I honestly couldn’t imagine a world without Calla O’Bannion in it.
And now I knew what it meant when people said that if you loved someone you needed to set them free. I’d lived long enough, and she had a lot of life left. Plus, getting married and having children. I couldn’t take that from her. I told her that I would never let anything happen to her, and that meant giving my life for hers.
It was better this way.
After crawling into bed with Calla, I woke her with my mouth and then I wished her a good day at work after she was satisfied, knowing full well that it was the last time I’d see her beautiful face.
As the moon shined on the water of the lake in the distance in my backyard, I took one final look around at the house that was starting to feel more like me than any other place I’d ever lived in. My plan was to call Martin on the road and let him know what was happening. I didn’t have time to see him and tell him goodbye because the clock was ticking. I had to intercept Renzo before he could do any more damage. No one else knew except Athan that I was leaving after my shift, but it didn’t matter. Sure the hospital would be understaffed for a while, but I didn’t care. I’d never practice again because I was either going to die or give myself back to Renzo to control. In ’32 I’d warned Malone to not sell his soul to Renzo because he’d never get it back, but that’s exactly what I was going to do.
I was selling my soul to the devil.
For Calla.
There’s the saying, “An eye for an eye.” I was going to propose a life for a life. My life since I was immortal should count for the four that had Renzo’s blood. I planned to tell Renzo that I killed Donovan when he came for Miles because I’d thought he came for me. Then, I would tell Renzo that Miles was dead and leave it at that, hoping he knew nothing about Calla and her siblings. I wasn’t going to worry about the grandma. She was in her nineties, and if Renzo really wanted a ninety-year-old to be a vampire, that was on him. I was taking a big gamble because there was a chance Renzo already knew about Calla because if he could find Miles, then he could know Miles had children.
During my shift, I thought about Calla. Even though I’d never see her again, I felt as though I needed to tell her what I was doing. I loved her too much to just leave without telling her the truth.
“Hey,” Calla greeted.
“Hey.”
“How’s the ER tonight?”
“It’s slow.”
“Well, that’s good.”
“Listen, after work, I’m going to Chicago.”
“What? Why?”
“I need to cut Renzo off at the pass.”
“What do you mean, you need to cut him off at the pass?”
“I’m going to go there and tell him that I knew Donovan was sent for me.”
“Sent for you?”
“Yes. I’m going to tell him that he found me, and if he asks about your father, then I’ll tell him that he got in the way and was killed. He shouldn’t need to come to Burn Falls unless he knows about you and your family. Then I can do something to stop him. I don’t know what yet—”
“Are you crazy? You can’t—”
“I am,” I stated firmly—crazy and going to Chicago. “I’ll be in Canada before the sun comes up.”
“You’re talking crazy, Draven.”
“I’m doing what needs to be done.”
“So you’re just going to leave?”
“Yeah.”
“Without saying goodbye?”
“This is goodbye.”
“You couldn’t be man enough to tell me to my face?”
“I’m not a man, Calla.”
“You may think that you have no heart, but you’re wrong. It doesn’t need to beat for me to know that you think with it.”
“My heart has nothing to do with this,” I lied. It might not beat in my chest, but it had everything to do with me leaving.
“Bullshit, Draven. Bull fucking shit.”
Then, she hung up.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
How dare he.
How fucking dare he!
I was fuming when I hung up my office phone. Draven may think that the only way to solve our problem was to sacrifice himself, but that was bullshit. There was no way that I was going to let him go back to the monster that killed his girlfriend in front of him and made him kill his own family.
I wasn’t going to just let him go. There had to be another way.
“He told you?” Athan asked as he instantly appeared and then leaned against the doorjamb of my office door.
“You know?”
“Of course I know. I’m not letting him go alone.”
I rounded my desk and went straight for him, pushing at his chest. He didn’t budge. “And you didn’t stop him?”
“How was I supposed to do that?”
“I don’t know!” I huffed. “How does he think this is a good idea?”
“I don’t know.” Athan shrugged. “My plan is to talk to him more while we drive. It will take us at least four nights to get there, and I’m hoping to change his mind.”
“This is ridiculous.” I snatched my purse off of my desk. “You two are fucking ridiculous.”
“Where are you going?” he asked as he followed me down the hall.
“To stop him,” I roared.
“How are you going to do that?”
“I’ll figure it out when I get to Anchorage.”
“I’m not letting you go alone.”
I turned around and glared at him. “I didn’t think you would since you’ve been my bodyguard for almost two months.”
“Good. I’m glad we’re on the same page.”
I groaned and pushed the door open that led to the parking lot. The dark sky had opened up, and rain poured down. “Just get in the car, Athan!”
“Men are so stupid,” I grumbled to myself, going around a turn a little too fast. I wasn’t getting to Draven fast enough. As far as I knew, he would leave without Athan before his shift ended. I wasn’t taking any chances.
“We’re not men.”
