Allegiance (Causal Enchantment #3)(38)
The announcement knocked the others out of their bewildered state. Feral hisses exploded in the room, transforming the place into a pit of snakes. Caden’s arms constricted around my body until I struggled to breathe. I was sure this was it. I was sure the war would begin here. My heart stopped, waiting for the initial explosion, wondering who would survive, who else I would lose. A scream sat on the tip of my tongue, a plea of mercy. For the briefest of seconds, an eerie silence hung over the room.
Lilly’s head whipped around and her gaze held mine ... It was only a second but those eyes … they were intentionally on me. And then … they vanished. All six of them. The last thing I saw was the trailing red leather of Kait’s long jacket as she passed through the already shattered window. So quick, so sudden an exit that my mind barely registered the sting as something sliced into my flesh. Not until a wet feeling trickled along my skin and I glanced down to see red fluid flowing freely down my arm, crawling over Caden’s hand, dripping onto the cream marble tile floor did the throb begin.
Someone had attacked me, and I was sure it was someone with a cute short bob and sweet sky blue irises.
“Oh God,” Amelie moaned from her corner in the room, scrambling back against the wall. Caden whipped my body around to face me. He grabbed hold to stare at the gaping gash running half the length of my forearm. Dropping my arm, he held out his hand. It was coated completely in my blood.
So much blood.
I sucked in a gasp as I saw those tiny red lines began to form, to grow, to pulsate. To show his overpowering hunger for me. For my blood. Blood that would kill him with just one taste.
“Caden! Back up right now!” Sofie screamed, her voice sounding distant and muffled as my own blood pounded inside my head, terror locking every muscle in my body. Caden’s jaw tightened. Slowly, he slid backward away from me. One step, another, another, away from me and my toxic blood. Then he bolted out the broken window.
“Caden!” Sofie yelled, panicked. “Mortimer, Viggo, please stop him before he attacks them.”
Mortimer and Viggo obliged for once without a single word. As they passed me, I caught Viggo’s quick scan of my arm. His nostrils flared, the faintest lines of red forming in his eyes. Even Viggo was struggling.
The next few moments felt like an out-of-body experience. I hardly registered cool hands gripped around my waist. Mage, standing beside me and holding me steady in case I toppled over. I heard the sound of ripping fabric as Sofie ripped a strip off the bottom of her black turtleneck. My thoughts were consumed by one thing and one thing only: what would one drop of my blood do to Caden?
“Hold her arm up,” Sofie instructed Mage, and my arm was instantly yanked up into the air. Sofie wrapped the strip around my bicep and tied it off, mumbling absently, “We have to stop the bleeding … get rid of this blood … Kiril!” she shouted. The door burst open and Yeti One appeared. “Towels. Now,” she ordered. He disappeared without a word.
A soft whimper sounded from somewhere in the room. Sofie’s head whipped around. “Max! Get Amelie out of here. Now!” she barked. Max didn’t need to do much. Amelie was already scurrying past with her head down, Julian following closely, his eyebrow drawn with worry as he looked at me.
I’ll be fine, I mouthed with uncertainty. Unless Lilly kills Caden … The thought buckled my knees. Mage’s firm grip held me upright.
Kiril appeared beside us with a handful of towels. Sofie wasted no time snatching them out of his hands. With adept fingers, she wound my arm tightly, careful to minimize my blood on her person. “How are you holding up?” she asked Mage through pursed lips.
“Just get it covered,” Mage said, her nose wrinkled as if she were fighting a repulsive odor. She was, to a degree. My blood, so teasing, so provoking … so noxious.
“Evangeline?” I heard my name called out, but I hardly recognized its owner. Someone was finally acknowledging me. “Are you dizzy? In pain?” the voice asked, like an underwater murmur.
“No …” I answered numbly, thinking that was the right answer as I stared at the pool of blood now formed on the floor beneath me. My toxic, leprous blood. My blood is poison. I am poison. I will kill Caden.
Just like Sofie killed Nathan. Then I’d be like her, laying flowers on a tombstone. The pattern in the marble floor began to swirl and dance beneath me. I lifted my eyes to the gaping hole where Caden had run out. He was gone now. Would he come back? He would be smart not to. It was only a matter of time before I killed him …
“Evangeline!” Sofie called out sharply.
My head snapped up. “What?” I barked, the edge in my voice unintentionally harsh.
She tempered her tone. “How do you feel?”
“Like my arm was just sliced open,” I mumbled, all the while an inner voice inside me screamed at the top of her lungs—uncontrollable, incoherent screeching. I gave my head a shake, trying to silence the rising panic. “What happened?”
“Lilly cut you with a piece of glass,” Sofie explained, “and your blood is exceptionally potent now.” She wrapped another towel around my arm. “Damn it! I wish I could heal this!”
“Exceptionally potent?” I echoed her slowly.
“Yes, it’s more enticing than it used to be. There’s something about it … I can’t peg what it is … it’s harder to resist.” She finished tying the rag, her jaw taut. “There. That should stop the bleeding for now.” I winced. The rag was tight.