It took me a moment to realize that I was experiencing what he was feeling. I closed my eyes and let the warm liquid slide down my throat. All too soon he pulled away from me. Half a dozen things came to me all at once, making me feel light headed. Every thought and emotion was about me. I felt his longing and above everything else I felt the sadness of that day. Two tears slid down my face as I saw things through his eyes.
The day David came to take me away. I had called for him.
“Nickolas, please! Nickolas, help me!”
But he didn’t come to me; he stood by and let David drag me away. And all the while he knew he wouldn’t see me again for such a long time.
“
I didn’t want to,” he stopped and blew air through his puffed out cheeks. “It was the hardest thing…” He swallowed. “I know you must have thought that I…” He sniffed and covered his mouth with the back of his hand.
‘Never mind what she thought. It was a long time ago. Get a hold of yourself.’
I heard his thoughts clearly, as if they were my own. “I have thought of little else you know. Wondering if you’d hate me for letting him take you away like that. But I know,” his shoulders rose with his breath, “I know that if I changed anything — any one thing — that it would change everything.” His voice broke and he wiped at his own eyes. My tears had not stopped.
“And I know, my sweet Eva that it was more important to spend forever with you than just that one moment.”
He said this without speaking but his next words were out loud. “Can you ever forgive me my love?”
I really started crying then, full force. Great choking sobs came from my throat, surprising even me. I could barely see anything through my tears but somehow I managed to fall right where I wanted to be — into Dominick’s arms. He couldn’t seem to stop touching me — my hair, my face, my arms, my hair again — but I couldn’t stop crying. “I love you.” I couldn’t be sure if I said it out loud or not but he pulled me closer. It didn’t matter if he was Dominick or Nickolas because I realized in that moment that they were one in the same.
In that small space of time I understood how much Dominick loved me. How long he had waited for me. The things he had done to be sure that we would one day be together. How much he had sacrificed for me. I was nearly overcome with emotion.
It had only been a few minutes since I took Dominick’s blood but already all the darkness seemed to lift. I never wanted this feeling to end. “Ah, but now comes the painful part my love,” he said low into my ear.
“
The what?” I was confused, but deliriously happy.
“
My blood is getting stronger in your veins. This might hurt.” He pulled me away from him but kept a hold of my arms. He looked worried and resigned at the same time.
The pain that came next was crippling. It started low in my stomach and rose through my chest. It was like a knife cutting me open from the inside. It was worse than anything I had ever felt in my life. I staggered backwards and fell to my knees. “What is happening to me?” I tried to hold in my screams but every centimeter that the blade took made me scream out loud. “David.” David would know what to do, he would fix this.
I saw Dominick’s expression twist in pain. He must feel this pain too, I concluded. “Eva,” David’s calm voice broke through the fog of pain.
“
David, what’s happening?”
“
Do you remember the first time you had the injections?”
Of course I remembered. The pain had been intense, but nothing like this. I lived through that. “Not the same,” I managed to choke out, “this is worse.”
“
It’s to be expected.” David brushed my hair away from my face and tried to get me to lie down on the ground.
“
No,” I hissed. If I let go of my stomach, I was sure my insides would fall out.
“
Eva, you just have to try to stay calm. I’ve laid out a mat for you. Just come lie down.”
“
No.” A searing white hot pain shot down the length of my back. Fear gripped me; I was not going to live through this.
“
Move.” Dominick shoved David roughly out of the way.
‘Damn Idiot.’
I heard his thought and wondered if he meant me. “Not you,” his face softened slightly, “of course not you.” His mouth hardened, “David,” he muttered in explanation.
“
What?” David asked warily.
“
Just stay out of the way,” Dominick barked the orders. If a white hot knife wasn’t shredding my insides I might have found his growling comical or maybe endearing. I half smiled but then grimaced as the knife took another inch. He put one hand under my head and one under my knees and easily picked me up. If I had wanted to fight him off, which I didn’t, it would have been useless. Before I could process what was going on, he was laying me down under a canopy of trees.
David was there too, but Dominick’s menacing growls sent him quickly away. Dominick lowered himself beside me on the ground, hovering between lying beside me and crouching protectively over me. The pain still traveled in spasms down the length of my arms and legs, causing me to twitch as if I were having seizures. I felt like the gazelle again, only this time he was waiting for me to die. Protecting his kill.
Eventually, the pain subsided enough to allow me to think more clearly. The first thing I became aware of was Dominick’s overwhelming jealousy. It colored all of his thoughts. I balked as I realized what had caused his turmoil, he was angry that I had called to David for help. “David has always fixed everything,” I explained weakly.
“
Hmm?” Dominick’s dark glare focused on me.
“
I didn’t know what was happening. I knew that David would know.” I absentmindedly touched my bottom lip. I still didn’t know what had happened. Why was there so much pain? Had his blood changed me? Was I a vampire now? Would I be one? Was I still changing? My heart stuttered. Would Dominick be angry if I wanted to talk to David? Better not risk it…
“
Of course not.” he flinched back from my offensive thoughts. He didn’t want me to be afraid of him. He sprung up and returned swiftly with David in tow. David looked nervous.
“
Feeling better?” he asked, trying not to look at only Dominick. I couldn’t blame him though, Dominick looked positively dangerous. If looks could kill, David wouldn’t stand a chance, I thought with a slight tug on my lips.
