24
Grim
Itossed Galina across the bar, pitching her through the curtain of jewels and over the edge where she fell down several stories of the hotel. I turned around in time to watch Sekhmet run Vivien through.
Blood exploded from Vivien’s mouth as she made a choking noise, stiffening under the blow. The sword stuck out through her back, speared straight through her heart. Sekhmet ripped the blade out, and Vivien’s body jerked with the motion.
Panic detonated inside of my brain like sizzling fireworks. Power burst out of me as it had with Apep, slamming into Sekhmet, sending her shooting across the floor and crashing through the glass doors of the hotel, careening far away. The Blade of Bane clattered to the ground.
Confusion, pain, and anger filled Vivien’s eyes before she wobbled.
I caught her in my arms.
I kneeled, holding her to me. Vivien looked up at me, confused. As if she still didn’t understand what happened.
“No, it’s going to be alright,” I assured her, though the panic in my voice said anything but.
She shot me an apologetic look, knowing the blow to be both permanent and fatal.
My insides howled in pain, and I wondered how the whole building did not come down around us. My power flailed with wild abandon. Feeling and energy swirled inside me with such force I could not see straight. The booming typhoon in my brain nearly pulled me under.
All I knew was Vivien was dying and there would be no resurrecting her if I lost her.
Muscling past my own raging powers until I could think, I knew there was only one possible way I could save her now. And even that was uncertain.
I elongated my fingers into claws and sliced my other wrist before putting it to her lips.
“Drink,” I urged.
Vivien’s eyes rolled and her lids fluttered. “Drink,” I said louder.
Still, she didn’t obey. The bond between us unraveled, and my soul clawed to keep it near. The weight of her body lightened, as I knew I was losing her. Soon, she’d turn to dust.
Drink.I commanded, taking hold of the last threads of her will. Vivien’s lips pressed against my wrist, but her fangs failed to latch on.
Drink, damn you.I sank all the volatile power from the cradle into our fast-dissolving thread.
Vivien’s eyes snapped open. They turned into the black sucking holes of my own deathly visage. Fangs finally cut into me and she drank.
Hope and fear warred inside me. Vivien continued to suck while I cradled her head. Then she brought her hands up to my arms, pulling me closer.
Every part of me focused on her until she sat up, continuing to drink. The weight of her body grew stable again, but not quickly enough.
Needing to feel closer still, I readjusted her in my arms, bringing her to my neck. She bit down instantly. Our tether strengthened as her body regenerated from my blood.
After a while, her hands pushed at my chest. She’d had enough.
But I’d commanded her to drink, and I couldn’t let her stop. I needed her to have more. I needed her to be strong, to be unstoppable. I could never lose her.
Dizziness swirled inside my head. She was drinking too much. If I hadn’t just emerged from the cradle, I’d be close to true oblivion.
But I didn’t care. No one would take away the only woman who made me laugh, who wasn’t afraid of my intensity, who would go to the ends of the earth to find me, then still call me out.
There would be more cupcakes, and sex, and surprises that leapt from her mouth.
The tether holding us together strengthened into a golden chain. We bathed in the intensity of our connection. It grew brighter until it glowed impossibly bright. A pulse beat between us, and the heat of our shared divinity warmed me. But my essence waned as she drank.
Vivien pressed harder against me, but still she could not stop sucking my blood. Her hand smacked the backside of my head, but I couldn’t let her stop.
