst memories seem comfortable, familiar,warm.

How can you long for inevitable pain?

How can you crave undoubted disappointment?

How?

It's simple really.

You fall in love.

And even though death is banging on your door, splintering the wood, causing havoc...you don't let it in.

Sometimes you're not ready for a funeral.

For death.

But what if death is ready foryou?

Do you welcome it with open arms? Or do you fight?

I tried to fight. I fought for years.

My bones shattered. My skin bruised. My muscles weakened.

But I fought.

This time though...death didn't even have to knock.

The door was open.