“I know that!” I hissed. “Draven mentioned that little fact to me over the phone. Over the phone, Athan! He broke up with me over the phone.”
“You know why, right?”
I turned my head to look at him for a second. “Because of Mary?”
“Yes.”
“So, you’re saying that even if we get past this, I’ll always compete with a dead woman?”
“No, I’m not saying that at all.”
“Then what are you saying?” I took another turn, the tires squealing slightly.
“Slow down, Andretti.”
“Who?”
“Race car driver, Mario Andretti?”
I still had no clue.
“Forget it. Anyway, what I’m saying is that Draven may think he doesn’t love you, but all of this is because he does love you and that scares him because the last time he was in love, she ended up dead because of him.”
“So his plan is to die himself?”
“Yeah.”
“Fuck that, Athan!” I took another turn and there, in the middle of the road, was a family of deer. Before I could stop or hit them, I swerved the car and hit the guardrail. The car flipped into the air and then rolled down a hill, only to stop on its roof when we hit something large and hard. A shooting pain tore through my chest before everything went black.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“Parker,” Elizabeth, the charge nurse on duty, stuck her head into the break room where I was chatting with Elena, one of my nurses. “LifeMed in route. Fractured right arm. ETA five minutes.”
Elena and I stood, and she went left while I went right to grab a blood bag to drink. As I was almost done with the bag, my phone started to vibrate in my pocket. I though
t it would be Calla calling back to apologize for hanging up on me or to try to change my mind. Instead, it was Athan.
“Yes?” I clipped because he knew I was at work and hated to be bothered.
“It’s bad, man. Really bad!”
“What are you talking about?
“Calla and I got into an accident.”
I went rigid. “What?”
“There’s no time to explain. You need to get here fast.”
“Where?”
“West Park—”
“I’m on my way.”
I had no idea what he was talking about, but hearing that they got into an accident was enough to put me in action. I’d never heard panic in Athan’s voice as I did just then. He was always the go with the flow, kept his cool most of the time, kind of guy. Even when we fled Renzo, Athan went along with it as though it was a normal everyday thing to run from your sire.
After finishing the bag quickly, I walked fast to Elizabeth. “Liz, I have to go. My girl—friend,” I hesitated because I wasn’t sure if Calla was still my girlfriend, “was in some sort of accident and needs my help. Page Jack to handle the new patient coming in.” I didn’t wait for her to respond—didn’t care. My only thought was getting to Calla.
Instead of grabbing my belongings from the locker room, I darted out of the front doors and ran toward the highway. When I first transitioned into a vampire—after the initial shock wore off—I’d race against cars for fun. I was always faster than any car because not only could I run at least one-hundred miles per hour, I could get around traffic in a flash, and I didn’t need to take the time to get my car from the parking garage.
The wind whipped through my short hair as I sped down the highway in the rain, going around turns and cars and more turns. I didn’t need to know exactly where they were because I knew I’d sense Athan and smell Calla once I got close. Even though I knew that I was traveling at least one-hundred miles per hour, it still felt as though I was traveling like a snail.
Then I smelled blood.
Lemon, lavender, and gasoline to be exact.
Athan and I must have sensed each other at the same time because right when I knew he was nearby, he stepped out onto the road. I stopped right before him.
“Move!” I barked and dashed down the hill to see Calla’s car flipped on its hood. “What happened?” I asked, assessing the car. I didn’t see Calla, but I knew she was in there still. I smelled her, and her blood, but I didn’t hear her breathing or her heart beating. It wasn’t good.
“She was driving too—”
“Why didn’t you get her out?”
“Because there’s a lot of blood and I wanted to feed.”
I knelt beside the driver’s side door and saw that she was hanging upside down. My gaze flicked to her chest and everything stopped. I listened closely and could faintly hear her heart beating. It wasn’t strong, and I knew at any second she was going to die. Calla was going to die in front of my eyes because a tree branch was lodged in her chest and she wasn’t breathing. If I had to guess, I’d say that the branch was almost piercing her heart.
Fuck.
“Help me get her out of the car,” I ordered.
Athan was pacing and not moving toward me, and I knew he was trying his hardest to fight the curse that struck when the scent of blood was in the air.
“Now!” I barked.
“The blood … I’m hungry …”
I darted to him, grabbed him by the shirt and held him off the ground. “If you touch her, I will end you,” I growled.
“I’m trying not to, I really am. She smells really good. When I got out of the car, I paced, back and forth, hoping you’d show up before I broke.”
“You’re fucking lucky I did.” I dropped him and moved back to the car, ripping the door clear off in my rage. I flung it behind me and then knelt down. “Help me pull her free.” Athan got beside me. “Rip the seatbelt off, and I’ll pull her out.” I was careful as I snapped the branch, keeping it inside of her to act as a plug for her blood and guided her out before cradling her in my arms as I stayed on my knees.
“What are you going to do?” Athan asked.
