My Maddie (Hades Hangmen #8)(29)

“Flame. Let him look. He can help her,” AK said. I choked on a cry that came from my throat. When I looked up, everyone was looking at me.

“Please, Flame,” Mae begged. Mae and Bella came forward to stand near Maddie. They were both crying. “Please, let him look at her,” Mae said. I looked down at Maddie. I didn’t want to let her go. I couldn’t fucking let her go.

Rider came closer. “I’m just gonna check her pulse.” I clenched my jaw as he put his fingers on her neck. His eyes lowered as he concentrated. “It’s weak, but it’s there.” Her leaned down and listened to her breathing. “She needs the hospital. Now.” Rider jumped up when the ambulance and fire truck pulled into the compound. I stared down at Maddie, keeping her close to my chest. I didn’t want to touch her, to make it worse. But I couldn’t let her go. I couldn’t ever let her go. She was mine. My Maddie. She couldn’t die. She couldn’t fucking die.

“Brother,” AK said. “We need to get her into the ambulance.” I saw the paramedics getting closer. I held on tighter. The flames ignited in my blood and I snarled at anyone who tried to come fucking near.

“I’ll kill them. I’ll fucking kill them,” I threatened. “If they touch her, I’ll rip out their spines.” I shook with rage, glaring at the paramedics coming closer. I knew what they were like. They’d tied me to a bed. I didn’t want Maddie being tied to a bed.

“Flame. For fuck sake. She needs to go to the hospital,” Ky said. “You have to let her go.”

“I’m not letting them take her. She can’t fucking go!” I hissed, clutching on to Maddie. I caught AK nodding at someone behind me. I went to look at who it was, when someone grabbed my throat from behind, cutting off my breathing.

“Get the fuck off him!” Ash’s voice cut sailed into my ears. I gripped onto Maddie, but I started seeing black spots, felt my arms getting weak.

“I’m so sorry, brother,” AK said and took Maddie out of my hands.

“NO!” I tried to scream as I fought against the arm around my throat.

“She needs help, brother. I’ll take you straight to her. You’ll be with her. But you gotta let them help.” The flames in my blood were so hot they were a fucking inferno. I fought and fought the arm around my neck as I watched Maddie be put into the back of the ambulance. Bella and Mae went in with her. The doors closed and I screamed. I screamed and screamed until the dark spots started clouding my vision. I felt something prick my arm. “MADDIE!” I yelled, but my voice was gradually cut off. “MADDIE! MADDIE! MADDIE…” Then the darkness took me down.

*****

I felt them before I opened my eyes. They were hotter and more scalding than ever before. I sank my nails into my skin, hissing when some of the flames escaped. But it wasn’t enough. I couldn’t fucking stand it. My veins had collapsed. The fire was everywhere in my body.

My head was a fog. But I knew I needed to remember something. There was a crack in my chest so deep that I couldn’t fucking breathe. A stabbing in my gut that told me that something was wrong. I slammed my fist into the side of my head, trying to make myself think. I froze when I remembered the flames. I felt the burns on my skin… my heart beating too fucking fast… Maddie… MADDIE…

I sat up, needing to fucking find her. I checked around me. My eyes were still stinging from the smoke. My pulse was too fast, my hot blood pumping through my body, setting every organ within me on fire. Fire. There was a fire… and Maddie… Maddie was…

I roared, remembering her laying limp in my arms. Her eyes were closed, her body wasn’t moving. She wasn’t breathing. She wasn’t looking at me. She wasn’t smiling at me or holding my hand. She was dead. My Maddie… she was dead. Someone had taken her from me. Someone had fucking touched me. My eyes blurred as I thought of Maddie. Agony twisted inside of me. Maddie was dead. She was gone… My Maddie was gone.

“Flame.” I heard someone call my name. But I couldn’t sit still. I couldn’t focus. Maddie was dead. Maddie… Maddie… Maddie was gone… “Flame! Brother. Focus.” I blinked away the water from my eyes. My body had turned numb. I couldn’t feel a fucking thing. I looked down at my hands. They were red and blistered. And they were empty. Maddie was no longer in them.

She had gone. My Maddie… she had gone, left me… I’d killed her too… the evil in my veins had killed her too. I choked on something clogging my throat. The baby... I had killed our baby. Maddie loved it so much.

I felt my body shutting down. I felt my muscles weakening and my bones starting to ache. “Flame. Keep it together. I need to speak to you.” But the voice didn’t get through to my brain. Instead, I let my body start to die too. I wouldn’t live without Maddie. She would get heaven. I would get hell. I didn’t care, I didn’t care if I burned for eternity…

“Flame. She’s alive.” I rocked back and forth, seeing her pale face in my head, her eyes that were closed as I’d held her. Her arms had fallen to her side when I tried to wake her up. “Fuck!” the voice said. Then someone touched me. “Vike! Don’t—”

The minute I felt a hand on my shoulder, an inferno blazed in my gut and I turned and gripped whoever it was by the throat. No one could fucking touch me. I killed everyone who ever tried. I was evil. Devil-created. Demons ran in my blood. I couldn’t fucking be touched!