Thicker Than Blood (Thicker Than Blood #1)(118)

“Stop it, Lei,” she said, inching herself closer to me.

Her bare arm brushed against mine, her skin a sweaty, sticky, veritable furnace of heat. I couldn’t remember if Shawn’s fever had progressed this quickly, but I didn’t think it had. I remembered him acting normally for a good twenty-four hours before the symptoms began to show. The second day, he’d been riddled with fever, the bloody pustules beginning to form, yet he’d still been coherent. On the third day, he’d fallen into an agitated sleep before slipping away entirely.

It had only been a few hours since Evelyn had been bitten. What did this mean? Would I not even get three horribly lacking days with her?

“It hurts,” Evelyn whispered, letting her head fall against my shoulder. “It’s almost as if I can feel it spreading. At first it was just the bite that hurt, but now it’s my entire leg and my hip too.”

I didn’t know what to say or do, so instead of speaking I leaned my cheek on top of her head and squeezed my eyes closed, cursing silently when an errant tear slipped free.

“Promise me, Lei,” she said, her voice strained with emotion. “Promise me you won’t let me turn. That you’ll kill me before I become dangerous.”

“Shh!” I whispered, turning my body so I could wrap my arm around her middle and bury my face in her neck. “Stop it, Eve! We have time. We don’t need to talk about this.”

“We do,” she protested, trying to free herself from me, but I only clung tighter to her, refusing to let her go, in more ways than one. “If you let me turn, Lei, I could hurt you, and you can’t do that to me. If I hurt you, I’ll have failed. I promised—”

“Please,” I begged as more tears leaked free, my resolve to stay strong slipping away. “I can’t talk about this, not yet. Please, Eve, please don’t make me.”

Letting out a heavy sigh, Evelyn’s body went limp in my hold. “Okay,” she said softly, sinking into my embrace. Her hand found my back, her grip on my shirt fisting tightly to the material.

“I love you,” she whispered. “And I’m glad it was me who was bitten and not you.”

Ever the protector, my protector, was Evelyn. Always putting me before herself, doing whatever was necessary to keep me alive and safe. If there was ever a time that I needed to be strong, it was now. To show her the same love she’d always shown me.

“I’ll do it,” I choked out. “I won’t let you turn, I promise you.”





Chapter Forty-Four


Evelyn

“Do you remember that pretty yellow sundress Shawn bought me for our wedding anniversary?” I asked, then coughed pitifully. Phlegm and blood were building in my chest, clogging my airways and making my breathing sound ragged and crackly while Leisel hummed in my arms, acknowledging my words. “I loved that dress. I wish I still had it,” I said softly, my eyes glazing over as I let my thoughts drift back.

I didn’t know where the memory had come from, but the image of wearing it, of feeling Shawn’s hands wrapped tightly around my waist as we danced, the swish of the soft material on my bare legs…it was almost as if I were there, back at the small bar where we’d celebrated our marriage. I was back in the past when everything in the world was right and good. I could almost hear the music playing, the sound of the acoustic guitar in the background, a gentle strumming, of skin moving down metal as fingers ran along the strings.

“Eve?” Leisel asked, her voice a quiet echo of its true self.

The world was blurry as I drifted along on a cloud of numbness. The excruciating pain that had gripped hold of every part of me had since been replaced as my nerve endings began to die. I could feel them, dying an individual death one by one as the numbness spread further throughout my body. The numbness was a blessing, a small reprieve for such a painful and ugly way to go.

Leisel’s hands were on my shoulders, I could sense them, feel her slender fingers pressing gently into my hot flesh. And I was trying, trying so hard to focus on her, struggling to see her face instead of the blur that it now was. Because I wanted to see her one last time. I needed to.

“Eve! No, not yet! I’m not ready!”

She was screaming at me, shaking me now, the soft vibrations of her words dancing across my fevered skin. I was still trying, dear God, I was trying with all my remaining strength to pull back from the impending darkness, to give her more time. Just a few more hours, minutes even. Because this was all happening much too quickly. For her, and for me.

But there was no stopping the infection. It spread like hot acid, burning through my body, infesting and infecting every part of me. I could sense myself slip away, everything that I was and have ever been, and it was terrifying. More terrifying than anything else I’d ever experienced before, and far more terrifying than I had ever thought dying would be.

“Leisel,” I managed to say before choking on the phlegm again. My vision momentarily cleared and I could see her face move closer, but the sight of her was heartbreaking.

“I’m so sorry.” I sobbed, relinquishing myself to my self-pity, and lifted a hand to her damp cheek.

“I remember,” she replied, her voice hoarse. “I remember the dress.” Pulling me up and into her arms, she brought me closer until her face was in the crook of my neck.