I looked up at him not saying anything. What could I do? We were in the middle of nowhere and by the slow beat of Calla’s heart, I knew there was no way to get her to the operating room back at the hospital even if I could run there in ten minutes.
“I know you love her.” It wasn’t a question, and I didn’t deny it. He knelt down and was eye to eye with me. “You know what you need to do to save her.”
“No,” I whispered. It wasn’t because I didn’t want to do it, I couldn’t. I’d made a vow … “Then you’ll lose her forever.”
If I could, I’d cry.
If it could, my heart would break.
If I could, I’d die with her.
Since meeting Calla, she’d opened my eyes to a new world. A world I wanted to live in. A world where I wanted to settle down. Looking down on her, listening to the slow beat of her heart, and seeing the dark blood soaking her sweater, I knew that I still wanted all of those things and time was running out.
But Calla had never expressed that she’d wanted to ever get turned into a vampire. “What if she hates me like we hate Renzo for turning us?”
“Calla loves you. She won’t hate you for turning her.”
“She didn’t ask for this.”
“Did she ask for a herd of deer to make her throw her car off of a cliff and get a tree lodged in her chest?”
“No,” I muttered.
“Listen to me, D. You haven’t opened your heart since Mary. You did for Calla. And you can deny it all you want, but you’ve loved Calla for a long time.”
“We’re not soulmates.”
Athan groaned. “You want to let some myth prevent you from being happy?”
He was right. And before he spelled it out for me, I knew it in my bones. I didn’t have another second to spare to fight with myself. “Okay. Take off your jacket.” He didn’t hesitate as he tore it off his back. “Place it on the ground so I can lay her down.”
I had no idea what I was doing because I’d never turned a human, but I didn’t want to lay her on the wet ground with nothing between her and the dirt. This wasn’t the perfect place for the change, it was the best I could do on such short notice.
After Athan set his jacket down, I placed Calla onto her back. I paused as though I had a deep breath to take, and then I ripped the wood from her chest and tossed it aside. Blood started to gush from the wound, and I heard Athan growl before dashing off. If I hadn’t had a bag before I left the hospital, I knew I wouldn’t be able to resist draining her completely.
My mouth latched onto her neck, and I sucked. I drank until the fluid started to thin and then I stopped. After biting into my wrist, I held it to her mouth, tilted her head back and let it flow down the back of her throat.
I’d forgotten how long it would take for the change to be made, and I didn’t want to wait in the damp forest for it to occur. “I’m taking her home. Do something with the car and then go to the hospital for mine. Compel Elizabeth, and she’ll get you to my locker where you’ll find my stuff and my keys. I’ll text you the combination when I get Calla situated.” Even though Athan wasn’t in sight. I knew he’d heard.
As I was picking Calla up off the ground, he dashed back. “See you in a few hours. Do you want me to pick up a human for her transition to complete?”
“No, I have bags.”
“Right.”
Once I got home, I laid Calla in bed and waited for the first time for the love of my life to turn into an immortal.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
When my eyes fluttered open, I realized I was staring at the wood beams of Draven’s bedroom, and I was starving. How did I get here? What time was it? The room was dark, but
I could see clearly. I closed my eyes again, trying to remember coming to Draven’s, but the last thing I remembered was seeing a family of deer in the road and swerving to not hit them.
“Hey.” I heard Draven’s voice, and then the bed dipped beside me.
I opened my eyes and looked over at him. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he looked more handsome than the night before. “Hey.” My voice was raspy as though I needed a gallon of water.
“How are you feeling?”
“Starving.” I tried to sit up, but he stopped me with a hand on my shoulder.
“There’s something you need to know.”
“Is Athan okay?”
“He’s fine.”
I nodded. He was, of course, a vampire and I didn’t think a car accident could kill him. Especially if I didn’t die.
“He called me when you had the accident.”
“What happened? I don’t remember.”
Draven touched my knee that was under the covers and squeezed it. “You swerved to miss a family of deer, and you hit the guardrail. Instead of it keeping your car on the road, it caused your car to fly up into the air and then you rolled down the hill. You stopped when the car hit a tree.”
It was all coming back to me. As he spoke, I assessed my body, mentally. I felt fine. Better than fine. “Did you drug me?”
Draven closed his eyes for a brief second. “No.”
“Then why don’t I feel like I was in a car accident?” My head didn’t even hurt. I looked down and saw that I was wearing one of Draven’s T-shirts. It smelled like him, and I smiled at the thought that he didn’t go back to Chicago.
He stood and started to pace. “Promise you won’t hate me.”
I blinked. “Why would I hate you?”
Draven looked up at the ceiling, ran his hands down his face, and then looked back at me. “You were dying.”
“I was?” My eyebrows scrunched, and I tilted my head to the side and thought about what he was telling me. I was dying, so he what? Saved me? But I felt fine. Better than fine. As though I could run ten miles without running out of breath fine.
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