I tried to hold David’s attention. “Why did you say it was expected?” I asked without preamble.
“
The, uh…” He knelt down to check my pulse and listen to my heart. “The, um…injections were diluted quite considerably. The blood you took from Dominick was in raw form.”
“
Oh.” I nodded, that made sense.
“
You’ll get tired now,” David warned before he got up to leave.
“
Wait.” I called as loudly as I could, which was sadly unimpressive. “David.”
“
I’m still here.” He bent low again.
I felt so weak, like I couldn’t even talk, but I had to know. “What’s going to happen now? To me?”
He shot a look to Dominick, who nodded. “Eva,” Dominick’s soothing voice calmed me immediately. “You will be fine. For a few days you’ll feel like you can’t live without me,” he chuckled good-naturedly.
“
These are just feelings that you would normally…” David began but was cut off by Dominick’s hand.
“
You can leave us now.” David didn’t need to be told twice. After he was gone Dominick turned back to me, a gentle smile on his beautiful face. “You won’t change into a vampire,” he soothed my worries. “You’ll feel bonded to me.” He sat down beside me and took my hand in his. The pain was nearly gone. “Like I am a piece of you.”
“
Will you feel the same for me?” I whispered, too unsure of myself to meet his intense stare.
“
I have felt the same for you for almost one thousand years.” The emotion I heard and felt in his voice was almost as intense as his eyes had been. I gasped when I met his gaze again. I had to choke back another onslaught of tears.
“
I can’t understand why my heart has changed so much for you. I hated you ten minutes ago,” my voice broke with my sincerity, he chuckled anyways.
“
It is my blood in you, it bonds us.” he stroked my cheek.
“
And when you change someone — is it the same?”
“
I don’t change people.” He smiled to soften the suddenly harsh words. “But yes. The bond you have with the one who changed you and those you change is…” he struggled to find the right word, “immeasurable.”
We stared at each other for a while as the emotion passed between us. “Will you stay with me until I fall asleep?” I pathetically pleaded when my eyes became too heavy to hold open.
“
I will,” he promised with two simple words. He stretched out beside me. As I drifted off to sleep, I turned to my side and he fit naturally and perfectly against my back.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
I woke up to the sound of voices.
“I can’t let her go. If Nadia is so important to her, I will go. It’s just too dangerous. I need her too much.”
It took me a few moments to realize that the voices were not out loud. I was hearing Dominick’s thoughts. I sighed and shifted so I could fit more securely into him.
“
Hey there,” he greeted me huskily.
I turned my head slightly so he could kiss my cheek. “Where is everyone?”
“
They’ve left already.”
Anxious thoughts tried to worm their way into my delirium but Dominick’s hand on the skin at the small of my back pushed them away. “How long have I been sleeping?”
“
About twenty minutes.” He kissed the side of my face. “How do you feel?”
“
Wonderful.”
He chuckled lightly. “I meant physically.”
“
About the same.”
“
Good. Achilles is coming over here. He wants you to leave so you can hurry back.”
I exaggerated my groan and then pulled myself into a sitting position. I couldn’t resist kissing Dominick’s smile. “I love you,” I whispered. It didn’t bother me that he didn’t say it back.
“
Are you awake yet?” Achilles thundered.
“
Yep.”
“
It doesn’t bother me if you decide to not go after the half-breed, but either way — we need to move.”
I smiled, way too happy to be irritated by Achilles. “Alright, I’m going.”
“
Well hurry then, that wall is high.” Dominick gave me a small tight smile and helped me to me feet.
***
The wall was indeed high. It seemed to rise from out of the ground and reach all the way to the sky. “There has to be a way over it,” I thought dismally, “or through it.”
“
We’ll figure it out.”
Dominick’s voice in my head brought such a sense of comfort, I stopped thinking and for one idiotic moment I just smiled.
“Focus!”
“
Right.”
I was glad that Dominick’s blood ran through my veins, it felt almost natural to be able to talk to him like this. We fit together so well. Just like breathing.
“
If you want to save Nadia, you might want to just try and focus.”
I felt his amusement and pleasure.
“
Yes. Nadia. Right.”
I pushed a stray hair behind my ear.
“How do I get over this wall?”
“
You can’t.”
“
Humph.”
I will. Methodically, but quickly, I felt along the length of the wall. Nothing encouraging. No weaknesses that I could find. I didn’t dare round the corner completely. I pressed my back to the smooth granite barrier and peered around the corner. There was no one.
I repeated my search along all four sides of the wall with the same results. Even where the door was, there was no way I could gain entry. How did they get in?
“
There is a keypad,”
Dominick supplied the answer.
“
Do we know the code?”
He hesitated, so I knew the answer.
“Give it to me!”
“
She’s not in there.”
“
You’re just…”
“
No Eva, I can’t hear her.”
I could sense the sincerity in his voice, but I was desperate to get Nadia.
“They heard her right before they left.”
Silence.
“Give me the code.”
“
Eva.”
I felt his desperate protectiveness. He didn’t want me to go into a potentially dangerous situation.
“They have already killed Nadia.”
“
No!”
“
We can’t hear her.”
“
But you don’t know. You can’t know for sure. Just let me go see. We already agreed.”
I heard the voices at almost the same time Dominick did.
“Run Eva, run!”
But it was too late to run. They were too close. The VC.