Scorched Ice (Fire and Ice #3)(73)

She held the fire extinguisher as if she were going to bash him in the skull with it. “We just saved your lives, *!” she spat. “Now, let’s go!”

Julian shook his head to try to clear it of the bloodlust pulsing through him. He had to get it together, or he’d end up killing his friends.

Feeling in control enough to risk going near his friends, he went to pick Quinn up, but her hands clasped his before he could slide them under her. He felt the jolt of her power as she latched onto him, but she didn’t pull anything away from him.

“Take what you need from me, Dewdrop,” he murmured.

“No. Help me stand.” The words croaked from her throat.

“I’ll carry you.”

“No. Someone else could be lurking nearby. We have to be prepared and… I can’t take that much touch. Not now.”

Fighting against every one of his instincts to lift her and take her from there, he wrapped his arm tenderly around her bare waist and lifted her to her feet. She stood on top of the pile, wobbling like a newborn colt as she surveyed the wreckage around her. Julian wanted to draw her closer against him, but he didn’t dare with her brutalized skin.

When she took a tremulous step forward, flakes of white fell away to expose more of her ruined skin. She had no hair left anywhere on her body, and parts of her ears and lips had burnt away, but steely resolve shone through the agony in her eyes.

“We have to go,” Chris said, his eyes wide and full of disbelief as he stared at Quinn. “This way.”

He turned and hurried forward with Melissa close behind him. Julian kept his arm loosely around her as they walked by the woman who had fired the crossbow at her. All that remained of the woman was a necklace beside a pile of ash. A necklace Julian knew well. He snatched it off the ground before rising to help Quinn forward again.

“You had a hold on her life force before you went into the fire,” he realized. “That’s how you survived.”

“Yes,” Quinn rasped.

Her legs gave out when they stepped off the pile of rubble and into the debris-free area of the tunnel. A whimper escaped her when he caught her before she could hit the ground. “Quinn,” he groaned, his heart tearing in two at the sight of her pain. He’d never felt so helpless before in his life. “Take from me.”

“No. Won’t stop,” she grated from between her teeth, and her tear-filled eyes met his before darting away from him toward something else. “And they’re watching us.”

Turning his head, he realized all of the vampires who had entered the building with them were gathered within the tunnel ahead of them. Their eyes were saucers and their mouths gaped while they watched Quinn unsteadily make her way toward them. There was no denying they’d witnessed her rising from the fire.

Julian moved to try to protect her from their view, but she tilted her chin up and gazed at all of them with a look that caused pride to swell in his chest. Blistered, red and blackened, with skin still missing in some areas, hairless and naked, she still looked every inch the fierce warrior she was. He had no idea how she was walking right now, but she continued to take one unsteady step after another.

He didn’t know what to expect from the vampires, what they would do after seeing her rising from a fire that would have killed any other. His fangs lengthened as he prepared to have to destroy every one of them if it became necessary.

Instead, almost as one, they went to one knee around her, bowing as a servant would bow to their queen.

Vern rested his hand over his heart. “Savior,” he murmured.

Quinn’s eyes darted to him, and her hand trembled within his. The sight of them kneeling around her unnerved him almost as much as it seemed to have her. But it also meant they would do everything they could to protect her.

“Savior,” the others murmured.

“Get up,” Quinn choked out, and they rose around her.

“We have to get out of here,” Julian said brusquely.

Chris gazed at all of the vampires, then at him. He looked tempted to bolt out of here. Instead, he lifted his arm and pointed down the tunnel. Julian couldn’t see the end of it from here. “This way,” Chris said.

Julian followed Chris as he led the way. The smoke cleared, and the heat of the flames lessened as they moved further away from the fire until they reached a set of stairs. Quinn climbed unsteadily beside him with her head bowed. He didn’t miss the tears that slid down her cheeks as her trembling increased.

His hand fisted as he fought the urge to drive it into something. As soon as they were out of this place, he would make sure she took something from him. He wouldn’t allow her to remain in such pain.

The stairs entered into the first room they had passed off the main hallway. He’d seen no door in the back wall when he’d first looked into the room. However, The Commission also loved their secret entrances, something else Chris, Melissa, and Lou seemed to have remembered about them if they’d discovered this door.

Julian led Quinn swiftly outside as the heat of the spreading fire beat against his back. She shivered when the cool air brushed over her brutalized skin and a distressed sound escaped her. Her legs wobbled even more as they threatened to give out on her.

“You must take from me,” he told her.

“I need too much. I won’t be able to stop… Could kill you… I have to… have to… heal on my own,” she stammered between her chattering teeth.